It’s not often an artist is faced with the daunting task of following up classic album openers such as “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” or “Bad.” Conventional wisdom would suggest that artist should stash their best material toward the heart of the album once listeners work their way through the appetizers. Michael Jackson, however, threw caution to the wind on Dangerous with a frenzy of blistering funk entitled “Jam.”

With hard-hitting drum fills, sleigh bells reminiscent of LL Cool J’s “Jingling Baby,” funky turntable scratching, and hot horn stabs, you won’t be able to resist turning it all the way up, and as the song proceeds, Michael’s breathlessly excited delivery won’t tempt you to lower the volume whatsoever.

“Jam” works perfectly as a fiercely kinetic dance-floor scorcher; however, if you scratch beneath the surface, Jackson’s social awareness comes bubbling through in waves. “Nation to nation, all the world must come together / Face the problems that we see, and maybe somehow we can work it out,” he expresses in one line. “What has come of all the people, have we lost love of what it’s about?” Writer Andy Healy, famous for his MJ101 series, brilliantly states in ‘Dangerous 25’ that “Michael is not only calling for a collective effort but places the power to find solutions in the hands of the everyday person and not the powers that govern them.”

Suitably, his preferred method of navigating through a world in crisis is through music and dance (“Jam! / It ain’t, it ain’t too much stuff / It ain’t too much, it ain’t too much for me to Jam!”). Refusing to rest at 120 beats per minute, “Jam” leaps from the speakers with authority, similar to the singer’s dazzling concert entrance where he explodes from beneath the stage amidst a shower of golden fireworks.

I love Heavy D's (RIP) rap in this, and that he name checks Janet and Guy.


Jam, jam, here comes the man, hot damn,
The big boy stands, movin' up a hand.
Makin' funky tracks with my man Michael Jackson,
Smooth criminal, that's the man, Mike's so relaxed.
Mingle, mingle, jingle in the jungle, bum rushed to door 3 and 4's in a bundle.
Execute the plan, first I cooled like a fan,
Got with Janet, then with Guy, now with Michael 'cause it ain't hard to jam

But the hook, the heavy percussion over a rather sparse arrangement otherwise, and the breaking glass. There are so many good parts of this song that keep it interesting and engaging. The video with Kris Kross, Michael Jordan, Heavy D., and others is just as epic.

TrivialPursuit said:

I love Heavy D's (RIP) rap in this, and that he name checks Janet and Guy.


Jam, jam, here comes the man, hot damn,
The big boy stands, movin' up a hand.
Makin' funky tracks with my man Michael Jackson,
Smooth criminal, that's the man, Mike's so relaxed.
Mingle, mingle, jingle in the jungle, bum rushed to door 3 and 4's in a bundle.
Execute the plan, first I cooled like a fan,
Got with Janet, then with Guy, now with Michael 'cause it ain't hard to jam

But the hook, the heavy percussion over a rather sparse arrangement otherwise, and the breaking glass. There are so many good parts of this song that keep it interesting and engaging. The video with Kris Kross, Michael Jordan, Heavy D., and others is just as epic.

Well said. Heavy D had the Midas Touch as a hip-hop vocalist, and after hearing him on "Jam," it's obvious that MJ felt that too. May they both rest in peace.

It's a great opening track. It was a really smart way to introduce the New Jack Swing sound that MJ had incorporated into his music. When Teddy Riley says "You wanna get up and Jam?"; it's like he's talking about the album as a whole, not just the song; challenging the listener to get with this new style. Teddy really was on fire at that time.

Surprised to hear this on the radio the other day and quickly realised why it is never played. One of his worst ever "songs", horrible synths and devoid of melody...

Great song, especially the lyrics and the opening sound of a broken window. The video is great.

great track. always loved it. there's just something about it. the lyrics are cool too

His best james brown moment!

alphastreet said:

His best james brown moment!

Some people say his best James Brown moment is either Can't Let Her Get Away or 2 Bad.

214 said:

alphastreet said:

His best james brown moment!

Some people say his best James Brown moment is either Can't Let Her Get Away or 2 Bad.

Correction, his second best james brown moment, I feel the same about can't let her get away....I've heard that about bad but not 2bad though now I kind of hear it

alphastreet said:

214 said:

Some people say his best James Brown moment is either Can't Let Her Get Away or 2 Bad.

Correction, his second best james brown moment, I feel the same about can't let her get away....I've heard that about bad but not 2bad though now I kind of hear it

Which one is the best then?

214 said:

alphastreet said:

Correction, his second best james brown moment, I feel the same about can't let her get away....I've heard that about bad but not 2bad though now I kind of hear it

Which one is the best then?

can't let her get away I prefer jam of the two, but can't let her get away is so groovy! I don't know why a lot of fans have said it's their least favourite on the album, I think of it like an extended kick-back-and-dance freestyle interlude purposely centered between the two dichotmoic ends of the album.

Maybe I really should review dangerous, thanks for the idea A lot of the ones I read since his death are certainly not from the lens of my generation that experienced the era outside the US.

[Edited 12/10/17 14:24pm]

214 said:

alphastreet said:

214 said:

Which one is the best then?

can't let her get away I prefer jam of the two, but can't let her get away is so groovy! I don't know why a lot of fans have said it's their least favourite on the album, I think of it like an extended kick-back-and-dance freestyle interlude purposely centered between the two dichotmoic ends of the album.

