Michael Jackson 2001: You Rock My World
In November 1991, Michael Jackson released Dangerous, which, at roughly 30 million copies worldwide, registered sales figures almost identical to those of Bad and became one of the most successful New jack swing albums of all time. Dangerous featured several major worldwide hits, including Black or White, Remember the Time, In the Closet, Give In To Me, and Heal the World. Dangerous was heavily anticipated, as highlighted by an incident at the Los Angeles International Airport that witnessed a group of armed robbers stealing 30,000 copies of the new album before its official release.
The biggest hit single in the United States from the album was Black or White, which reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remained there for seven weeks, with similar performances around the world. The single was accompanied by a controversial video, premi?ring as a simulcast on the Fox network, MTV and BET, which featured scenes construed as having a sexual nature as well as depictions of violent behavior. The offending scenes in the final half of the fourteen minute version of Black or White were edited out to prevent the video from being banned. Controversial entertainment has always attracted the masses, and on November 14, 1991, the video for Black or White simultaneously premi?red in 27 countries with an estimated audience of 500 million people, the largest viewing ever for a music video.
The second single released from Dangerous was Remember The Time which spent 8 weeks in the top 5 in the U.S. The song hit a peak at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and #1 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart. In 1993 Jackson performed the song at the Soul Train Awards in a wheel chair saying he had an injury in rehearsals and at the ceremony he was given 3 awards Best Male Single of the year for Remember The Time, Best R&B Album for Dangerous and a Humanitarian Award for his charitable contributions to date.
In the UK as well as other parts of Europe Heal the World was the biggest hit from the album. In Britain it sold 455,000 copies alone and spent 5 weeks at #2. It was the christmas #2 of 1992 and because of extra seasonal sales it outsold Black or White .
On February 10, 1992, MTV kicked off its first global sweepstakes with My Dinner with Michael. Winners from around the world attended a dinner party hosted by Michael Jackson on the set of his In the Closet music video. Later that year, a biopic, The Jacksons: An American Dream, debuted on ABC; it was based on the true story of the rise of The Jackson 5.
The year 1992 also witnessed one of Jackson's most high-profile international visits: a trip to Africa in which he visited several countries, among them Gabon and Egypt. This was the singer's second arrival on the continent, his first having occurred as a 14-year-old with the Jackson 5. His first stop to Gabon was greeted with a sizable reception of more than 100,000 people in spiritual bedlam, some of them carrying signs that read, Welcome Home Michael. In his trip to the Ivory Coast, Jackson visited the gold-mining village of Krindjabo, populated by the Agni tribe and located near the capital of Abidjan, and was crowned King Sani by a tribal chief. He then thanked the dignitaries in French and English, signed official documents formalizing his kingship, and sat on a golden throne while presiding over ceremonial dances. Jackson finished his stay in Africa by going to Egypt and promoting the Dangerous album. In January 1993, he performed during the halftime show at Super Bowl XXVII. It drew one of the largest viewing audiences in the history of American television. Jackson was given the Living Legend Award at the 35th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.
|