Dangerous (album)

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Dangerous
Dangerous cover
Studio album by Michael Jackson
Released November 22, 1991
Recorded June 25, 1990 - October 29, 1991
Genre Pop, Dance-pop, Rock, R&B, New jack swing
Length 76:58
Label Epic Records
EK-45400
Producer Michael Jackson
Teddy Riley
Bill Bottrell
Professional reviews
Michael Jackson chronology
Bad
(1987)		 Dangerous
(1991)		 HIStory
(1995)
Singles from Dangerous
  1. "Black or White"
  2. "Remember The Time"
  3. "In The Closet"
  4. "Jam"
  5. "Who Is It"
  6. "Heal The World"
  7. "Give In To Me"
  8. "Will You Be There"
  9. "Gone Too Soon"


Dangerous was the first album Michael Jackson released in the 1990s, on November 22, 1991. It became Jackson's second album to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, where it spent the next 4 weeks selling 7 million copies in the U.S. his third best-selling album there. With sales of approximately 30 million copies worldwide[1], it is Jackson's best-selling recording of the nineties and near ties with Bad as his second-best selling album, behind Thriller.

Contents

[edit] Project

Recording sessions for the album began in Los Angeles at Ocean Way/Record One Studio 2 on June 25, 1990 and ended at Larrabee North and Ocean Way Studio on October 29, 1991 (according to the sleeve notes of the Special Edition of the album), being the most extensive recording project of Jackson's career until that time (over sixteen months compared to the usual six months spent in the recording of his previous three studio albums).

In March 1991, Michael Jackson signed a 15 year, 6 album deal to Sony Music. The press reported that Sony actually handed over $1 billion to Jackson, but that was not the case. At the time, Sony estimated that if the albums Jackson released under the new contract sold at the same level they currently sold, it would generate over $1 billion in profits for them. Additionally, Jackson was awarded the highest royalty rate in the business. By the time the contract expired in March 2006, Michael would have been paid $45 million from Sony ($1 million a year, plus $5 million per album delivered). This does not include money he would have also earned from sales of albums, singles, videos etc. Under this contract, Jackson is estimated to have earned $175 million from album sales alone.

At this point, Dangerous was already in the making and Jackson ended his association with Quincy Jones, in favour of the producing talents of new jack swing inventor Teddy Riley. Jackson also decided to deliver a compact disc full of material. The previous Bad was his last album designed for the LP industry, containing the usual ten songs and lasting under 50 minutes. In the other hand, Dangerous was a 77-minute, 14-song album, almost daring the capacity of early Nineties compact discs. Consequently, the record was released as a double album in vinyl.

The famous album cover was designed by Mark Ryden. The first printing of the album was released as a large box with a picture of Michael Jackson's eyes, which folded open to reveal the normal cover, in pop-up card, with the CD, and booklet in the bottom. Dangerous was heavily anticipated, as highlighted by an incident at the Los Angeles International Airport that witnessed a group of armed robbers stealing 30,000 copies of the new album before its official release.[2]

[edit] Reception

The album was released on November 22, 1991 and early sales were record breaking, becoming Jackson's fastest-selling ever in the U,S, with 4 million shipped in under 2 months, beating Bad's 4 million in 4 months. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 200 album charts, with 326,500 copies sold within one week of release. The album spent four weeks straight at #1, and spent its first 17 weeks inside the Billboard 200 top 10. The album managed to spend another week inside the top 10 in its 65th week in the charts, reaching #10, after Jackson received the Grammy Legend Award at the 1993 Grammy Awards. The album saw a huge boost in sales during early 1993 when he also performed at the Super Bowl and conducted his famous interview with Oprah Winfrey. In all, Dangerous spent 117 weeks inside the Billboard 200, 30 weeks more than Bad. The RIAA certified Dangerous 7x Platinum, for shipping 7 million copies.

In the UK the album was even more successful. It also debuted at #1, holding off the top-spot-big-contender, U2's Achtung Baby. However, in its second week it was replaced by Queen's Greatest Hits II, in the aftermath of Freddie Mercury's death. There it spent 23 weeks inside the top 10 (the last being its 69th week, enjoying an amazing staying power) and a total of 96 weeks inside the top 75. The sales of the album stand at 2.1 million, making Dangerous one of the UK's best-selling albums of the nineties.

