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"Scream"
Date range confirmed in Mike Smallcombe’s “Making Michael” (“October 1994”)
Michael Jackson, song commentary audio transcript (1995, "The Museum of HIStory" Website)
Sometimes the only thing you can do is scream [Laughs] Don't you ever feel this way? You just wanna let it all out. People should listen and decide for themselves.
Hand-written note on Jimmy Jam’s keyboard in the studio (Image 001)
Jimmy Jam, the part I'm hearing for our chorus is the same sound you used on the bridge to the "Knowledge". The wind kind of sound. Talk to me about this when I return to the studio. Love M.J.
Mike Smallcombe, Making Michael
In October 1994, Jam and Lewis flew to New York and met Michael at the studio. Jam says that when they joined the project, the two-disc album was to contain 23 greatest hits and seven new tracks. “Now the Hit Factory studio had great speakers, but Michael brought in his own speakers, which were even bigger, he had an entire wall of speakers,” Jam recalls. “It was literally the loudest thing I have ever heard. Ever. So Michael greeted us… Janet was there and we began listening to the tracks, which we had narrowed down from about eight to six. They were all just music, no lyrics. I thought Michael would listen to each track for about a minute, but I was surprised because he listened to each song the whole way through. He really liked what he heard, he was like, ‘Wow I like them all, you guys really listened to me’.”
Michael chose his favourite track, and sure enough, it was the one his sister said he would like. “Michael said, ‘This is the one I want, it’s angry, aggressive, that’s what I wanted’,” Jam said. “Janet just started laughing and said, ‘Told you so’. She was just glad he didn’t like the track she wanted for herself, which actually ended up being ‘Runaway’ from her album Design of a Decade, and she recorded it about a year later. I actually thought that would be a great choice for them to sing together. But Michael had other ideas, and the track he chose was perfect for what he wanted to do.”
Having picked his favourite track, Michael met Janet, Jam and Lewis the next day at his apartment in Trump Tower to begin writing. “So Michael said, ‘I have an idea’, and began coming up with a melody and rhythm for the track, but no words,” Jam said. “Then he started singing the melody, but we realised it was too low for Janet. It was more to his strengths than hers and we needed to make sure Janet fared well, but she just said, ‘It’s his album, his song and his feeling, and I’m just the guest’. She had no expectation beyond helping her brother.”
In the meantime, Michael and Janet worked on the lyrics separately. Michael wanted to write about how angry he had been feeling over the past eighteen months, which would continue the lyrical theme of the album so far. “Michael came up with most of the actual lyrics, he knew exactly what he wanted lyrically, something aggressive,” Jam said. “Because he knew what he wanted, he wrote everything very quickly. He was very fast, very intense.” Although Michael came up with most of the lyrics, Janet created the title, ‘Scream’, and also wrote the lyrics to the bridge. When they entered the studio to record the vocals, the plan was to record Michael’s first, and Janet’s immediately after.
“So we were sat there, Terry, Janet and myself, and Michael is wearing these hard shoes and some kind of jewellery, which you’re not really supposed to in case it interferes with the vocal,” Jam said. “Everything is fine… Michael said his headphones are OK, and his voice is smooth after he drank his usual hot water with Ricola cough drops. So he says, ‘Let’s give it a go’. The music comes on, and for about ten seconds, Michael just starts dancing around, stomping… snapping his fingers… clapping, which is really unusual. And suddenly, he just started singing.”
Jam says they were simply blown away. “I had never seen or heard anything like it in my entire life. We had to almost hold onto our chairs due to the sheer energy and force of his singing. And when it was over, Terry and I were speechless. So Michael’s like, ‘How was it?’ And we’re like, ‘Yeah… great’, and Michael then asks us if we want him to do another vocal, and we’re like, ‘Sure!’ And he nailed it in about four or five takes. Then Janet turns to us and says, ‘I think I’ll do my vocals in Minneapolis!’ I mean, how do you follow that?! When Janet was leaving, Michael said to her, ‘Are you not doing your vocals now?’ And Janet says, ‘No, I’m doing them in Minneapolis’.”
What was supposed to be a three-day session had now stretched to a week and a half. Jam and Lewis returned to Minneapolis where they recorded Janet’s vocal, before sending Michael a rough mix. Happy with the mix and Janet’s vocals, Michael then told Jam and Lewis that he wanted to re-record his lead vocal over in Minneapolis, as he thought he could make improvements. “It really showed his competitiveness and his perfectionism,” Jam said. “Of course we told Michael that he was welcome to come to Minneapolis.”
The pair did record their background vocals together. “The two of them singing together was amazing,” Rob Hoffman recalls. “Super tight, no bad notes, one part after another. When they took a break they sang the show tunes they used to sing as kids. Again, perfect harmony. Michael refused to sing the ‘stop fuckin’ with me’ part [of ‘Scream’] because he would not curse!”
Jimmy Jam, writer/producer, “Entertainment Weekly” (June 23, 1995) (archived)
The highlight, says Jam, was working on Michael and Janet’s duet, ”Scream.” Both Jacksons share ”an ability to elevate the work of everyone around them — through hard work, sheer talent, and a desire to not be second-best,” explains Jam. ”But Janet is a little more spontaneous, whereas Michael’s very methodical. Janet will hear something the first time and know that it’s cool. Michael will say, ‘Give me a day to think about it and make sure it’s cool.”’
Q: How does Jackson work?
Jimmy Jam: I can tell you how "Scream" happened. We had the title but we really didn't know what the song was going to be about. We recorded about eight things that he could listen to. Terry and I went to the studio he was working in. He has his own speakers which he carries, because those in studios aren't loud enough for him. An LA studio put in a new sound system which was supposed to be specially for Michael--and he blew it up the first day!
