Dangerous- Michael Jackson (Sony) By Kirby Ferguson

Okay, we allhadacopy of THRILLER when we w twelve, right? It was the musical Rubik’s Cube. Wi since becoming huge, huge, huge Michael Jackson’ been dismissed as kid’s stuff -and he is-, but, wow what kid’s stuff! Personally, I feel sorry for Micha because he’s ascapegoat, undeservedly stuck in the company of no-talents like the New Kids and Vanil Ice. Besides this, he is also the victim of abuse by millions of homophobes. But back to the subject, Michael became huge fora reason: he’s immensely talented, but like many rock & roll geniuses, he’sé anut. After many, many moons the not-so-prolific one has released his fourth album in fourteen years (!), DANGEROUS. Michael’s first two albums, O] THE WALL and THRILLER, are pop masterpiece: joy, innocence, singing and song. However, since t he’s been embalming his good ol’ singin’ and dane (though not as good as it used to be) in lame-braini sincerity (‘‘ManIn the Mirror’’) and amazingly misguided self-assertion (“‘Bad’’). DANGEROUS continues the trend set by BAD, but like that albun is ultimately redeemed by the genius of its creator.

In his little world of monkeys and mega-bucks, Jackson relies on television and top forty radio to; his ideas, unlike in the past, where he set the rules rather than followed them. This essentially bad tas in influences is painfully evident in the melodrama pathetic lover-man jive, unconvincing (to say the least) politics and white bread raps of DANGEROL Getting past Michael’s adolescent pretensions Is a task in itself: furrow your brow as Michael dubiow states ‘‘I’m only human’’; laugh at the impossible seduction scene described in ‘‘Dangerous’’; lunge the ‘‘skip/track’’ button as Michael strives into brand-new-absolutely-never-touched-before territo) in ‘‘Heal the World’’ (ugh). All through the album Jackson is trying to seem human, yet the more he opens up, the more fucked up he seems (as we allé in the original ‘‘ Black or White’’ video). Besides! lyrics that rouse goose-bumps forallthe wrong © ) reasons, there’s tedious touches filling DANGER=" OUS, like the choral intro to ‘* Will You Be There, the pointless little routine at the start of *‘ Black al White’’ and the kiddies giving us their wisdom atl beginning of ‘‘Heal the World’’. The calculation 0) BAD has returned: onceagainheemploysahot © guitarist (this time Slash), litters the album with contemporary sounds and basically breaks his back