Dirty Diana

Jackson wrote this song, which like his hit "Billie Jean," is about a particularly aggressive groupie. When Jackson was interviewed by Barbara Walters, he explained: "I wrote a song called 'Dirty Diana.' It was not about Lady Diana. It was about a certain kind of girls that hang around concerts or clubs, you know, they call them groupies. I've lived with that all my life. These girls... they do everything with the band, you know, everything you could imagine." Recalling a concert in London where Jackson met Princess Diana, he added: "I took it out of the show in honor of her royal highness. She took me away and she said, Are you going to do 'Dirty Diana'? So, I said, 'No I took it out of the show because of you.' She said, 'No! I want you to do it. Do the song. And she told me it was an honor to meet me. And I said, 'It's an honor to meet you.'"

This song has a rock edge, which required some serious guitar shredding. Eddie Van Halen was enlisted to play on Jackson's previous guitar-heavy hit, "Beat It," but his producer Quincy Jones needed someone else for this one. Van Halen's producer Ted Templeman was working for Warner Bros. Records, which had recently signed Billy Idol's guitarist Steve Stevens to a solo deal, so Templeman suggested him to Jones (It was Templeman who suggested Eddie Van Halen for "Beat It"). When Stevens got the call from Jones, it took him a while to believe it was really him, but he was thrilled to get the opportunity. When he played on the track, Stevens was pleasantly surprised. "The song is a lot darker and heavier than I thought I would be playing on, with an underlining current of nastiness to it," he said. "It was great for me - as a guitar player you want to dig in and you want to play aggressively. I was really glad it wasn't like a pop song - it was dark, and it allowed me to dig in to the heavier side of what I do." Stevens had a great experience working with Jackson. He said: "Michael was very musical. He understood what I was about and was trying to get the best out of my performance. It was a great session."

When this went to #1 in the US, Jackson became the first artist with five #1 hits from the same album. The previous four were "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," "Bad," "The Way You Make Me Feel," and "Man In The Mirror."