I’ve got some questions about “Chicago 1945”

Iwasaloser619

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Is the song really the smooth criminal predecessor. Cause I just came up with the thought that it could be about his parents but I don’t know.
 
It's a completely different song and has nothing to do with Smooth Criminal. Chicago 1945 tells the story of three girls disappearing during one cold night.

"The song “Chicago 1945″, on the other hand, makes a number of significant Chicago-related citations. The World’s Fair (which visited Chicago), The Chicago Tribune (local newspaper), Al Capone (of ‘The Chicago Outfit’ fame), and so on. While making these citations it tells the story of a mysterious disappearance in the area. “Three girls disappeared on a cold windy night, never to be found again, never to be found again!” sings Jackson in the first verse. “Who solved the mystery late Chicago night? Ya can’t hide the truth so won’t ya turn on the light,” he continues in the choruses, before launching into a flurry of high-pitched “hoo-hoo” and “hee-hee” ad libs. The track finishes with Jackson chanting “Chicago! Chicago!” over and over in his trademark, gritty (slightly angry) vocal-style. The track was constantly on Jackson’s mind over the course of his career, and was worked on during the ‘Invincible’ sessions and again at Neverland in 2004."

http://www.damienshields.com/xscape...he-was-lovin-me-and-chicago-one-and-the-same/
 
No connection. If you really wanted to, you could say that “Chicago 1945” might’ve influenced the “Smooth Criminal” video, what with the 1940s gangster aesthetic and all, but the songs themselves aren’t related in any way.
 
Nite Line;4306596 said:
It's a completely different song and has nothing to do with Smooth Criminal. Chicago 1945 tells the story of three girls disappearing during one cold night.

"The song “Chicago 1945″, on the other hand, makes a number of significant Chicago-related citations. The World’s Fair (which visited Chicago), The Chicago Tribune (local newspaper), Al Capone (of ‘The Chicago Outfit’ fame), and so on. While making these citations it tells the story of a mysterious disappearance in the area. “Three girls disappeared on a cold windy night, never to be found again, never to be found again!” sings Jackson in the first verse. “Who solved the mystery late Chicago night? Ya can’t hide the truth so won’t ya turn on the light,” he continues in the choruses, before launching into a flurry of high-pitched “hoo-hoo” and “hee-hee” ad libs. The track finishes with Jackson chanting “Chicago! Chicago!” over and over in his trademark, gritty (slightly angry) vocal-style. The track was constantly on Jackson’s mind over the course of his career, and was worked on during the ‘Invincible’ sessions and again at Neverland in 2004."

http://www.damienshields.com/xscape...he-was-lovin-me-and-chicago-one-and-the-same/

Man, I wanna hear it, lol.
 
Rodney Jerkins once stated on his website that he recorded this song during the Invincible sessions along with others we still didn’t hear.
 
IMWhizzle;4306685 said:
Rodney Jerkins once stated on his website that he recorded this song during the Invincible sessions along with others we still didn’t hear.

Rodney constantly teases unreleased tracks without ever going in detail. He's been doing it since Invincible came out.

A few months ago, he did an Instagram live stream where he played half-second snippets of unreleased tracks, and nine times out of ten you couldn't even tell if the person singing was Michael or LaShawn Daniels (who, for those who don't know, sang the demos presented to Michael).

It's sorta fun because it keeps you guessing, but also sorta aggravating because we know next to nothing about them other than 6-8 titles.
 
Rodney constantly teases unreleased tracks without ever going in detail. He's been doing it since Invincible came out.

A few months ago, he did an Instagram live stream where he played half-second snippets of unreleased tracks, and nine times out of ten you couldn't even tell if the person singing was Michael or LaShawn Daniels (who, for those who don't know, sang the demos presented to Michael).

It's sorta fun because it keeps you guessing, but also sorta aggravating because we know next to nothing about them other than 6-8 titles.

Yeah. And what's infuriating is that the never-before heard songs actually sound like good bops, but he doesn't actually want to release them. I get that the estate probably owns the songs and he wants to skirt past copyright as much as possible, but it's kinda dickish to tease the fans like that.
 
