Dirty Diana

Sources : My personal research, Wikipedia, Michael Jackson: For The Record by Chris Cadman & Craig Halstead, Twitter account of Damien Shields and the amazing archives of the MJCast.

ERA

RECORDING DATE

The track was written and first recorded from November 1983 to March 1984 for the Jacksons’ Victory album, but it ultimately didn’t make the cut.

Michael returned to working on “Dirty Diana” in 1985/1986 during the Hayvenhurst sessions.

January 13, 1987 : At Westlake studios, Bill Bottrell records MJ background vocals for “Streetwalker” ans the lead vocals for “Dirty Diana”.

The final mix was completed on August 11, 1987.

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STUDIO(S)

Westlake Studios, Los Angeles, California

SONGWRITER(S)

Michael Jackson

PRODUCER(S)

Quincy Jones & Michael Jackson

RELEASE DATE :

August 31, 1987 (album version “Bad”)

April 18, 1988 (single version)

LABEL

Epic Records

LENGTH

4:07 (album version)

ALTERNATE VERSIONS RECORDED BY MJ (covers and remixes by other artists are not included)

Dirty Diana (demo drom 1983) : Unreleased

MUSICIANS

Written and composed by Michael Jackson
Produced by Quincy Jones
Co-produced by Michael Jackson
Rhythm arrangement by Michael Jackson, John Barnes and Jerry Hey
Synthesizer arrangements by Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones and John Barnes
String arrangement by John Barnes
Vocal arrangement by Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson – solo and background vocals, Clave’ clapstick
Steve Stevens – guitar solo[4]
Paul Jackson, Jr. – lead guitar
David Williams – rhythm guitar
Christopher Currell – Synclavier
Denny Jaeger – Synclavier synthesis
John Barnes, Michael Boddicker and Randy Waldman – synthesizers
John Robinson – drums
Douglas Getschal – drum programming

PEAK ON HOT 100 BILLBOARD :

1

SHORT FILM

Music video directed by Joe Pytka

Date of shooting : February 1988

Date of premiere : April 14, 1988

Official release : Released on DVD in 2003 (Number Ones) and in 2010 (Vision) and on Michael’ You Tube official page

A second seven-minute long accompanying video of a live performance (which should not be confused with the actual music video) was filmed in March 1988 in front of a live audience during Jackson’s show in Madison Square Garden (Steve Stevens playing guitar). The video starts with the screen saying “Pepsi Presents Michael Jackson Tour 1988” in front of a white background for forty seconds. After showing a black screen, Jackson can be seen from a distance performing in front of an audience with the only source of light being blue lights. During Jackson’s performance he is dressed in a white button down shirt, black pants and has metal and leather belts on his pants while singing and dancing. In between Jackson’s performance from a distance, there are clips of him performing up-close while singing into a microphone, as well as clips of his guitarist Jennifer Batten performing behind him. Jackson then begins dancing and singing to the woman before walking down a cat-walk and dancing near guitarist Steve Stevens. Jackson’s performance is then shown from a distance again and the video ends with Jackson finishing his performance and the lights turning blue.

LIVE PERFORMANCES ON TV SHOWS

Never performed on TV

LIVE PERFORMANCES IN CONCERTS

Bad World Tour (second leg 1988-1989)

The song was rehearsed in June 2009 for the planned “This Is It” concerts. Kenny Ortega, stated in an interview that “Dirty Diana” was going to be performed by Jackson for the concerts from 2009 to 2010. Ortega said that Jackson had planned to rehearse the song before he died. The set up for the song would include an expert pole dancer who would lure Jackson onto a giant steel bed on which she performed acrobatic feats.