In terms of worldwide sales, in the UK and U.S., Bad's sales were 48% of the total worldwide sales. For Dangerous this figure is just 33%, making the album a more successful product internationally. However, the singles released from Dangerous were mostly bigger hits in Europe and Australia this time around, and more were released, than the singles from Bad. There were spectacular sales compared to Bad and Thriller in many European countries and Australia. Also Dangerous sold very well in the new emerging and growing record markets of Asia and South America.

The first single released from the album, "Black or White" was an instant success, Jackson's biggest hit single since "Billie Jean". Successive singles also enjoyed success. The album produced a total of 9 singles around the world (the title track was planned as a single for the end of 1993 but was cancelled), the same number as Bad. All of them were released in the UK, seven of them reaching the top 10, an achievement never before made by Jackson. The major hits released from the album were "Black or White", "Remember the Time", "In the Closet", "Heal the World", "Who Is It", and "Will You Be There". In the U.S., the singles from the album performed much worse than the singles from Thriller or even Bad, with Dangerous producing four top 10 hits out of 7 singles released there (Bad had six top 10 singles, of which the first five were all #1 hits - Dangerous's only #1 single was "Black or White").

Jackson supported the album with the Dangerous World Tour. Jackson would not release another full-length album of only all new songs for 10 years, with Invincible in 2001. HIStory, released in 1995, did contain a full disc of new material, but was only available in a double-disc set, the first CD containing previous hits.

[edit] Music videos

As was becoming the standard for Jackson, the album's music videos were among the most costly and innovative of their time. Several of the music videos taken from the Dangerous album had complex storylines and dance sequences, and featured cameo appearances by celebrities. The video for "Jam", directed by David Kellogg, showed Jackson and Michael Jordan playing basketball and dancing together, while "Remember the Time" was set in an Ancient Egyptian palace, and starred Eddie Murphy and Iman as the pharaoh and his queen. The video also featured a cameo by NBA player Magic Johnson. "In the Closet" featured Jackson and supermodel Naomi Campbell as lovers. The director of the video was photographer Herb Ritts, who also photographed Jackson in a series of promotional shots for the release of the Dangerous album. The video clip for "Who Is It" is notable as it was directed by David Fincher who later went on direct a number of films including Se7en, Fight Club and Zodiac.

"Black or White" was originally over ten minutes long, premiering simultaneously on November 14, 1991 on MTV, VH1, BET, and FOX. The video featured one of the earliest examples of computer-generated morphing. The last four minutes of the video also induced much controversy, as it depicted Jackson smashing store windows and destroying a car with a crowbar. However, this destructive behaviour was intended to imply a message of anti-racism and racist graffiti was added in later versions to make the violence more understandable. The music video was also controversial because of Jackson's sexually suggestive dance, which included the crotch grab as well as zipping up his pants. MTV and the other music video networks decided to excise the last four minutes of the "Black or White" video for all subsequent airings, and Jackson issued a statement apologizing to anyone who had been offended, and explaining that he tried to interpret the animal instinct of panthers into a dance. The video featured Macaulay Culkin and an appearance during the morphing scene by young Tyra Banks and was directed by John Landis, also the director of the "Thriller" short film.

[edit] Special editions

Alternative editions of the albums became very rare, products almost exclusive for record collectors. The most notable was an edition released in 1992 that folded out to become a diorama.

An international re-release of the album (entitled Dangerous - Special Edition) had place on October 16, 2001, just two weeks before the release of Jackson's studio album Invincible. Simultaneously, Special Editions of Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad were also released. For the occasion, Dangerous was digitally remastered and included a slipcase and a brand new 24-page colorful booklet with revised artwork and previously-unseen photos. The new edition managed to reached #108 in the UK charts (the only one of those four re-releases that didn't enter the Top 75 there). Because of the constraints of Dangerous' running time, previously unreleased songs were not included, however many of them were eventually leaked onto the internet along with various demos of other tracks that appeared on the album. In 2004, some of these leaked tracks were officially released on Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection (namely the "Dangerous" demo and "Monkey Business").

