
Peak
7
Weeks
15
Score
2,457
Chart Year
1989
Jackson asked Vincent Paterson to conceive a concept for the short film. Paterson listened to the unfinished song and came up with the concept of a 1930s gangster club. Paterson, who was a lead dancer in the music videos for "Beat It" and "Thriller", co-choreographed the "Smooth Criminal" video with Jackson and Jeffrey Daniel of the soul music group Shalamar. The video and Jackson's white suit and fedora pay tribute to the Fred Astaire musical comedy film The Band Wagon, particularly the "Girl Hunt Ballet" (itself inspired by the novels of Mickey Spillane) scene. The video, directed by Colin Chilvers, was shot between mid-February and April 1987 at Culver City, California, and in the backlot at Universal Studios Hollywood and premiered internationally on MTV on the night of October 13, 1988. In the video, Jackson and the other dancers perform a lean that appears physically impossible. The dancers lean forward 45 degrees with their backs straight and feet flat on the floor, and hold the pose before returning upright. The lean moves the body's center of mass further than it can support. The illusion was achieved using cables and a harness. In October 1993, Jackson's team patented a method of performing the lean in concert using specially designed shoes that hook into pegs that rise from the stage Even with the shoes, the move requires good athletic core strength. The video won Best Music Video at the 1989 Brit Awards and the Critic's Choice awarded Jackson the "Best Video" award and the People's Choice Awards for "Favorite Music Video" for that same year. In 2019, American television personality Kim Kardashian bought Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" fedora, which still had his makeup on it, for her daughter North West. The style of clothing as well as mannerisms Jackson portrayed were reused in the numerous adaptations of the video game Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. The song serves as the background music for the "Club 30s" stage, the nightclub seen in the music video, that appears in the game. The video is the centerpiece of the 1988 film Moonwalker. On October 23, 2024, the video achieved 1 billion views on YouTube, making it the fifth of Jackson's videos to reach this milestone after "Billie Jean", "They Don't Care About Us", "Beat It" and "Thriller.
Many of the songs Jackson writes are very personal in nature, but this one (which he wrote himself) tells the fictional story of a particularly adept gangster, something far from his personal experience. Jackson takes the role of onlooker in the song, coming across the victim and asking her over and over - "Annie are you OK?" Apparently, Annie is not OK, as she's been struck by the smooth criminal. This song was a highlight of Jackson's live shows, where he performed variations of the 45-degree lean popularized in the video, often leaving the crowd wondering how it was done. The routine grew more elaborate over time; on the Dangerous tour (1992-1993), he basically reenacted the video with four dancers. The HIStory tour (1996-1997) brought a more theatrical performance, with Jackson dressed like a 1930s Chicago gangster. He would appear on stage with a prop machine gun and blast away six or so rival gangsters, whose bodies were then dragged off stage to great applause. The lean was accomplished with specially designed shoes that could lock into an anchor on the floor. Jackson patented the system. There are four versions of the video, with the original being in the Moonwalker film. The most famous aspect of the video is the forward lean where Michael and his dancers appear to defy gravity. In the video, ropes and magnets were used to achieve the special effect. On stage, the dancers wore special shoes that could be furtively inserted into pegs on the stage floor, then quickly removed to resume full motion. The technique was filed under United States Patent Law by Jackson and two collaborators in 1993, although the patent expired in 2005. >> It was the recording engineer, Bruce Swedien, who was the voice of the police chief on Jackson's recording. Alien Ant Farm's version was a hit in 2001, going to #23 in the US and #3 in the UK. That thumping you hear at the beginning is Jackson's own heartbeat, digitally processed through a Synclavier. Colin Chilvers directed the Moonwalk film, including the 42-minute "Smooth Criminal" segment. Chilvers, who worked on films like The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) and Superman (1978), was inspired by the golden age of Hollywood. He explained to Rolling Stone: "I showed Michael a movie that I felt would fit the theme of the piece, The Third Man. He loved the look of it, that sort of film-noir look, so we used that to get the camera man to light it in a similar way. The dance piece was a tribute to Fred Astaire. And actually, he wears a similar kind of costume that Fred had used in one of his movies – Band Wagon. We had the pleasure of having Fred's choreographer come on the set. [Astaire's choreographer] Hermes Pan visited the set while we were doing the song and dance piece and said that Fred would have been very happy and proud of being copied by such a wonderful person. The lean that we did, obviously that was a bit of a heritage from my days of Superman. 'Cause we had Michael on wires and fixed his feet to the ground so he could do that famous lean. I fixed their heels to the ground with a slot, so that they were locked into it. If you look in the video, when they come back up from that lean, they kind of shuffle their feet back – they were unlocking themselves from the support they had in the ground. We had 46 dancers plus the choreographers, hair, make-up, everything else. And every day, lunchtime, we'd go and watch the dailies from the day before. And it would be like a party going on in the screening room. Michael would be there as well and they would be hoopin' and hollerin' when they saw themselves and how good it looked – or else, Michael would say, 'We can do better than that.' Not the usual way to make a Hollywood movie, that's for sure." As revealed in the Spike Lee documentary Bad 25, the refrain was inspired by Resusci Anne, an industry-standard resuscitation doll that Jackson had been learning CPR on. Trainees are taught to ask "Annie, are you OK?" while performing CPR on the dummy.
