JOHN CAMERON'S MUSICOLOGY
EPISODE I: MICHAEL JACKSON (89 Ð 93)
by John Cameron


Decade (1989 Ð Westlake Studios)
Bill Bottrell Ð Black or White/ Monkey Business
Bryan Loren Ð Man In Black
Steve Porcarro Ð For All Time

Dangerous (1990 Ð Record One)
Bill Bottrell Ð What About Us/ Dangerous/ Who Is It
Bryan Loren Ð She Got It/ Bartman/ Magic Show
Bruce Swedien Ð Time Marches On/ Gone Too Soon

Dangerous (1991 - Larrabee)
LA Reid & Babyface Ð Slave To The Rhythm
Teddy Riley Ð Blood On The Dance Floor/ Joy/ Remember The Time/ Dangerous/ Jam
Bruce Swedien Ð Will You Be There/ Keep The Faith

Dangerous (1992)
Teddy Riley - Someone Put Your Hand Out

Post-Dangerous (1993)
Brad Buxer - Stranger In Moscow


I remember reading on a music forum once, "Michael Jackson was only as good as the producers he worked with". While that statement could easily be dismissed with a rundown on Jackson's compositional process, this episode is all about collaboration. A handful of producers all competing to find their spot on the new Michael Jackson album, that would become known as Dangerous and sell almost 30 million copies.

Decade

After the unparalleled successes of the "Off The Wall", "Thriller" and "Bad" albums, Michael broke away from producer Quincy Jones in order to establish himself as his own artist. He did continue to work with his own team from the pre-Quincy "Bad" sessions, most notably Matt Forger and Bill Bottrell, the latter of which had just completed his work on Madonna's "Like a Prayer" album.

With his first three albums as an adult artist containing a majority of songs that became hits as singles, it was time to put together Jackson's first "Greatest Hits" album, commemorating the ten years since the release of "Off The Wall", the "Decade" compilation was conceived. The collection was to feature 17 of Michael's currently released 29 solo tracks, along with two from The Jacksons era, two rarities, two re-recordings of Jackson 5 tracks and potentially some new recordings.

PLAY "I'LL BE THERE (PEPSI VERSION)"

While the deadline was nearing by the time a configuration was put together, songs continued to get recorded...

Westlake 1989
Bill Botrell
During that latter of 1989, Michael would routinely drive to Westlake studio to hear what his producers had come up with. Usually after side-swiping their cars in the parking lot.

One of the earliest tracks that was worked on would go on to become one of the biggest in Jackson's career and in the history of music.

Armed with a Linn 9000 drum machine and one of his many classic American guitars, Bill Botrell had this prepared...

PLAY STRIPPED MIX OF "BLACK OR WHITE"

With such a memorable guitar riff throughout, it's easy not to notice just how percussive the track is and miss the amazing rhythms embedded throughout.

That's not to say there isn't some great rock up in the mix.

Bear in mind this is one of the first tracks produced in what would become the Dangerous album sessions. While what we're listening to isn't the exact original 1989 version, other flourishes would late be added including a bass synth played by another current producer on the project, Bryan Loren, but we'll get to him soon.

With the recent contentiously-perceived profile of Michael, a black man becoming what many regarded as uncomfortably white, something that at this time was not addressed by Jackson himself, along with his love of cultural blends and experiences with racism, he wrote the lyrics and recorded only a scratch vocal. That vocal track is what we hear on the album.

While "Black or White" would see it's way on to the album, there would also be another very close contender from Bottrell...

PLAY "TOO MUCH MONKEY BUSINESS"

Taken off of one of the final configurations of "Dangerous", "Too Much Monkey Business" fitted right in with the songs that, in an alternate timeline, would have surrounded it. While not quite in the "New Jack Swing" genre that would dominate Michael's sound during this period, it does feature some of the early affectations of hard-mechanical-like-drums with a minimalist instrumental melody.

Many in the crew working on the album expressed surprised when it didn't make the finall cut.

Bryan Loren
Not too far off of the rhythms that Botrell was creating, in the next studio, young producer and singer, Bryan Loren was working on a song that would become that of a legend among Michael Jackson fans. "Man In Black".

PLAY "MAN IN BLACK"

Loren was recruited to the project create sounds similar to Janet Jackson, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis' achievements on "Rhythm Nation". At this stage of the production, it was mostly instrumental with vocal pieces throughout. The more serious contenders from Bryan would be worked on in the year that followed.

