heavensgladyoucame:

With “Dirty Diana” Jackson is back in  cinematic territory. From the opening sound effects, the mood is tense, coiled, dramatic. The music video (directed by  Joe Pytka) perfectly captures the drama of the song as Jackson, singing to a live audience, looks anxiously off to the side of the stage where a woman is seen in silhoutte, stepping out of a limousine. It is a song about, guilt, fame, and seduction.

Jackson wanted a song on the album with a hard-edged rock feel, something that would take the sound a notch higher than “Beat It”. To this end, he enlisted the services of Billy Idol’s former guitarist, Steve Stevens, who performs a blistering guitar solo. He and Quincy Jones also decided to add crowd noise to give the track a live, raw feel, while John Barnes’s string arrangement provided atmosphere. It all set the stage perfectly for Jackson’s tense narrative, which Quincy Jones described as an updated version of “Killing Me Softly” (a song Jnes produced)

Like that classic and Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” “Dirty Diana” is a song  about predatory “groupie”. Unlike in “Billie Jean,” Jackson’s character is no longer denying interest or culpability. Rather, in vivid detail, he paints a picture  of a woman “who waits at the backstage doors for those who have prestige” and a man who is both intrigued and afraid. The song is structed as a dramatic dialogue of seduction and rationalization. Jackson’s character is married, which further heightens the situational tension. When Diana says, “I hate sleepin’ alone/ why don’t you come home with me,” Jackson sponds that his “baby’s at home/ she’s probably worried tonight/ i did’nt call on the phone to/ say that I’m alright. “ 

Jackson executes the internal conflict of temptation to perfection, capturing the frustration, guilt, excitement, anger, and pain of an affair. The song’s sexuality is by far his most explicit to date; yet like all of Jackson’s best songwriting about relationships, the story is subtle and suggestive enough to remain open to interpretation.

- Man in the music