" Smooth Criminal " is a song by American singer Michael Jackson from his 1987 album Bad . The first broadcast on television as a video in early October 1988, was released as the band's seventh single on October 21, 1988, and peaked at number seven on Billboard Hot 100. The song was re-released on April 10, 2006, as part from the Visionary: The Video Singles box. The re-released Visionary singles are mapped at number 19 in the UK. This song is one of Jackson's distinctive songs, and has appeared in many of the biggest hits albums.
The song contained a rapid rhythm associated with Jackson's lyrics about a woman named Annie, who had been violently attacked in her apartment by a fine attacker.
The song serves as the theme song for Jackson's 1988 movie Moonwalker, and plays as a background soundtrack on the part of Michael Jackson's Moonwalker video game.
Video Smooth Criminal
Background and composition
The song was written by Jackson and produced by Quincy Jones (with Jackson as co-producer). The earliest version of the song was written in 1985, and the original demo was recorded the following year under the title "Al Capone" (later released on Bad 25 ). This version does not create an album and is reworked and rewritten as "Smooth Criminal."
The song is played in A minor key. Jackson's vocals range from G3 to E5. It has a moderate tempo of 118 beats per minute. The repetition of the song contains the phrase "Annie, are you okay?" This is a phrase used in training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training, and Michael Jackson is known to have taken CPR courses. Resusci Anne, otherwise known as "Annie" in English-speaking countries, is the name of the mannequin commonly used in CPR training. As part of the course, participants are taught to say "Annie, are you okay?" to the doll to check that the patient is aware and responsive. It has been further verified by Gabriel Noguera of Cheltenham, who claimed to have been present during the training. He also claims Bee Gees is referring to the same course on their hit single 'Staying Alive'.
Maps Smooth Criminal
Critical response
Jason Elias of AllMusic called the song one of Jackson's best songs: "Though the" Smooth Criminal "content is a beautiful and exhilarating note." The New York Times 'Jon Pareles writes: "on the Smooth Criminal, the singer finds a bloodstained carpet and unconscious body, and asks, obsessive, Annie, do you OK? when, obviously, he does. "Rolling Stone's Davitt Sigerson writes:" Smooth Criminal "may result from retirement too soon after Brian de Palma's image. "
Music video
Originally Jackson wanted to make a music video in the western genre, but he then decided after watching 'The Godfather' with director Colin Chilvers to turn him into a 1930s gangster style. The film was shot between mid-February and April 1987. The video was aired on MTV on October 13, 1988.
Jeffrey Daniel from the Shalamar soul music group co-produced the "Smooth Criminal" video with Jackson and Vincent Paterson, who are back-and-forth dancers in "Beat It" and "Thriller". It was directed by special effects coordinator Colin Chilvers. The dance sequence of the video in the 1930s style room (and the white suit and the Michael fedora) rewarded Musical comedy Fred Astaire The Band Wagon . There are currently four different versions of the video for "Smooth Criminal", as well as additional sketches made for the concert series This Is It 2009:
- Original Moonwalker version - This is the version included in the movie Moonwalker . While technically the entire segment of "Smooth Criminal" is about 40 minutes, the actual "Smooth Criminal" part of the song is only about ten minutes. This is generally the most complete version of the video and includes the middle of an unedited interpretive dance with the dancers but does not include the last six seconds in which fans flapper themselves after the door closes behind Michael. Compared to the original song, this version has two lines in the second stanza added: "Every time I try to find it, it does not leave a clue left behind, and they have no way of knowing the suspect, or what to expect."/li>
- Moonwalker edit - This version includes in History in Movies, Volume II as well as Michael Jackson's Vision and it's basically a section version editor a ten-minute song from the "Smooth Criminal" segment in the movie Moonwalker. It is basically the same, but it has some minor changes including: different opening music and no dialogue, the center with the dancers' singing has been cut (some songs have been shortened) and ends the same as the original where Michael left the club but with the addition the main flapper fanned itself.
- Album version - This is a video version available on Michael Jackson's official website, as well as his YouTube channel. It also appears during the end credits for Moonwalker and Number Ones and is included on the exclusive Visionary single and DVD exclusive DVD Target Bad 25 >. This video is a clip montage of the original version of Moonwalker , which has been accelerated, or slowed, and polished with added blur effects, as well as some alternative angles. Videos are four minutes and seventeen seconds long. Throughout the video, the regular version of the song is playing.
- The single version - This unreleased version was edited to sync with a single blend taken from the single "Smooth Criminal" released October 24, 1988. This excludes additional lyrics and distractions. This video lasts four minutes and three seconds. This is considered MTV Base video.
