Paula Abdul replaced Perri Lister as the video's choreographer, in which various scenes of torture are displayed with the Jacksons being on the receiving end of most of it.

The shoot was an expensive and arduous affair that neither Michael nor Jermaine took part in, and it ultimately bankrupted the production company.

The song peaked at #17 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making it the second best selling single on the album, behind "State of Shock".

[3] However, Jermaine Jackson sang vocals in Jackie's place, because he did not know if he'd be fully involved with the Victory album until the last minute.

[3] On the recording, Michael and Jermaine sing a duet, with the rest of the group providing backing vocals.

[5] One misconception is that the lyrics are about sadomasochism and physical torture, claims that Susan Baker of the Parents Music Resource Center had at one time made.

[10][3] After Michael had sketched out ideas for the shoot with the production company and his brothers, Stein and producer John Diaz had a feeling he would skip the actual shoot, so they rented a wax dummy of Michael from Madame Tussaud's museum in Nashville.

[12] "I was so young and naïve, I just figured this is what they normally do in music videos," recalled Paula Abdul, who eventually became the choreographer.

[11] Perri Lister, an alumna of the British dance troupe Hot Gossip, was initially hired as the video's choreographer.

On the first day Stein told his crew that since the Jacksons were devout Jehovah's Witnesses, no drugs or alcohol would be tolerated on the set.

The Philadelphia Inquirer said that the song was "a hard-rock dance tune with blaring synthesizers and buzzing guitars."

[18] William Ruhlmann of Allmusic considered the song a "Track pick", and mentioned that its popularity probably had to do more with the fact that Michael Jackson was involved.

That's how it sounded to listeners in 1984, anyway, and they weren't fooled — "State of Shock", on which Michael shared vocals with Mick Jagger, was a gold Top Ten hit, and "Torture", which teamed Michael with Jermaine, made the Top 40, while the album went platinum.