What did the song Smooth Criminal do for Michael Jackson?”
“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 Mr. Big/Frankie Lideo. 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……..
The song was the centerpiece in Jackson’s short 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. “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.
