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What's the case with Smooth Criminal and Al Capone?

love1sfatal

hello august moon where are the stars of the night
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i always kept seeing ppl say different things, that al capone evolved into sc, then that its completely unrelated, that the two just sound similar etc.
what's the truth??
 
A short portion of Al Capone plays before the Hayvenhurst demo of SC. So they’re related in one way or another. Smooth Criminal originated sometime in 85 so Al Capone may be 84-85
 
“Al Capone” was written circa 1983-84. MJ continued working on it, and it eventually evolved into “Smooth Criminal” in 1984-85. They’re not the same song, but you can hear the similarities—the bass line, the falsetto chorus, the almost cinematic “bridge” leading into a funk-driven instrumental section.
 
I prefer Al Capone over Smooth Criminal tbh, if the bridge was extended just a bit it would've been a perfect song and would've been the best "gangster theme" song out of the others he made (C1945, SC, Dangerous, Blue Gangsta and such). It baffles me how MJ never tried to do anything with it after the Bad album, it's too good of a song to just be forgotten about. I wonder if we still would've heard the song if he was alive.
 
ChanceToDance said:
I prefer Al Capone over Smooth Criminal tbh, if the bridge was extended just a bit it would've been a perfect song and would've been the best "gangster theme" song out of the others he made (C1945, SC, Dangerous, Blue Gangsta and such). It baffles me how MJ never tried to do anything with it after the Bad album, it's too good of a song to just be forgotten about. I wonder if we still would've heard the song if he was alive.
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I wonder about 'Chicago 1945'. It obviously has the same theme, maybe it led to AC and SC too (and why he didn't release it)?
 
Victorious said:
I wonder about 'Chicago 1945'. It obviously has the same theme, maybe it led to AC and SC too
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I'm sure MJ had the song in his mind while he was making SC due to the similarities both songs have, he even specifically says "Chicago 1945" while talking about SC in his Home Movies documentary.
Victorious said:
(and why he didn't release it)?
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I think about that with a lot of the songs the Estate has released or considered releasing, would we have heard them if MJ was still alive? C1945 is a bit likely since he worked on it for 20 years up until his death, so there's a chance he was going to use the song eventually. But what about the songs that MJ forgot about or didn't work on them for decades? Would we have gotten I'm So Blue, Dream Away, Behind The Mask, This Is It, Who Do You Know, Al Capone, Price Of Fame, etc. It makes me wonder.
 
ChanceToDance said:
I'm sure MJ had the song in his mind while he was making SC due to the similarities both songs have, he even specifically says "Chicago 1945" while talking about SC in his Home Movies documentary.

I think about that with a lot of the songs the Estate has released or considered releasing, would we have heard them if MJ was still alive? C1945 is a bit likely since he worked on it for 20 years up until his death, so there's a chance he was going to use the song eventually. But what about the songs that MJ forgot about or didn't work on them for decades? Would we have gotten I'm So Blue, Dream Away, Behind The Mask, This Is It, Who Do You Know, Al Capone, Price Of Fame, etc. It makes me wonder.
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We wouldn't have gotten any of those songs....I don't even think we would've gotten new music tbh
 
BlackAnon said:
We wouldn't have gotten any of those songs....I don't even think we would've gotten new music tbh
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I think he'd still make new music after his comeback album, but only movie soundtracks or mid-tempo singles once in a while, Green Hornet Groove is proof that MJ was trying to get into movie soundtracks before he died. I don't know if we'd have as much releases as the estate has made lol.
 
ChanceToDance said:
I think he'd still make new music after his comeback album, but only movie soundtracks or mid-tempo singles once in a while, Green Hornet Groove is proof that MJ was trying to get into movie soundtracks before he died. I don't know if we'd have as much releases as the estate has made lol.
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I think he just liked the idea of being involved in projects….the amount of things he was tied to even in the 80s never panned out….the last song that popped up on a soundtrack was On the Line
 
BlackAnon said:
I think he just liked the idea of being involved in projects….the amount of things he was tied to even in the 80s never panned out….the last song that popped up on a soundtrack was On the Line
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There are a lot of accounts of people saying he wanted to get into filmmaking after the This Is It concerts, if directing movies didn't work he could get into movie soundtracks, or do both at the same time. I think that's what he'd do for the most part if he was still alive.
 
Fuzball said:
I wonder if his initial idea to shoot SC as a western was inspired by "Buffalo Bill".
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Funny, for some time, before it got debunked here, I thought the song 'Buffalo Bill' might be a early version of 'Al Capone', 'Chicago 1945' or 'Smooth Criminal' because the lyrics 'Who shot Buffalo Bill? They said shot a lot, did I ever get killed?' fitted the theme of an historical figure, and in my head it also kinda matched with the music of 'Smooth Criminal' (and later with that of C45)
 
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