"Cheater" by Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson had a surfeit of material when he and Quincy Jones were putting together the Bad album. He reportedly wrote 62 songs for his highly anticipated 1987 follow-up to Thriller. Jackson originally wanted Bad to be a three-disc collection made up of 33 tracks. However, Jones eventually convinced him to trim the collection down to 10 songs with a bonus track ("Leave Me Alone") on the CD version.

As a result, a lot of strong tracks didn’t make the final cut, including “Cheater.” The Gloved One brings the funk with both barrels on this nasty groove, letting loose with a raw, gospel-infused vocal performance. Additionally, the track features a bumpin' bass line and dirty rhythm guitar licks. It also boasts a terrific bridge.

Jackson revisits one of his favorite themes on this song: betrayal. He blasts some shady folks who have backstabbed him. He doesn’t specify who these people are and exactly how they have betrayed him, but whatever they did has him pretty damn heated. The pop legend delivers his verses with tons of soul, attitude and righteous anger. It's one of his grittiest vocal performances.

“Cheater” was written and produced by Jackson and veteran keyboardist/songwriter/musical director Greg Phillinganes.  It’s unknown why this great track didn’t make it onto Bad. It later appeared on the comprehensive box set The Ultimate Collection (2004).

The musicians who played on “Cheater” were Phillinganes on keyboards and David Williams on guitar. No drummer is listed in the credits, so a drum machine was most likely used; and Phillinganes held down the funky bass line on the keys.



The Ultimate Collection is available on disc at Amazon