"Leave Me Alone" is a song by American recording artist

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the " King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over ...

from his seventh studio album, '' Bad'' (1987). On February 13, 1989, it was released as the eighth single from the album, though only outside the United States and Canada. It only appears on the CD and 2001 cassette editions of ''Bad''. It was written and composed by Jackson and produced by Jackson and

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

. "Leave Me Alone" topped the charts in Greece, the Republic of Ireland, and Spain (in 2006), and peaked within the top ten of the charts in Belgium, New Zealand, Spain (upon its original release), and the United Kingdom. "Leave Me Alone" was generally well received by critics. In the music video, Jackson pokes fun at the rumors about him. The video was the recipient of a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

in 1990 for Best Music Video. The song was never performed on any of Jackson's tours.

Background

"Leave Me Alone" was a response to negative rumors about Jackson that frequently appeared in the tabloids post-1985 after the success of ''

Thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

.'' Beginning in 1986, the tabloids began to publish rumors about Jackson, one of the first being a story claiming that Jackson slept in a

hyperbaric oxygen chamber A diving chamber is a vessel for human occupation, which may have an entrance that can be sealed to hold an internal pressure significantly higher than ambient pressure, a pressurised gas system to control the internal pressure, and a supply of ...

to slow the aging process. A picture leaked out to the media of him lying down in a hyperbaric chamber at a hospital he visited. When Jackson bought a pet

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative t ...

named Bubbles, the tabloids viewed it as evidence of Jackson's increasing detachment from reality. It was also reported that Jackson had offered to buy the bones of

Joseph Merrick Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890), often erroneously called John Merrick, was an English man known for having severe deformities. He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name "the Elephant Man" and then wen ...

, the "Elephant Man"; Jackson stated that the story was "a complete lie." These stories inspired the derogatory nickname "Wacko Jacko", which Jackson acquired the following year, and would come to despise. Another frequent response from the media was about Jackson's

plastic surgery Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery includes cranio ...

. Jackson's manager said of the media's criticism towards the topic, "So many terrible things have been written. Okay, so he had his nose fixed, and the cleft — big deal. I got news for you, my nose has broke five times. It's been fixed twice. Who gives a shit? Who cares? Elvis had his nose done.

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...

had her nose done, had her breasts done? Everybody's had it done." The song has been viewed as having a "paranoia theme", a theme that Jackson had frequently used on previous studio albums. ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'' felt that Jackson showed "obvious expressions of distrust" in the song and that the song was one of multiple songs where Jackson's "persistent loneliness in his music" was "prominent". In 2009, J. Edward Keyes, of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'', described "Leave Me Alone" as sounding like "vintage Michael" and the song works because of its music, "a batch of thick chords for Jackson to vamp over". Keyes noted that the song was a "kind of darker inversion" of "

The Way You Make Me Feel "The Way You Make Me Feel" is a song by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was released by Epic Records on November 9, 1987, as the third single from his seventh studio album, '' Bad''. It was written and composed by Jackson, and pro ...

", and that "Leave Me Alone" was "worked-up and angry, and Jackson's aggressive scraping of the high notes makes plain his frustration."

Composition

"Leave Me Alone" is a funk song played with a synthesizer and a guitar. According to MusicNotes.com, the song is set in the key of E minor with Jackson's voice range being sung from B₃ to A₅. The song's

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

is moderate and its metronome is 112

beats per minute Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ...

Critical and commercial reception

"Leave Me Alone" was generally well received by contemporary music critics. In a retrospective assessment,

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, oc ...

, a writer for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

, stated he felt that "Leave Me Alone" was the best track on ''Bad'', commenting "why are all of his best songs paranoid anthems?" Steve Morse, a writer for ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', described "Leave Me Alone" as a "send-up" of Jackson's feuds with the "paparazzi-filled tabloids."

Jon Pareles Jon Pareles (born October 25, 1953) is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of ''The New York Times''.The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', commented that "Leave Me Alone" had an "unmistakable message". After Jackson's death in June 2009, ''Rolling Stone'' listed "Leave Me Alone" as being one of Jackson's most monumental work, and the song's composition was generally praised. "Leave Me Alone" performed well on various charts. It was released as a single outside the United States and Canada. The song, similar to ''Bad''s previous singles, proved to be a commercial success internationally. "Leave Me Alone"'s most successful territory was Ireland, where the song peaked at No. 1. The song saw similar chart success on the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Norwegian and Switzerland charts, peaking within the top 10 at Nos. 2, 5, 6 and 10, respectively. "Leave Me Alone" also peaked within the top 20 in Austria, France and Sweden, peaking at Nos. 15, 17 and 19, respectively. The single was least successful in Australia, where the song peaked at number 37.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

for "Leave Me Alone" was directed by

Jim Blashfield Jim Blashfield (born September 4, 1944, Seattle, Washington) is an American filmmaker and media artist, best known for his short films such as ''Suspicious Circumstances'' and ''The Mid-Torso of Inez'', and his music videos for musicians Talking He ...

and produced by Jim Blashfield, Paul Diener, Michael Jackson, and Frank DiLeo. It was filmed in January 1988 in

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most ...

and was released on January 2, 1989. The video also appeared in the 1988 film ''

Moonwalker ''Moonwalker'' is a 1988 American experimental anthology musical film starring Michael Jackson. Rather than featuring one continuous narrative, the film expresses the influence of fandom and innocence through a collection of short films about J ...

