"Just Good Friends" is a pop-soul duet composed by Terry Britten and Graham Lyle for Michael Jackson's 1987 album Bad, produced by Quincy Jones on Epic Records. It is one of only two songs on the album not written by Jackson himself, the other being "Man in the Mirror." Britten and Lyle, the British songwriting partnership known for penning Tina Turner's Grammy-winning "What's Love Got to Do with It," crafted the piece as a lighthearted vocal conversation between two singers portrayed as quarrelling friends with a romantic undercurrent. The composition blends pop sensibilities with soul and Motown influences, drawing connections to early Jackson 5 material in its cheerful energy and rhythmic drive. The arrangement incorporates full horn and rhythm sections, including saxophones, trumpets, and a multi-layered drum setup, creating a dense pop-soul sound. Space is built into the structure for keyboard improvisation, which Stevie Wonder fills with a synthesizer solo on the album recording, where he also serves as the duet partner opposite Jackson. The vocal arrangement accommodates a back-and-forth conversational dynamic rather than following a strictly conventional verse-chorus pattern. Critical reception was mixed: the Los Angeles Times praised its relaxed charm and Motown connections, while Rolling Stone called it the album's sole mediocrity. It is the only track from Bad never released as a single.
