Stranger in Moscow
Encyclopedia
"Stranger in Moscow" is the fifth and final single from Michael Jackson
's album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I. The song was released worldwide in November 1996 but was not released in the United States until August 1997. The track was written by Jackson in 1993, at the height of the highly publicized child abuse accusations made against him
, while on tour
in Moscow
.
During his visit to Moscow in September, Jackson came up with the song "Stranger in Moscow" which would be released on his 1995 album HIStory. It was during a time when Jackson felt very alone , far away from his family and friends, yet every night throughout his tours fans would stay by his hotel and support him . The song's music video
depicts the lives of six individuals, including Jackson, who are left isolated and disconnected from the world around them. The imagery in the video has been replicated in television adverts.
Upon its initial release, and a couple years later after the singer's death, the song has garnered some of the best critical praise of Jackson's career . Many former collaborators and critics have gone so far as to say it is Jackson's best song .
. Although never charged with a crime, Jackson was subject to intense media scrutiny while the criminal investigation took place. Complaints about the coverage and media included using sensational headlines to draw in readers and viewers when the content itself did not support the headline, accepting stories of Jackson's alleged criminal activity in return for money, accepting leaked material from the police investigation in return for money paid, deliberately using pictures of Jackson's appearance at its worst, a lack of objectivity and using headlines that strongly implied Jackson's guilt.
At the time, Jackson said of the media reaction, "I will say I am particularly upset by the handling of the matter by the incredible, terrible mass media. At every opportunity, the media has dissected and manipulated these allegations to reach their own conclusions". The entertainer began taking painkillers, Valium, Xanax and Ativan to deal with the stress of the allegations made against him. A few months after the allegations became news, Jackson had lost approximately 10 pounds (4.5 kg) in weight and had stopped eating. Jackson's health had deteriorated to the extent that he canceled the remainder of his Dangerous World Tour
and went into rehabilitation. Jackson booked the whole fourth floor of the clinic, and was put on a Valium IV to wean him from painkillers. The singer's spokesperson told reporters that Jackson was "barely able to function adequately on an intellectual level". While in the clinic, Jackson took part in group and one-on-one therapy sessions.
When Jackson left the US to go into rehabilitation, the media showed the singer little sympathy. The Daily Mirror held a "Spot the Jacko" contest, offering readers a trip to Walt Disney World if they could correctly predict where the entertainer would appear next. A Daily Express
headline read, "Drug Treatment Star Faces Life on the Run", while a News of the World
headline accused Jackson of being a fugitive
. These tabloids also falsely alleged that Jackson had traveled to Europe to have cosmetic surgery that would make him unrecognizable on his return. Geraldo Rivera
set up a mock trial, with a jury made up of audience members, even though Jackson had not been charged with a crime.
"Stranger in Moscow" is an R&B
ballad
, penned by Jackson in 1993, during his Dangerous World Tour in Moscow. It was originally written as a poem by Jackson, then it was adapted into a song. A background guitar was played by Steve Lukather
while keyboards, synthesizers and bass are credited to David Paich
and Steve Porcaro
. Originally, HIStory was planned as a greatest hits release, with a few new tracks. However, Jackson and his collaborators were so pleased with the result of "Stranger in Moscow" that they decided to give HIStory a full studio album as the second disc. Jackson used elements of Russian imagery and symbolism to help promote the concept of fear and alienation in the track, in a similar fashion to Simply Red
’s album Love and the Russian Winter
several years later. It concludes with a narrative, spoken in Russian, by a KGB interrogator. The narrative, translated into English is, "Why have you come from the west? Confess! To steal the great achievements of the people, the accomplishments of the workers...".
commented "[Jackson is] angry, miserable, tortured, inflammatory, furious about what he calls, in 'Stranger in Moscow', a 'swift and sudden fall from grace'...HIStory feels like the work of someone with a bad case of Thriller
nostalgia. Occasionally this backward focus works to Jackson's advantage: On 'Stranger in Moscow' he remembers the synth-pop '80s while constructing wracked claims of danger and loneliness that rival any Seattle rocker's p??in".
Jon Pareles
of The New York Times
stated, "The ballads are lavishly melodic. 'Stranger In Moscow', with odd lyrics like 'Stalin's tomb won't let me be,' has a gorgeous chorus for the repeated question "How does it feel?". Fred Shuster of the Daily News of Los Angeles described it as, "a lush, gorgeous minor-key ballad with one of the album's catchiest choruses"
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
of Allmusic noted of HIStory, "Jackson produces some well-crafted pop that ranks with his best material...'Stranger in Moscow' is one of his most haunting ballads. Long time collaborator Bruce Swedien
, has described "Stranger in Moscow" as one of the best songs Jackson had ever done. Patrick Macdonald of The Seattle Times
described "Stranger in Moscow" as "a pretty ballad interspersed with sounds of rain." Further praise came in 2005 when it was felt that the song had successfully portrayed "eerie loneliness" and was characterized as beautiful by Josephine Zohny
of PopMatters
. Tom Molley of the Associated Press
described it as "[a] ethereal and stirring description of a man wounded by a 'swift and sudden fall from grace' walking in the shadow of the Kremlin".
