Leave Me Alone

"Leave Me Alone"
Single by Michael Jackson
from the album Bad
Released February 13, 1989 (1989-02-13)
(Not released in the U.S.)
Format 7" vinyl, 12" vinyl, cassette single, CD single
Recorded 1987
Genre Pop rock, funk
Length 4:40
Label Epic Records
Writer(s) Michael Jackson
Producer Quincy Jones
Michael Jackson (co-produced)
Michael Jackson singles chronology
"Smooth Criminal"
(1988)		 "Leave Me Alone"
(1989)		 "2300 Jackson Street"
(1989)
Bad track listing
"Smooth Criminal"
(10)		 "Leave Me Alone"
(11)		 "Streetwalker" (Special Edition)
(13)

"Leave Me Alone" is a single by American songwriter and recording artist Michael Jackson. The song was featured on Jackson's seventh studio album, Bad in 1987, and was as the eighth single from the album in February 1989, but was released outside of the United States and Canada. "Leave Me Alone" only appeared on the CD versions of Bad as a bonus track. The song was written and composed by Jackson and produced by Quincy Jones (with Jackson serving as co-producer).

Internationally, the song was a success, peaking at number one and two in Spain and the United Kingdom as well charting with the top ten in New Zealand and Italy. "Leave Me Alone" was generally well received by contemporary music critics. A music video was released for the song. In the video, Jackson pokes fun at the false rumors about him in the video, such as stories about him purchasing the bones of "The Elephant Man" and Jackson's cosmetic surgery. The albums music video was the recipient of a Grammy Award in 1990 for Best Short Form Music Video. Despite the success of the single, the song never appeared on any of Jackson's world concert tours.

Contents

Background and composition

"Leave Me Alone" was a response to negative and false stories about Jackson that frequently appeared in the media and tabloids post-1986 after the monumental success of Thriller.[1] Beginning in 1986, the tabloids began to publish false stories about Jackson, one of the first being a story claiming that Jackson slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to slow the aging process. A picture leaked out to the media of him lying down in a hyberbaric chamber at a hospital he visited. An unknown person took the picture of Jackson while he was testing out the chamber out of curiosity.

When Jackson bought a pet chimpanzee named Bubbles, the media viewed it as evidence of Jackson's increasing detachment from reality.[2] It was also reported that Jackson had offered to buy the bones of Joseph "The Elephant Man" Merrick; Jackson stated that the story was "a complete lie".[2][3] These stories inspired the nickname "Wacko Jacko", which Jackson acquired the following year, and would come to despise. Another frequent response from the media was about Jackson's plastic surgery. Jackson's manager said of the media's criticism towards the topic, "So many terrible things have been written. Okay, so he had his nose fixed, and the cleft — big deal. I got news for you, my nose has broke five times. It's been fixed twice. Who gives a shit? Who cares? Elvis had his nose done. Marilyn Monroe had her nose done, had her breasts done? Everybody's had it done."[4]

The song has been viewed as having a "paranoia theme", a theme that Jackson had frequently used on previous studio albums.[5] The Atlantic felt that Jackson showed "obvious expressions of distrust" in the song and that the song was one of multiple songs where Jackson's "persistent loneliness in his music" was "prominent".[6] In 2009, J. Edward Keyes, of Rolling Stone, described "Leave Me Alone" as sounding like "vintage Michael" and the song works because of its music, "a batch of thick chords for Jackson to vamp over".[7] Keyes noted that the song was a "kind of darker inversion" of "The Way You Make Me Feel", and that "Leave Me Alone" was "worked-up and angry, and Jackson's aggressive scraping of the high notes makes plain his frustration."[7]

Instrumentation

Instruments for "Leave Me Alone" include a piano and guitar.[8] The song is set in the key of E minor with Jackson's voice range being sung from Bb3 to Ab5.[8] The songs tempo is moderate and its metronome is 112 beats per minute.[8]

Critical and commercial reception

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

Richard Harrington, a writer for the The Washington Post[9]

"Leave Me Alone" was generally well received by contemporary music critics. 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?"[5] 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."[10] Jon Parales, of The New York Times, commented that "Leave Me Alone" had an "unmistakable message".[11] After Jackson's death in June 2009, Rolling Stone listed "Leave Me Alone" as being one of Jackson's most monumental work, and the song's composition was generally praised.[7]

"Leave Me Alone" performed well on various charts. It was released as a single outside of 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 Spain, where the song peaked at number one; it stayed at the top position for one week.[12] The song saw similar chart success on the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Norwegian, Italian and Switzerland charts, peaking within the top ten at number two, five, six, eight and ten.[12][13] "Leave Me Alone" also peaked within the top twenty in Sweden, France, and Austrian, peaking at number fifteen, seventeen and nineteen.[12] The single was least successful in Australia, where the song peaked at number thirty-seven.[12]

Music video

A newspaper with the headline reading "Michael Sleeps In Hyperbaric Chamber". The headline is a reference to a frequent rumor (which Jackson said was false) that he slept in a hyperbaric chamber, with an identical photo shown to the one that was attached to the stories, which showed Jackson lying in a glass box.

The music video for "Leave Me Alone", was directed by Jim Blashfield and Paul Diener and released in early 1989.[14] The video was also featured in the 1988 film Moonwalker.[15] 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.[16] Lampooning rumours that he tried to purchase Joseph Merrick's bones, Jackson dances with stop motion "Elephant Man" bones in the video.[16] This particular segment (without the image of the bones) was used for the single's cover art, and the boneless video segment was featured in Moonwalker trailer.

