Music Video and Live Performances
Jackson originally wanted to make the short film in the western genre, but later decided to change it to a 1930s nightclub style. Film was shot between mid-February and April 1987.
The style of both the clip and the clothes as well as mannerisms Jackson portrayed were reused in the arcade, the Sega Master System, the Sega Mega Drive and the Sega Game Gear adaptations of Moonwalker. The song itself serves as the soundtrack for the Club 30s stage, the nightclub from the movie, in all versions of the game.
The song was performed live during the second leg of Jackson's 1988–89 Bad World Tour, directed and choreographed by Jackson and Vincent Paterson. The performance featured a dance routine modeled after the scene from Moonwalker. By the time the 1992 Dangerous World Tour came around, this performance became a regular on Jackson tours, including his HIStory World Tour. A spoken word and synth recording preceded the song on the second leg of the Bad tour and on the subsequent Dangerous World Tour, the same recording having been used as an intro for the song "This Place Hotel" on the first leg of the Bad Tour. By the time of the Dangerous Tour, Jackson had devised a way to perform the patented anti-gravity lean, which was featured in the Moonwalker video, on stage. Much like the robot move from "Dancing Machine" and the Moonwalk from "Billie Jean", this showcased Jackson's talent for creating unique moves to enhance stage performances. This performance can be seen on the Bucharest Dangerous Tour performance which is included as a DVD in The Ultimate Collection boxed set.
Part of the song was also briefly used in the middle of the live version of the song "Dangerous" since Jackson's performance at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards. In the HIStory Tour, he used a small snippet of this song during his performance of "Dangerous". Jackson had planned to use it again in his "Dangerous" performance in his This Is It concerts, along with the full track, the concert series was canceled due to his sudden death.
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