Synopsis

Michael Jackson performs "Dirty Diana" as if he were fronting a packed arena concert. Under stark blue-white lights, he moves through the song's hard-rock arrangement with increasingly intense vocals and choreography, eventually tearing open his white shirt during the climactic guitar break. The performance is intercut with shots of an excited audience and a mysterious woman, played by Lisa Dean, who watches from backstage and appears to embody the song's seductive, disruptive figure.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was filmed in Long Beach, California, in front of a staged audience rather than being taken from a regular Bad World Tour concert. Its concert-film style was designed to give Jackson a tougher, rock-oriented image.

• Lisa Dean was selected to play Diana after reportedly auditioning alongside hundreds of other candidates.

• Guitarist Steve Stevens, known for his work with Billy Idol, appears during the performance and supplies the song's prominent guitar presence.

• The video helped present Jackson in a more aggressive hard-rock setting than his earlier narrative videos such as "Bad" and "Smooth Criminal."

• Jackson later explained that "Dirty Diana" was about a groupie, not a specific woman. The song's title nevertheless became associated with Diana, Princess of Wales, especially after Jackson removed it from the planned set list for a 1988 Wembley concert attended by her.

• "Dirty Diana" received the "Number One Video in the World" award at the 1989 World Music Awards.