It’s been three and a half years since Michael Jackson sadly passed away but his legacy lives on through his expansive music collection, released and soon-to-be released. Today marks the twenty-first anniversary of the release of his eighth solo album (first with Sony) Dangerous. Probably my personal favourite, it was also his first album without Quincy Jones, and while some say his music declined after the split, this album wasn’t exactly a bad one. Since its release in 1991, it has sold over 32 million albums worldwide, 7 million in the United States alone, and has been cited as one of the best-selling albums of all time. Considering Michael’s previous two efforts included the best-selling album of all time and the fifth best-selling album of all time, this was pretty much common place for the great man. What was a little different was the new genre adopted for the LP: new jack swing. His sister Janet had already shoehorned it into pop culture through her albums Control and Rhythm Nation, so naturally, Michael enlisted the forefather of the genre, Teddy Riley, as one of his producers along with Bill Bottrell. Teddy Riley (alongside Bruce Swedien) went on to win the Best Engineered Album (Non Classical) Grammy for their efforts.
Now, the big question: what’s your favourite song of the LP? We’ve all got different ones. Some say In The Closet, others say Remember The Time, Black Or White, Jam, Give Into Me, Dangerous… it’s a tough call and that’s probably a good thing. Each track told its own separate story but they all seemed to gel together with the “fillers” acting as the glue that held them together. Sure, I would have like to have had Serious Effect in there and who knows what might have happened if Blood On The Dance Floor had made the final cut instead of spawning Michael’s tenth solo album concept but as a whole, this one was something of a masterpiece. To me at least. So, let’s raise our glasses and drink to the album that is now a legally drinking adult’s age old today. Cheers!