- This Is It vignette - 2009 video, takes a black and white image and is meant to be displayed during the London O2 concert series. It runs for three minutes and forty-two seconds and features Jackson in revenge of his Moonwalker character, digitally inserted into the 1946 movie noose Gilda which includes the song "Put the Blame on Mame" along with multiple shots/the movie scene is Moonwalker .
The video won Best Music Video at the 1989 Brit Awards and Critic's Choice awarded Jackson the "Best Video" award and the People's Choice Awards for "Favorite Music Videos" for the same year.
Jackson's clothing style and behavior are redrawn in the various adaptations of Michael Jackson's Moonwalker video game. The song itself serves as the background music for the stage "Club 30s", a nightclub seen in the music video, which appears in the game.
Anti-gravity is slim
In the music video, Michael Jackson and the direct dancers in the vicinity sloped forward seemingly impossible; This illusion is made using strings and cables in music videos. Without this, it would be boring and impossible. To achieve this maneuver in live performances, Jackson's patented tethering mechanism is built onto the stage floor and the players' shoes, allowing players to lean without the need to keep their center of mass directly on their feet. This system consists of a peg that rises from the stage at the right moment and a special shoe with ankle supporters and pieces on the heel that can glide over the pegs and attached temporarily to the stage.
In the patent, it is stated that the illusion in the music video is achieved by using the bridle and the cable that must be connected to and disconnected from the floor by the stagehands.
Live show
The song is featured live on all of Jackson's tours.
Bad World Tour: During the second leg of Jackson's Bad World Tour (1988-1989), directed and choreographed by Jackson and Vincent Paterson. The show features a dance routine that is modeled after a scene from Moonwalker . This version of the song is available on DVD Live at Wembley July 16, 1988 . In this version, he wears a white coat with a blue armband and square pocket and a white fedora above his normal outfit. The "Hotel" intro was done, similar to the opening of This Place Hotel in the 1987 Leg of the Bad Tour, which contained a verbal introduction and dancing the silhouette of Jackson behind a blazing curtain.
Dangerous World Tour: By the time 1992 Dangerous World Tour appeared, the show was becoming commonplace on Jackson's tour. This time, the jacket and hat were put on a gold tricot. Also, the sleek anti-gravity was introduced during this tour. During the Bad tour, the lean is a drop to the floor, but Jackson stops by himself before hitting him. Lean was drawn using a special cut-out in Jackson's patented footwear that held them to the floor using nails as they leaned forward. This performance can be seen on DVD Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour.
Part of the song was also briefly used in the midst of a live version of the song "Dangerous" since Jackson's appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards 1995 for the 50th Anniversary of American Bandstand in 2002.
History World Tour: During the 1996-1997 History World Tour, his costume was a mantle, hat and blue shirt and a white tie over gold pants. The "Hotel" opening was canceled for the same opening without a talk line, but instead featured a background dance and a "Childhood" keyboard interlude by Brad Buxer.
This Is It: The song is trained for this Is It concert, which is scheduled to run from July 2009 to March 2010 before Jackson's sudden death in June 2009. Instead of featuring Jackson dancing behind a blazing curtain, the show opens with a 3-D sketch of Jackson being chased by some gangsters from the early 1930s film, putting it into the movie noir Gilda , The Big Sleep , and In Loneliness Sketches will end with Jackson jumping out of the window when Humphrey Bogart shoots him and climbs to the stage where he grabs a tommy gun and shoots out the marquee lights to spell "Smooth Criminal". Throwing a tommy gun to the side, Jackson would then pause before pushing the band to start the song. The show will also feature the return of sleek anti-gravity and the entry of dancers down from the ceiling inside the chandeliers that they will blow with tommy weapons.
Movie adaptation
The song is adapted into a short film directed by Colin Chilvers which is the core of the 1988 film Moonwalker starring Michael Jackson and Joe Pesci in the lead role.
Plot
The film begins with three homeless children - Sean, Katie and Zeke (Sean Lennon, Kellie Parker and Brandon Quintin Adams) - sneak through the big city to see their friend Michael walking out of his shop in a black suit that is covered with a white jacket. As Michael stood at the door, he stared at the night sky before he was attacked by the mob with a machine gun. The film then reverses to show Michael and the boys playing in the meadow in happy times. Their dog Skipper ran away, and when Michael and Katie looked for him, they found Mr. Big (Joe Pesci). Mr. Big - whose real name is Frankie LiDeo, who is an anagram of Frank DiLeo - is a mafia who deals with drugs with a disciplined personal army at his command. He wants the entire Earth population to become addicted to drugs, starting with children. She likes to eat peanuts and leave nuts wherever she goes. He is obsessed with spiders, as shown by their abundance at the entrance to his nest and his operation named "insects and drugs". Furthermore, all of his men drove a spider's emblem in their uniform. Katie yelled when she saw the spider in her hand, and Mr. Big found them spying on his operation.
