Speed Demon (song)

"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 promotional single.[2] A 7" single was produced to promote the single release of Speed Demon, as the song had become popular because of its use in the Moonwalker movie (as with "Leave Me Alone"), but the single release of "Speed Demon" was subsequently cancelled.[2] The song's lyrics are about driving fast.[3] 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.

"Speed Demon" received mixed reviews from contemporary critics. Davitt Sigerson of Rolling Stone stated that the "filler" content in Bad—including songs such as "Speed Demon", "Dirty Diana" and "Liberian Girl"—made Bad "richer, sexier, and better than Thriller's forgettables".[4] Sigerson described "Speed Demon" as being "the car song"..."a fun little power tale in which Jackson's superego gives his id a ticket".[4] On the other hand, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic commented that the album's "constitute" of "near-fatal dead spot[s] on the record" were "Speed Demon" and "Another Part of Me", "a sequence that's utterly faceless, lacking memorable hooks and melodies".[5]

Richard Cromelin of the Los Angeles Times gave Bad a good review. He remarked that the song "Speed Demon" would "zero" audiophiles on the "race car intro-dimensional recording....".[6] Eric Snider of the St. Petersburg Times described "Speed Demon" as "churning along relentlessly".[7] Jay Cocks of Time noted that Jackson did great "vocal stunts" on Bad's tracks; such as "Speed Demon" and "Dirty Diana" and described the two songs as "nimble and fanciful as any of his dance steps".[8] In his Bad 25 review, BBC Music's Mike Diver wrote that "Speed Demon" was "fun funk-rock that'd sit happily on a Prince album of the period, compositionally if not lyrically."[9]

Jackson filmed a promotional video for the song in March 1988 at Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank.[1] It is seen first as a segment in the anthology film Moonwalker (1988).[10][11] Directed by Will Vinton,[12] the video was produced by Vinton, Jerry Kramer, Michael Jackson and Frank Dileo.[13]

As the video begins, Jackson tries to evade overzealous fans (including The Noid from Domino's Pizza commercials), disguising himself as a rabbit named Spike. However, as his alter ego, he goads 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 mob, he removes the costume, which comes to life and challenges him to a dance-off. As the two finish dancing, a police officer (Clancy Brown) approaches and indicates a "No Moonwalking" sign. Jackson tries to explain the situation, but Spike has vanished. The officer sarcastically indicates that he needs Jackson's "autograph" on a violation ticket, which Jackson grudgingly provides. The officer departs and, as Jackson prepares to do the same, a rocky crag in the distance morphs into Spike's head; Jackson and the rock formation smile at each other.

In his review of Moonwalker, Dennis Hunt of The Los Angeles Times commented that the video (along with those for "Bad" and "Leave Me Alone") was "slick, well-crafted and expensive-looking." He nevertheless felt that the segments were collectively "still just music videos", further stating that they were "not even strung together in any particularly imaginative fashion".[11] 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.[11]

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Bad.[14]