"Black or White" is a song by American singer and songwriter Michael Jackson, released by Epic Records on November 4, 1991, as the lead single from Jackson's eighth album, Dangerous (1991). Jackson wrote, composed, and produced the track with record producer Bill Bottrell, who provides an uncredited rap performance. Epic Records described it as "a rock 'n' roll dance song about racial harmony".
"Black or White" reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 on December 7, 1991, the fastest to reach the position since the Beatles' 1969 single "Get Back". It stayed at the position for seven weeks, making Jackson the first artist to have multiple number-one songs on the Billboard Hot 100 in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. In addition to having received triple Platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), "Black or White" reached number one on the charts of at least 20 countries and territories, including the UK, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Cuba, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Zimbabwe and the Eurochart Hot 100. It was the best-selling single worldwide of 1992.
The music video was directed by John Landis, who had previously directed Jackson's 1983 music video for Thriller, and featured Macaulay Culkin, Another Bad Creation, Tess Harper, and George Wendt. It was co-choreographed by Jackson and Vincent Paterson. It premiered simultaneously in 69 countries on November 14, 1991, with an audience of 500 million viewers, the most ever for a music video. It premiered on MTV, BET, VH1, and Fox, which gave them their highest Nielsen ratings ever at the time, as well as the BBC's Top of the Pops in the UK.
"Black or White" won the inaugural Billboard No. 1 World Single award. In 2003, Q named "Black or White" the 84th best song of all time.
Songwriting and recording "Black or White" was written and recorded over 18 months starting in early 1989. Michael Jackson hired producer Bill Bottrell to help him craft a new sound, one that would shift his style away from his earlier work with Quincy Jones. Bottrell had already worked with Jackson on Victory (1984) and Bad (1987), the latter collaboration performed at Hayvenhurst, the Jackson family's estate in Encino, California. Jackson invited Bottrell to join him in producing and composing songs at Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles in late 1988, but none of the material from several weeks of sessions there made it to the album. In early 1989, the project was moved to Westlake Audio in West Hollywood, and one of the first things Jackson did was to hum the main riff of "Black or White" to Bottrell, who interpreted the tune on guitar, using a Kramer American Series electric guitar plugged into a Mesa Boogie amplifier, miked with a Beyerdynamic M 160. Jackson also suggested the song's rhythm with his voice, and Bottrell programmed this rhythm into an E-mu Systems drum machine. Bottrell augmented the pattern with samples from an Emulator III. His Atari computer ran a MIDI editing program by Hybrid Arts; Bottrell and Brad Buxer used the program to tweak the percussion timings to give more of a swing feel. Jackson recorded his main and backing vocals into a Neumann U47 microphone. Bottrell said that throughout the next 18 months of changes to the song, Jackson's initial scratch vocal was left in place, and it appears on the final version.
After two days of work, the song had vocals, drum sounds, and electric guitar. Bottrell added an acoustic guitar part using a Gibson LG-2 built in the 1940s, a robust model with a big country sound reminiscent of Gene Vincent's classic rockabilly style. Jackson became busy working on other projects, and "Black or White" languished for a few months. The song was picked up again when Bottrell's part of the album project moved to Record One in Sherman Oaks. Bottrell and Jackson felt that the song had two big gaps in the middle, and they determined to fill them. Jackson wanted a heavy metal guitar to fill one of the gaps, so he sang the part he wanted, including chord arpeggiations, to session player Tim Pierce who performed it on a Les Paul plugged into a Marshall stack. Michael Boddicker added the sound of a high-speed guitar by using a Roland sequencer, assisted by Kevin Gilbert. Bottrell blended two different bass sounds, primarily Bryan Loren playing a Moog keyboard bass, augmented by Terry Jackson playing an electric bass guitar. Bottrell replaced some of the E-mu default rhythm samples with live drum samples taken from an Akai machine.
For most of the recording process, Jackson left Bottrell alone to work on various ideas. Bottrell wanted a section of rapping to fill the remaining gap, and he suggested LL Cool J or Heavy D, but these proposals did not work out. Bottrell said he had been trying to get someone to write a rap verse for eight months when he was suddenly inspired to write it himself. Bottrell recorded Loren performing the rap, but Loren was not at ease in the role. Bottrell recorded it himself several times, editing one of these takes to use as a demonstration for Jackson. Upon hearing the take, Jackson wanted it for the final version. Bottrell pleaded again that they should get a "real rapper", but Jackson insisted on Bottrell's take.
The final polishing of the song involved Bottrell filling a keyboard with various sampled electric guitar notes, and bringing his friend Jasun Martz to play it, taking advantage of Martz's fresh ears and rock sensibility. For the final mix, Bottrell was frustrated by the Solid State Logic (SSL) mixer at Larrabee Sound Studios, which sounded good on the heavy metal guitar, but made the classic guitars seem "too cold and clinical". He ended up using the Neve mixer at Record One to mix the majority of the song, and the SSL for the rap and heavy metal sections. Original tracks were recorded on two Studer 24-track 2-inch analog tape machines, and a compilation of these was laid down on a Mitsubishi ProDigi 32-track digital audio tape deck.
