
Smooth Criminal (Alien Ant Farm)
2001
Funk metal aimed at a Bad-era Jackson hit; he vetted the video himself and asked for scenes reshot.
★ 2.6

Funk metal aimed at a Bad-era Jackson hit; he vetted the video himself and asked for scenes reshot.

Lee wrote it at nineteen, the label insisted on a male voice, and David Campbell's string section did the rest.

Bassist Tobin Esperance wrote that riff on a piano, and Shaddix built a nu-metal standard about despair over it.

Twelve weeks atop the modern rock chart, and Bennington turning somebody else's expectations into a chorus millions shouted back.
Shinoda's piano figure under Bennington's chorus took nu metal to number two, and the RIAA finally certified it diamond.