Iwasaloser619;4306589 said:
Is the song really the smooth criminal predecessor. Cause I just came up with the thought that it could be about his parents but I don’t know.

AlwaysThere;4306599 said:
No connection. If you really wanted to, you could say that “Chicago 1945” might’ve influenced the “Smooth Criminal” video, what with the 1940s gangster aesthetic and all, but the songs themselves aren’t related in any way.

There is contradictory information about that.

Chris Cadman and Craig Halstead, for example, state that ‘Chicago 1945’ evolved into ‘Smooth Criminal’, but according to other authors there is no connection between these two songs.

AlwaysThere;4306725 said:
Rodney constantly teases unreleased tracks without ever going in detail. He's been doing it since Invincible came out.

A few months ago, he did an Instagram live stream where he played half-second snippets of unreleased tracks, and nine times out of ten you couldn't even tell if the person singing was Michael or LaShawn Daniels (who, for those who don't know, sang the demos presented to Michael).

It's sorta fun because it keeps you guessing, but also sorta aggravating because we know next to nothing about them other than 6-8 titles.

Rodney Jerkins should also start teasing and uploading video snippets from those ‘Invincible’ album recording sessions, as he promised to.

SeriousFX;4306785 said:
Yeah. And what's infuriating is that the never-before heard songs actually sound like good bops, but he doesn't actually want to release them. I get that the estate probably owns the songs and he wants to skirt past copyright as much as possible, but it's kinda dickish to tease the fans like that.

He also implied in one of his interviews that there are many outtakes (from the ‘Invincible’ album) which are even better than the songs that are actually included on the album.
 
I don't know a lot about the song, other than when somebody on this forum heard it at a seminar, they said it was vocally and musically complete. They said Michael song in a strong gravely voice and they said they had the hook "never to be found again, never to be found again" stuck in their head for days. I think when they were asked what they would compare it to, the person said Behind The Mask.
Sorry I can't remember who was kind enough to share this information but it was on this forum about 3 or 4 years ago.

I would love to hear this track one day
 
I think people mix up when he said he wanted smooth criminal to be like Chicago 1945, Al capone (almost being demo like) another song called Chicago & the original title of smooth criminal which was called Chicago nights.
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Now since the 1986 demo has been leaked, the people who heard it in the seminar was correct and Damien Shields fits the songs description as "Chicago 1945" has NO CONNECTION with "Smooth Criminal" and "Al Capone". Despite the song involving the city Chicago, the year 1945, and Al Capone. "Chicago 1945" mostly talk about the 3 girls missing with the verse "who solved that mystery late at Chicago night?" and the hook "never to be found again, never to be FOUND AGAIN!"
(In my own opinion) I find "Smooth Criminal" and "Al Capone" having that 1940s crime and mafia feeling, while I think "Chicago 1945" has that dramatic murder mystery feeling.
But overall all three songs are very good and I see "Chicago 1945" as a hidden gem that Michael loved and wanted to release but didn't fit the feeling of his albums like Bad and HIStory.
 
MJ definitely had Chicago 1945 in his mind while making Smooth Criminal due to the similarities both songs have, he even specifically says "Chicago 1945" when he talks about how he came up with the idea of the clip for SC in his Private Home Movies documentary.
 
MJ definitely had Chicago 1945 in his mind while making Smooth Criminal due to the similarities both songs have, he even specifically says "Chicago 1945" when he talks about how he came up with the idea of the clip for SC in his Private Home Movies documentary.
I can tell Michael was thinking about the song since he liked the song but I still don't think "Chicago 1945" was ever connected to "Smooth Criminal" and the video ("Chicago Nights") itself because he first thought about the "Smooth Criminal" video to be western video but instead he wanted it to be on a Summer night in Chicago on 1945.
The only thing that was similar with "Chicago 1945" and Smooth Criminal was just the title of "Chicago 1945" taken and turned into the setting and date for "Smooth Criminal".
 
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