Jackson, Joe
Mike's Murder
Jackson finished the Night and Day tour in May 1983. He had been asked to contribute a song to Mikes Murder, a film written and directed by James Bridges. He ended up writing both a handful of songs and a few instrumental pieces that were released on a soundtrack album in September. Unfortunately, the film itself was not ready for release then, since it was the subject of a dispute between Bridges and the movie studio that had financed it, the result being re-shooting and reediting, such that the film did not open until March 1984, by which time it had a score by John Barry and only a little of Jacksons music remaining, and then it earned only one million dollars during a few weeks of theatrical showings, making it a disastrous flop. The orphaned soundtrack album, however, managed to get into the Top 100 and even spawned a chart single in the Jackson composition "Memphis," while "Breakdown" earned a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.