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Blood on the Dance Floor (song)

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"Blood on the Dance Floor"
Song

"Blood on the Dance Floor" is the first single from Michael Jackson's remix album Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix. Jackson and Teddy Riley created the track in time for the 1991 release of Dangerous. However, it did not appear on that record and was minimally altered before commercial release in 1997. The song is about a predatory woman by the name of Susie, who seduces Jackson before plotting to stab him with a knife. The composition explores a variety of genres ranging from rock to funk.

Commentators compared "Blood on the Dance Floor" to music from Dangerous. Others commented on the songs perceived aggressive tone and the vocal style, the broad genres heard and possible lyrical interpretations of the song. Reviews at the time of release were largely mixed, but contemporary reviews have been favorable.

The song was promoted with a music video that premiered on Top of the Pops. It centered around Susie seducing Jackson in a courtship dance, before opening a flick knife. "Blood on the Dance Floor" was the only track from the remix album performed on the HIStory World Tour. The lead single peaked at number one in several countries, including the UK.

Production and music

"Blood on the Dance Floor"
Excerpt of the single "Blood on the Dance Floor". Jackson sings of a woman by the name of Susie, who has been described as a metaphor for AIDS by reviewers.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Teddy Riley came up with the song's title while recording the piece for Jackson's Dangerous album in 1991—it failed to make the final track listing. He was reportedly upset that Jackson didn't call him to "vacuum clean this old master" upon realizing it would be included on Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix. Riley wanted to update the musical composition before it appeared on the remix album.[1]

Instruments played in the song include a guitar and piano, the latter of which has a F2-Eb5 range. Jackson's vocals on the track are C4-C5 and aspects of the song are performed in the key Ab major. Genres that have been attributed to the song are rock, pop, dance, funk and New Jack Swing. Jackson incorporates many of the vocal traits associated with his work, such as hiccups and gasps.[2][3][4][5][6] Neil Strauss of The New York Times suggests that the predatory woman in the title track, "Susie", is a metaphor for AIDS.[7]

Commentary

The Dallas Morning News described "Blood on the Dance Floor" as an angry tale of a back-stabbing women and Michael Saunders of The Boston Globe described it as "a middling dance-funk cut".[3][8] Anthony Violanti of The Buffalo News said of the single, "[it is] laced with Teddy Riley's new jack swing sound and a pounding techno beat", whereas The Cincinnati Post characterized the song as a "lackluster first release ... dated, played-out dance track", but gave the album an overall favorable review.[4][9] Jim Farber of New York Daily News, noted of the vocals and musical style, "[Jackson] coughs up a series of strangulated mutters and munchkin hiccups in lieu of a vocal, while its chilly, faux-industrial music proves as appealing as a migraine".[6]

William Ruhlman of Allmusic observed, "'Blood on the Dance Floor' is an uptempo Jackson song in the increasingly hysterical tradition of 'Billie Jean' and 'Smooth Criminal' with Jackson huffing, puffing, and yelping through some nonsense about a stabbing ... over a fairly generic electronic dance track". He was not complementary of the B-sides that accompanied it.[5] Stephen Thomas Erlewine, also of Allmusic, had a negative reaction to the record. He described "Blood on the Dance Floor" as a "bleak reworking of 'Jam' and 'Scream'".[10]

Music commentator Nelson George, compared the song to material from Dangerous, notably the critically acclaimed tracks "Jam" and "Dangerous". He described it as a "pile driving" song that "explodes from radio speakers".[11] A long time commentator on Jackson's public life, J. Randy Taraborrelli, gave a retrospective analysis of the album in the biography, The Magic & the Madness. Taraborrelli thought that "Blood on the Dance Floor" was one of Jackson's best songs, a song that US fans "don't even know exists".[12] In 2005, J T Griffith, of Allmusic, believed that in hindsight, "Blood on the Dance Floor" was actually a good song. He explained, "[it is] a second-rate mixture of 'Beat It' and 'Thriller' but Jackson's missteps are better than most pop music out there. This track showcases all the artist's trademarks: the ooohing, the grunts, and funky basslines. It is hard to hear 'Blood on the Dance Floor' and not want to moonwalk or dance like a ghoul".[13]