"Man In Black" would become arguably the most sought-after unreleased track of Michael's. With so few having heard it for many years and so many different stories and descriptions circulation around it. This is the first time the song has ever been broadcast.

Steve Porcaro
PLAY "FOR ALL TIME"

Outside of the studio, a longtime collaborator, Steve Porcaro invited Michael to his home studio to record background vocals on a track he was demoing. By the end of the session, Michael fell in love with it and recorded his own lead. Despite appearing on the "Thriller 25" album almost 20 years later, this is an indisputable "Dangerous outtake" and also came very close to making it on the album, made apparent by its appearance on some early configurations.

By November 1989, Michael became uncertain as to what new tracks he wanted to include on "Decade". So, the compilation project was scraped and the idea for a completely new album was born. Inspired by the danceability of his sister's Rhythm Nation, as well as experimenting with a more competitive atmosphere among his group of chosen producers, the tone was set for what would become two years' worth of recording.

Record One 1990
Bill Bottrell
In 1990, production had moved from Westlake to Record One.

During the Bad sessions, Michael began work on what would arguably become his magnum opus. Matt Forger worked on the original version with just a delicate piano and quiets synths, matched with two stereo pairs of background vocals and a lead, the track started out almost as a love song. By the time Bill Botrell got to it, it took it familiar shape.

PLAY "PLANET EARTH" WITH ORCHESTRA

Originally, Michael envisioned a spoken word piece over an orchestral backing, before the song was to start.

While it didn't appear on "Dangerous", it did on the album that followed, "HIStory: Past, Present and Future: Book One". With a few a few adjustments.

PLAY "WHAT ABOUT US/ EARTH SONG MIX"

While Michael had explored socially conscious themes before, such as "Do You Know Where Your Children" are during the Bad sessions and the preliminary version of "They Don't Care About Us" during 1989, "What About Us", AKA "Earth Song", certainly seemed like the first solo effort of this magnitude that he was willing to see all the way through. As evident by implementing the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Andre Crouch choir.

Though it wasn't released with its spoken word introduction, it was still eclectic enough that, if released by any other artist, one typically wouldn't expect commercial radio play. However, it stayed at number one on the UK singles charts for six weeks in 1996.

Joining Michael's production team a couple of years earlier, Bottrell was tasked to remix a track that only just missed a spot on the "Bad" album, "Streetwalker".

PLAY "STREETWALKER"

It's pounding bassline and rhythmic structure was exactly the kind of dance music Jackson was looking for on his new project. Using the track's basic anatomy, Bill and Michael would create an early version of "Dangerous".

In spite of creating the skeletal version of what would become the album's title, "Dangerous" wasn't the only point of significance in Bottrell's contributions. Brad Buxer, former keyboardist for Stevie Wonder, was brought in to record. These sessions would establish a musical partnership that would last until Michael's passing two decades later.

PLAY "WHO IS IT"

PLAY BRAD BUXER DISCUSSING THE MAKING OF WHO IS IT

Bryan Loren
Back in Bryan Loren's studio...

PLAY "SHE GOT IT"

Michael seemed to be more involved with these later productions that Loren was turning out, in spite of them not packing the punch of say, Bottrell's "Monkey Business".

While none of these productions made the album, there was a release of at least one hit...

PLAY "DO THE BARTMAN"

"Do The Bartman" was released on "The Simpsons Sing The Blues" album later that year. The single went to number one in five countries. Although it wasn't just The Simpsons that were gifted with a song.

PLAY "THE MAGIC SHOW"

Magicians Siegfried & Roy were a favorite of Michael's. And his essential viewing whenever visiting Las Vegas. "The Mind Is The Magic" would be gifted to them for use in their Vegas shows during the nineties. Michael would later intend on using the instrumental during his ill-fated "This Is It Tour" twenty years later during a dance routine called, "The Drill" before "They Don't Care About Us", which was also first developed during this time with Bruce Swedien and Matt Forger.

Bruce Swedien
Bruce Swedien was Michael's go-to engineer. Becoming involved with the last three albums, along with Quincy Jones, Swedien and Michael would go on to produce some of the best sounding music of all time. He's a maverick at what he does. Minimal compression and masterful mixing was exactly what those early albums needed, despite the "Dangerous" album sounding more "mechanical" as mastering engineer Bernie Grundman would later describe.

Engineering aside, Bruce was also a very capable producer, along with his writing partner, Rene Moore. Experimenting together in the studio, they came up with several rough ideas, similar to this.

