Dangerous: How Teddy Riley and New Jack Swing Rebuilt Michael's Sound

After Bad, Jackson decided to make his next album without Quincy Jones. He wanted a harder, more rhythmic sound that connected with what was happening in R&B and hip-hop at the end of the 1980s. He first worked with several producers, including Bill Bottrell and Bryan Loren, before bringing in Teddy Riley in 1990.

Riley, then in his early twenties, was the producer most associated with new jack swing, a style that combined R&B vocals with hip-hop drum programming and swing rhythms. He had produced hits for his own group Guy, for Keith Sweat and for Bobby Brown.

The Riley tracks (including Jam, Why You Wanna Trip on Me, In the Closet, She Drives Me Wild, Remember the Time and the title track) are built on hard, swung drum programming, stabbing synthesizers and sampled sounds, with Jackson's vocal percussion pushed to the front. She Drives Me Wild uses car horns and engine sounds as part of the beat.

The Bottrell tracks, such as Black or White and Give In to Me (with Slash on guitar), lean towards rock. The ballads, including Heal the World, Will You Be There and Gone Too Soon, show the reflective side of the album. The mix of styles makes Dangerous long and sometimes uneven, but also one of Jackson's most varied records.

Black or White, the lead single, spent seven weeks at number one on the Hot 100. Remember the Time reached number three, with a video set in ancient Egypt featuring Eddie Murphy, Iman and Magic Johnson. In the Closet, Jam, Heal the World, Who Is It, Will You Be There (used in the film Free Willy), Give In to Me and Gone Too Soon were also released as singles in different markets.

The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, the first Jackson album to do so, and was a major international success. Its sales are commonly estimated at more than 30 million copies worldwide, though estimates vary.

The Dangerous World Tour opened in Munich on June 27, 1992. Jackson used profits from the tour to support the Heal the World Foundation, which he had founded that year. The tour was cut short in November 1993, and the remaining dates were cancelled.

The era also included his 1993 Super Bowl halftime show, which featured songs from Dangerous and ended with Heal the World. That performance brought the album back into the charts more than a year after its release.

Dangerous is the album where Jackson most clearly chose his own direction, and it has aged well. The Riley tracks sound like the early 1990s in the best way, and Who Is It and Will You Be There are among his finest recordings. For quiz takers who match the Dangerous era, the defining trait is curiosity: an artist choosing a new sound and a bigger message even after the biggest success in pop history.

Where to start: Remember the Time, then Who Is It, then the title track. Those three songs cover the album's range.