Chris Willman of Los Angeles Times
stated "'Stranger in Moscow', is a step removed from the focused paranoia of much of the rest of the album, more akin to the deeper, fuzzier dread of a past perennial like 'Billie Jean
'. Jackson imagines himself alone and adrift in a psychic Russia, pre-glasnost, hunted by an unseen KGB: 'Here abandoned in my fame / Armageddon of the brain', he sings in the somber, constricted verses, before a sweeping coda kicks up four minutes in and the stalkee suddenly breaks his cool to wail about a desolate, inconsolable loneliness. Here, in this song, is the real genius—and probably real personhood—of Michael Jackson".
Rod Temperton, one of Jackson's songwriters from his earlier career, believes that this is his best song.
, directed by Nick Brandt, and shot in Los Angeles, is focused around six unrelated people living in a cityscape while the rest of the world moves around them in slow motion. The first half of the video introduces these figures. They are a man looking down at the city from his bedroom window, a woman sitting alone in a coffee shop, a homeless man lying on the damp street, a lone figure feeding pigeons, a boy ostracized from a game of baseball, and Jackson himself is the sixth figure, seen walking the city streets while he sings. Special effects are used to show birds and wasps flying, glass breaking and coffee spilling, all in slow motion.
In the second half of the scenario, heavy rain descends on the city and the citizens try to flee, all again seen in slow motion. From the safety of shelter, the six "strangers" watch everyone's futile attempts to avoid the sudden change in weather. Eventually they decide to go outside, where they look up at the sky and allow the rain to soak them. The video ends with Michael whipping his hair. During this scene, you hear a voice speaking softly in Russian, a reference to Moscow.
Jackson's biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli
, has stated that the video is based on Jackson's real life. The singer used to walk alone at night looking for new friends, even at the peak of his musical popularity. The 1980s saw the singer become deeply unhappy; Jackson explained, "Even at home, I'm lonely. I sit in my room sometimes and cry. It's so hard to make friends ...I sometimes walk around the neighborhood at night, just hoping to find someone to talk to. But I just end up coming home".
, which also turned out to be the last live performance of the song. The song was also due to be performed for the This Is It
concert series, but the shows were cancelled due to his untimely death.
released a cover version of "Stranger in Moscow" on their MySpace page on January 1, 2002. The bass line of the track was replicated using the iconic Apple
Macintosh
startup chime.
U.S. maxi CD single
Visionary single
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
's album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I. The song was released worldwide in November 1996 but was not released in the United States until August 1997. The track was written by Jackson in 1993, at the height of the highly publicized child abuse accusations made against him
1993 child sexual abuse accusations against Michael Jackson
In 1993, Evan Chandler accused Michael Jackson of sexually abusing his thirteen-year-old son, Jordan. The relationship between Jackson and Jordan began in May 1992. Evan initially welcomed and encouraged the friendship, and bragged about his connection to a celebrity. The friendship became well...
, while on tour
Dangerous World Tour
The Dangerous World Tour was the second worldwide concert tour by American megasuperstar Michael Jackson. The tour, sponsored by Pepsi-Cola, included 69 performances to an audience of 3.5 million. All profits were donated to various charities including Jackson's own "Heal the World Foundation". The...
in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
.
During his visit to Moscow in September, Jackson came up with the song "Stranger in Moscow" which would be released on his 1995 album HIStory. It was during a time when Jackson felt very alone , far away from his family and friends, yet every night throughout his tours fans would stay by his hotel and support him . The song's music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
depicts the lives of six individuals, including Jackson, who are left isolated and disconnected from the world around them. The imagery in the video has been replicated in television adverts.
Upon its initial release, and a couple years later after the singer's death, the song has garnered some of the best critical praise of Jackson's career . Many former collaborators and critics have gone so far as to say it is Jackson's best song .
