Jackson co-produced and composed all but two tracks, and the lyrical themes include self-improvement, romance, world peace, media bias, paranoia, and racial profiling.

Prior to the release of Bad, Jackson reinvented his image to a more streetwise, mature persona and adopted a more aggressive sound, departing from his signature groove-based style and falsetto.

Nine singles were released to promote the album, including the record-breaking five US number ones, "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror" and "Dirty Diana", and the top-10 hit "Smooth Criminal".

[6] The album's title reference to the slang word, bad, signified Jackson's departure from his previous boyish image to a more streetwise, mature persona.

[12] Jackson reinvented his image for the Bad era, often wearing black, heavy buckle-designed clothing and metal-studded belts, which gave him a notably edgier look.

[1] He spent much of 1985 and 1986 writing and recording at his home studio in Encino, Los Angeles, with a group of musicians and engineers including Bill Bottrell known as the "B team".

[1] In mid-1985, work paused again so Jackson could prepare for Disney's 4D film experience Captain EO, which featured an early version of the Bad song "Another Part of Me".

"Another Part of Me" was written by Jackson in 1985 for the 3D science fiction short film Captain EO, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, which was released in 1986.

[39] The song begins with a eerie heartbeat-like sound, setting the tone for the recurring theme of the track, and the lyrics immediately launch into a depiction of a crime scene, where a woman is assaulted in her apartment by a mysterious “smooth criminal.”[39] Jackson's repeated line, “Annie, are you OK?” draws inspiration from Resusci Anne, a mannequin used in CPR training.

[37] The track was thought of as an example of "Jackson's free-form language" that keeps people "aware that we are on the edge of several realities: the film, the dream it inspires, the waking world it illuminates".

[58][59] It remained there for six consecutive weeks,[60] and nine months after its release it was certified 6× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), already equalling the US sales of Off the Wall.

[94] Jackson performed seven sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium, beating the previous record held by Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and Genesis.

[106] Before the start of the Wembley Stadium show during the Bad tour in 1988, Diana, Princess of Wales, who was in attendance, informed Jackson that it was one of her favorite songs.

[134] The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau was also of high praise, writing that Bad is "the strongest and most consistent black pop album in years", attributing this to its "studio mastery" and Jackson's "rhythmic and vocal power".

[135] In USA Today, Edna Gundersen had a highly positive view, calling Bad Jackson's "most polished effort to date", that is "calculated but not sterile".

[139] Some critics were not as favorable; Richard Cromelin of the Los Angeles Times called Bad "a fair-to-strong array of soul and rock blends" but felt that it would be "disappointing" if this album's "creative level" is where Jackson wants to stay.

[141] In a retrospective comment in 2009, VH1 said that the expectations for Bad were "ridiculously high", noting that there was also further hype after Jackson planned duets with the likes of Prince; Whitney Houston; Aretha Franklin and Barbra Streisand.

[102] Hilburn further praised the Grammy Awards' maturity for not allowing Jackson’s huge commercial success and fame lead him to an Album of the Year win.

[156] On April 5, 1990, Jackson arrived at the White House, where he was congratulated by U.S. President George H. W. Bush on being named as the "Artist of the Decade" by the Capital Children's Museum following his continued dominance during the Bad era.

In a retrospective review for BBC Music, Mike Diver regards Bad as a standout event of 1980s pop culture, comparing its importance to the rise of the Walkman, the Back to the Future movies, and the shooting of JR.

[74] Newsweek credits Bad with defining the sound of pop music in the late 1980s, along with Madonna's Like a Prayer (1989) and Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989).

[171] In an article for The Root, Matthew Allen claimed that Bad was the start of Jackson's "three-year prime" in his vocals, songwriting, producing, performing and video output.

[173] Ranked as the best album of 1987 by Consequence Of Sound, the publication asserts that Bad captured a "bigger, bolder, and far more vital" Jackson who emphasised important topics, including racial injustices and world peace.

[165] In similar praise, Erika Ramirez of Billboard highlighted "Another Part of Me" and "Man in the Mirror" for showcasing Jackson as a "caring humanitarian" and emphasizing world unity.

[174] "On Bad, Jackson's music is largely about creating moods, visceral emotions, and fantastical scenarios....[with] each song work[ing] as a dream capsule, inviting the listener into a vivid new sound, story, space."

[176] Rodriguez also felt that during the Bad era, Jackson's vocal hiccups and stammered "shamone" would become staples in his music that were "heightening and highlighting the emotion of his lyrics.

"[176] Jim Farber of the Daily News wrote that Bad took aspects of Off the Wall and Thriller to create Jackson's "most smooth work of pop to date".

[177] Writing for Albumism, Chris Lacy's view is that "Comparisons with Off the Wall and Thriller are unimportant, except for this one: Bad is a pure pop masterpiece that stands parallel with—and, at times, eclipses—its classic predecessors."

[181] A professor at Louisiana State University asserts that the "Bad" music video revolutionized the traditional understanding of masculinity, particularly amongst Black American men.

Jackson emphasized a sense of optimism about the future and distorted conventional notions of sexuality by presenting a dual image: a masculine self, indicated by clothing that suggested toughness, alongside a feminine aspect, expressed through his effeminate hairstyle and use of make-up.