

(Terry Jackson was unrelated to Michael Jackson. Bottrell blended two different bass sounds, primarily Bryan Loren playing a Moog keyboard bass, augmented by Terry Jackson playing an electric bass guitar. Michael Boddicker added the sound of a high-speed guitar by using a Roland sequencer, assisted by Kevin Gilbert. Jackson wanted a heavy metal guitar to fill one of the gaps, so he sang the part he wanted, including chord arpeggiations, to session player Tim Pierce who performed it on a Les Paul instrument plugged into a Marshall stack. Bottrell and Jackson felt that the song had two big gaps in the middle, and they determined to fill them. The song was picked up again when Bottrell's part of the album project moved to Record One in Sherman Oaks. Jackson became busy working on other projects, and "Black or White" languished for a few months. Bottrell added an acoustic guitar part using a Gibson LG-2 built in the 1940s a robust model with a big country sound reminiscent of Gene Vincent's classic rockabilly style. Īfter two days of work, the song had vocals, drum sounds and electric guitar. Bottrell said that throughout the next 18 months of changes to the song, Jackson's initial scratch vocal was left in place, and it appears on the final version. Jackson recorded his main and backing vocals into a Neumann U47 microphone. His Atari computer ran a MIDI editing program by Hybrid Arts Bottrell and Brad Buxer used the program to tweak the percussion timings to give more of a swing feel. Bottrell augmented the pattern with samples from an Emulator III. Jackson also suggested the song's rhythm with his voice, and Bottrell programmed this rhythm into an E-mu Systems drum machine.
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In early 1989, the project was moved to Westlake Audio in West Hollywood, and one of the first things Jackson did was to hum the main riff of "Black or White" to Bottrell, who interpreted the tune on guitar, using a Kramer American Series electric guitar plugged into a Mesa Boogie amplifier, miked with a Beyerdynamic M 160. Jackson invited Bottrell to join him producing and composing songs at Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles in late 1988, but none of the material from several weeks of sessions there made it to the album. Bottrell had already worked with Jackson on Victory (1984) and Bad (1987), the latter collaboration performed at Hayvenhurst, Jackson's estate in Encino, California.

Michael Jackson hired producer Bill Bottrell to help him craft a new sound, one that would shift his style away from his earlier work with Quincy Jones. "Black or White" was written and recorded over 18 months starting in early 1989. In 2003, Q magazine ranked "Black or White" at number 84 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever". The music video of the song appears on the video albums: Dangerous: The Short Films (long version), Video Greatest Hits – HIStory (long version, without graffiti on VHS version but with graffiti on DVD version), Number Ones (short version), and Michael Jackson's Vision (long version without graffiti). "Black or White" was honored with the first Billboard No.

It premiered simultaneously in 27 countries, with an audience of 500 million viewers, the most ever for a music video. It was co-choreographed by Jackson and Vincent Paterson. The video was directed by John Landis, who previously directed Thriller. The music video for "Black or White" premiered on MTV, BET, VH1, and Fox, which gave them their highest Nielsen ratings ever at the time, as well as the BBC's Top of the Pops in the UK on November 14, 1991.

It was the best-selling single worldwide of 1992. Around the world, "Black or White" hit number one in 20 countries, including the US, the UK, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Turkey, Zimbabwe, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the Eurochart Hot 100. It is certified 3× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Jackson became the first artist to have number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s with the song. It stayed there for a total of seven weeks. "Black or White" reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 on December 7, 1991, making it the fastest US chart topper since the Beatles' " Get Back". Epic Records described it as "a rock 'n' roll dance song about racial harmony". The song is a fusion of pop rock, dance and hip hop. Jackson wrote, composed, and produced it with Bill Bottrell. " Black or White" is a song by American recording artist Michael Jackson, released by Epic Records on November 11, 1991, as the first single from his eighth studio album, Dangerous (1991).
