10 Amazing Rock Songs By Pop Artists

There's not much more that needs to be said about how prolific The King of Pop was at spewing out hits in the '80s. When you look at an album like Bad, it's actually not that much of a step down from the chart busting predecessor Thriller, which already had a killer guitar hero like Eddie Van Halen playing on the song Beat It. In the years since, MJ seemed to refine his rock and roll side on Speed Demon.

This time though, the roles are reversed in terms of the aggression. Compared to the larger than life sounds of Thriller, the tone of this song starts out a lot more smooth and downtempo before picking things up in the choruses, complete with one of the most wild slap bass parts of the late '80s. This isn't just good enough for pop either, with the rapid fire sounds of the bass being enough to make Flea cramp up if he attempted to play it.

Michael is still the focus here though, and he clearly takes proper care of the genre he's working with. We had already gotten a taste of what his rock chops were on the album before, but this is where he feels most comfortable in the genre, with his angry voice getting a lot more raspy as the years go by. Considering the amount of time he put into refining this sound, it's no wonder that Slash got called in on the next album Dangerous.