PLAY "JAM" DRUM BEAT

What we're hearing is just a rough example of one of the instrumentals they came up with, titled "Time Marches On". Michael would be inspired enough to revisit the rough track later on.

PLAY "CLINTON INNAGURATION SPEECH"

Buz Kohan, who had previously collaborated with Michael on the "E.T. Storybook" in 1982, sent him a video tape containing a montage of Jackson and Ryan White over a soundtrack of Dionne Warwick singing a song called "Gone Too Soon", live for a television special. The track was originally written by Kohan and Larry Grossman. Michael fell in love with it and after learning that no one had officially recorded it before, committed to making it his own tribute to Ryan, who had died earlier that year. It would end up being the final single from "Dangerous" three years after the album was released.

Towards the end of 1990, Bryan Loren gave a magazine interview in which he discussed working on a new Michael Jackson project, revealing stories and songs that had occurred during the sessions. Loren was dismissed from the project shortly after...

1991 - Larrabee
LA Reid & Babyface
In 1991, Michael would continue to search for those dance tracks he craved. He approached Jam & Lewis, whom declined due to their collaborative relationship to his sister, Janet. Instead, he went to the team that were typically regarded and their production competitors during the early 90s, LA Reid and Babyface. During their initial meeting Michael had delivered the same spiel he did upon meeting Bryan Loren, about how inspired he was with Janet's "The Knowledge".

PLAY "SLAVE TO THE RHYTHM"

The three of them would meet in the studio for a single song, eventually titled "Slave To The Rhythm". Despite the instrumental still in its barebones state, Michael would deliver a complete vocal performance, giving the song his all Ð which was a becoming a rarity for a song at this stage. Ultimately the track would never see the light of day until a remix leaked following his death and an eventual remixed release.

Teddy Riley
After a recommendation from former producer, Quincy Jones, Michael reached out to Teddy Riley, filling in the spot left from Bryan Loren. Michael's obsession with Janet's achievements on "Rhythm Nation 1814" were, again consistently expressed, with one handwritten note
remarking that a specific dance groove must be better than "The Knowledge".

As a response, Teddy plays a DAT tape, containing 12 instrumental tracks. The first being this.

PLAY "BLOOD ON THE DANCE FLOOR" DAT MIX

Although still an instrumental at this stage, what would become Michael's concept for the song's lyrics was originally inspired by Bill Botrell, who while working on "Streetwalker", informed Michael of a song called "Blood On The Dance Floor", which he had just written. Before even hearing it, Michael wrote his own lyrics based purely on the title. Rough vocals for the track would be recorded, including some lyrics reused from an old outtake, "Sunset Driver". Ultimately, it wouldn't be finished in time to make "Dangerous", but would find its place on its own self-titled remix album in 1997.

The second instrumental on the DAT, was a solidified hit. But not for Michael.

PLAY "JOY"

"Joy" did make the cut throughout several configurations of the "Dangerous" album, but eventually it was gifted to Teddy Riley's band, Blackstreet, for which it became a hit. Michael's background vocals can still be heard in the mix.

PLAY TEDDY RILEY AN MICHAEL LISTENING TO THE DAT, TO "REMEMBER THE TIME"

PLAY "REMEMBER THE TIME" BEAT

"Remember The Time" would prove to be a significant step to where Michael was heading, in the sound he wanted, while posing a few vocal challenges in the process.

PLAY RECORDING "REMEMBER THE TIME"

With this new-found musical partnership, Jackson was keen to explore some other tracks that hadn't quite met their potential yet.

Michael retained his musical ideas like most people do their mother language, he could recount melodies he had written years ago, as evident by him incorporating "Sunset Driver" into "Blood On The Dance Floor" or an unreleased demo version of "Pretty Young Thing" at a rehearsal for the upcoming tour.

PLAY "DANGEROUS"

One of Bill Bottrell's earliest contributions was passed on to Teddy. Bill wasn't territorial about it, later remarking that his mix was "stuck in the eighties". While it's easy to compare the two and think that it was a complete overhaul, I would disagree. Most of the basic composition is all there in the original, the revamp just slowed it down and used more modern instruments.

The revisions didn't stop there.

PLAY TEDDY RILEY TALKING ABOUT "JAM"

"Jam" is the perfect accumulation of efforts. It has the incomparable arrangement skills of Michael Jackson, the funk-dance edge of Bruce Swedien and Rene Moore with the New Jack beats of Teddy Riley. Despite lacking Bill Bottrell's input, it's the perfect surmise of the "Dangerous" album and what made it great.

