Black or White

THE STORY BEHIND ' Black or White '

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This is the blockbuster hit of the Dangerous era. The story below details the global television event that stopped the world, the truth about who really played the guitar riff, and the controversy behind the "Panther Dance" that got the video banned.

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On November 14, 1991, Michael Jackson proved he was the most famous person on Earth. He didn't just release a music video; he staged a global takeover. The video for "Black or White" premiered simultaneously in 27 countries, including the US (on FOX, MTV, and BET) and the UK (on Top of the Pops).

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The ratings were astronomical. An estimated 500 million people watched the premiere live. It remains one of the most-watched musical events in the history of television. Michael wanted to send a message of racial harmony to the entire planet at the exact same moment, and he succeeded.

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Who Played the Guitar? For decades, most fans have believed that the famous electric guitar riff that drives the song was played by Slash from Guns N' Roses. This is actually a myth.

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While Slash does appear on the song, he only plays the acoustic guitar in the "intro skit" (the scene where the father yells at the son to turn the music down). The iconic electric riff that starts the song was actually played by the song's producer, Bill Bottrell. Slash did play on the album (on "Give In to Me"), but his contribution to "Black or White" was much smaller than the legend suggests. The collaboration was still heavily marketed, creating a bridge between the pop and hard rock worlds.

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TThe bridge of the song features a rap verse: "It's a turf war on a global scale..." Michael originally wanted a famous rapper like LL Cool J or Heavy D to perform this section. However, during the demo recording, the producer Bill Bottrell recorded a "scratch vocal" (a temporary guide) just to fill the space.

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Bottrell was a middle-aged white rock producer, not a rapper. He wrote the lyrics quickly and performed them under the pseudonym L.T.B. When Michael heard the playback, he loved Bottrell’s awkward, "everyman" delivery. He felt it fit the song's message of inclusivity better than a polished professional rapper. So, he kept it. For years, fans wondered who "L.T.B." was, only to find out it was the guy turning the knobs in the control room.

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The first half of the music video is a lighthearted celebration of culture, featuring Michael dancing with African tribesmen, Thai dancers, Native Americans, and a Russian Hopak troupe. But the technical marvel happens at the end of the song.

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The video introduced the world to "Morphing" technology. In a seamless sequence, a series of faces, men and women of different races transform into one another. We see a young Tyra Banks (in her first major role) morph into a dreadlocked man, who morphs into a redhead, and so on. This visual effect, created by Pacific Data Images, had never been used this extensively in a music video before. It wasn't just a cool trick; it was the visual representation of the song's lyrics: "It don't matter if you're black or white." Underneath the skin, we are all the same flow of energy.

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When the song ended, the video wasn't over. The premiere broadcast included a shocking 4-minute epilogue known as "The Panther Dance."

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In this silent sequence, a black panther walks out of the studio and morphs into Michael Jackson. What followed was an explosion of rage. Michael, dressed in black, danced in a dark alleyway without music. He screamed, grabbed his crotch aggressively, smashed car windows with a crowbar, and threw a garbage can through a storefront.

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The public reaction was immediate and furious. Parents were horrified. The media called it violent and sexual. Michael was forced to issue a public apology the next day, stating that the dance was meant to interpret the "animalistic instincts" of a panther, not to incite violence.

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To save the video, Michael went back to the editing room. He digitally added racist graffiti to the car windows and the storefront glass (words like "KKK" and "No More Wetbacks"). This changed the narrative completely. Now, Michael wasn't just smashing a car for no reason; he was destroying symbols of racism. This edited version became the standard one shown on MTV, while the original "clean window" version became a rare collector's item.

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The video opens with the biggest child star of the 90s: Macaulay Culkin (from Home Alone). Culkin plays the kid who blasts his father (played by George Wendt from Cheers) into space with a giant speaker system. This scene solidified Michael’s connection to youth culture. It was a passing of the torch from the biggest child star of the 70s to the biggest child star of the 90s.

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Released on November 11, 1991, "Black or White" became the fastest-selling single in the US since "Billie Jean." It stayed at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks.

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The song remains Michael’s biggest hit of the 90s. It is a perfect pop-rock hybrid that delivers a heavy social message with a smile. It taught a generation that race is not a barrier, but a beautiful spectrum, all while delivering one of the catchiest guitar riffs ever recorded.