Leave Me Alone (Michael Jackson song)

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"'Leave Me Alone' has the angry edge that is lacking in much of the song 'Bad'."

Richard Harrington, a writer for The Washington Post [12]

"Leave Me Alone" was generally well received by contemporary music critics. In a retrospective assessment, Stephen Thomas Erlewine, a writer for AllMusic, stated he felt that "Leave Me Alone" was the best track on Bad, commenting "why are all of his best songs paranoid anthems?" [6] Steve Morse, a writer for The Boston Globe , described "Leave Me Alone" as a "send-up" of Jackson's feuds with the "paparazzi-filled tabloids." [13] Jon Pareles, of The New York Times , commented that "Leave Me Alone" had an "unmistakable message". [14] After Jackson's death in June 2009, Rolling Stone listed "Leave Me Alone" as being one of Jackson's most monumental works, and the song's composition was generally praised. [8]

"Leave Me Alone" performed well on various charts. It was released as a single outside the United States and Canada. The song, similar to Bad's previous singles, proved to be a commercial success internationally. "Leave Me Alone"'s most successful territory was Ireland, where the song peaked at No. 1. [15] The song saw similar chart success on the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Norwegian and Switzerland charts, peaking within the top 10 at Nos. 2, 5, 6 and 10, respectively. [16] [17] "Leave Me Alone" also peaked within the top 20 in Austria, France and Sweden, peaking at Nos. 15, 17 and 19, respectively. [16] The single was least successful in Australia, where the song peaked at number 37. [18]

Music video

The music video for "Leave Me Alone" was directed by Jim Blashfield and produced by Blashfield, Paul Diener, Jackson, and Frank DiLeo. It was filmed in January 1988 in Culver City, California [1] and was released on January 2, 1989. The video also appeared in the 1988 film Moonwalker . [19] In essence, the video is an amusement park consisting of stylistically crude images based around Jackson's successful career since 1982's Thriller . There is an emphasis on the tabloid view of Jackson's personal life and public image, referring to the nickname "Wacko Jacko" given to him by the press, and the various headlines associated with him in the 1980s. [20] Lampooning rumours that he tried to purchase Joseph Merrick's bones, Jackson dances with stop motion "Elephant Man" bones in the video. [20]

In the video, there are images of shrines to actress Elizabeth Taylor, a real life close friend of Jackson. Throughout the video newspaper headlines, published by "National Intruder", with bizarre titles are shown, such as "Michael's Space-Age Diet" and "Michael Proposes to Liz". Another notable scene in the music video was a nose being chased by a surgical scalpel, which was a reference to Jackson's plastic surgeries being scrutinized by the media. At the end of the video, it is revealed that a gigantic Jackson himself is the amusement park. He breaks free, tearing the park to pieces. That scene is somewhat reminiscent of Gulliver's Travels , where Gulliver eventually breaks free from the Lilliputians' bonds. [21]

"Leave Me Alone" was the recipient of multiple nominations for its music video. The video won a Grammy Award in 1990 for Best Short Form Music Video at the 32nd Grammy Awards. [22] The video also won the Cannes Gold Lion Award for Best Special Effects. [23] The video also won Best Special Effects at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards and received five nominations for Video of the Year, Viewers' Choice, Breakthrough Video, Best Editing and Best Art Direction. [24] The winners were respectively: Neil Young's "This Note's for You" ("Video of the Year"), Art of Noise's "Kiss" ("Breakthrough Video"), Paula Abdul's "Straight Up" ("Best Editing"), and Madonna's "Express Yourself" ("Best Cinematography", "Best Art Direction") and "Like a Prayer" ("Viewers' Choice"). [24] Erlewine described the music video as being "weirdly claustrophobic" and felt that, "not coincidentally, it was the best video from the album." [6]

Track listing

"Leave Me Alone"
Leave Me Alone (Micheal Jackson single) coverart.jpg
Single by Michael Jackson
from the album Bad
B-side "Human Nature" (album version) [1]
ReleasedFebruary 13, 1989 (1989-02-13) [1]
Recorded1985–1986 [1]
Studio Westlake (studio D), Los Angeles [1]
Genre Funk
Length4:40
Label
Songwriter(s) Michael Jackson
Producer(s)
Michael Jackson singles chronology
"Smooth Criminal"
(1988)		"Leave Me Alone"
(1989)		"Liberian Girl"
(1989)
Music video
"Leave Me Alone" on YouTube

Personnel

Credits adapted from Bad: Special Edition's liner notes: [10]

Charts

Certifications

Certifications for "Leave Me Alone"
RegionCertification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI) [48] Silver200,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

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