Dangerous is the eighth studio album by American singer Michael Jackson. It was released by Epic Records on November 26, 1991, more than four years after Jackson's previous album, "Bad" (1987). Co-produced by Jackson, Bill Bottrell, Teddy Riley, and Bruce Swedien, the album was Jackson's first since "Off The Wall" (1979) without longtime collaborator Quincy Jones. Guest appearances include Heavy D, Princess Stéphanie of Monaco, Slash and Wreckx-n-Effect. The album incorporates new jack swing, a popular genre at the time, R&amp;B and pop. Elements of industrial, funk, hip hop, electronic, gospel, classical and rock are also present. Jackson wrote or co-wrote 12 of the album's 14 songs, discussing topics like racism, poverty, romance, self-improvement, multiculturalism and the welfare of children and the world.
"Dangerous" is considered an artistic change for Jackson, with his music focusing on more socially conscious material, and including a broader range of sounds and styles. It features catchy pop hooks and choruses while also introducing underground sounds to a mainstream audience. The album's tone is noted by critics as gritty and urban, with sounds including synthetic basslines, scratching, and drum machine percussion, as well as unconventional sounds like honking vehicle horns, sliding chains, swinging gates, breaking glass, and clanking metal. Jackson also incorporates beatboxing, scat singing, and finger snapping throughout the album.
"Dangerous" debuted at number one on the US "Billboard" Top Pop Albums chart and in 13 other countries, selling 5 million copies worldwide in its first week, and went on to become the best-selling album worldwide of 1992. Nine singles premiered between November 1991 and December 1993, including one exclusively released outside North America ("Give In to Me"). The album produced four singles that reached the top ten of the US "Billboard" Hot 100: "Remember the Time", "In the Closet", "Will You Be There" and the number-one single "Black or White". The title track was frequently performed in the rest of Jackson's touring career. The Dangerous World Tour grossed $100 million (equivalent to $ in 2023). Initially polarizing critics, "Dangerous" has since been greatly appraised as a standout album of Jackson's career.
By 1994, "Dangerous" was one of the best-selling albums of all time having sold 25 million copies worldwide; today its sales stand at 32 million. It was certified 8× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2018. The album been included in several publications' lists of the greatest albums of all time, and its artistry and thematic content in particular have been praised as Jackson's finest. At the 1993 Grammy Awards, it received four Grammy Award nominations, winning Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. Jackson won two American Music Awards at the 1993 American Music Awards for the album, including Favorite Pop/Rock Album. Jackson also received special "Billboard" Music Awards for Best Worldwide Album and Best Worldwide Single for "Black or White" in recognition of the album's and single's respective global record sales.
Background.
After the success of his seventh album, "Bad" (1987), Jackson wanted more independence and control over the creative process. He separated himself from longtime producer Quincy Jones to avoid the perception that his success depended on him. Jackson began working on new tracks in 1989 with a handful of members from the B-team of "Bad", including Matt Forger and Bill Bottrell. The album was conceived as a greatest hits collection, "Decade", with a handful of new songs, similar to Madonna's "The Immaculate Collection". Jackson received $18 million in advance.
"Decade" was scheduled for a late 1989 release but was delayed several times. Another release date was set for November 1990, but it never materialized. Jackson was preoccupied with ongoing changes in his management team while also attempting to realize his film-making ambitions. In June 1990, he collapsed while dancing in his home studio due to a possible panic attack, with symptoms of chest pains, dehydration and inflammation of the ribs. Soon after, "Decade" was dropped entirely, and Jackson determined that his new material constituted a full album, which he called "Dangerous".
Recording.
For nearly two years starting in late 1989, recording took place primarily at Ocean Way Record One in Sherman Oaks, where Jackson arranged for executive control for $4,000 per day. Most work proceeded with three producers, Bill Bottrell, Bruce Swedien, and Bryan Loren, in three different studios with Jackson. Bottrell co-wrote and produced "Give In to Me" and "Black or White", and received writing credits for "Dangerous" and production credits for "Who Is It". He had been forced out of the production of "Bad" by Jones, but Jackson brought him back for "Dangerous", for which he was known as the "rock guy". Bottrell introduced Jackson to classically trained keyboardist Brad Buxer, who was originally hired as a technician for his expertise in electronic equipment. Buxer recalled: "Musically speaking, we were on the same wavelength; we spoke the same language." The Jackson-Buxer partnership continued for 20 years.
For most of the rhythm tracks, Jackson worked with Loren at Westlake Studios. Their work had begun at the end of Jackson's "Bad" tour, and together they recorded "Work That Body", "She Got It", "Serious Effect", "Do Not Believe It", "Seven Digits", and "Man in Black". Loren wanted to recapture the organic R&amp;B feeling of Jackson's album "Off the Wall." LL Cool J was invited to rap on "Serious Effect" and "Truth About Youth", because Jackson wanted to add hip-hop to the record. LL Cool J had been critical of Jackson but praised him after their collaboration. None of Loren's recordings made the album. Though Loren's material was strong, it was not up to Jackson's standards, and he was searching for a sound as compelling and successful as "Rhythm Nation" (1989) by his sister Janet.
Jackson discovered new jack swing, featuring a more aggressive and urban sound, after reaching out to producers Antonio "L.A." Reid and Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds. In June 1990, Jackson hired Teddy Riley, pioneer of the new jack swing genre. By then, Jackson had already recorded over 50 songs. Initially recording at Record One, Riley moved to nearby Larrabee Studios after a few weeks, because other producers were working at Sherman Oaks. Unlike Loren, Riley wanted "Dangerous" to sound different from Jackson's earlier work, and Jackson admired Riley for bringing in contemporary styles. Jackson challenged Riley to create new instrumentation without relying on stock synth and drum machine sounds. Riley reworked some of Loren's contributions, and developed "Jam" and "Dangerous" further. "Dangerous" was originally recorded with Bottrell, but Jackson was not satisfied until improvements were made. Riley said he brought Jackson's music back to its "barest forms" of R&amp;B and funk.