Context, production and music
In the book, The Many Faces of Michael Jackson, author Lee Pinkerton, like many other reviewers, noted that HIStorys album tracks like "Stranger in Moscow", were Jackson's response to recent events in his personal life. In 1993, the relationship between Jackson and the press soured entirely when he was accused of child sexual abuse1993 child sexual abuse accusations against Michael Jackson
In 1993, Evan Chandler accused Michael Jackson of sexually abusing his thirteen-year-old son, Jordan. The relationship between Jackson and Jordan began in May 1992. Evan initially welcomed and encouraged the friendship, and bragged about his connection to a celebrity. The friendship became well...
. Although never charged with a crime, Jackson was subject to intense media scrutiny while the criminal investigation took place. Complaints about the coverage and media included using sensational headlines to draw in readers and viewers when the content itself did not support the headline, accepting stories of Jackson's alleged criminal activity in return for money, accepting leaked material from the police investigation in return for money paid, deliberately using pictures of Jackson's appearance at its worst, a lack of objectivity and using headlines that strongly implied Jackson's guilt.
At the time, Jackson said of the media reaction, "I will say I am particularly upset by the handling of the matter by the incredible, terrible mass media. At every opportunity, the media has dissected and manipulated these allegations to reach their own conclusions". The entertainer began taking painkillers, Valium, Xanax and Ativan to deal with the stress of the allegations made against him. A few months after the allegations became news, Jackson had lost approximately 10 pounds (4.5 kg) in weight and had stopped eating. Jackson's health had deteriorated to the extent that he canceled the remainder of his Dangerous World Tour
Dangerous World Tour
The Dangerous World Tour was the second worldwide concert tour by American megasuperstar Michael Jackson. The tour, sponsored by Pepsi-Cola, included 69 performances to an audience of 3.5 million. All profits were donated to various charities including Jackson's own "Heal the World Foundation". The...
and went into rehabilitation. Jackson booked the whole fourth floor of the clinic, and was put on a Valium IV to wean him from painkillers. The singer's spokesperson told reporters that Jackson was "barely able to function adequately on an intellectual level". While in the clinic, Jackson took part in group and one-on-one therapy sessions.
When Jackson left the US to go into rehabilitation, the media showed the singer little sympathy. The Daily Mirror held a "Spot the Jacko" contest, offering readers a trip to Walt Disney World if they could correctly predict where the entertainer would appear next. A Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
headline read, "Drug Treatment Star Faces Life on the Run", while a News of the World
News of the World
The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...
headline accused Jackson of being a fugitive
Fugitive
A fugitive is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from private slavery, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals...
. These tabloids also falsely alleged that Jackson had traveled to Europe to have cosmetic surgery that would make him unrecognizable on his return. Geraldo Rivera
Geraldo Rivera
Geraldo Rivera is an American attorney, journalist, author, reporter, and former talk show host...
set up a mock trial, with a jury made up of audience members, even though Jackson had not been charged with a crime.
"Stranger in Moscow" is an R&B
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...
ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
, penned by Jackson in 1993, during his Dangerous World Tour in Moscow. It was originally written as a poem by Jackson, then it was adapted into a song. A background guitar was played by Steve Lukather
Steve Lukather
Steve "Luke" Lukather is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger, and record producer best known for his work with the rock band Toto. Lukather has played with many artists, released several solo albums, and worked as a composer, arranger, and session guitarist on more than 1,500 albums...
while keyboards, synthesizers and bass are credited to David Paich
David Paich
David Frank Paich is a session musician, keyboard player, recording producer, arranger, vocalist and main composer of the Los Angeles-based rock/pop band Toto. David is the son of the late jazz composer, musician, and arranger Marty Paich...
and Steve Porcaro
Steve Porcaro
Steven Maxwell "Steve" Porcaro is an American keyboardist and composer, who was an original member of the rock/pop band Toto....
. Originally, HIStory was planned as a greatest hits release, with a few new tracks. However, Jackson and his collaborators were so pleased with the result of "Stranger in Moscow" that they decided to give HIStory a full studio album as the second disc. Jackson used elements of Russian imagery and symbolism to help promote the concept of fear and alienation in the track, in a similar fashion to Simply Red
Simply Red
Simply Red were a British soul band that sold more than 50 million albums over a 25-year career. Their style drew influences from blue-eyed soul, new romantic, rock, reggae and jazz...
’s album Love and the Russian Winter
Love and the Russian Winter
Love and The Russian Winter is the seventh studio album by Simply Red, released on November 2, 1999.-Track listing:#"The Spirit of Life" – 4:42#"Ain't That a Lot of Love" – 3:56#"Your Eyes" – 4:15#"The Sky Is a Gypsy" – 4:33...
several years later. It concludes with a narrative, spoken in Russian, by a KGB interrogator. The narrative, translated into English is, "Why have you come from the west? Confess! To steal the great achievements of the people, the accomplishments of the workers...".
