All the king’s men... Michael Jackson on the set of Black or White. Photograph: Sam Emerson/Polaris/Eyevine

https://www.theguardian.c...CMP=twt_gu

Thanks, interesting article

lool said:

What 1991 overlooked album? 'Dangerous'? 7,000,000 copies in the US alone!? GIRL, BYE!!!

728huey said:

lool said:

What 1991 overlooked album? 'Dangerous'? 7,000,000 copies in the US alone!? GIRL, BYE!!!

It seems overlooked because of the success of Thriller and also because of Nirvana, 2Pac, and the whole grunge and gangsta rap scene which immediately followed its release. Michael Jackson was considered a pop artist trying to appeal to everybody while most of the grunge and gangsta rap artists clearly stated they were only appealing to a core group of fans, and those who didn't like them could f#%& off. Even Janet was considered to be more relevant during the 1990's than Michael was, even though Michael was still successful through the decade, as well as Prince and Madonna, though they had to share the spotlight with other artists.

He was massive in Canada during Dangerous, so all this talk is foreign to me when I look at feedback on forums about the US audience.

"Some five years before Remember the Time's daring nugget of powerful representationalist activo-tainment had been crafted, Susanna Hoffs had made a similarly trenchant afrocentric statement when she enjoined the Western masses to 'Walk Like an Egyptian'. The neo-Garveyite lyric cleverly reverses the colonialist civilised-uncivilised paradigm, insisting that the Western pop listener rise to her feet in mimetic imitation of, and thus deference to, her Kemetic master. That Hoffs's group's name paid tribute to accessories enjoyed by the dusky ladies of the sub-Saharan regions made the statement all the more weighty, and came very close to getting Jesse Jackson elected in '88."

Hey, this is easy! Can I have a column in the Guardian now?

[Edited 3/18/18 7:34am]

https://www.academia.edu/...arch_2015_

Cloudbuster said:

Uh, Dangerous was not overlooked...

The article isn't talking about the commercial success but the racial politics of Dangerous which go underappreciated. It is important to note he proudly proclaimed his blackness in his interview with Oprah Winfrey and chose a producer in Teddy Riley, as opposed to white people in the same role.

Michael Jackson was very inspired by Rhythm Nation 1814, but no one thinks of Dangerous the same way, politically speaking. But I remember the stir from the 'panther' portion of "Black Or White".

Cinny said:

The article isn't talking about the commercial success but the racial politics of Dangerous which go underappreciated. It is important to note he proudly proclaimed his blackness in his interview with Oprah Winfrey and chose a producer in Teddy Riley, as opposed to white people in the same role.

Michael Jackson was very inspired by Rhythm Nation 1814, but no one thinks of Dangerous the same way, politically speaking. But I remember the stir from the 'panther' portion of "Black Or White".

thedoorkeeper said:

Well Dangerous was over shadowed by the allegations of MJ canoodling with little boys.

thedoorkeeper said:

I don't think Dangerous was overlooked. It was a huge album at the time even in the midst of the allegations against him. I always thought Michael wanted to create his own Rhythm Nation with this album.

cindymay said:

I don't think Dangerous was overlooked. It was a huge album at the time even in the midst of the allegations against him. I always thought Michael wanted to create his own Rhythm Nation with this album.

Quite frankly, I heard the Dangerous album everywhere back then...and wasn't aware of any allegations. Not that I was really paying attention to news items back then. Too busy with real life...

For those who weren't alive or of age at the time or don't remember or just want to rewrite history, the album and first single were released in November 1991. After almost 2 years of heavy promotion which included 8 singles that all went Top Ten (if not #1) somewhere in the world, the abuse allegations were made public in August 1993. #notoverlooked

A great album, to me better than Bad.

214 said:

A great album, to me better than Bad.

Definitely!

ThatWhiteDude said:

214 said:

A great album, to me better than Bad.

Definitely!

Although it coud have been a much better album had it included Someone Put, Do You Know and Monkey Business.

His greatest album

It's a flawless spin. I never skip a track on it. And I love the duality of the album. 1st side being NJS and the second side more classic MJ then bring it full circle with the the title track at the end.

Also it's probably his most diverse album with elements of NJW, Pop, Rock, RNB, HipHop, Gospel and Classical and still manages to sound cohesive. And it's also his greatest album artwork.

I can rave about this album forever. It's probably my favorite record by anyone

I didn't like that much the article, it's good but there's not much about the album itself, more like the context surrounding it.

RJOrion said:

thedoorkeeper said:

Well Dangerous was over shadowed by the allegations of MJ canoodling with little boys.

thats exactly what happened

It definitely overlapped with the end of the Dangerous era and not a downtime. I think it turned people off of heaping praise on it even during decade-end best-of lists.