Songoftheday 5/5/18 - She's just a lover who makes me high, is it worth the giving is it worth the try...
from the album Dangerous (1991)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #6 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 11
Today's song of the day is by the late great Michael Jackson, whose Dangerous album had alright spun off two huge pop hits with "Remember The Time" and the #1 "Black Or White". For his third release, Jackson went with a sound much different that what he's done in the past. "In The Closet", written and produced by Jackson with new jack swing king Teddy Riley, isn't really an exercise in that genre, but rather a loose and sparse Middle Eastern-influenced midtempo number. Of course, using that title was obviously meant to generate whispers, especially with the fake-out to heterosexuality. He used a female backing singer as a counterpart, but more of a stunt, making people guess who it is (it turned out to be Princess Stephanie of Monaco, though it really was more interesting not to know). The music video, which substituted Stephanie with model Naomi Campbell (who was another one of the rumored vocalists), tried to push Jackson as a sexual being, which was even more jarring (especially considering Jackson's growing troubles in that area)...
"In The Closet" became Michael's third top ten pop hit from Dangerous in America in May of 1992. The single spent a week at #1 on Billboard's R&B chart, while the remixes on the 12" vinyl/CD single helped it return Jackson to the top of their Dance Club Play chart for the first time since Bad's "The Way You Make Me Feel". Internationally, the single topped the chart in Greece, and reached the top ten in Italy (#2), Spain (#2), Ireland (#4), Australia (#5), New Zealand (#5), the UK (#8), France (#9), the Netherlands (#9), and Norway (#10). It also hit #15 in Germany, and #16 in Canada.
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Here's the club mix which takes the song into a whole different lite-house direction...
And finally, a snippet of the song live from his History tour...
Up tomorrow: Seattle rapper creates an anthem for those with some junk in the trunk.
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