Songoftheday 2/15/18 - I took my baby on a Saturday bang, boy is that girl with you yes we're one and the same...
from the album Dangerous (1991)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (seven weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 15
Today's song of the day comes from pop superstar Michael Jackson, whose 1987 album Bad had spun off seven big hits in America with "Smooth Criminal", "Another Part Of Me", and five that topped the Hot 100 with "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man In The Mirror", and "Dirty Diana". Also, two more tracks from the album released as singles internationally did really well, with "Leave Me Alone" going all the way to #2 in the UK and "Liberian Girl" following it to #13.
After parting ways with long-time producer and guru Quincy Jones, Michael released his eight solo studio album Dangerous, with new jack swing master Teddy Riley at the helm with Jackson along with engineers Bill Bottrell and Bruce Swedien. The first single from the record, though, wasn't a new jack swing affair, but rather a straightforward pop-rock song. "Black Or White", written and produced by Jackson and Bottrell, was a direct tip to the controversy over his ever lightening skin (which he attributed to alopecia), woven into lyrics about racial harmony in everyday life. The opening number, which in the music video had actors Macauley Culkin and George Wendt as arguing dad and son over a crazy guitar solo provided by Slash from Guns N' Roses, actually had Bottrell playing the guitar (and provided the interlude rap) in the actual song. The high-tech music clip which featured dance styles from around the world, ended up with a face-morphing stunt that had people transfixed...
"Black Or White" took only three weeks to reach #1 on the American pop chart, staying there for seven weeks in December of 1991 and January of 1992, and tying Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You". The song also spent one week at #3 on Billboard's R&B chart, while peaking at #23 on their Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio list. The remixes on the 12" vinyl single helped it take a week at #2 on their Dance Club Play tally as well. Internationally, the record topped the singles chart in the UK, Canada, France, Spain, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, and Sweden. It stopped at the runner-up spot in Germany, the Netherlands, and Austria. In 1993, "Black Or White" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Pop Male Vocal Performance, which was won by Eric Clapton for "Tears In Heaven".
The song re-entered the top 20 in the UK two times since, in 2006, and again in 2009 after Jackson's death (on the American chart, it went to #13 on the sales chart).
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To roll out the promotion of "Black Or White" and Dangerous, director Jon Landis (who helmed Michael's "Thriller" clip) filmed a ten minute short film for the song, which included a dance at the end that involved glass breaking and crotch grabbing and made all the old white women agasp...
Here's the club mix from Clivilles and Cole (the guys behind C+C Music Factory) that helped it go to #2 on the American dance chart. The remix by itself also made it to #14 on its own in the UK the following year...
Here's Michael performing "Black Or White" live in concert in Romania in 1992...
The following year, Michael starred in the halftime show at the Super Bowl, and sang it...
"Black Or White" was one of the many Jackson songs covered in the television show Glee, and the cast's version in 2012 went to #69 on the pop chart in the U.S...
In 2001, Michael and Slash reunited to perform at his 30th anniversary gig at Madison Square Garden...
This is a clip of Jackson rehearsing for the This Is It tour that never happened...
And lastly, Jackson live in 1997 in Germany....
Up tomorrow: Oakland rapper is verified and unstoppable (for then).
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