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 reference to Jackson's plastic surgery being criticized 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 a somewhat reminiscent of Gulliver's Travels, where Gulliver eventually breaks free from the Lilliputians' grasp from Lilliput.[17]

"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.[18] The video also received six nominations at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards for Video of the Year, Viewers' Choice, Breakthrough Video, Best Editing and Best Art Direction; the video won Best Special Effects.[19] The video lost its five nominations to Neil Young's "This Note Is for You" ("Video of the Year"), Art of Noise ("Breakthrough Video") Paula Abdul ("Best Editing") and Madonna's "Express Yourself" ("Best Cinematography", "Best Art Direction") and "Like a Prayer" ("Viewers' Choice").[19] Erewine described the music video as being "weirdly claustrophobic" and felt that, "not coincidentally," it was the "best video from the album."[5]

Track listing

  1. "Leave Me Alone" – 4:40
  2. "Human Nature" – 4:06
  1. "Leave Me Alone" – 4:40
  2. "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" – 6:05
  3. "Human Nature" – 4:06
  • Visionary CD side:[12]
  1. "Leave Me Alone" - 4:40
  2. "Another Part of Me" (Extended Dance Mix) - 6:18
  • Visionary DVD side:[12]
  1. "Leave Me Alone" (Music video) - 4:36

Chart performance

Chart (1989/2006/2009) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart 37[12]
Austrian Singles Chart 15[12]
Dutch Top 40 5[12]
French Singles Chart 17[12]
Italian Singles Chart 8[12]
Norwegian Singles Chart 6[12]
Spanish Singles Chart 1[12]
Swedish Singles Chart 19[12]
Swiss Singles Chart 10[12]
UK Singles Chart 2[13]

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ Sarah Rodman (2009-06-26). "Michael Jackson, pop's uneasy king, dead at 50". The Boston Globe. The New York Times Company. http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2009/06/26/michael_jackson_pop_icon_dead_at_50/?page=2. Retrieved 2010-02-08. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Music's misunderstood superstar". BBC News. BBC Online. 2005-06-13. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4584367.stm. Retrieved 2010-01-26. 
  3. ↑ Tucker, Ken (2009-06-25). "Beyond the Pale". Entertainment Weekly. Time Warner Inc. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,305696,00.html. Retrieved 2010-01-27. 
  4. ↑ Michael Gldberg, David Handelam (1997-09-24). "Cover Story: Is Michael Jackson for Real?". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media LLC. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/28852269/page/4. Retrieved 2010-02-08. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "allmusic ((( Bad > Overview )))". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Aoe6cmpe39ffo. Retrieved 2010-02-07. 
  6. ↑ Hsu, Hua (2009-06-26). "MJ R.I.P.". The Atlantic. The Atlantic Monthly Group. http://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2009/06/mj-rip/20169/. Retrieved 2010-02-08. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 J. Edwards Keyes (2009-06-26). "Michael Jackson: The Essential Playlist". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media LLC. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/28853262/michael_jackson_the_essential_playlist. Retrieved 2010-02-09. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Leave Me Alone - Michael Jackson Digital Sheet Music (Digital Download)". MusicNotes.com. Alfred Publishing Co. Inc. http://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0037341. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
  9. ↑ Harrington, Richard (1987-08-31). "Article: Jackson's `Bad': Looking Good; Not a `Thriller' but It's Full of Flash". HighBeam.com. The Gale Group, Inc. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1340706.html. Retrieved 2010-02-09. 
  10. ↑ Morse, Steve (1989-01-10). "Michael's Magic Show Continues". The Boston Globe. The New York Times Company. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=BG&p_theme=bg&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EADEEB603F67F9F&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM. Retrieved 2010-02-09. 
  11. ↑ Parales, Jon (1987-08-31). "Pop Review: Michael Jackson's 'Bad'; A Follow Up To A Blockbuster". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. http://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/31/arts/pop-michael-jackson-s-bad-follow-up-to-a-blockbuster.html. Retrieved 2010-02-09. 
  12. ↑ 12.00 12.01 12.02 12.03 12.04 12.05 12.06 12.07 12.08 12.09 12.10 12.11 12.12 12.13 12.14 12.15 12.16 "Michael Jackson - Leave Me Alone (chanson)". LesCharts.com. Hung Medien. http://www.lescharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Michael+Jackson&titel=Leave+Me+Alone&cat=s. Retrieved 2010-02-08. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Leave Me Alone". ChartStats.com. The Official Charts Company. http://www.chartstats.com/songinfo.php?id=1274. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
  14. ↑ Halstead, p. 197
  15. ↑ Variety Staff (1988-01-01). "Moonwalker". Variety. Reed Business Information. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117793231.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0. Retrieved 2010-01-25. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Michael Jackson: The Man Inside 'Moonwalker' Video". Sarasota Hernald Tribune. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uzEcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1nkEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7068,1149731&dq=leave+me+alone+michael+jackson+video&hl=en. Retrieved 2010-04-06. 
  17. ↑ Harrington, Richard (1989-01-10). "Videos; `Moonwalker': It's Baaad; Michael Jackson's Extravagant New Arrival". The Washington Post. The Washington Post Company. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/73771369.html?dids=73771369:73771369&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jan+10%2C+1989&author=Richard+Harrington&pub=The+Washington+Post+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=Videos%3B+%60Moonwalker'%3A+It's+Baaad%3B+Michael+Jackson's+Extravagant+New+Arrival&pqatl=google. Retrieved 2010-04-06. 
  18. ↑ "Grammy Awards 1990". Rock On The Net. http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/1990/grammys.htm. Retrieved 2010-02-08. 
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 "1989 Video Music Awards". MTV. Viacom. http://www.mtv.com/ontv/vma/1989/. Retrieved 2010-02-09. 
  20. ↑ Bad: Special Edition liner notes, Epic Records (2001).

External links