*On this day in 1993, Michael Jackson was awarded a patent that gave him sole ownership of the “Smooth Criminal” lean.
Regular ol’ wires and a harness were used to pull off the gravity-defying move in the video for “Smooth Criminal,” the seventh single from his 1987 album “Bad.”
But what made his entire foot stick to the floor is what required the patent.
Jackson and his dancers wore special shoes outfitted with a v-shaped slit in the bottom of each heel. These would secretly hook into pegs that lifted up from the floor and allowed the feet to remain fixed as the body leaned forward beyond a human’s center of gravity, without bending the knees.
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Jackson patented this anti-gravity hitch system to take on tour. When he and his dancers hit this move on stage, with nary a wire or harness, fans responded with open mouthed shock and awe that rivaled the moment Jackson first moonwalked on “Motown 25.”
Below is a compilation of the lean in concert.
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