How do you follow up what many still consider the best pop album of all time?

If your name is Michael Jackson, you embark on a huge tour, make multiple endorsement deals, write a massive supergroup anthem and then call up Quincy Jones to do it again.

While Michael Jackson had already been a formidable force in the pop world, first with Jackson 5 and then his early solo work, Thriller was the album that made him the King of Pop. That album had seven singles that all reached the Billboard Top Ten. Pair this with his elaborate music videos that were radically transforming the shape of MTV, and you have the makings of a true musical icon.

So to say that expectations for Bad were high is an understatement. It had been five years since Thriller and fans were ready for more. Jackson teased a few collaborations: Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, and Prince were all planned for duets. Those collaborations never happened, but they didn’t have to. Michael proves on this disc that he’s more than able to carry a pop masterpiece on his own epaulet-adorned shoulders.

Bad sees Jackson taking more of the writing and production than ever before. Where he had writing credits on four of the nine tracks on Thriller (and co-produced those same tracks), on this record, he wrote all but two of the eleven tracks and co-produced all of them alongside Quincy Jones.

And of those tracks, these are some of his most indelible hits. “Bad,” “The Way You Make Me Feel,” “Man in the Mirror,” “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” and “Dirty Diana” all hit number one. “Smooth Criminal” peaked at number seven, but it’s maybe the best of those tracks, and certainly one of his most enduring. Besides “Dirty Diana” and “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” all of these tracks still get plenty of airplay.  And notably, these singles show the most variety he ever had at this point in his career, ranging from energetic synth pop to tender R&B ballads to arena rock.

The deep cuts aren’t quite up to the same caliber as these singles (how could they be?), but it’s not like they’re bad. “Speed Demon,” which features a bizarre stop motion video produced for the music video anthology film Moonwalker, is an exciting bit of aggressive synthpop. “Liberian Girl,” which features the most star-studded casts of any music video I’ve ever seen, is subdued and romantic without losing the energy of the more exciting tracks. “Just Good Friends” features the iconic Stevie Wonder. That track is also one of the most convincing pieces of evidence for the rumor that Jackson worked on the soundtrack for Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

It’s worth noting that Jackson’s rising fame was accompanied by strange behavior and speculations at that behavior. This is around the era where his appearance began changing and the public speculated about skin bleaching, plastic surgery, and anorexia. Jokes about his weirdness became commonplace in the comedy scene. Weird Al (who appears in the video for “Liberian Girl”) had already scored a huge hit with “Eat It.” Michael Jackson was on the verge of becoming a punch line. But once the rubber hit the road, Bad showed that he had the talent to excuse a little eccentricity.