Dangerous (album)

Dangerous was a hit album for singer/songwriter Michael Jackson released in 1991 and went on to become the second biggest selling album of 1992.

Album information

Jackson was awarded a new record breaking $1 Billion contract by Sony in March, 1991, and released his first album under the new contract, Dangerous, that November. Beginning with this album, Jackson ended his association with Quincy Jones, and enlisted new producers such as new jack swing inventor Teddy Riley for his records. While in the United States, sales for the album reached seven million, internationally Dangerous eclipsed Bad as the second best-selling album of Jackson's career, selling over 32 million albums[1]. The major hits included "Black or White", "Remember the Time", "In The Closet", "Heal the World", "Who Is It", "Jam", and "Will You Be There".

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. Also, it featured a cameo by basketball player Magic Johnson. "In the Closet" featured Jackson and model 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 technically 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 a crotch-grabbing Jackson smashing store windows and destroying a car with a crowbar. 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 (among others) and was directed by John Landis, also the director of the "Thriller" short film.

The album cover was by Mark Ryden. On November 20 1991 a group of armed men stole 30, 000 copies of Dangerous from a terminal at Los Angeles Airport.

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. The Special Edition was digitally remastered and included a slipcase, 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 Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection (namely the Dangerous Demo and Monkey Business).

Track listing

#"Jam" (Moore/Swedien/Jackson/Riley) â€" 5:39#"Why You Wanna Trip On Me" (Riley/Belle) â€" 5:24#"In The Closet" (Jackson/Riley) â€" 6:31#"She Drives Me Wild" (featuring Wreckz & Effect) (Jackson/Riley) (Rap lyrics by Aqil Davidson) â€" 3:41 #"Remember the Time" (Riley/Jackson/Belle) â€" 4:00#"Can't Let Her Get Away" (Jackson/Riley) â€" 4:58#"Heal The World" (Jackson) â€" 6:24 #"Black Or White" (Jackson) (Rap lyrics by Bill Bottrell) â€" 4:15#"Who Is It" (Jackson) â€" 6:34#"Give in To Me" (Jackson/Bottrell) â€" 5:29#"Will You Be There" (Jackson) â€" 7:40#"Keep The Faith" (Ballard/Garrett/Jackson) â€" 5:57 #"Gone Too Soon" (Grossman/Kohan) â€" 3:23#"Dangerous" (Jackson/Bottrell/Riley) â€" 6:57

Outtakes

Known outtakes from Dangerous:
* "A Baby Smiles"
* "Bottle Of Smoke"
* "Dangerous" (early version, appeared on The Ultimate Collection)
* "Fever"
* "For All Time"
* "Girls Of Another Love"
* "If You Don't Love Me"
* "Men In Black"
* "Monkey Business" (appeared on The Ultimate Collection)
* "Planet Earth"
* "Pretty Faces"
* "Satisfy You"
* "Serious Effect" (with LL Cool J)
* "Seven Digits"
* "She Got It"
* "Someone Put Your Hand Out" (Released on Pepsi promo cassette, also later included on The Ultimate Collection)
* "Trust About Youth"
* "What About Us" (later became "Earth Song")
* "Work That Body"

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
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
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
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

Certifications

Country	Certification
Australia	9x Platinum
Brazil	2x Platinum
Canada	7x Platinum
France	2x Diamond
Germany	4x Platinum
Japan	3x Platinum
Spain	8x Platinum
Switzerland	6x Platinum
UK	6x Platinum
USA	7x Platinum

Music samples

See also

*Dangerous World Tour