and the groove screwed to a very high torque, this is as lean and urgent a piece as Jackson has ever produced." William Ruhlman of AllMusic observed, "'Blood on the Dance Floor' is an uptempo Jackson song in the increasingly hysterical tradition of 'Billie Jean' and 'Smooth Criminal' with Jackson huffing, puffing, and yelping through some nonsense about a stabbing ... over a fairly generic electronic dance track". He was not complimentary of the B-sides that accompanied it. Stephen Thomas Erlewine, also of AllMusic, had a negative reaction to the record. He described "Blood on the Dance Floor" as a "bleak reworking of 'Jam' and 'Scream'". Music commentator Nelson George, compared the song to material from Dangerous, such as the critically acclaimed tracks "Jam" and "Dangerous". He described it as a "pile driving" song that "explodes from radio speakers". A longtime commentator on Jackson's public life, J. Randy Taraborrelli, gave a retrospective analysis of the album in the biography, The Magic & the Madness. Taraborrelli thought that "Blood on the Dance Floor" was one of Jackson's best songs, a song that US fans "don't even know exists". In 2005, J T Griffith, of AllMusic, believed that in hindsight, "Blood on the Dance Floor" was actually a good song. He explained, "[it is] a second-rate mixture of 'Beat It' and 'Thriller' but Jackson's missteps are better than most pop music out there. This track showcases all the artist's trademarks: the ooohing, the grunts, and funky basslines. It is hard to hear 'Blood on the Dance Floor' and not want to moonwalk or dance like a ghoul". Promotion "Blood on the Dance Floor" was the only track from Blood on the Dance Floor: History in the Mix to appear on the set list of the HIStory World Tour. The music video for "Blood on the Dance Floor" was directed by Jackson and Vincent Paterson. Filming occurred in February 1997, when Jackson's first child Prince was born. It premiered on Top of the Pops in the UK on March 28, 1997, several weeks ahead of its release as a single. The video opens with a thrown switchblade impaling a spray painted image. The impaled image is that of a blood dripping love heart with "SUSIE + ME" scrawled across it. Jackson and a group of dancers then enter a salsa dance hall and he begins to dance with a woman, "Susie", while shaking