[edit] Music awards

American Music Awards:

  • Best Pop/Rock Album, "Dangerous"
  • Best Soul/R&B Single, "Remember The Time"
  • Special International Artist Award for record sales and humanitarian efforts around the world

BMI Awards:

  • Two of the Most Performed Songs of the Year, "Black or White" and "Remember The Time"

Grammy Awards: Living Legend Award Guinness Book Of World Records:

  • 25th Silver Anniversary Entertainer of the Year Award
  • Outstanding Music Video, "Black or White"

Soul Train Awards:

  • Best R&B Single, "Remember The Time"
  • Best R&B Album, "Dangerous"

World Music Awards:

  • Best Selling American Artist
  • World's Best Selling Pop Artist [3]

[edit] Track listing

[edit] CD

  1. "Jam" (René Moore, Bruce Swedien, Michael Jackson, Teddy Riley) – 5:39
  2. "Why You Wanna Trip on Me" (Teddy Riley, Bernard Belle) – 5:24
  3. "In the Closet" (Michael Jackson, Teddy Riley) – 6:31
  4. "She Drives Me Wild" (Michael Jackson, Teddy Riley. Rap lyrics by Aquil Davidson) – 3:41
  5. "Remember the Time" (Teddy Riley, Michael Jackson, Bernard Belle) – 4:00
  6. "Can't Let Her Get Away" (Michael Jackson, Teddy Riley) – 4:58
  7. "Heal the World" (Michael Jackson) – 6:24
  8. "Black or White" (Michael Jackson. Rap lyrics by Bill Bottrell; features guitarist Slash) – 4:15
  9. "Who Is It" (Michael Jackson) – 6:34
  10. "Give in to Me" (Michael Jackson, Bill Bottrell) – 5:29
  11. "Will You Be There" (Michael Jackson) – 7:40
  12. "Keep the Faith" (Glen Ballard, Siedah Garrett, Michael Jackson) – 5:57
  13. "Gone Too Soon" (Larry Grossman, Buz Kohan) – 3:26
  14. "Dangerous" (Michael Jackson, Bill Bottrell, Teddy Riley) – 6:57

[edit] Singles

  1. November 1991 - "Black or White" U.S. #1 / UK #1
  2. January 1992 - "Remember the Time" U.S. #3 / UK #3
  3. April 1992 - "In the Closet" U.S. #6 / UK #8
  4. July 1992 (U.S.); September 1992 (UK) - "Jam" U.S. #26 / UK #12
  5. August 1992 (Europe); February 1993 (U.S.) - "Who Is It" U.S. #14 / UK #10
  6. October 1992 - "Heal the World" U.S. #27 / UK #2
  7. February 1993 - "Give in to Me" UK #2 (Europe only single)
  8. May 1993 - "Will You Be There" U.S. #7 / UK #8
  9. November 1993 - "Gone Too Soon" UK #33 (UK only single)

[edit] Certifications

Country Certification Sales
Australia 9x Platinum 630,000 [4]
Austria 4x Platinum 80,000 [4]
Brazil 4x Platinum 500,000 [4]
Canada 6x Platinum 600,000 [5]
France 2x Diamond 2,000,000 [4]
Germany 10x Platinum 2,000,000 [4]
Japan 3x Platinum 825,000 [4]
Spain 8x Platinum 640,000 [4]
Switzerland 8x Platinum 240,000
UK 7x Platinum 2,100,000 [4]
U.S. 7x Platinum 7,000,000 [4]

[edit] Chart positions

Year Chart Position
1991 The Billboard 200 1
1992
1991 Norway's album chart 1
1992

[edit] Credits

[edit] "Jam"

  • Music by René Moore, Bruce Swedien, Michael Jackson and Teddy Riley.
  • Song and lyrics by Michael Jackson.
  • Produced by Michael Jackson, Teddy Riley and Bruce Swedien.
  • Recorded and mixed by Bruce Swedien, Teddy Riley and Dave Way.
  • Solo and background vocals: Michael Jackson.
  • Arrangement by Michael Jackson, Bruce Swedien, Teddy Riley and René Moore.
  • Vocal arrangement by Michael Jackson.
  • Rap performed by Heavy D.
  • Keyboards: Rene Moore, Teddy Riley, Bruce Swedien and Brad Buxer.
  • Synthesizers: Teddy Riley, Rhett Lawrence, Michael Boddicker and Brad Buxer.
  • Drums: Teddy Riley and Bruce Swedien.
  • Guitar: Teddy Riley.

