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"Speed Demon" is a song by American recording artist Michael Jackson from his seventh studio album, Bad. The song was written, composed, and co-produced by Jackson, and produced by Quincy Jones. "Speed Demon" is a pop song whose lyrics pertain to driving fast. The song was released on October 12, 1989, as a promotional single for both the album and the 1988 film Moonwalker. The song received mixed reviews from contemporary critics.
"Speed Demon" was originally supposed to be released as a commercial single, but those plans were subsequently canceled. "Speed Demon" was the tenth, and last, single to be released from Bad. The song achieved minor commercial success, having only received minor airplay in the United States. Despite being featured on Bad, the song was not performed during either leg of the album's world tour.
"Speed Demon" was written and co-produced by Michael Jackson, and produced by Quincy Jones. It appears on Jackson's album, Bad. Reportedly the song was originally planned to be released as an official single, but it was instead released as a promotion single. The song's lyrics are about driving fast. According to Jones, Jackson wrote the song after he received a traffic ticket, which caused him to arrive late to the recording studio. Jones told him to write about how he felt, which he did, thereby turning it into a song. Although "Speed Demon" was part of Jackson's Bad album, Jackson did not perform the song during his Bad World Tour, nor any of his other tours.
The song was remixed by electronic group Nero for the 25th anniversary of Bad.
Jackson filmed a promotional video for the song, which appeared in his 1988 film Moonwalker. The video was directed by Will Vinton. In the video, Jackson, in an attempt to avoid overzealous fans (even The Noid), disguises himself as a rabbit named Spike, but ends up taunting the fans into chasing him. During the chase, he morphs into other celebrities, including Sylvester Stallone, Tina Turner and Pee-Wee Herman. After finally losing the fans, he removes the costume, which comes to life and challenges him to a dance-off.
In the end, Clancy Brown tells Michael Jackson he is in a "No Moonwalking Zone", and Jackson turns to point to Spike, and the rabbit has already left. The policeman then sarcastically asks for his autograph (as opposed to "signature") on the ticket. Just as Jackson is preparing to leave, the rocky crag in front of him morphs into Spike's head, who then nods to him, leaving Jackson one-upped by his own alter-ego. Nonetheless, he seems happy enough as he leaves. Dennis Hunt of The Los Angeles Times commented that the clips for Bad (which were featured in the film as "Badder", with children recreating the original clip), "Speed Demon" and "Leave Me Alone", are "slick, well-crafted and expensive-looking," but "they're still just music videos". He felt that the videos were "not even strung together in any particularly imaginative fashion".
In 2010, the long version of the music video was released in the box set Michael Jackson's Vision and again in 2012 in the Target exclusive version DVD of Bad 25, along with eight other music videos, from the Bad era.
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