Produced by Quincy Jones (and co-produced by Jackson), it was released as the sixth single on July 11, 1988, for the singer's seventh studio album, Bad (1987).

[5] According to Quincy Jones in an interview that was featured in the 2001 special edition of Bad, Jackson wanted to include "Streetwalker" on the album instead of "Another Part of Me".

However, as Jones said, "Michael liked 'Streetwalker', and I wanted to do 'Another Part of Me'... he wrote both of them, so it didn't make any difference to him... we were going to listen to them, the three of us, objectively and decide which one was gonna get picked.

"[citation needed] Bill Bottrell's eventually reworked "Streetwalker" and his version was later released on the 2001 special edition and the second disc of 25th anniversary re-issue.

An official video was released in 1988, directed by Patrick Kelly, featuring Jackson performing the song live during his Bad World Tour.