[edit] "Why You Wanna Trip on Me"

  • Written and composed by Teddy Riley and Bernard Belle.
  • Produced by Teddy Riley and Michael Jackson.
  • Recorded and mixed by Bruce Swedien, Teddy Riley, Dave Way and Jean-Marie Horvat.
  • Solo and background vocals: Michael Jackson.
  • Vocal arrangement by Michael Jackson.
  • Rhythm arrangement by Teddy Riley.
  • Keyboards, synthesizers and guitar: Teddy Riley.
  • Guitar intro: Paul Jackson, Jr..
  • Sequencing and programming: Wayne Cobham.

[edit] "In the Closet"

  • Written and composed by Michael Jackson and Teddy Riley.
  • Produced by Teddy Riley and Michael Jackson.
  • Recorded and mixed by Bruce Swedien, Teddy Riley, Jean-Marie Horvat and Dave Way.
  • Duet: Michael Jackson and Princess Stephanie of Monaco.
  • Solo and background vocals: Michael Jackson.
  • Rhythm arrangement by Teddy Riley.
  • Synthesizer arrangement by Teddy Riley.
  • Vocal arrangement by Michael Jackson.
  • Keyboards and synthesizers: Teddy Riley.
  • Sequencing and programming: Wayne Cobham.

[edit] "She Drives Me Wild"

  • Written and composed by Michael Jackson and Teddy Riley.
  • Rap lyrics by Aqil Davidson.
  • Produced by Teddy Riley and Michael Jackson.
  • Recorded and mixed by Bruce Swedien, Teddy Riley, Dave Way and Jean-Marie Horvat.
  • Solo and background vocals: Michael Jackson.
  • Rhythm arrangement by Teddy Riley.
  • Synthesizer arrangement by Teddy Riley.
  • Keyboards and synthesizers: Teddy Riley.
  • Sequencing and programming: Wayne Cobham.
  • Rap performed by Wrecks N' Effect.

[edit] "Remember the Time"

  • Written and composed by Teddy Riley, Michael Jackson and Bernard Belle.
  • Produced by Teddy Riley and Michael Jackson.
  • Recorded and mixed by Bruce Swedien, Teddy Riley and Dave Way.
  • Solo and background vocals: Michael Jackson.
  • Rhythm arrangement by Teddy Riley.
  • Synthesizer arrangement by Teddy Riley.
  • Vocal arrangement by Michael Jackson.
  • Keyboards and synthesizers: Teddy Riley.
  • Sequencing and programming: Wayne Cobham.

[edit] "Can't Let Her Get Away"

  • Written and composed by Michael Jackson and Teddy Riley.
  • Produced by Teddy Riley and Michael Jackson.
  • Recorded and mixed by Bruce Swedien, Teddy Riley, Dave Way and Jean-Marie Horvat.
  • Solo and background vocals: Michael Jackson.
  • Vocal arrangement by Michael Jackson.
  • Rhythm arrangement by Teddy Riley.
  • Synthesizer arrangement by Teddy Riley.
  • Keyboards and synthesizers: Teddy Riley.
  • Sequencing and programming: Wayne Cobham.

[edit] "Heal the World"

  • Written and composed by Michael Jackson.
  • Produced by Michael Jackson.
  • Co-produced by Bruce Swedien.
  • Recorded and mixed by Bruce Swedien and Matt Forger.
  • Solo and background vocals: Michael Jackson.
  • Ending solo vocal: Christa Larson.
  • Playground girl: Ashley Farell.
  • Rhythm arrangement by Michael Jackson.
  • Orchestra arranged and conducted by Marty Paich.
  • Vocal arrangement by Michael Jackson and John Bahler.
  • Choir arrangement by John Bahler, featuring the John Bahler Singers.
  • Keyboards: Daivd Paich and Brad Buxer.
  • Synthesizers: Michael Boddicker, David Paich and Steve Porcaro.
  • Drums: Jeff Porcaro.
  • Percussion: Bryan Loren.
  • Prelude composed, arranged and conducted by Marty Paich.