Maybe I really should review dangerous, thanks for the idea A lot of the ones I read since his death are certainly not from the lens of my generation that experienced the era outside the US.

[Edited 12/10/17 14:24pm]

Please do that, indeed I prefer Jam. I just started to listen CLHGA recently i considered it a filler as well.

RJOrion said:

so, "Cant Let Her Get Away" is "a filler"????...WTF??...

It's...a b-side, to me. "She Drives Me Wild" is another. That first side seems a tad weaker because of those songs, and the "Man in the Mirror" rehash on "Heal The World". The second side is tight as fuck!

The real dark horse on the album is "Why You Wanna Trip On Me". That song is so ridiculous and fun. It's really one of the most Michael Jackson songs MJ has ever done. The percussion, the staccato, the stop-n-go arrangement, the building chorus. It's a hidden gem.

I love "She Drives Me Wild" until the rap verse. It ruins the song for me.

TrivialPursuit said:

RJOrion said:

so, "Cant Let Her Get Away" is "a filler"????...WTF??...

It's...a b-side, to me. "She Drives Me Wild" is another. That first side seems a tad weaker because of those songs, and the "Man in the Mirror" rehash on "Heal The World". The second side is tight as fuck!

The real dark horse on the album is "Why You Wanna Trip On Me". That song is so ridiculous and fun. It's really one of the most Michael Jackson songs MJ has ever done. The percussion, the staccato, the stop-n-go arrangement, the building chorus. It's a hidden gem.

"why you wanna trip on me" is definitely a monster, too... IMO, any song on the first side could have justified a single release... Teddy Riley really emptied the tank doing side one... Guy was never the same afterwards...and Blackstreet was completely overrated... i cant think of any really great albums he produced after working with Mike on that album...

InTime said:

I love "She Drives Me Wild" until the rap verse. It ruins the song for me.

same here

RJOrion said:

"why you wanna trip on me" is definitely a monster, too... IMO, any song on the first side could have justified a single release... Teddy Riley really emptied the tank doing side one...

Maybe that's my issue. There's too much Teddy on side one. Side two comes across very differently. "Black or White" is fun pop with the obligatory rap, then you have a moody "Who Is It?", the rocker "Give In To Me", the real cousin of "Man in The Mirror", "Keep The Faith" with its intro-lude "Will You Be There", the tear-jerker "Gone Too Soon", plus the glowing title track.

A note about Teddy, some of the remixes of "Jam" are tragic. They really date the song (when, in its original form stays timeless). There is this high organ sound that he riffs on that just blows. The Silky remixes are good.

For me, the toss aways are "She Drives Me Wild", "Can't Let Her Get Away", "Heal The World". The album would have been a tad shorter, but it's still strong with the remaining songs. I was nervous when Q didn't show up on this record, but he really showed MJ's growth and strength as a more adult artist. BAD seems like an in-between album. Some fun of Thriller, and yet some leaning toward more adult songs like Dangerous. For me, while I loved his albums after that (while he was alive), Dangerous was his last truly great record (despite my three throwaways).

Dangerous was the last album that didn't have me skipping over tracks.

Album started out with Bryan Loren doing most of the producing. And then Teddy came on the project and took it to another level.

TrivialPursuit said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Roger's Jeep Radio Mix - 0:00
Silky 7" - 3:54
Roger's Club Mix - 8:09
Atlanta Techno Mix - 14:25
Rock With You {Masters At Work Remix} - 20:32

MickyDolenz said:

Roger's Jeep Radio Mix - 0:00
Silky 7" - 3:54
Roger's Club Mix - 8:09
Atlanta Techno Mix - 14:25
Rock With You {Masters At Work Remix} - 20:32

I love that rock with you remix!

The dance style works better with his smoother vocal tracks rather than the gritty ones where the instrumentals and grit drives the song rather than the harmonies. It's like the style is trademarked from so much complex layers that anyone trying to remix it is tampering with a masterpiece

Great song and funky beat, a great opening to a deeply satisfying album. With Dangerous at the end, these songs make a great pair of bookends to the whole album.

ChrisLacy1990 said:

TrivialPursuit said:

I love Heavy D's (RIP) rap in this, and that he name checks Janet and Guy.


Jam, jam, here comes the man, hot damn,
The big boy stands, movin' up a hand.
Makin' funky tracks with my man Michael Jackson,
Smooth criminal, that's the man, Mike's so relaxed.
Mingle, mingle, jingle in the jungle, bum rushed to door 3 and 4's in a bundle.
Execute the plan, first I cooled like a fan,
Got with Janet, then with Guy, now with Michael 'cause it ain't hard to jam

But the hook, the heavy percussion over a rather sparse arrangement otherwise, and the breaking glass. There are so many good parts of this song that keep it interesting and engaging. The video with Kris Kross, Michael Jordan, Heavy D., and others is just as epic.

Well said. Heavy D had the Midas Touch as a hip-hop vocalist, and after hearing him on "Jam," it's obvious that MJ felt that too. May they both rest in peace.

Yo, is Heavy D dead, when did that happen?