We are in the 80s. Michael Jackson and Prince are on top of the world. However, we never see the two of them together, to the point of inventing a rivalry, like in the era of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
Until the famous evening of August 20, 1983 at the Beverly Theater in Los Angeles where another King, James Brownwill achieve the feat of bringing them together on stage for a unique performance. Unfortunately, it won’t go as planned. Michael will set the audience on fire by singing and dancing in an extraordinary way, where Prince will try to do a few guitar notes without much success and barely being able to sing. Legend has it that, when he left the concert hall, Prince tried to hit Michael with his car. Big big atmosphere!
Shortly after, Prince refused to be part of We Are The World. But what we know less is that Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson will try one last approach by sending the model of the piece Bad to Prince. Prince will listen to the song and be disturbed by the lyrics, especially the passage where he says “Your butt is mine” (“Ton cul est à moi”, in French). He would have suddenly re-recorded the title completely, changing the groove and the lyrics.
So you want to know what’s next? Well there isn’t any! According to his collaborator, bassist Sheila E., the version was superb and he was supposed to send it to Quincy Jones, but like many Prince songs, well it ended up in the trash. There will therefore be no participation from Prince, nor Badnor in any capacity. Their only collaboration will ever remain this failed meeting with James Brown. and on a lighter note, go listen again Badit’s a great album. Long live the music!
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