Promotion

"Blood on the Dance Floor" was the only track from Blood on the Dance Floor: History in the Mix to appear on the set list of the HIStory World Tour.[14]

The music video for "Blood on the Dance Floor" was directed by Jackson and Vincent Paterson. It premiered on Top of the Pops in the UK on March 28, 1997, several weeks ahead of its release as a single.[1] The video opens with a thrown flick knife impaling a spray painted image. The impaled image is that of a blood dripping love heart with "SUSIE + ME" scrawled across it. Jackson and a group of dancers then enter a salsa dance hall and he begins to dance with a woman, "Susie", while shaking a piece of percussion. The singer then appears seated while the woman dances seductively above him on a table top. Throughout the video, Jackson shows a sexual attraction towards the dancing woman—played by Sybil Azur. Jackson strokes her ankle, calf, knee and thigh at one stage looks up her dress. The woman is then seen opening a flick knife as the pair engage in a final courtship dance. The video closes in the same manner it began, with the flick knife impaling the spray painted image. The music video won the Brazilian TVZ Video Award: Best International Music Video of the Year.Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name (see the help page).[15]

Interviewed on her experience during the video, Azur noted, "I was called in by Vincent Paterson for 'Blood on the Dance Floor'. It was to have a Latin feel, some sort of mambo. I arrived wearing a little salsa dress, fish nets, heels, and my hair was up in a kind of bun with a flower. I was 'camera ready'. I showed up with the whole outfit. It's not that producers can't see what they like, or the potential in somebody, but what I do helps them to see their vision more".[16]

A "Refugee Camp Mix" of "Blood on the Dance Floor" appeared on Jackson's video collection, HIStory on Film, Volume II. The original song would later appear on the Number Ones DVD, which contained unreleased additional scenes.[1] Paterson recorded an unreleased, alternate version of the music video, shot with an 8 mm camera. Writer David Noh, described it as, "grainy, overexposed, and sexy as shit". According to Paterson, "Michael loved it, but Sony hated it and refused to release it".[17]

The New York Times described the US promotional effort for the Blood on the Dance Floor:HIStory in the Mix campaign as "subdued", creating "hardly a sound" and "perplexing to many people in the industry". Jackson's label Epic records, refuted allegations they were not promoting the album sufficiently, saying, "We are completely behind the album ... Michael is certainly one of our superstars and is treated as such ... We just went into this one with our global hats on". The New York Times acknowledged that promotion was stronger internationally, where Jackson had more commercial force and popularity.[18]

Chart performance

The song became a top ten hit in almost every European Union state. "Blood on the Dance Floor" peaked at number one in the UK, Spain and New Zealand, charting for 11 weeks in the latter two nations. In the UK it sold 85,000 copies in its first week, enough to take the number one spot from "I Believe I Can Fly" by friend and collaborator R. Kelly. The song was Jackson's seventh UK chart topper as a solo artist, although it fell to number eight in its second week of release. The European country where "Blood on the Dance Floor" had the most longevity was Switzerland, where it spent 18 weeks in the chart. By contrast, the song appeared in the Italian chart for only one week.[1]Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name (see the help page).[19]

The single peaked at number 42 on the US Billboard Hot 100.Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name (see the help page). This relatively lower peak position has been attributed to the lack of US promotion and—according J. Randy Taraborrelli and Allmusic writer William Ruhlman—the ongoing US public interest in the singers private life over his music.[12][5]

"Blood on the Dance Floor" was the 20th and last of Jackson's reissued singles from the Visionary campaign. Issued in June 2006, it charted at number 19 in the UK.[1]

Charts

Chart Peak
position
Australia 5 [19]
Austria 9 [19]
Belgium (Vl) 11 [19]
Belgium (Wa) 11 [19]
Finland 2 [19]
France 10 [19]
Germany 5 [20]
Italy 10 [19]
Netherlands 7 [19]
New Zealand 1 [19]
Norway 2 [19]
Spain 1 [19]
Sweden 2 [19]
Switzerland 5 [19]
UK 1 Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name (see the help page).
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 42 Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name (see the help page).