[edit] "Black or White"

  • Written and composed by Michael Jackson.
  • Rap lyrics by Bill Bottrell.
  • Produced by Michael Jackson and Bill Bottrell.
  • Recorded and mixed by Bill Bottrell.
  • Solo and background vocals: Michael Jackson.
  • Drums: Bryan Loren.
  • Percussion: Brad Buxer and Bill Bottrell.
  • Bass: Bryan Loren (moog) and Terry Jackson (bass guitar).
  • Keyboards: Brad Buxer, John Barnes and Jason Martz.
  • Guitar: Bill Bottrell.
  • Heavy metal guitar: Tim Pierce.
  • Speed sequencer: Michael Boddicker and Kevin Gilbert.
  • Rap performed by L.T.B.
  • "Intro":
    • Special guitar performance by Slash.
    • Directed by Michael Jackson.
    • Composed by Bill Bottrell.
    • Engineering and sound design: Matt Forger.
    • Son played by Andres McKenzie.
    • Father played by L.T.B.

[edit] "Who Is It"

  • Written and composed by Michael Jackson.
  • Produced by Michael Jackson and Bill Bottrell.
  • Recorded and mixed by Bill Bottrell.
  • Solo and background vocals: Michael Jackson.
  • Arrangement by Michael Jackson.
  • Drums: Bryan Loren and Bill Bottrell.
  • Bass: Bill Bottrell (synthesizer) and Louis Johnson (bass guitar).
  • Keyboard arrangement by Brad Buxer and David Paich.
  • Keyboard performance and programming: Brad Buxer, Michael Boddicker, David Paich, Steve Porcaro and Jai Winding.
  • String arrangement by George del Barrio.
  • Concertmaster: Endre Granat.
  • Solo cello: Larry Corbett.
  • Soprano voice: Michael Jackson and Linda Harmon.

[edit] "Give in to Me"

  • Written and composed by Michael Jackson and Bill Bottrell.
  • Produced by Michael Jackson and Bill Bottrell.
  • Recorded and mixed by Bill Bottrell.
  • Guitars recorded by Jim Mitchell; Assisted by Craig Brock.
  • Special guitar performance by Slash.
  • Solo and background vocals: Michael Jackson.
  • Bass, drums, mellotron and guitar: Bill Bottrell.
  • Guitar: Tim Pierce.

[edit] "Will You Be There"

  • Written and composed by Michael Jackson.
  • Produced by Michael Jackson.
  • Co-produced by Bruce Swedien.
  • Recorded and mixed by Bruce Swedien and Matt Forger.
  • Solo and background vocals: Michael Jackson.
  • Rhythm arrangement by Michael Jackson and Greg Phillinganes.
  • Orchestra arranged and conducted by Johnny Mandel.
  • Vocal arrangement by Michael Jackson.
  • Choir arrangement by Andrae and Sandra Crouch, featuring the Andrae Crouch Singers.
  • Keyboards: Greg Phillinganes and Brad Buxer.
  • Synthesizers: Michael Boddicker.
  • Synthsizers and synthesizer programming: Rhett Lawrence.
  • Drums and percussion: Brad Buxer and Bruce Swedien.
  • Percussion: Paulinho Da Costa.
  • Prelude: Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Opus 125: Presto.
    • Performed by the Cleaveland Orchestral Chorus.
      • Directed by Robert Shaw.
    • Performed by the Cleaveland Orchestra.
      • Conducted by George Szell.

