The origins of "The Moonwalk":



The origins of "Beat It" and "Bad":



Who's bad?

"Beat It" being more or less a re-enactment of "West Side Story" is common knowledge. "Bad" was just the sequel to "Beat It" with gayer choreography.

Yeah, the similarities are a bit too much to call either of these pieces totally "original" to be honest.

novabrkr said:

Yeah they are.

I was surprised though because I had known that MJ said he was inspired by that movie to do "Beat It" and "Bad" but I'm just surprised how uncannily similar the videos are to scenes in the movies.

Wasn't that other video the bomb though? It ain't really the "moonwalk" though, the moonwalk is when you move your feet and body around in a circle, you could see some resemblance of that in the first video. Mainly what these guys did and what MICHAEL actually did was the "back slide". Somehow I don't know how Michael said THAT what he perfected at Motown 25 was the "moonwalk" but hey it stuck.

These Videos just prove how well MJ can master a dance step when he studies. I've always been amazed at his ability to combine all of his influences & create his own style from it, which is not an easy thing to do.

Thanx 4 the videos, Timmy.

he did copy or was inspired but he nbever denied it and that's okay.

there even was a movie where Fred Astaire wore a dress similiar to the Smooth Criminal one and where he's climbing up the walls (like in Scream)

Michael hadn't quite yet perfected the moonwalk when he did it on Motown 25. It was still more "popping", or "angular", and wasn't as smooth as what it later would become. Actually, it might have also been due to his dancing shoes being a bit different and not as slippery as what he would wear later on (those bargain bin things).

The odd part is that I don't think it has been ever featured in one of his mainstream music videos that have been shown on video channels - or has it? It was featured in Moonwalker, and also Captain Eo (not sure about this one), but none of his regular videos for the singles that you could see on the TV had him doing it. Even in Ghosts, which was shown on public TV in most places, it is actually the skeleton version of him that does it.

It's also worth noticing that the dancing moves on "Bad" are quite different to the stuff he does on most of his other videos and onstage with his backing dancers. They're far much more akin to what you see typically in the professional dancing circles, you know, dancing school / modern dance stuff - and in that sense, a lot closer to West Side Story. That youtube video showcases that rather well.

Maybe we shouldn't be so hard on Beyonce for using Fosse inspiration constantly in her music vids?

Now you've ruined the secret

shesoffthewall said:

from the Bible...


There is nothing new under the sun

ehuffnsd said:

AMEN

shesoffthewall said:

What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 1:9

ehuffnsd said:

That's one of my grandmother's favorite quotes from the Bible.

ehuffnsd said:

Everything is an imitation of something, it's what you do with that imitation that speaks a lot about you.

lolol the thing is even with michael getting inspiration he took what they did and make it even better. so if you copy do a better job.


and Michael did A GREAT JOB