Information about Dangerous (album)

Dangerous
Dangerous cover
Studio album by Michael Jackson
Released	November 26, 1991
Recorded	June 25, 1990 - October 29, 1991
Genre	R&B/Pop New jack swing
Length	76:58
Label	Epic Records EK-45400
Producer	Michael Jackson Teddy Riley Bill Bottrell
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Q link Robert Christgau (A-) link Rolling Stone link
Michael Jackson chronology
Bad (1987) Dangerous (1991) HIStory (1995)

Dangerous is an album released by singer-songwriter Michael Jackson in November 1991 which has sold approximately 30 million copies worldwide.

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 of 1991, Jackson signed an all-new 15 year, 6 album deal with Sony, reputedly worth $1 billion, ^[1] making it the biggest recording deal ever. 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.

The 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]

Reception

The album was released on November 26 1991 and early sales were record breaking. In the US the album debuted at #1 with 326,500 copies sold. The album spent its four weeks straight at #1 (but it managed to spend 12 weeks at the top of the Cashbox albums chart ^[3] ), and 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 Jackon received the Living Legend Award in the 1993 Grammy Awards. The album really enjoyed a huge boost in sales during those days in early 1993 when he also performed at the Super Bowl and gave his famous interview to Oprah Winfrey. In all, Dangerous spent 117 weeks inside the Billboard 200, 30 weeks more than Bad. The RIAA certified Dangerous at 7x Platinum for 7 million copies.

In the UK the album was even more successful. It debuted also at #1, knocking-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.

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 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 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 USA the singles from the album performed much worse that 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 only #1 single was actually Black or White).

In terms of worldwide sales, in the UK and USA Bad's sales were 48% of the total worldwide sales. For Dangerous this figure is just 33%, making of the album a really more successful product internationally. However the Dangerous singles were mostly bigger hits around Europe and Australia in particular, 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.

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.

A Special Edition of the album appeared in 2001. It was digitally remastered and included a slipcase, a brand new 24-page colorful booklet with revised artwork and previously unseen photos. 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 (namely the Dangerous Demo and Monkey Business).

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.

"Black or White" was originally over ten minutes long, it premiered simultaneously on November 14, 1991 on MTV, VH1, BET, and FOX. The video is extremely noteworthy for featuring 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. This destructive behaviour was intended to imply a message of anti-racism, however. 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.

Music Awards

from [1]

1993

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

Bravo Magazine: Gold Otto Award 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:

• Lifetime Achievement Award for his unprecedented world records in the world of entertainment

NAACP Image Awards:

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

Soul Train Awards:

• 1993 Humanitarian Of The Year Award
• 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
• World's Best Selling Artist Of The Era

1994

Crenshaw Community Youth And Arts Foundation

• Humanitarian Award

Smash Hits Awards

• Best Male Vocalist

Pop Rock Magazine

• Favorite Singer of The Year

Track listing

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) – 3:23
14. "Dangerous" (Michael Jackson, Bill Bottrell, Teddy Riley) – 6:57

Singles

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

Certifications

Country	Certification	Sales
Australia	9x Platinum	630,000 [4]
Brazil	4x Platinum	500,000 [4]
Canada	6x Platinum	600,000 [6]
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]
USA	7x Platinum	7,000,000 [4]

Chart trajectory

Billboard 200 Chart trajectory
Week	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30 !align="center" style="background-color: #white;"|Chart position |1 |1 |1 |1 |5 |2 |2 |3 |4 |4 |2 |2 |2 |6 |6 |6 |9 |12 |21 |19 |22 |26 |24 |23 |26 |28 |28 |35 |33 |44

Billboard 200 chart trajectory
Week	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50	51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60 !align="center" style="background-color: #white;"|Chart position |44 |54 |48 |51 |58 |62 |61 |64 |75 |80 |87 |92 |102 |126 |136 |143 |97 |123 |138 |147 |149 |131 |120 |115 |106 |101 |113 |116 |121 |131

Billboard 200 chart trajectory
Week	61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70	71	72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79	80	81	82	83	84	85	86 !align="center" style="background-color: #white;"|Chart position |88 |41 |26 |12 |10 |12 |13 |13 |14 |15 |20 |17 |20 |25 |28 |31 |36 |41 |45 |47 |50 |65 |67 |47 |48 |46

Billboard 200 chart trajectory
Week	87	88	89	90	91	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	100	101	102	103	104	105	106	107	108	109	110	111	112
Chart position	42	38	38	40	41	44	49	46	53	67	78	85	95	97	112	103	105	115	119	116	119	133	140	136	140	167

Billboard 200 chart trajectory
Week	113	114	115	116	117
Chart position	171	181	195	182(re)	196

Outtakes

Known outtakes from Dangerous:

• "A Baby Smiles"
• "Bottle Of Smoke"
• "Dangerous" (early version, appeared on )
• "Fever"
• "For All Time" (leaked online)
• "Girls Of Another Love"
• "If You Don't Love Me" (leaked online)
• "Men In Black" (unshared snippet)
• "Monkey Business" (appeared on )
• "Planet Earth"
• "Pretty Faces"
• "Satisfy You" (Duet with Brian Loren, leaked online)
• "Serious Effect" (with LL Cool J) (leaked online)
• "Seven Digits"
• "She Got It" (snippet leaked online)
• "Someone Put Your Hand Out" (Released on Pepsi promo cassette, also later included on )
• "Trust About Youth"
• "Work That Body" (snippet leaked online)

On a recent ITV documentary The One And Only Michael Jackson, collaborators stated that Jackson started Dangerous with 60 songs, suggesting that there are far more outtakes than those leaked online or released subsequently.

Music samples

Credits

"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

"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

"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 Mystery Girl
• 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

"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

"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

"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

"Heal the World"

• Written and composed by Michael Jackson and Marty Paich
• 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

"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.

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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

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

References

See also

• Dangerous World Tour

•  • [ e] Michael Jackson
Album discography
Got to Be There Ben Music and Me Forever, Michael Off the Wall Thriller Bad Dangerous HIStory Invincible TBA
Tours
Destiny Tour Triumph Tour Victory Tour Bad World Tour Dangerous World Tour HIStory World Tour
Filmography
The Wiz Thriller Captain EO Moonwalker Ghosts
Records and achievements
List of Michael Jackson's awards
Controversies
Neverland Ranch 1993 child molestation allegations against Michael Jackson Living with Michael Jackson Michael Jackson 2005 child molestation trial Physical appearance Post trial lawsuits against Michael Jackson