Songoftheday 5/12/16 - As he came into the window it was the sound of a crescendo, he came into her apartment he left the bloodstains on the carpet...

"Smooth Criminal" - Michael Jackson
from the album Bad (1987)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #7 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 11

Today's song of the day comes from the "King of Pop", the late Michael Jackson, who had had an incredible run of hits from his 1987 album Bad, breaking records with five consecutive #1 hit singles in a row with "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man In The Mirror", and "Dirty Diana". A sixth single, "Another Part Of Me", just missed the top ten. Elevating Bad to the pantheon of mega-successful albums that had spun off seven singles (like Born In The USA), "Smooth Criminal" was put out in the fall of 1988. The central song in his movie Moonwalker, the track, written by Michael who co-produced it with Quincy Jones, intersperses a frenetic dance-pop chase-scene-type number with his chant-whispers of "Annie are you OK", playing off the CPR-doll meme. The 10-minute video was aired on MTV's premiere, and had the excitement that "Thriller" did in 1984, with amazing dance stunts and, well, Michael's damn presence there in his white suit. In fact, this is the most Michael Jackson of Michael Jackson videos, with the choreography ten times stronger than even Thriller and with his juxtoposition of starting out with children peering over a fence (reminding you that, yes, this is a kids movie), before having him flat out kill a potential knife goon. Then back to the kids, then back to a simulated orgy of "Annie are you OK"'s, then a gunfight. And you can't take your eyes off a minute of it.

"Smooth Criminal" became the sixth top-ten pop hit from Bad in the U.S. in January of 1989. The track also climbed to #2 on Billboard's R&B chart, while the extended remix on the 12" vinyl single made it to #10 on the Dance Club Play list. Internationally, "Smooth Criminal" topped the singles chart in Ireland, Spain, and the Netherlands, reached #8 in the UK, and got into the top ten in Germany (#9), France (#4), and Switzerland (#5). In 2006, the song came back on the chart in Britain at #19, and after Jackson's death in 2009, the single again came back at #13.

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Here's the shortened version of the video based on the radio edit of the song...

...while here's the club version that reached the top-10 on the dance chart...

Michael included the song in most of his tours. This is his performance on his Dangerous concert...

 In 2001, the alternative rock band Alien Ant Farm released a very successful cover of "Smooth Criminal", which went to #1 on Billboard's Modern Rock radio chart, #23 on the main pop chart here, and #18 on the Mainstream Rock list. Internationally, the record topped the chart in Australia (doing way better there than the original), and going top-ten in the UK and in most of Europe. The video lovingly recreates many of Jacko's biggest clips...

Croatian crossover classical duo 2Cellos had a massively viewed YouTube recreation of the song that ended up being reused with them on the musical show Glee in 2012 with Naya Rivera as Santana and Grant Gustin (now The Flash on TV), and was one of the franchise's biggest hits, reaching #26 on the American chart (#10 on the sales chart) and #83 in the UK...

 ...and finally, back to Michael again for his HIStory tour in 1997...

Up tomorrow: A new wave siren and a soul doctor get Scrooged.