"Michael’s background in making his own show clothes was ever present in his style, particularly in his jackets. The outfit he donned in the “Bad” short film was store-bought off the rack in a store off Melrose. He just had that eye for things that could work with a little magic added to them. Michael was window-shopping and saw the cotton jacket and pants, went in, and bought them. He took them to Western Costume Company in Melrose to have the outfit enhanced with buckles and straps and wore it in the “Bad” short film. Knowing he’d have to perform “Bad” live in concert wearing the short film outfit, Michael brought us in his street wear and asked us to modify it for the upcoming tour, making it performance friendly, durable, cleanable, and fit to dance in.

To make our version of “Bad”, the pieces came from 4 or 5 stores off of Melrose Avenue, and we used stretch gabardine to replace the cotton. The main objective was to enable the costume to function and fit better and to turn the outfit from street wear to performance wear. For some more “biker” essence, we severely embellished the jacket, pants, and gloves with twice as many buckles and straps.

For the 30^th anniversary Special, we made the Bad outfit in black patent leather, but the song was cut because the show was running too long."

~ Michael Bush