[edit] "Keep the Faith"

  • Written and composed by Glen Ballard, Siedah Garrett and Michael Jackson.
  • Produced by Michael Jackson.
  • Co-produced by Bruce Swedien.
  • Recorded and mixed by Bruce Swedien.
  • Solo and background vocals: Michael Jackson.
  • Arrangement by Glen Ballard, Jerry Hey and Rhett Lawrence.
  • Choir arrangement by Andrae and Sandra Crouch, featuring the Andrae Crouch Singers.
  • Background vocals: Siedah Garret and Shanice Wilson.
  • Piano and bass: Jai Winding.
  • Drums, percussion and synthesizer: Rhett Lawrence.
  • Drums and percussion: Bruce Swedien.
  • Synthesizers: Michael Boddicker.
  • Guitar: David Williams.

[edit] "Gone Too Soon"

  • Music by Larry Grossman.
  • Lyrics by Buz Kohan.
  • Produced by Michael Jackson.
  • Co-produced by Bruce Swedien.
  • Recorded and mixed by Bruce Swedien.
  • Solo vocal: Michael Jackson.
  • Rhythm arrangement by David Paich.
  • Orchestra arranged and conducted by Marty Paich.
  • Keyboards: David Paich.
  • Synthesizers: David Paich, Steve Porcaro and Michael Boddicker.
  • Bass: Abraham Laboriel.
  • Percussion: Paulinho Da Costa.
  • Prelude composed, arranged and conducted by Marty Paich.

[edit] "Dangerous"

  • Written and composed by Michael Jackson, Bill Bottrell and Teddy Riley.
  • Produced by Teddy Riley and Michael Jackson.
  • Recorded by Jean-Marie Horvat, Bruce Swedien, Teddy Riley and Thom Russo.
  • Mixed by Bruce Swedien and Teddy Riley.
  • Solo and background vocals: Michael Jackson.
  • Vocal arrangement by Michael Jackson.
  • Rhythm arrangement by Teddy Riley.
  • Synthesizer arrangement by Teddy Riley.
  • Synthesizers: Teddy Riley, Brad Buxer and Rhett Lawrence.

[edit] Technical credits

  • Executive producer: Michael Jackson.
  • Recorded and mixed by Bruce Swedien, Teddy Riley and Bill Bottrell.
  • Technical directors: Brad Sundberg and Thom Russo.
  • Additional engineering by Dave Way, Matt Forger, Jean-Marie Horvat, Richard Cottrell and Kevin Gilbert.
  • Assistant engineers: Brad Sundberg, Bart Stevens, Thom Russo, John Chamberlain, Rail Rogut, Dan Bosworth, Julie East and Elaine Anderson.
  • Mastered by Bernie Grundman.

[edit] Outtakes

1. A Baby Smiles

2. Bottle Of Smoke

3. Dangerous (Early Version, Appeared On The Ultimate Collection)

4. Fever

5. For All Time (Leaked Online, different (earlier) version released on Thriller 25th Anniversary Edition (aka Thriller 25) in February 2008)

6. Girls Of Another Love

7. If You Don't Love Me (Leaked Online)

8. Men In Black (Not related to the films entitled Men In Black, intended first single from Dangerous until Black or White was written, exists on CD know as Promo Flight Only which was given to select Sony Executives on a flight to Neverland in the early 1990's)

9. Monkey Business (Appeared On The Ultimate Collection)

10. Planet Earth (Lyrics Include On The Special Edition, But Never Released)

11. Pretty Faces

12. Serious Effect (With LL Cool J)(Leaked Online)

13. Seven Digits

14. She Got It (Leaked Online)

15. Someone Put Your Hand Out (Released On Pepsi Promo Cassette Also Later Included On The Ultimate Collection. Instrumental parts also heard between songs during the Dangerous World Tour.)

16. Trust About Youth

17. Work That Body (Leaked Online)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dangerous Sales
  2. ^ Flashbacks!. beach-bulletin.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-30.
  3. ^ Michael Jackson Awards
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i [1]
  5. ^ Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA): Certification Results

[edit] See also

Preceded by
Achtung Baby by U2		 Billboard 200 number-one album
December 14, 1991 - January 10, 1992		 Succeeded by
Nevermind by Nirvana
v • d • e
Michael Jackson
Studio albums
Other albums
Solo tours
Filmography
Video releases
See also