Black or White (3:21)

“Black or White” is the lead single from Michael Jackson’s Dangerous album. It was released in November, 11 1991. “Black or White” is a mix of rock, and dance-pop.Written, composed, and arranged by Jackson with the rap lyrics by Bill Bottrell, it is a song that promotes racial harmony. The song’s introduction and main riff are performed by guitarist Slash and Bill Bottrell.

The song peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, the UK Singles Chart and in 20 other countries. It reached #1 on many singles charts in 1991, as well as becoming the second-best selling single of 1991.

To prepare the audience for the special occasion of the televised premiere of the “Black or White” video, Epic records released the song (without the accompanying images) to radio stations just two days in advance. In a period of twenty-four hours, “Black or White”, described by the record company as “a rock ‘n’ roll dance song about racial harmony”, had been added to the playlists of 96 percent of 237 of the United States of America’s top forty radio stations the first day of release.

“Black or White” was the first single off of Dangerous, produced by Michael Jackson and Bill Bottrell, it began to be promoted on radio stations the first week of November 1991 in New York and Los Angeles. “Black or White” was officially released one week later. It was written and composed by Jackson with rap lyrics by Bill Bottrell, the song’s introduction and main riff were played by Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash and Bill Bottrell.