''. In essence, the video is an

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

consisting of stylistically crude images based around Jackson's successful career since 1982's ''

''. There is an emphasis on the

tabloid Tabloid may refer to: * Tabloid journalism, a type of journalism * Tabloid (newspaper format), a newspaper with compact page size ** Chinese tabloid * Tabloid (paper size), a North American paper size * Sopwith Tabloid The Sopwith Tabloid an ...

view of Jackson's personal life and public image, referring to the nickname "Wacko Jacko" given to him by the press, and the various headlines associated with him in the 1980s. Lampooning rumours that he tried to purchase

's bones, Jackson dances with

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

"Elephant Man" bones in the video. In the video, there are images of shrines to actress

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...

, a real life close friend of Jackson. Throughout the video newspaper headlines, published by "National Intruder", with bizarre titles are shown, such as "Michael's Space-Age Diet" and "Michael Proposes to Liz". Another notable scene in the music video was a nose being chased by a surgical scalpel, which was a reference to Jackson's plastic surgeries being scrutinized by the media. At the end of the video, it is revealed that a gigantic Jackson himself is the amusement park. He breaks free, tearing the park to pieces. That scene is somewhat reminiscent of ''

Gulliver's Travels ''Gulliver's Travels'', or ''Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'' is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan ...

'', where

Gulliver Gulliver may refer to: __NOTOC__ Arts and entertainment * Lemuel Gulliver, the protagonist of Jonathan Swift's novel ''Gulliver's Travels'' *the title character of ''Brian Gulliver's Travels'', a satirical BBC radio series *Gary Gulliver, the t ...

eventually breaks free from the

Lilliputians Lilliput and Blefuscu are two fictional island nations that appear in the first part of the 1726 novel ''Gulliver's Travels'' by Jonathan Swift. The two islands are neighbours in the South Indian Ocean, separated by a channel wide. Both ar ...

' bonds. "Leave Me Alone" was the recipient of multiple nominations for its music video. The video won a

in 1990 for Best Short Form Music Video at the

32nd Grammy Awards The 32nd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 21, 1990, and hosted by Garry Shandling. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Performers * Bette Midler - Wind Beneath My Wings * Gloria Estefan - Don't Wann ...

. The video also won the Cannes Gold Lion Award for Best Special Effects. The video also won Best Special Effects at the

1989 MTV Video Music Awards The 1989 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 6, 1989, honoring the best music videos from April 2, 1988, to June 1, 1989. The show was hosted by Arsenio Hall at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. This year four new "genre" cat ...

and received five nominations for Video of the Year, Viewers' Choice, Breakthrough Video, Best Editing and Best Art Direction. The winners were respectively:

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Fu ...

's "This Note's for You" ("Video of the Year"),

Art of Noise Art of Noise (also The Art of Noise) were an English avant-garde synth-pop group formed in early 1983 by engineer/producer Gary Langan and programmer J. J. Jeczalik, along with keyboardist/arranger Anne Dudley, producer Trevor Horn, and mus ...

's "

Kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

" ("Breakthrough Video"),

Paula Abdul Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreographe ...

's "

Straight Up Straight up is a bartending term referring to a chilled drink served in a stemmed glass without ice. Straight Up may also refer to: * ''Straight Up'' (book), by author, blogger, physicist and climate expert Joseph J. Romm * ''Straight Up'' (Ha ...

" ("Best Editing"), and

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

's " Express Yourself" ("Best Cinematography", "Best Art Direction") and " Like a Prayer" ("Viewers' Choice"). Erlewine described the music video as being "weirdly claustrophobic" and felt that, "not coincidentally, it was the best video from the album."

Track listing

*12" single / 3" CD #"Leave Me Alone" – 4:40 #"

Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" is a single written and recorded by American singer Michael Jackson. Released under Epic Records on July 10, 1979, the song is the first track on Jackson's fifth studio album '' Off the Wall'' (1979). It was the ...

" – 6:04 #"Human Nature" – 4:05 *7" single #"Leave Me Alone" – 4:40 #"

Human Nature Human nature is a concept that denotes the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—that humans are said to have naturally. The term is often used to denote the essence of humankind, or ...

" – 4:06 *Maxi-CD #"Leave Me Alone" – 4:40 #"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" (Single Version) – 3:55 #"Human Nature" – 4:05 #"

Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin" is a song by American singer Michael Jackson recorded for his sixth studio album ''Thriller (album), Thriller'' (1982). It is the opening track of the album and was released as its fourth single on May 8, 1983, by Epi ...

" (12" version) – 6:30 *''Visionary'' CD side: #"Leave Me Alone" – 4:40 #" Another Part of Me" (Extended Dance Mix) – 6:18 *''Visionary'' DVD side: #"Leave Me Alone" (Music video) – 4:36

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Personnel

Credits adapted from '' Bad: Special Edition''s liner notes: *Written, composed, vocal synthesizer, solo and background vocals by Michael Jackson *Produced by Quincy Jones *Co-produced by Michael Jackson *Larry Williams – drum programming, synthesizers *Paul Jackson, Jr. – guitar *Casey Young –

Synclavier The Synclavier is an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation manufactured by New England Digital Corporation of Norwich, Vermont. It was produced in various forms from the late 1970s into the earl ...

, synthesizer programming *Greg Phillinganes – synthesizer *Rhythm and vocal arrangements by Michael Jackson

References

{{authority control 1987 songs 1989 singles CBS Records singles Cultural depictions of Elizabeth Taylor Cultural depictions of Joseph Merrick Epic Records singles Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Michael Jackson songs Music videos directed by Jim Blashfield Number-one singles in Greece Number-one singles in Spain Song recordings produced by Michael Jackson Song recordings produced by Quincy Jones Songs about loneliness Songs about the media Songs written by Michael Jackson