Smooth Criminal

Smooth Criminal" is the seventh single from Michael Jackson's Bad album (1987). The song contains a fast-paced beat intertwined with Jackson's lyrics about a woman named Annie, who has been attacked in her apartment by a smooth assailant. It was released as a single on October 24, 1988 and peaked at 7 on the Billboard Hot 100.[1] It was re-released on April 10, 2006 as a part of the Visionary: The Video Singles box-set. The re-released Visionary single charted at #19 in the UK. In 2003, the song appeared on the Number Ones greatest hits album.

Song information

The song was the centerpiece in Jackson's musical film Moonwalker, featuring Joe Pesci. In the film, Jackson plays with his young friends outdoors when they come upon a cave, which leads to a kind of dream world in which "Mr. Big" Frankie Lideo has been selling drugs to youths in order to get everyone hooked. The "Mr. Big" character was a play on the name of Michaels manager, Frankie Dileo. In the movie, Joe Pesci is often heard repeating his character's last name, "Lideo, L-I-D-E-O, They never spell my name right." This was an inside joke between Jackson and Dileo. "Smooth Criminal" was presented in a ten-minute long clip in which Jackson dances through a 1930s-style nightclub (known in the film as "Club 30s"). The version of the song used in the clip is different from the album version: the background beats are different, there are several new lyrics (see below), and the song is much longer overall. The version of the video that is usually aired on network television is 4 minutes long and is merely a sped up version of the clip from the film. Jackson briefly moonwalks before the famous anti-gravity lean. The ten minute long "Smooth Criminal" clip is reminiscent of the musical number known as "The Girl Hunt Ballet" which is featured as the final number in the 1952 musical film The Band Wagon starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. "The Girl Hunt Ballet" is a spoof of Mickey Spillane's hard-boiled detective novels.[2]

"Smooth Criminal" was a song that almost didn't make it into the Bad album. With the final decision to include the song, Jackson originally decided to make the music video a western-styled short film. However, he later decided to change the style into a 1930s nightclub style.[3]

An early version of the song was written by Jackson and John Barnes in 1985 and the original demo was recorded in 1986. The original title was "Al Capone". This version didn't make the album and was re-worked and re-written as "Smooth Criminal".

Both the style of the clip and the clothes and mannerisms Jackson portrayed were reused in the arcade, the Sega Master System, the Sega Mega Drive and the Sega Game Gear adaptations of Moonwalker. The song itself serves as the soundtrack for the first stage, in Club 30s, the nightclub from the movie, in all versions of the game.

The song was performed live during the second leg of Jackson's 1987–88 Bad World Tour. The performance featured a dance routine modeled after the scene from Moonwalker. By the time the 1992 Dangerous World Tour came around, this performance became a regular on Jackson tours. Jackson also performed the song on the HIStory Tour. This time Jackson had devised a way to perform the patented anti-gravity lean, which was featured in the Moonwalker video, on stage. Much like the robot move from "Dancing Machine" to the Moonwalk from "Billie Jean", this showcased Jackson's talent for creating unique moves to enhance stage performances. This performance can be seen on the Bucharest Dangerous Tour performance which is included as a DVD in The Ultimate Collection boxed set.

Part of the song is also briefly used in the middle of the live version of the song Dangerous since the performance at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards. On the HIStory Tour during the performance of Dangerous he also used a briefly part of the song during the performance. He would perform it on This is It but it was cancelled due to his sudden death.