The story goes back to filming in front of Michael's shop. Unknown to the mafia, Michael has a lucky star, and using it, he escapes from a shot. After realizing that Michael had escaped again, Mr. Big orders his men to track him down with a dog. Michael finally cornered in the alley, where he used his lucky star again to transform into a sports car (Lancia Stratos prototype 1970) that cut off several feet of the Great Master. Michael is pursued through city streets until he loses his men. Meanwhile, the children searched for the Club 30's, where Michael had told them to meet him, and only found a haunted and haunted nightclub. When Michael arrives, Katie sees her silhouette back from the car to herself, this time in a white and blue suit. The club door opened with a gust of wind, and Michael came in to find him filled with zoot suiters and swing dancers. The kids gathered outside the club window and watched Michael's dance for "Smooth Criminal."
The song used in this movie is longer than the album release, with some lyrics clarifying the story. There is also a distraction where Jackson joins other dancers in modern interpretive dance. At the height of the song, Big Master surrounded the club and kidnapped Katie. Michael followed them back to Big's nest and was finally surrounded by his men. Mr. Big appears and taunts Michael by threatening to inject Katie with a highly addictive narcotic. Katie took a break, but Mr. Big grabs it again and starts kicking Michael. When Mr. Big stood on top of Michael and ordered his men to kill him and Katie, Michael looked up and saw his lucky star. He transforms into a giant robot and kills all of the Great Tuan's soldiers, then transforms into a spaceship. Mr. Big got into a huge energy cannon on the hillside, firing on a space ship as it flew into a nearby abyss. The children are the next targets, but the spacecraft returns from the abyss just in time to fire a ray into the cannon with the Great Master inside, destroying it and killing him. The children watched the ship fly into the night sky with light rain.
The boys return to town, believing that Michael has gone forever. When the kids talk about Michael, Katie walks away crying and holding a paper star. As he sat in the corner hoping he was back, the paper star flew out of his hand and Michael walked out of the night fog. He takes them to Club 30's, where they find that the club has turned into a backstage area of ​​the concert. Michael's stage crew restores the lost puppies and then escort Michael to the stage where he performs "Come Together".
Personnel
- Vocals written, voiced, clapped, solo and background by Michael Jackson
- Produced by Quincy Jones
- Produced by Michael Jackson, Bill Bottrell
- John Robinson: Drum
- Bruce Swedien: Recording Recorder
- David Williams: Guitar, Bass guitar
- Kim Hutchcroft, Larry Williams: Saxophone
- Gary Grant, Jerry Hey: The Trumpet
- Kevin Maloney: Piano Muted Steinway
- Christopher Currell: Synclavier
- Certain synclavier effects by Denny Jaeger and Michael Rubini
- John Barnes, Michael Boddicker: Synthesizers
- The police chief's announcement by Bruce Swedien
- Michael Jackson's heartbeat recording by Dr. Eric Chevlen; processed digitally in Synclavier
- Rhythm setting by Michael Jackson and John Barnes
- Vocal arrangement by Michael Jackson
- Arrangement of horns by Jerry Hey
- A video directed by Colin Chilvers
Performance chart
Track list
Alien Ants Farm Version
In 2001, Alien Ant Farm released the cover of "Smooth Criminal" as their debut single from their album Anthology . According to band members, they will play some riffs from Jackson's song while warming up before the show and the audience will ask them to play the entire song. This positive feedback encourages them to record their own "Smooth Criminal" translation and put it into Anthology . It hit number one on the Billboard 'Modern Rock Tracks chart and was also number one in Australia. The music video was directed by Marc Klasfeld, and featured several references to the Michael Jackson music video, including the video "Smooth Criminal" itself. The song is featured in the 2001 film American Pie 2 and the TV spot for Horrible Bosses 2 . This version is featured in several video games including Karaoke Revolution , Guitar Hero On Tour: Decade and as downloadable content for Rock Band series.
The Greatest Hits album (1999) included a hidden song called "Slick Thief", which was an early version of "Smooth Criminal".
Diagram
Weekly chart
Year end chart
Certification
Glee version
In January 2012, Naya Rivera (as his character Santana Lopez) and Grant Gustin (like Sebastian Smythe) performed "Smooth Criminal" as a duet in the three-episode "Michael" season of the American music show Glee , powered by 2Cellos music duo. The song was filmed in an environment similar to 2Cellos music video, in a room surrounded by empty seats when both musicians played. This cover debuted and peaked at number 26 on Billboard Hot 100, number 10 on Billboard Digital Songs, and number 28 on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 chart on the week of February 18, 2012.
References
External links
- Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal on YouTube
- Alien Ant Farm - Smooth Criminal on YouTube
- Methods and tools for creating an anti gravity illusion
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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