Bruce Swedien
While Teddy Riley was supplying the more danceable material and Bill Bottrell was assisting Michael in exploring genres he hadn't yet, Bruce Swedien's main focus were the slower tracks. For both, they employed the breathtaking contributions of the Andre Crouch Choir.

PLAY "WILL YOU BE THERE" BREAKDOWN

Not everything during the Dangerous sessions went smoothly, such as what is arguably the most underrated song on the album. On the original recording, the music was in a higher key, which Michael of course had to accommodate. What we're hearing now isn't that version, but having heard it, I would say for fans to imagine the song with a more "Thriller-era-like" vocal. Honestly, when I did hear this higher vocal take, I was amazed that Michael could still sing like that at this stage of his career. Well, it turned out my surprise was justified, because at one of the climaxes in the song, he cracks. The tape stops and starts rewinding. The instrumental begins again and so does Michael. At the very same climax, the very same thing happened. This time it was apparent. And Michael ran out of the studio in tears. It seemed to be one of the first times he was confronted with lacking an ability he once had Ð even outsiders could see that he had issues facing the realities of getting older. Bruce Swedien rushes to Michael's private room and assisting engineer Brad Sundberg started making some calls. Bruce consoled Michael and knew that they had to start again and get it done as soon as possible. Brad called in the musicians to re-record the entire song in a lower key, which they did within just a few hours. A rough instrumental mix was compiled and Michael was back standing in the recording booth. This is what followed.

PLAY "KEEP THE FAITH" BREAKDOWN

The "Dangerous" album was released on November 26, 1991. It had come a long way from a greatest hits album with a couple of bonuses, to a 14-track album culled from over 40 songs produced throughout a three-year period. Nine of the songs were singles, with six hitting number one on various charts around the world, along with the album. It's New Jack Swing sounds established a trend in music as something that had previously been thought of as a fad, while the rest added to Michael Jackson's near-perfect music catalogue. Three of the outtakes would be compiled into 1997's "Blood On The Dance Floor: HIStory In The Mix" album, with the album and title track also hitting number one.


1992 Ð Someone Put Your Hand Out
To promote the upcoming "Dangerous World Tour", beginning in 1992, another track that had just missed the cut was resurrected.

PLAY "SOMEONE PUT YOUR HAND OUT"

"Someone Put Your Hand Out" was issued as part of a Pepsi competition. If fans collected enough tokens, they could submit them for a 5-inch CD containing the track. Half a million were manufactured.

Originally worked on during the early Bad sessions in 1986, Michael had decided to rewrite it for consideration. With a big enough addition from Teddy Riley to justify a writing credit.

PLAY MEXICO DEPOSITION SEGMENT

The original, "Someone Put Your Hand Down", was acoustic-guitar driven, in front of a scattered beat with some light synths on back up. It sounded next-to-nothing like the released version, with exception of the chorus and some synthesized strings during the instrumental bridge.

The new version, however, it's lyrics are some of Michael's best, arguably more so than what ended up on the album itself. It delivers what he does best, vulnerability wrapped in charming naivety accentuated with a more-than-fitting vocal performance. It was a departure from the usual collaboration between the artist and its adapted producer.

1993 - Stranger In Moscow
While touring the world for over a year, in August of 1993, Michael Jackson was being investigated after allegations of child molestation were made. In spite of the allegations being made public, Michael continued to tour.

During a stop in Russia, new collaborator and band member Brad Buxer was called into Michael's hotel room.

PLAY "STRANGER IN MOSCOW" ACAPELLA/ INSTRUMENTAL MIX

Buxer on keys. Michael on vocal.

His writing reflected his life at that time. No charming naivety. No concern for a hit. Just total awareness of himself and that around him. And for once, acknowledgement.

Surmise
This period of Michael Jackson's career represents the importance of collaboration. Having just emancipated himself from Quincy Jones who had served as the primary producer for the last three albums, it was almost impossible to mention Michael's success without acknowledging Quincy. Granted, there was significant input from the likes of John Barnes and Rod Temperton. None the less, Michael's development in his discography was driven by those he had around him. Does this mean he was only as good as his producer? Perhaps. But as is very apparent, particularly during the period we've discussed, his producers were only as good as him as well.

Perhaps one day the world will be given an opportunity to hear further evidence of this, albeit, subjective truth.

PLAY "MAN IN BLACK"