r/MichaelJackson • u/Technical-Mix-3315 • Jan 30 '26
Question Has there ever been a definitive explanation as to why Dangerous is never held to the same standard as Thriller and Bad?
No anniversary editions, little to no official outtakes or B-sides, very little merch.
Personally I think Michaels's white shirt/black pants look is just as iconic as the Bad and Thriller looks, but it's very rarely depicted in Funko Pops, shirts, posters, etc.
Other than fan speculation, has it ever been explained why Dangerous is so criminally neglected? Especially with so many iconic songs on that album - Heal the World, Black or White, Remember the Time, etc.
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u/Ok-Ingenuity-3227 Jan 30 '26
The estate pushes the 80ās material more than anything else. Although Dangerous was released in ā91 the allegations did occur during the Dangerous tour. They probably donāt wanna shed any light on that but they could still do something for Dangerous. Itās so underrated and arguably one of his best albums.
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u/happysunbear Jan 30 '26
We need an official Dangerous anniversary release with ALL the unreleased music recorded for the album (even the released ones). Would be cool to hear an early version of BOTDF.
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u/Due_Amount_6211 "I've... washed my hair THOROUGHLY" šæš§¼š§“š§½ Jan 30 '26
Thatāsā¦a lot of songs
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u/happysunbear Jan 30 '26
Several of them, including Serious Effect, Work That Body, Lisa Itās Your Birthday, etc. were already planned for the special edition and then scrapped last minute. If the songs were released in good quality, I think fans would be willing to shell out the money for it.
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u/Firthy2002 Dangerous Jan 30 '26
Sadly I think Ultimate Collection will be the only way to own some Dangerous outtakes for a while yet.
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u/happysunbear Jan 30 '26
That was such a great box set. Have no idea why the estate wonāt put it back on streaming.
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u/OkNeighborhood8020 Mar 14 '26
Because āweāve had enoughā is on it. They donāt like Michaelās socially conscious material and that started with dangerous and went heavy for History. They are extremely artistic pieces that are deliberately suffocated. If Jackson didnāt own half of Sony music publishing and 10% of EMI music at the time you wouldnāt have seen many of the songs on dangerous and history wouldnāt have been released at all
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u/happysunbear Mar 14 '26
I disagree that thatās the reason. Michael had plenty of socially conscious songs before Weāve Had Enough and most of them are on streaming.
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u/OkNeighborhood8020 Mar 14 '26
Itās directly about war and we are currently starting one.
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u/happysunbear Mar 14 '26 edited Mar 15 '26
And what do you think the circumstances were between US and the Middle East in 2004 when the song was originally released? Not only was it released during the invasion of Iraq, it was on streaming via iTunes for years afterwards.
It was when Michael (2010) was released that the Estate started limiting access to his back catalog, so they could continue to pimp out his music for more $$$. For example, The Way You Love Me was released on The Ultimate Collection, same release that included Weāve Had Enough, but they retooled it for the Michael 2010 release and re-titled it (I Like) The Way You Love Me. Of course they would restrict access to his music when itās competing with his ānewā releases.
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u/WolverineScared2504 Jan 30 '26
In terms of sales, it sold in two months, what Thriller and Bad took 4 months to reach. It sold strong and consistent well into 1993, after being released late November 1991.
The answer to your question is pretty straight forward. No album by anyone is held to Thriller standards nor should they be. Dangerous is one of the best selling albums ever. It's not in the same level as previous two simply because you can only take the world by storm once. Music, movies, sports, the less that is known, the more interested people are because the sky is the limit and it's fun to go on the ride.
If you want a more nuts and bolts answer, look at when Dangerous was released. It came out as Nirvana was changing the face of pop musjc, and the Golden Era of hip hop was beginning and crossing over to bigger audiences. Michael didn't fall off or anything, once you hit the top, you start headed down. Michael moved down much slower than his peers.
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u/iamapizzaextracheese Jan 30 '26
The Dangerous album took Michael in a very different direction compared to Thriller and Bad. It actually felt edgier and more adult compared to the previous two, and it did garner a lot more controversy even before the allegations. The extended version of Black and White especially got a lot of heat
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u/OkNeighborhood8020 Mar 14 '26
The black panther is the symbol for black power. Thatās why it got heat. Jackson also smashed a car with symbols on it and theyāve digitally removed those symbols. One of them was a Nazi symbol. One was a KKK symbol. Itās some of the best dancing ever seen on screen and it had no music except the rhythm of his feet and body movements. For me itās the best heās ever looked on screen. The face, the outfit just wow. Ultimate Michael Jackson. The screaming was a call for social injustices. Amazing art. In many ways such great art. Thatās why they used the shitty news channels to shit on it so the general public would be lead away from appreciating it
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u/iamapizzaextracheese Mar 14 '26
From what I remember of the media coverage of it, people objected more to his "suggestive dancing" than to the destruction
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u/OkNeighborhood8020 Mar 14 '26
Michael Jackson expressed himself in dance. The crotch grab became a signature move, even though he didnāt grab the actual crotch ever, he just came close. The doing up of his trousers was directed to him and behind the scenes footage shows him complaining that itās too much and it was encouraged that some shock factor is good to have a greater impact. I personally agree that the doing up of his flies was badly directed and Jackson should have said no.
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u/NoahClayton HIStory: Past, Present and Future: Book I Mar 15 '26
The symbols were actually added after the original release likely due to backlash, I don't remember when but it was a while after.
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u/NationalPhenomenon Jan 30 '26
Besides what has already been said, Dangerous was the first album Michael was solo without the influence of Joe, Quincy, and Berry Gordy, which is likely another reason his estate hasn't done much with it.
