Michael Jackson's Dangerous

Susan Fast

Sep 2014 · Bloomsbury Publishing USA

About this ebook

Dangerous is Michael Jackson's coming of age album. Granted, that's a bold claim to make given that many think his best work lay behind him by the time this record was made. It offers Jackson on a threshold, at long last embracing adulthood-politically questioning, sexually charged-yet unable to convince a skeptical public who had, by this time, been wholly indoctrinated by a vicious media. Even though the record sold well, few understood or were willing to accept the depth and breadth of Jackson's vision; and then before it could be fully grasped, it was eclipsed by a shifting pop music landscape and personal scandal-the latter perhaps linked to his assertive new politics. This book tries to cut through the din of dominant narratives about Jackson, taking up the mature, nuanced artistic statement he offered on Dangerous in all its complexity. It is read here as a concept album, one that offers a compelling narrative arc of postmodern angst, love, lust, seduction, betrayal, damnation, and above all else racial politics, in ways heretofore unseen in his music. This record offered a Michael Jackson that was mystifying for a world that had accepted him as a child and as childlike and, hence, as safe; this Michael Jackson was, indeed, dangerous.

Ratings and reviews

Another highly underrated modern classic deftly analysed in a manner fit for such, and released as part of the brilliant 33⅓ series. Dangerous is a great album which I have always maintained was revolutionary for both Jackson and the larger pop landscape, and the record is here deconstructed in an arena largely divorced from later personal controversy regarding the artist (except where it provides context in itself). A little heavy-handed with the postmodern interpretation but that's just a personal peeve.

About the author

Susan Fast is Professor in the Department of English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University, Canada, where she teaches and writes about pop music and culture. She is author of In the Houses of the Holy: Led Zeppelin and the Power of Rock Music and co-editor of Music, Politics, and Violence.