Composition The pop rock song has elements of dance, rap and hard rock music such as Bottrell's guitars and Jackson's vocal style.
The song's main guitar riff, originally played by Bottrell, is often incorrectly attributed to Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash. Slash's guitar playing is actually heard in the skit that precedes the album version of the song, and he did play the main riff during several performances of the song (plus several other songs), including at Jackson's appearance during the 1991 MTV 10th Anniversary show. The two teamed up for an energized performance of “Black or White”, after which Slash destroyed his guitar by throwing it into the dashboard of a prop car on stage, complete with explosives and fireworks.
Release Promotion "Black or White" was picked as the first single from the Dangerous album. It began to be promoted on radio stations the first week of November 1991 in New York and Los Angeles. "Black or White" was officially released on November 4, 1991, in Australia and November 11 in the United Kingdom.
Critical reception
Reviews of the song were generally favorable. In a retrospective review, Chris Lacy from Albumism stated that it "merges classic rock with soulful crooning in a call for racial unity." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic highlighted the song. Upon release, Larry Flick from Billboard magazine described it as a "surprisingly sparse, but instantly gratifying pop/rocker that reveals his grittiest and most affecting performance in years." He noted further that the guitar appearance by Slash and rap cameo by Bottrell is "purely incidental". Clark and DeVaney from Cashbox stated, "The unmistakeable voice and style are street-hip and slick, with a catchy melody and some untraditional acoustic guitar work. There is just a hint of both George Michael and Prince in the production." David Browne from Entertainment Weekly praised the song, adding, "He still knows how to fashion a hook that will take up permanent residence in your brain (away from its video, Black or White is spare and effortless)." Alan Jones from Music Week named it Pick of the Week, commenting, "A bit of patchwork quilt, and something of a disappointment on first hearing, but ultimately it reveals itself as a killer, adding up to far more than sum of its parts. This will go all the way." A reviewer from People magazine stated that "the simple, spry rock riffs" that power the song is "surprisingly effective". In his Dangerous review, Rolling Stones Alan Light compared Slash's guitar on the album unfavourably to the guitar in "Beat It": "Neither this slow-burn solo [in 'Give In to Me'] nor the Stones-derived riff on 'Black or White' offers the catharsis of Eddie Van Halen's blazing break on 'Beat It'". Ted Shaw from The Windsor Star felt the song "is quite remarkable, a nearly perfect pop confection", adding, "It is the best thing Jackson has produced since Thriller.Shaw, Ted (November 23, 1991). "Michael Jackson – Dangerous". The Windsor Star. The Pazz & Jop critics' poll ranked "Black or White" at number 19. In 1992, Larry Flick commented on the remixes of the song, "Thanks to deft postproduction by David Cole and Robert Clivillés, the cut kicks a potent groove that nicely complements the original tune's kinetic pop/rock nature."
Commercial performance To prepare the audience for the special occasion of the televised premiere of the "Black or White" video, Epic Records released the song (without the accompanying images) to radio stations just two days in advance. In a 24-hour period, "Black or White", described by the record company as "a rock 'n' roll dance song about racial harmony", had been added to the playlists of 96 percent of 237 of the United States' Top 40 radio stations.
"Black or White" entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 35. A week later it shot up to number three, and in its third week, December 7, 1991, it ascended to number one, making it the fastest chart topper since the Beatles' "Get Back", which also won the Hot 100 in just three weeks in 1969. It closed the year at number one and remained at the top of the singles chart into 1992 for a total of seven weeks, making Jackson the first artist to have number one popular hits in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The single also topped the US Cash Box Top 100. In the UK, it became the first single by an American to go into the singles chart at number one since 1960, when "It's Now or Never" by Elvis Presley did in the same manner. Around the world, "Black or White" hit number one in 20 countries, including the US, the UK, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Turkey, Zimbabwe, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the Eurochart Hot 100, number two in Germany and Austria and number three in the Netherlands. Previously, "Billie Jean" and "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" had each been number one in nine countries. The single was certified platinum in the US, selling over one million copies and becoming the second-best-selling single of the year. As of August 2018, the song has further been certified as two-time platinum for digital sales.
Remixes The Clivillés & Cole remixes for "Black or White", released as a promotional single in 1992, also charted on many European countries. In the UK, it reached number 14, and in Ireland, number 11. The promotional single also peaked at number 18 in Australia. Despite the favorable European response to this remix, it was never included on a Michael Jackson album or compilation, except on the third disc of the French & UK versions of Jackson's greatest hits album King of Pop.
Music video