Falling back into the twentieth century, when words like Al Quaeda. social distancing and Donald Trump were all but unknown... Ah! Good times!
Title: “Black or White”
Artist: Michael Jackson
Nationality: American
Genre: Pop Rock/Hip-hop
Written by: Michael Jackson, Bill Bottrell
Original release date: November 11 1991
Progress to the top: Came straight in but had a pretty rapid drop. Gone from the top 10 by Christmas and out of the chart by the end of January.
Weeks spent at number one: 2
From the album: Dangerous
What do I know about this artist? You jest! You jape!
What do I think of this single? I was never a huge fan of Jackson, but even I have to admit he had some great songs. This wasn’t quite up there with “Billy Jean”, “Earth Song”, “Thriller” or “Bad”, but it’s certainly better than some of the dross he would come out with towards the end of his career/life. Has a great message in it, even if he was kind of stymying that message by his determination to change his skin pigment, and no I don’t believe it was some complaint he had.
What have I learned about this single? Not really all that much. More about the need or desire for Jackson to leave the Quincy Jones days behind and move into a rockier idea, and about the controversy with his video, the seemingly wanton violence at the end which he addressed by turning it against racial slurs. Talk about turning a negative into a positive.
My rating: A+
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTFE8cirkdQ