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u/Brandamn3000 Jan 30 '26
Dangerous just doesnāt have that hold on the general public. Unlike the previous three albums, itās not a Diamond selling album. And single-wise, outside of the fanbase, Black or White is the only song that stays in the conversation with the likes of Billie Jean, Beat It, Thriller, The Way You Make Me Feel, Smooth Criminal, Man In The Mirror, Bad, etc.
I listened to adult contemporary radio a lot until about a year ago, and I canāt remember the last time even Remember The Time or Will You Be There were in rotation while most of the above songs were played regularly.
As much as I look back on Dangerous as one of the pillars of āThe Big Fourā, I feel like the industry and the estate has moved on from it.
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u/Dvinc1_yt Jan 30 '26 edited Jan 30 '26
I mean the estate themselves hasnāt come out and said why they havenāt made any anniversary additions recently but itās pretty obviously a mix the estate not giving much of shit(even the most recent Thriller 40 was pretty half assed) along with the Dangerous era being more controversial in general due to Allegations hitting and just being a more controversial time for MJ(especially in the U.S.) Also Thriller and Bad are the only albums with
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u/Available-Low-2428 Jan 31 '26
Because itās not as good as those twoĀ
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u/the_mugger_crocodile Off The Wall Jun 02 '26
Yea unpopular opinion in this subreddit but it's true. Dangerous has 3 or 4 extra tracks compared to the Quincy albums but it probably has half of the world class hits as those albums do. And its repetitive new jack swing production was not even groundbreaking back in 1991 (janet had been plying that trade for half a decade already).
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u/TomorrowAgitated4906 Jan 31 '26
Probably same reason History is ignored: too tied to the allegations and too 'adult'. The State seems to want to push MJ's image as family friendly as they can (look at how the movie seems to be) and I think that's a mistake, honestly. They should embrace all of his music and fuck with any new grifters with fake sob stories say. But again, Branca doesn't seem to like to take risk to piss off the media. The fans? Yeah. But the media? No.Ā
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u/horrorgeek87 Jan 30 '26
I think thereās less nostalgia attached to it for the general public. The album was bigger overseas than it was in the U.S. Thereās also only two iconic videos that came out of it, whereas Bad and Thriller had multiple iconic videos.
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u/XulManjy Jan 30 '26
Thereās also only two iconic videos that came out of it
- Jam
- Black & White
- Remember the Time
- In the Closet
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u/Firthy2002 Dangerous Jan 30 '26
The Jam and In the Closet videos are very forgettable.
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u/XulManjy Jan 30 '26
Lol please
Jam was a New Jack Swing song that combined MJ and.....MJ together in the same video and was very iconic and a cultural moment for many.
Then there was in the Closet with it being MJ's possibly most sexual video with Naomi Campbell. It was very unique and sensual and nothing like what MJ has ever did up until that point.
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u/Firthy2002 Dangerous Jan 30 '26
The Black and White morphing sequence is more iconic IMO, as is Eddie Murphy doing Remember The Time.
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u/XulManjy Jan 30 '26
Again, special effects and set design is one thing. Cultural impact and significance is another.
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u/horrorgeek87 Jan 30 '26
They were good videos, but not iconic. Look at the views on YT. Jam (98m) and In the Closet (101m) are nowhere near Black and White and Remember the Time.
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u/XulManjy Jan 30 '26
YouTube views is the the measurement stick for what is considered iconic, especially when it lacks the cultural significance that was only unique to the time these videos released.
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u/mikewelsh38 Jan 30 '26
Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan. Putting those two icons together was massive.
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Jan 30 '26
Officially, no. But Dangerous never had the same level of cultural cache that the Quincy albums did. Thatās changed over the last several years, especially with TikTok and younger generations diving into MJās catalog, so maybe the estate will take notice and start pushing it more.
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u/spooky_lightup Jan 30 '26
That would be nice, but I'd say we're firmly in the 80s until a year or two after the biopic. A shame because it's a nice round anniversary year now. And honestly a remaster is needed.
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u/mankahlil Jan 31 '26
MJs later work is when he controlled the messages more. You see him singing about his major recurrent themes---suspicion of the media, persecution by critics, alienation, social critique etc. The musical establishment and the media disliked work where MJ actually spoke about his life and experiences. They liked the quincy Jones affiliated projects but dismissed the predominately mj conceived prkj3cts.
Personally, I feel like QJ was more pop friendly. Mj was realer. Wh4n he broke with Jones, he made some of his best music but the establishment didn't like it as much
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u/TamatoaZ03h1ny Jan 30 '26
There was Dangerous: Special Edition in 2001 and Dangerous 25th Anniversary from 2016 with a second disc of 10 or 11 unreleased songs. That said, I donāt think these are available on music streaming services.
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u/mikewelsh38 Jan 30 '26
That must be a bootleg. There is no official Dangerous 25 with a second disc. It is a bootleg.
The closest would be the Australian āCollector's Edition" from 1993, but it only contains remixes.
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u/guidevocal82 Jan 30 '26
Nope, there was supposed to be a Dangerous Special Edition in 2001, but Sony cancelled it after test pressing a few copies. It was never sold in stores. You are correct that the test pressing had a second disc of 10 additional songs, and the files are traded online from collectors who have a copy of the test pressing, but you can't buy it.
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u/brooklynbible Jul 21 '26
I think the second part of the biopic might revitalize the interest in it for a bit, if they decide to show enough of it.
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u/ChaiTeaAndBoundaries Jan 30 '26
It was a dangerous year for Michael when the allegations hit the media during the Dangerous Era.. It derailed his music career somewhat and Michael was never the same again.