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Dangerous Side 2: The best run of songs on any MJ album?

dmehta

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It's a tough choice for me between Bad and Dangerous as my favourite MJ album, however on balance Dangerous is my favourite. A massive part of that is the epic run of songs that make up side two of the album (I remember wearing this album out on cassette in the early to mid-90s so there will always be a side one and side two for me).

This is totally subjective, but is there any run of songs on any MJ album that betters this?

Black or White
Who Is It
Give In To Me
Will You Be There
Keep The Faith
Gone Too Soon
Dangerous

Apart from Black or White, none of the songs above were MJs biggest hits commercially. There is nothing as big as Billie Jean, Beat It, Man In The Mirror etc, but the sheer variety of genres and styles on side two of Dangerous is what really sets this album apart from the rest. Side one is great as well, although very different.

On side two we have pop, rock, who is it (don't know what genre you can even classify this amazing song in!), gospel, new jack swing, classical and a lush ballad.

Side two of Dangerous is probably where MJs songwriting abilities (not just lyrically, but musically) reached its peak. I know he didn't write every song on side two (Keep The Faith was co-written by Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard and Gone Too Soon was written by Larry Grossman and Buz Kohan), but songs like Give In To Me, Who Is It and Will You Be There are some of the most underrated songs in MJs catalogue.

In terms of a run of consecutive songs on any MJ album do people agree this is his best or do other people have any other preferences?
 
If Michael Jackson had only made the holy trinity on Dangerous (Who Is It, Give In To Me, Will You Be There) he would still be my favourite artist ever.

That's how strong those three songs are.
 
Tony R said:
If Michael Jackson had only made the holy trinity on Dangerous (Who Is It, Give In To Me, Will You Be There) he would still be my favourite artist ever.

That's how strong those three songs are.
Click to expand...

Exactly this. Those 3 songs are very powerful. I wish those songs were a big commercial success and that it was more in the spotlight. I can't understand why they didn't release GITM in the States while it had a premiere during the Oprah interview.
 
Ah, Dangerous on cassette! Yeah pretty superb sequence of tracks. I'll never forget hearing it for the first time and having my mind blown.

When you say "Apart from Black or White, none of the songs above were MJs biggest hits commercially. There is nothing as big as Billie Jean, Beat It, Man In The Mirror etc" You've got to take into consideration that Black or White was as big as the aforementioned tracks, but I realise your talking about the sequence of tracks right after it, but Black Or White was a big deal and I remember waiting for the short-film premier at the time; it was phenomenal and he looked fantastic; the dance sequences, the panther section and the special effects of the different ethnicities morphing into one another; the track itself was described by the record label as "a rock 'n' roll dance song about racial harmony" so in essence it was MJ's (& Bill Bottrell & whoever else deserves credit) next step in his musical evolution; the rock sensibilities of Beat It with the global sentiment of Man In The Mirror.

If the 93 alligations hadn't hit I wonder how many more copies would the album have sold and also the singles from side-two; ironically all apart from Black Or White were released in 93 (Who Is It released in the UK in August of 92 and in march of 93 in the US; I guess tying in with the European and South American legs of the tour) and if the tour had not had so many cancelations and problems and continued.

I think Give In To Me is possibly his best rock track, and given that Slash is on it and in the video, and it made its debut on Oprah, MJ must have had big plans for it, visually the video is pretty much Dirty Diana part two and it would have been simple to perform it on tour like Dirty Diana. That and Dangerous should have been in the show from the beginning, or at least from 93.

Strategically the Dangerous campaign was massive, Will You Be There appearing on the Free Willy soundtrack and featuring epic live footage of MJ, Man In The Mirror being the b-side was another clever way to sell a few more copies?

But yes, its an incredible sequence of tracks and when I began listening to Dangerous on vinyl a few years later I thought it worked incredibly well as a two-set vinyl: Side-A Jam, WYWTOM, ITC, Side-B SDMW, RTT, CLHGA, HTW, Side-C BOW, WII, GITM, Side-D WYBT, KTF, GTS, Dangerous.



 
Tony R said:
If Michael Jackson had only made the holy trinity on Dangerous (Who Is It, Give In To Me, Will You Be There) he would still be my favourite artist ever.

That's how strong those three songs are.
Click to expand...
If Michael had started his solo career with Dangerous, I'd probably hands down agree with this. But by then, I had already been totally spoiled by the glorious trilogy of Off the Wall/Thriller/Bad-and I love every single one of those songs with passion. That's the run of songs I'll never get enough of. Even after all these years.

Remember, it's subjective.
 
dmehta said:
It's a tough choice for me between Bad and Dangerous as my favourite MJ album, however on balance Dangerous is my favourite. A massive part of that is the epic run of songs that make up side two of the album (I remember wearing this album out on cassette in the early to mid-90s so there will always be a side one and side two for me).

This is totally subjective, but is there any run of songs on any MJ album that betters this?

Black or White
Who Is It
Give In To Me
Will You Be There
Keep The Faith
Gone Too Soon
Dangerous

Apart from Black or White, none of the songs above were MJs biggest hits commercially. There is nothing as big as Billie Jean, Beat It, Man In The Mirror etc, but the sheer variety of genres and styles on side two of Dangerous is what really sets this album apart from the rest. Side one is great as well, although very different.

On side two we have pop, rock, who is it (don't know what genre you can even classify this amazing song in!), gospel, new jack swing, classical and a lush ballad.

Side two of Dangerous is probably where MJs songwriting abilities (not just lyrically, but musically) reached its peak. I know he didn't write every song on side two (Keep The Faith was co-written by Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard and Gone Too Soon was written by Larry Grossman and Buz Kohan), but songs like Give In To Me, Who Is It and Will You Be There are some of the most underrated songs in MJs catalogue.

In terms of a run of consecutive songs on any MJ album do people agree this is his best or do other people have any other preferences?
Click to expand...
the answer is YES.
 
Michael was the master having a three songs to just give the album even more punch

Off The Wall, Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough, Rock With You, Working Day and Night
Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean, Human Nature
Bad, Dirty Diana, Smooth Criminal, Leave Me Alone
Dangerous, Who Is It, Give In To Me, Will You Be There
HIStory, Scream, They Don't Care About Us, Stranger In Moscow

That's what always makes his albums so unique, the album is going great, then it just when you think it can't get any better, it finds another gear and blows you away even further.
 
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