So, he's got his own set of speakers as loud as they can possibly go. Everything sounded so great. We gave him a copy of the song, he asked had we thought of any melody ideas or lyric ideas yet and he said, "OK, let's take each tape and come up with our ideas." The next day, we ended up going to his apartment in New York and working on lyric and melody structure. It was just kind of a collaborative process.
...Q: Were you surprised by how personal the LP turned out?
Jimmy Jam: "Scream" was obviously very personal, but the album was very personal overall. I always think an artist's best record is when they use the gift of music to tell what's on their mind.
“The Morton Report” (April 19, 2012) (archived)
Michael was amazing. I can’t think of a studio moment that blew us away more than the first time he got in front of a microphone on “Scream.” It was really funny. First of all, when we put that track together, I had Janet come to Minneapolis. I just said, “I need you to be here for inspiration.” So Terry and I put together four or five different tracks, and for one of the tracks, Janet said, “I hope he doesn’t like this one, because I want this one for me.” And another one of the tracks, she said, “This is the one he’s going to like, I know my brother.”
So we go to the Hit Factory in New York. We played all these tracks, and when the track that ended up being “Scream” came on, he said, “Yeah I like that.” Janet said, “I told you that’s the one he was going to like! I’m so glad he didn’t like that other track.” Well, the other track ended up being “Runaway,” her single from Design of a Decade. I actually thought that track would’ve been a great duet for them, but Michael wanted to be real aggressive and real hard. He had things on his mind about how he felt he was being treated in the press. And the track for “Scream” was sonically perfect for what he wanted to do lyrically.
When he went into the studio, the idea was that he was going to sing it first and then Janet would go in and sing after him. So Janet’s sitting there, me and Terry are sitting there, and Michael goes in. Before he sings, he’s just real calm and quiet, “Can you turn my headphones up a little bit?” Then all of a sudden the music comes on and he starts dancing around the room, hitting all his signature moves. And he’s like, wearing a bracelet or something while clapping — you’re not really supposed to do that when you’re on the mic, but it didn’t even matter. When it was over, I swear to God, it was just silence in the room. He said, “How was that?” We’re like, “Yeah, that sounded really good.” And I turned and looked at Janet and she said to me, “I’ll just do my vocal in Minneapolis.” It was like, “I’m not going to do my vocal right now.” Obviously he just killed it, right? [laughs]
So we go to Minneapolis with Janet, where she does a great job on her vocal. We send it to Michael, he goes, “Wow, Janet sounds great. Where did she record that vocal?” I said it was in Minneapolis. “I’m coming to Minneapolis.” So Michael comes to Minneapolis to re-record his vocal, and it was a real glimpse into his competitive nature. It didn’t even matter that it was his sister. It was just like, “No. I have to redo it. She did hers, I have to redo mine.” It was just crazy, his competitiveness even with his own sister. But it was that drive for perfection. And the original vocal he did in New York ended up being probably 90 percent of the vocal on the final song.
Rob Hoffman, studio engineer, “Gearslutz” forum (June 27, 2009) (archived)
I was assisting Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis while they recorded the background vocals for "Scream" with MJ and Janet. The two of them singing together was amazing. Super tight, no bad notes. One part after another. When they took a break they sang the showtunes they used to sing as kids. Again, perfect harmony. Mj refused to sing the "stop f*ckin' with me part" because he would NOT curse.
Ryan Arnold, assistant audio engineer, Reddit AMA (April 25, 2019) (archived)
I think I would liken his approach to instruments to a child... but it worked, really well at that. He would take an instrument, say the Korg M1 used on Scream. He would fiddle with the knobs (changing the presets) and feel for a sound. Once he found a basic idea, he would refine it by fiddling further and further. Mind you Mr. Jackson would spend hours and hours doing this for some synths, but other times just five minutes. I think he found the sound he was looking for on the M1 relatively quick, within a half hour. From there he would make sounds with his voice and clap while attempting to play. Jimmy would be recording this, so it's all on tape in his archives, and at a particular point Michael would just get it. He would spend all that time messing around on the keyboard, like a kid in a music shop, and then out of nowhere he'd say, "There, right there! Did you get that?" It would be a chord progression he was trying to figure out. It would be difficult for him to repeatedly do it, so he would hand it over to Jimmy for refinement, such as taking it up a key. That's how you have that opening progression in Scream.
Also in the case of Scream, Michael would explain the type of song it was, hard rock with grunge affects. I think Nirvana was mentioned at one point. From there, Jimmy and Terry would work on producing particular sounds Michael would red or green light. Jimmy would eventually establish a baseline both Jacksons liked (that is Michael and Janet, though I'm focusing mainly on Michael here), and from there Michael would take little things and add them up. Terry played some synth strings that were only used on remixes, and initially, Michael liked them, so Jimmy refined them. On the finished product it contradicted the vision he had I suppose, so they were removed.
Terry Lewis, producer, “Star Tribune” (June 25, 2009) (archived)
Lewis remembered Jackson as "an unassuming, regular guy" until it was time to record. "When he went into the studio to do vocals, he lit up into a different person in a whole other place, a whole other universe. I haven't seen it from anyone since. He was magnificent."
Jellybean Johnson, drummer for Janet Jackson, “Star Tribune” (June 25, 2009) (archived)
Johnson, 52, of Brooklyn Center, who played guitar on Janet Jackson's 1990 No. 1 hit "Black Cat," met her brother briefly in 1995 in the lobby of Flyte Tyme Studios in Edina. Michael and Janet were there to record their first duet, "Scream," with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
"He had a surgical mask on," Johnson said. "He didn't have a bunch of bodyguards. It was a very short conversation."