Music and critical reception
The song was critically acclaimed by critics and music producers. James Hunter of Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
commented "[Jackson is] angry, miserable, tortured, inflammatory, furious about what he calls, in 'Stranger in Moscow', a 'swift and sudden fall from grace'...HIStory feels like the work of someone with a bad case of Thriller
Thriller (album)
Thriller is the sixth studio album by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was released on November 30, 1982, by Epic Records as the follow-up to Jackson's critically and commercially successful 1979 album Off the Wall...
nostalgia. Occasionally this backward focus works to Jackson's advantage: On 'Stranger in Moscow' he remembers the synth-pop '80s while constructing wracked claims of danger and loneliness that rival any Seattle rocker's p??in".
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of the New York Times. He played jazz flute and piano, and graduated from Yale University with a degree in music. In the 1970s he was an associate editor of Crawdaddy!, and in the 1980s an associate...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
stated, "The ballads are lavishly melodic. 'Stranger In Moscow', with odd lyrics like 'Stalin's tomb won't let me be,' has a gorgeous chorus for the repeated question "How does it feel?". Fred Shuster of the Daily News of Los Angeles described it as, "a lush, gorgeous minor-key ballad with one of the album's catchiest choruses"
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
of Allmusic noted of HIStory, "Jackson produces some well-crafted pop that ranks with his best material...'Stranger in Moscow' is one of his most haunting ballads. Long time collaborator Bruce Swedien
Bruce Swedien
Bruce Swedien is a Grammy Award-winning audio engineer and music producer. He is known for his work with Quincy Jones.Swedien is a five-time Grammy winner and has been nominated 13 times. He recorded, mixed, and assisted in producing the best-sold album in the world, Thriller by Michael Jackson...
, has described "Stranger in Moscow" as one of the best songs Jackson had ever done. Patrick Macdonald of The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times is a newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, US. It is the largest daily newspaper in the state of Washington. It has been, since the demise in 2009 of the printed version of the rival Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle's only major daily print newspaper.-History:The Seattle Times...
described "Stranger in Moscow" as "a pretty ballad interspersed with sounds of rain." Further praise came in 2005 when it was felt that the song had successfully portrayed "eerie loneliness" and was characterized as beautiful by Josephine Zohny
of PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
. Tom Molley of the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
described it as "[a] ethereal and stirring description of a man wounded by a 'swift and sudden fall from grace' walking in the shadow of the Kremlin".
Chris Willman of Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
stated "'Stranger in Moscow', is a step removed from the focused paranoia of much of the rest of the album, more akin to the deeper, fuzzier dread of a past perennial like 'Billie Jean
Billie Jean
"Billie Jean" is a dance-pop/R&B song by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was written, composed, and co-produced by Jackson, and produced by Quincy Jones from the singer's sixth album, Thriller . Originally disliked by Jones, the track was almost removed from the album after he and...
'. Jackson imagines himself alone and adrift in a psychic Russia, pre-glasnost, hunted by an unseen KGB: 'Here abandoned in my fame / Armageddon of the brain', he sings in the somber, constricted verses, before a sweeping coda kicks up four minutes in and the stalkee suddenly breaks his cool to wail about a desolate, inconsolable loneliness. Here, in this song, is the real genius—and probably real personhood—of Michael Jackson".
Rod Temperton, one of Jackson's songwriters from his earlier career, believes that this is his best song.
Music video plot and influence
The song's music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
, directed by Nick Brandt, and shot in Los Angeles, is focused around six unrelated people living in a cityscape while the rest of the world moves around them in slow motion. The first half of the video introduces these figures. They are a man looking down at the city from his bedroom window, a woman sitting alone in a coffee shop, a homeless man lying on the damp street, a lone figure feeding pigeons, a boy ostracized from a game of baseball, and Jackson himself is the sixth figure, seen walking the city streets while he sings. Special effects are used to show birds and wasps flying, glass breaking and coffee spilling, all in slow motion.
In the second half of the scenario, heavy rain descends on the city and the citizens try to flee, all again seen in slow motion. From the safety of shelter, the six "strangers" watch everyone's futile attempts to avoid the sudden change in weather. Eventually they decide to go outside, where they look up at the sky and allow the rain to soak them. The video ends with Michael whipping his hair. During this scene, you hear a voice speaking softly in Russian, a reference to Moscow.
Jackson's biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli
J. Randy Taraborrelli
John Randall Taraborrelli is an American journalist and biographer.Taraborrelli is an author known for biographies of contemporary entertainers and political figures. He is a featured writer in several entertainment magazines in Canada, England, and Australia...
