Smooth Criminal

THE STORY BEHIND ' Smooth Criminal '

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This is the cinematic masterpiece of the Bad album. It is the song that gave Michael his most iconic look after the sequined glove: the white suit and fedora. The story below details the evolution from its demo "Al Capone," the medical origin of the famous "Annie" lyric, and the secret behind the anti-gravity lean.

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"Smooth Criminal" didn't appear out of thin air; it was the result of years of refinement. Michael Jackson had been obsessed with the 1930s gangster era for a long time. During the early sessions for Bad, he wrote and recorded a demo called "Al Capone."

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"Al Capone" (which was eventually released on the Bad 25 anniversary album) contains the DNA of "Smooth Criminal." It has the same rapid-fire bassline and the same staccato vocal delivery. However, Michael felt "Al Capone" was too specific historically. He wanted to modernize the story. He took the groove of "Al Capone," slowed it down slightly to make it heavier, and rewrote the lyrics to be a noir mystery about a girl named Annie who is attacked in her apartment. The result was "Smooth Criminal."

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The Fight with Quincy Jones Unbelievably, Quincy Jones did not want "Smooth Criminal" on the album. Quincy felt the song was too repetitive and "weird." He disliked the groove and thought it wouldn't sit well on the radio. He famously lobbied to cut it from the final tracklist.

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Michael Jackson, usually deferential to Quincy, put his foot down. He knew the song was a masterpiece. He loved the cinematic tension of it. It became one of the few times Michael overruled his mentor, and history proved Michael right. It became the defining track of the album’s second half.

 

"Annie, Are You Okay?" The chorus lyric "Annie, are you okay? So, Annie, are you okay?" has puzzled fans for decades. Who is Annie?

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The answer lies in Michael’s CPR training. In CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) classes, students practice on a mannequin known as Resusci Anne. The standard procedure when approaching a collapsed victim is to check for consciousness by shaking them and asking, "Annie, are you okay?"

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Michael took this medical phrase and turned it into one of the catchiest hooks in pop history. He transformed a first-aid drill into a panicked plea for a victim’s life.

 

The song opens with a terrifying, rhythmic thumping sound. This is the sound of Michael Jackson’s own heartbeat.

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To capture this, Michael recorded his heartbeat directly into the Synclavier (the massive digital synthesizer used on the album). The production team then processed the sound, speeding it up to match the tempo of the song. It sets the tone immediately: this is a song about life and death.

 

On the album, the song starts with the heartbeat. But in the video (and the radio edit), it starts with the sound of a coin spinning on a table and landing in a jukebox. This sound effect is iconic. Michael wanted the listener to feel like they were walking into a 1930s club, dropping a quarter in the machine, and witnessing a crime story unfold.

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The music video (part of the Moonwalker film) features the most famous special effect in Michael’s career: The Lean. In the video, Michael and his dancers lean forward at a 45-degree angle, defying the laws of physics, before snapping back up.

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For the video, this was achieved using wires and harnesses. However, Michael wanted to perform it live on stage. He knew wires would be too visible in a concert setting. So, he and his team invented a special shoe system.

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US Patent No. 5,255,452 Michael Jackson is a patented inventor. He filed a patent for a "Method and means for creating anti-gravity illusion." The system worked like this: A specially designed hitch (a metal peg) would rise out of the stage floor at the exact right moment. The heels of Michael’s shoes had a V-shaped slot that would slide onto the peg. Once locked in, the shoes were anchored to the floor, allowing him to lean forward using his core strength without falling over. It remains one of the greatest stage secrets in magic and music history.

 

A Mini-Movie The "Smooth Criminal" video is the centerpiece of the 1988 film Moonwalker. Directed by Colin Chilvers, it is set in a 1930s underworld club called "Club 30s."

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Michael’s look, the white suit, the blue armband, the white fedora with the black band, and the spats on his shoes was a tribute to Fred Astaire (specifically Astaire’s look in the movie The Band Wagon).

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The choreography is sharp, aggressive, and precise. It introduced the "Moonwalk break" (where the music stops and the dancers move in slow motion) and the "machine gun" dance, where the dancers drop to their knees and mimic firing tommy guns.

 

"Smooth Criminal" reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, but its cultural impact was far greater than its chart position. It became the definitive "Michael Jackson cool" song.

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In 2001, the rock band Alien Ant Farm released a heavy metal cover of the song. It became a massive hit, introducing the song to a new generation of nu-metal fans. Michael reportedly loved the cover, giving the band his blessing because they kept the integrity of the original riff.

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Today, the white suit and the lean are instantly recognizable symbols of the King of Pop, proof that he could take a 1930s gangster concept and make it sound like the future.