Dangerous

Popularity 95 /100
Dangerous front cover
26 November 1991
Michael Jackson
Studio Album Dangerous Era Dance-Pop Funk New Jack Swing Pop R&B Rock
Michael Jackson's eighth studio album. Released on 26 November 1991, Dangerous was his first solo album without Quincy Jones — instead Jackson co-produced with Teddy Riley, the architect of new jack swing. Despite the change, the album sold over 32 million copies, hit #1 in 14 countries, and produced four U.S. top-10 singles.
Producers
Michael Jackson, Teddy Riley, Bill Bottrell, Bruce Swedien
Executive Producers
Michael Jackson
Studios
Record One Studios, Sherman Oaks
Larrabee North Studios, North Hollywood
Ocean Way Recording, Hollywood
The Hit Factory, New York
Westlake Recording Studios, Los Angeles
Recorded
27 June 1990 to 29 October 1991
Label
Epic Records
Runtime
76:58 · 14 tracks
Awards
5 wins  Read more

Tracklist

  1. 01 Jam Single 5:40
  2. 02 Why You Wanna Trip on Me 5:25
  3. 03 In the Closet Single 6:32
  4. 04 She Drives Me Wild 3:42
  5. 05 Remember the Time Single 4:01
  6. 06 Can't Let Her Get Away 5:02
  7. 07 Heal the World Single 6:24
  8. 08 Black or White Single 4:16
  9. 09 Who Is It Single 6:35
  10. 10 Give In to Me Single 5:29
  11. 11 Will You Be There Single 7:41
  12. 12 Keep the Faith 5:58
  13. 13 Gone Too Soon Single 3:22
  14. 14 Dangerous Single 7:00

Singles

Dangerous is Michael Jackson’s eighth studio album, released on 26 November 1991 by Epic Records. It was Jackson’s first solo album not produced by Quincy Jones, ending an extraordinary three-album run that delivered Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad. In Jones’s place, Jackson took the executive producer credit himself and brought in Teddy Riley, the architect of new jack swing, to co-produce seven of the fourteen tracks alongside long-time engineer Bruce Swedien and a new in-house team built around Bill Bottrell, Brad Buxer and Matt Forger.

Recording took roughly 18 months across five major Los Angeles and New York studios. Jackson, freed from the Jones discipline, reached for an even broader sonic palette: hard new jack rhythms (“Jam”, “Remember the Time”, “In the Closet”), pop ballads (“Heal the World”, “Will You Be There”), gospel (“Keep the Faith”, featuring The Andraé Crouch Choir), classical-tinged soul (“Gone Too Soon”) and outright rock (“Black or White” with Bill Bottrell on guitar; Slash on “Give In to Me”). Heavy D delivered a guest rap on the album opener “Jam”.

Dangerous debuted at #1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and reached #1 in 14 countries. “Black or White” became Jackson’s biggest single since “Billie Jean”, spending seven weeks at #1 in the U.S. The accompanying short film, premiered simultaneously in 27 countries to an estimated 500 million viewers, became famous for its racially-fluid morphing sequence and Jackson’s controversial 4-minute solo-dance coda. Four further singles followed, all reaching the U.S. top 30, and the album earned a Grammy for Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical.

The supporting Dangerous World Tour ran from 1992 to 1993 and was cut short when Jackson entered rehab amid the first child-abuse allegations. The album has sold over 32 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. It is widely regarded as the high-water mark of new jack swing as a mainstream commercial force, and as proof that Jackson’s commercial instincts and writing chops could carry an album without Quincy Jones at the desk.

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