, has stated that the video is based on Jackson's real life. The singer used to walk alone at night looking for new friends, even at the peak of his musical popularity. The 1980s saw the singer become deeply unhappy; Jackson explained, "Even at home, I'm lonely. I sit in my room sometimes and cry. It's so hard to make friends ...I sometimes walk around the neighborhood at night, just hoping to find someone to talk to. But I just end up coming home".
Live Performances
Jackson first performed the song during the HIStory World TourHIStory World Tour
The HIStory World Tour was the third and final worldwide solo concert tour by American megasuperstar Michael Jackson, covering Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania and North America. The tour included a total of 82 concerts and was attended by approximately 4.5 million fans, beating his previous Bad Tour...
, which also turned out to be the last live performance of the song. The song was also due to be performed for the This Is It
This Is It (Michael Jackson concerts)
This Is It was a planned series of fifty concerts by Michael Jackson to be held at The O2 Arena in London. They were scheduled to begin in July 2009 and continue through to March 2010. However, with all concerts sold out, Jackson died less than three weeks before the first concert date...
concert series, but the shows were cancelled due to his untimely death.
Cover versions
The German electronica group Transformer di RoboterTransformer di Roboter
Transformer di Roboter is a Berlin-based electronic pop music duo consisting of Alexander Kloster and Johannes Malfatti. They have released several EPs and have contributed to compilations on labels such as WMF Records, Planet Mu, Deco, Diamondtraxx, Rock Machine Records, Klangkrieg, and L'Âge...
released a cover version of "Stranger in Moscow" on their MySpace page on January 1, 2002. The bass line of the track was replicated using the iconic Apple
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
startup chime.
Charts
| Chart (1996) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
14 |
| Austrian Singles Chart Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann... |
7 |
| Belgium Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts... (Vl Flemish Region The Flemish Region is one of the three official regions of the Kingdom of Belgium—alongside the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region. Colloquially, it is usually simply referred to as Flanders, of which it is the institutional iteration within the context of the Belgian political system... ) |
25 |
| Belgium Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts... (Wa) |
21 |
| Dutch Singles Chart Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting... |
4 |
| Finnish Singles Chart | 14 |
| French Singles Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
18 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
6 |
| Italian Singles Chart Federation of the Italian Music Industry The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy.... |
8 |
| Spanish Singles Chart | 1 |
| Swedish Singles Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association .... |
21 |
| Swiss Singles Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
5 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
4 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
91 |
| Chart (2009) | Peak position |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 75 |
| UK Singles Chart | 91 |
Track listing
CD single- "Stranger in Moscow" (radio edit) – 4:05
- "Stranger in Moscow" (Tee's Radio Mix) – 4:21
- "Stranger in Moscow" (Charles Roane's Full R&B Mix) – 4:30
- "Stranger in Moscow" (Tee's Light AC Mix) – 4:24
- "Stranger in Moscow" (album version) – 5:44
U.S. maxi CD single
- "Stranger in Moscow" (Tee's Radio Mix) – 4:21
- "Stranger in Moscow" (Charles Roane's Full R&B Mix) – 4:30
- "Stranger in Moscow" (Hani's Num Radio Mix) – 3:50
- "Stranger in Moscow" (Tee's In-House Club Mix) – 6:54
- "Stranger in Moscow" (Basement Boys 12" Club Mix) – 8:18
- "Stranger in Moscow" (Hani's Extended Chill Hop Mix) – 6:05
- "Off the Wall" (Junior Vasquez Mix) – 5:15
Visionary single
- CD side
- "Stranger in Moscow" (album edit) – 5:22
- "Stranger in Moscow" (Tee's In-House Club Mix) – 6:54
- DVD side
- "Stranger in Moscow" (music video) – 5:32
- Making of "Stranger in Moscow" (Short)
- Making of "Stranger in Moscow" (Extended)
Personnel
- Written, composedComposerA composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, producedRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and lead and background vocals by Michael Jackson - Background guitar by Steve LukatherSteve LukatherSteve "Luke" Lukather is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger, and record producer best known for his work with the rock band Toto. Lukather has played with many artists, released several solo albums, and worked as a composer, arranger, and session guitarist on more than 1,500 albums...
- Keyboards, synthesizer and bass by David PaichDavid PaichDavid Frank Paich is a session musician, keyboard player, recording producer, arranger, vocalist and main composer of the Los Angeles-based rock/pop band Toto. David is the son of the late jazz composer, musician, and arranger Marty Paich...
- Keyboards and synthesizer by Steve PorcaroSteve PorcaroSteven Maxwell "Steve" Porcaro is an American keyboardist and composer, who was an original member of the rock/pop band Toto....