As he came into the window Was a sound of a crescendo He came into her apartment He left the bloodstains on the carpet She ran underneath the table You could see she was unable So she ran into the bedroom She was struck down, it was her doom Annie, are you ok? So, Annie are you ok? Are you ok, Annie? Annie, are you ok? So, Annie are you ok? Are you ok, Annie? Annie, are you ok? So, Annie are you ok? Are you ok, Annie? Annie, are you ok? So, Annie are you ok? Are you ok, Annie? Annie are you ok? Will you tell us that you're ok? There's a sound at the window Then he struck you, a crescendo, Annie He came into your apartment Left the bloodstains on the carpet Then you ran into the bedroom You were struck down, it was your doom Annie, are you ok? So, Annie are you ok? Are you ok, Annie? Annie, are you ok? So, Annie are you ok? Are you ok, Annie? Annie, are you ok? So, Annie are you ok? Are you ok, Annie? You've been hit by, you've been hit by A smooth criminal So they came into the outway It was Sunday, what a black day Mouth to mouth resuscitation Sounding heartbeats, intimidation Annie, are you ok? So, Annie are you ok? Are you ok, Annie? Annie, are you ok? So, Annie are you ok? Are you ok, Annie? Annie, are you ok? So, Annie are you ok? Are you ok, Annie? Annie, are you ok? So, Annie are you ok? Are you ok, Annie? Annie are you ok? Will you tell us that you're ok? There's a sound at the window Then he struck you, a crescendo, Annie He came into your apartment Left the bloodstains on the carpet Then you ran into the bedroom You were struck down, it was your doom Annie, are you ok? So, Annie are you ok? Are you ok, Annie? You've been hit by, you've been struck by A smooth criminal Okay, I want everybody to clear the area right now Annie are you ok? (I don't know) Will you tell us that you're ok? (I don't know) There's a sound at the window (I don't know) Then he struck you, a crescendo, Annie (I don't know) He came into your apartment (I don't know) Left the bloodstains on the carpet (I don't know why, baby) Then you ran into the bedroom (help me) You were struck down, it was your doom Annie (dag gone it) Annie are you ok? (Dag gone it, baby) Will you tell us that you're ok? (Dag gone it, baby) There's a sound at the window (dag gone it, baby) Then he struck you, a crescendo, Annie He came into your apartment (dag gone it) Left the bloodstains on the carpet Then you ran into the bedroom You were struck down, it was your doom Annie (dag gone it)
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nov 12, 1988 | 66 | 60 |
| 2 | Nov 19, 1988 | 49 | 77 |
| 3 | Nov 26, 1988 | 38 | 88 |
| 4 | Dec 3, 1988 | 32 | 94 |
| 5 | Dec 10, 1988 | 25 | 101 |
| 6 | Dec 17, 1988 | 20 | 106 |
| 7 | Dec 24, 1988 | 13 | 113 |
| 8 | Dec 31, 1988 | 13 | 113 |
| 9 | Jan 7, 1989 | 10 | 116 |
| 10 | Jan 14, 1989 | 7 | 119 |
| 11 | Jan 21, 1989 | 7 | 119 |
| 12 | Jan 28, 1989 | 15 | 111 |
| 13 | Feb 4, 1989 | 31 | 95 |
| 14 | Feb 11, 1989 | 51 | 75 |
| 15 | Feb 18, 1989 | 80 | 46 |