Track listing

UK single #1

  1. "Blood on the Dance Floor" – 4:12
  2. "Blood on the Dance Floor" (TM's Switchblade Mix) – 8:39
  3. "Blood on the Dance Floor" (Refugee Camp Mix) – 5:27
  4. "Blood on the Dance Floor" (Fire Island Vocal Mix) – 8:57
  5. "Blood on the Dance Floor" (Fire Island Dub) – 8:55

UK single #2

  1. "Blood on the Dance Floor" – 4:12
  2. "Blood on the Dance Floor" (TM's Switchblade Edit) – 8:39
  3. "Blood on the Dance Floor" (Fire Island Radio Edit) – 8:57
  4. "Dangerous" (Roger's Dangerous Club Mix) – 6:55

U.S. single

  1. "Blood on the Dance Floor" – 4:12
  2. "Blood on the Dance Floor" (TM's Switchblade Edit - long) – 4:11
  3. "Blood on the Dance Floor" (Refugee Camp Edit) – 3:19
  4. "Blood on the Dance Floor" (Fire Island Radio Edit) – 3:50
  5. "Blood on the Dance Floor" (TM's Switchblade Mix - long) – 10:00
  6. "Dangerous" (Roger's Dangerous Club Mix) – 6:55

Credits

  • Written and composed by Michael Jackson
  • Produced by Michael Jackson and Teddy Riley
  • Engineered by Teddy Riley, Dave Way and Mick Gizauski
  • Mixed by Mick Gizauski
  • Vocal arrangement by Michael Jackson
  • Keyboards and synthesizers: Teddy Riley and Brad Buxer
  • Drum programming: Teddy Riley and Brad Buxer
  • Digital systems programming: Matt Carpenter
  • Additional engineering by Eddie DeLena and Andrew Scheps
  • Assistant engineers: Rich July, Sam Curtis and Jon Mooney

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Halstead, Craig (2007). Michael Jackson: For the Record. Authors OnLine. p. 46–48. ISBN 978-0-7552026-7-6.
  2. ^ "Blood on the Dance Floor". www.musicnotes.com. Retrieved December 21, 2008.
  3. ^ a b Michael Saunders. (June 05, 1997). "Blood on the Dance Floor Epic". The Boston Globe.
  4. ^ a b Anthony Violanti. (May 23, 1997). "Lost Soul....". The Buffalo News.
  5. ^ a b c Ruhlmann, William (July 13, 2005). "Blood On The Dance Floor Review". Allmusic. Retrieved December 21, 2008. Cite error: The named reference "All music on BOTDF track" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b Farber, Jim (May 19, 1997). "The 'Thriller' is gone..." New York Daily News. Retrieved December 22, 2008. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ Strauss, Neil (May 20, 1997). "Stars Adrift: Further Out, Further In". The New York Times. Retrieved December 22, 2008. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ Thor Christensen. (May 20, 1997). "Jackson's new `Blood' generally thin Singer's work best when fresh on remix release". The Dallas Morning News.
  9. ^ "Michael Jackson Still Relevant". (June 26, 1997). The Cincinnati Post.
  10. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Blood on the Dance Floor: History in the Mix". Allmusic. Retrieved December 21, 2008.
  11. ^ George, p. 48–50
  12. ^ a b Taraborrelli, p. 610–611
  13. ^ Griffith, JT (July 13, 2005). "Blood On The Dance Floor Review". Allmusic. Retrieved December 22, 2008.
  14. ^ Paul Martin. (July 13, 1997). "Rock On; Ulster pop fans go wacko over Jacko". Sunday Mirror.
  15. ^ "Sybil Azur". IMDB. Retrieved January 11, 2009.
  16. ^ Grover Dale. (February 01, 2001). "If You Want to Be Like Britney … - questions and answers about becoming a dancer, getting an agent". Dance Magazine.
  17. ^ Noh, David (January 26, 2006). "Choreographer Supreme". Gay City News. Retrieved January 13, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ Sorkin, Andrew (1997-06-23). "King of Pop Faces U.S. Market With Subdued Promotion Effort". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-12-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "M. Jackson - Blood on the Dance Floor (nummer)". www.ultratop.be. Retrieved December 22, 2008.
  20. ^ "Blood on the Dance Floor". www.charts-surfer.de. Retrieved January 13, 2009.

References

External links

Preceded by UK Singles Chart
Number 1 single
27 April 1997 – 4 May 1997 		Succeeded by


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