By early 1991 Jackson had finished the track list, which included several tracks he recorded with Riley: "Remember the Time", "Dangerous", and "In the Closet". He had planned for "In the Closet" to be a duet with pop singer Madonna, but her half was replaced with Princess Stéphanie of Monaco. A meeting with guitarist Slash took more than a year to co-ordinate, and the two collaborated on "Give In to Me". Swedien recalled recording sessions lasting up to 18 hours. On one occasion, he ordered Jackson not to leave the studio until he sang the vocals for "Keep the Faith" all the way through: "This was scary but he did it. He didn't leave the studio until dawn."
Jackson spent $10 million to record "Dangerous". Executives at Epic set a deadline for the album, wanting it released before November 28, 1991, Thanksgiving Day. For the last two months of recording, Jackson and Swedien rented hotel rooms located four minutes from Record One, so they could get back to work as soon as possible. Riley said, "When the deadline came, [Jackson] wanted to do more and more songs. [...] And then when Michael saw the commercial for "Dangerous", the David Lynch thing, we started working hard to get it finished." "Dangerous" was completed and mastered, by Bernie Grundman, on Halloween, 1991.
Jackson recorded roughly 60 to 70 songs for "Dangerous", some of which were released later, including the environmental anthem "Earth Song", released on his next album, "HIStory". "Superfly Sister", "Ghosts" and "Blood on the Dance Floor" were released in the remix compilation "". Loren helped develop "Superfly Sister", while Riley worked on "Ghosts" and "Blood on the Dance Floor". "For All Time", a romantic pop ballad that Jackson liked but did not feel it fit "Dangerous", was released in the 25th anniversary edition of "Thriller". "Slave to the Rhythm" was remastered and released for the 2014 compilation album "Xscape". Another Riley outtake, "Joy", featured in Blackstreet's 1994 debut album, which Riley produced.
Composition and lyrics.
"Dangerous" is a new jack swing, R&amp;B and pop album, which incorporates elements of several other genres, including industrial, funk, hip hop, electronic, gospel, classical and rock. In a 1992 interview with "Ebony" magazine, Jackson said, "I wanted to do an album like Tchaikovsky’s "Nutcracker Suite". So that in a thousand years from now, people would still be listening to it." Much of the album contains samples from CDs that Riley had created himself using a variety of instruments.
The album features catchy pop hooks and choruses while also introducing underground sounds to a mainstream audience. The album's tone is noted by critics as gritty and urban, with sounds including synthetic basslines, scratching, and drum machine percussion, as well as unconventional sounds like honking vehicle horns, sliding chains, swinging gates, breaking glass, and clanking metal. Throughout the album Jackson also implements beatboxing, scat singing, and finger snapping. The album is considered by Joe Vogel in PopMatters to be an artistic change for Jackson, because of its focus on socially conscious material, and a broader range of sounds and styles. The car sound effects on "She Drives Me Wild" were taken from a sample CD, and was the first time Riley used unusual sounds in place of the drums on a song.
The album featured Jackson rapping for the first time. The inclusion of Wreckx-n-Effect and hip-hop rhythms were attempts to introduce Jackson to a younger generation of urban listeners. Riley was a pioneer of new jack swing, and he was hired by Jackson specifically for his work in the genre. Riley co-produced half the songs on the album. Swedien said of Riley, "He'd come in with a groove, we'd say it wasn't exactly right, and there would be no complaining. He'd just go back and then come back in and blow us away with something like 'Dangerous'." In recordings with Bottrell, the sounds were more diverse (e.g. "Black or White" and "Give In to Me"). The rap in "Black or White" was written and performed by Bottrell, credited under the pseudonym "L.T.B." Jackson hummed melodies and grooves before leaving the studio, while Bottrell developed on these ideas with drum machines and samplers, including an Akai S1000. Bottrell operated a Neve console and two 24-track Studer analog tape machines to draft ideas and demos. He then used a 32-track Mitsubishi machine to assemble the album.
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"[Recording with Jackson] is at once the most sterile and creative process I've been involved in. Everything is pieced together from samples: you use the same drum beat and chords, then later add things to make it different [...]. Michael hires out the studio for like ten years and shows up once a month."
 Slash
 , interview with "Musician" magazine, 1991.
The lyrics for "Dangerous" were more varied than those of Jackson's previous records. Opening track "Jam" features a dense, swirling Riley track, propelled by horn samples and a subtle scratch effect. Jackson had recorded a basic idea for the song on a DAT, to which he asked Riley to develop. Riley learned that Heavy D was Jackson's favorite rapper at the time, and suggested that he was brought in to contribute a rap. The ballads, "Keep the Faith" (composed by Jackson, Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard) and the self-composed "Will You Be There" had sounds of gospel, while "Heal the World" and "Gone Too Soon" were softer pop ballads. "Gone Too Soon", written by Larry Grossman and Buz Kohan, is a tribute to Ryan White following his death due to AIDS in 1990. The album also includes songs of other personal nature, especially in songs such as "She Drives Me Wild", "Remember the Time", "Can't Let Her Get Away", "Who Is It" and "Give In to Me". The title track's subject is similar to that of "Dirty Diana"