The Curse Of The BAD Tour: How It Started Killing Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson’s Bad Tour was the largest solo touring operation in music history, playing 123 concerts across 15 countries to 4.4 million people between 1987 and 1989. It broke Guinness World Records for the largest grossing concert tour ever and the highest total audience attendance, including seven sold out shows at Wembley Stadium in London. But behind the record breaking numbers, Michael Jackson was performing through chronic nerve pain that stemmed from surgeries following the 1984 Pepsi commercial incident, managed nightly with pain medication just to get through the show. This video breaks down what really happened during the Bad World Tour, from the laryngitis that hit during the American leg, to the cancelled shows in Australia, to the flu that forced Michael to pull three Tacoma concerts. We look closely at November 1988, when severely swollen vocal cords brought the Los Angeles shows to a halt and forced a rescheduling that reshaped the final months of the tour. We also connect this period to Michael’s later admission of painkiller dependency ahead of the Dangerous World Tour, and what that reveals about the toll the Bad Tour years actually took. If you have ever wondered what the Bad Tour cost Michael Jackson physically while the world called it the greatest show on earth, this video covers the full timeline using testimony, tour records, and documented medical history. Subscribe for more deep dives into Michael Jackson’s career, the Bad era, and the history behind the world’s biggest tours. Chapters: 00:00 - Intro 01:36 - The Weight Being Carried At The Start 03:51 - The Records Being Broke Every Concert 06:16 - The Dark Truth Backstage 10:13 - The Concert That Cracked Everything Open 13:33 - How The Cursed BAD Tour Changed 80's Music #michaeljackson #bad #smoothcriminal #badtour