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"Smooth Criminal" is the seventh single from Michael Jackson's 1987 Bad album. 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 21, 1988, and peaked at number seven 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 number 19 in the UK. The piece is one of Jackson's signature songs, and has appeared on numerous greatest hits albums, including Number Ones, The Essential Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection, King of Pop, This Is It, and Immortal.
The song also serves as the theme song to Jackson's 1988 film Moonwalker. The single has sold over 7.5 million copies.
Smooth Criminal was a song written by Michael Jackson and co-produced with Quincy Jones. Two early versions of the song were written by Jackson in 1985 and the original demo was recorded in 1986. The first song was called "Chicago 1945" which evolved into "Al Capone" (which was later released on the Bad 25th anniversary edition of the album). This version didn't make the album and was re-worked and re-written as "Smooth Criminal". This song is played in the key of A minor.[2] Jackson's vocal spans from G3 to E5.[2] It has a moderate tempo and metronome of 118 beats per minute.[2]
Jackson originally wanted to make the short film in the western genre, but later decided to change it to a 1930s nightclub style.[3] Film was shot between mid-February and April 1987. The video for Smooth Criminal is the first time Jackson unveiled his anti-gravity lean in which the performer has both feet planted on the floor and leans forward close to a 45 degree angle, creating the illusion that the performer is defying gravity. The lean was accomplished in the video by using specially designed shoes with notches cut in the sole. Bolts in the floor would be placed at specially designated locations, where the dancer would lock the shoe into place allowing them to lean at will while remaining anchored to the ground. [4]
The style of both the clip and the clothes as well as 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 Club 30s stage, the nightclub from the movie, in all versions of the game.
The song was performed live during the second leg of Jackson's 1988"89 Bad World Tour, directed and choreographed by Jackson and Vincent Paterson. 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, including his HIStory World Tour. A spoken word and synth recording preceded the song on the second leg of the Bad tour and on the subsequent Dangerous World Tour, the same recording having been used as an intro for the song "This Place Hotel" on the first leg of the Bad Tour. By the time of the Dangerous Tour, Jackson wanted to perform the anti-gravity lean from the Smooth Criminal video live on stage. To accomplish this, Jackson, along with other designers, developed a special type of shoe that has a notch in the heel that hooks to a peg that shoots up out of the stage, locking the performer to the stage, enabling them to lean forward and create the illusion. Jackson was granted U.S. Patent No. 5,255,452 for the device. Like the robot move from "Dancing Machine" and 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 was also briefly used in the middle of the live version of the song "Dangerous" since Jackson's performance at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards. In the HIStory Tour, he used a small snippet of this song during his performance of "Dangerous". Jackson had planned to use it again in his "Dangerous" performance in his This Is It concerts,[citation needed] along with the full track,[citation needed] the concert series was canceled due to his sudden death.
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Michael Jackson Smooth Criminal Video
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michael jackson smooth criminal
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Michael Smooth Criminal Video
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