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Dangerous or history

Do you like dangerous or history better

  • Total voters
    40
  • Poll closed .
Dangerous. I love all of Michael's albums and I definitely love History. But Dangerous is just slightly better IMO. I love every - and I mean EVERY - song on that album.
 
I can't vote since both albums contains 2 of the most incredible songs Michael has ever done. Which is Who Is It and Stranger In Moscow. And how can I choose between them? Though I always did say at one time that Dangerous is my number 1 favorite album. I guess it is because it is the cover of the album that always made me say that.
 
Both of them are masterpieces in their own right but I love HIStory has a more cohesive concept and sometimes depending on my mood I just skip YANA while on Dangerous I skip WYWTOM and Keep The Faith.
 
Can't I just vote for either or both against the Quincy Jones triade? lol This was actually a bit of a tough call since I think they are both brilliant. For the longest time, I've considered HIStory to be Michael's best and most personal album. Same as sooo many others, I saw it as the closest he had come to making a concept album. There was structure, honesty and a lottt of anger and sadness at the injustice he had been subjected to.

However, I ended up voting for Dangerous now because I believes it contains a most welcome balance between the heavy themes and the lighter ones, the public service and awareness raising component of his music, as well as the exploration of romance and sensuality. What others may see as a fault - the diversity of issues covered, I see as an advantage. There is far too much sorrow and heartache attached to most of HIStory, in spite of its seemingly hopeful ending with Smile. I hate to think that it represents the closest connection between Michael's music and his life. It is extremely important because it represents Michael's brilliant, artistic answer to the horrid accusations leveled against him, but still......that one issue cannot and should not define all of his life and career. We are so much more than the sum of our struggles, or of ours conquests. However terrible it may sound, I am not that big of a fan of his 80s success, which I believe was engulfed in a rather big layer of shallowness. I believe the essence of the man was neither in the amount of Grammys he won, the gazillion sells of Thriller and definitely not in the heinous lies he was terrorized with. HIStory represented his side of that particular, sordid story, his side which also happened to be the truth, but it did not capture the story of his entire life.

It is my sincere opinion that beneath and beyond all the success and public turmoil, there was a most talented man deeply interested in the welfare of the many. And along side all that goodwill for all mankind and most especially the most vulnerable among us, he was also a man with a most conventional, if not downright traditionalist approach to the private sphere, someone with a boundless sensuality which he unleashed mostly on record and on stage due to the extraordinary circumstances of his life. And that is why I believe Dangerous reflects very well the two essential sides to Michael: the public consciousness and duty combined with the quest of private bliss. I now realize that HIStory was too much on the dark side for me. There is much evil in this world and plenty of reasons to feel down and out about humanity and Michael had some very persuasive arguments in 1993 and 2005 to feel that way, but I like to think that light is greater than darkness and evil can be defeated and overcome by love.
 
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Dangerous from beginning to end however History features four really incredible songs in SIM, Earth Song, Little Susie and TDCA.
 
I ended up voting Dangerous.

HIStory has soo many unique and great songs too though.
 
Dangerous is one of MJ's best albums full stop. Beats History hands down in my opinion.
 
Hmm, I think my favourite is HIStory but I could argue that (despite my own preference) Dangerous is overall a better album...
 
I believe that HIStory has some of Michael's best overall songs, but it's just not as consistent to me as Dangerous. I don't find myself going back to it quite as much, either.
 
Girl said:
Can't I just vote for either or both against the Quincy Jones triade? lol This was actually a bit of a tough call since I think they are both brilliant. For the longest time, I've considered HIStory to be Michael's best and most personal album. Same as sooo many others, I saw it as the closest he had come to making a concept album. There was structure, honesty and a lottt of anger and sadness at the injustice he had been subjected to.

However, I ended up voting for Dangerous now because I believes it contains a most welcome balance between the heavy themes and the lighter ones, the public service and awareness raising component of his music, as well as the exploration of romance and sensuality. What others may see as a fault - the diversity of issues covered, I see as an advantage. There is far too much sorrow and heartache attached to most of HIStory, in spite of its seemingly hopeful ending with Smile. I hate to think that it represents the closest connection between Michael's music and his life. It is extremely important because it represents Michael's brilliant, artistic answer to the horrid accusations leveled against him, but still......that one issue cannot and should not define all of his life and career. We are so much more than the sum of our struggles, or of ours conquests. However terrible it may sound, I am not that big of a fan of his 80s success, which I believe was engulfed in a rather big layer of shallowness. I believe the essence of the man was neither in the amount of Grammys he won, the gazillion sells of Thriller and definitely not in the heinous lies he was terrorized with. HIStory represented his side of that particular, sordid story, his side which also happened to be the truth, but it did not capture the story of his entire life.

It is my sincere opinion that beneath and beyond all the success and public turmoil, there was a most talented man deeply interested in the welfare of the many. And along side all that goodwill for all mankind and most especially the most vulnerable among us, he was also a man with a most conventional, if not downright traditionalist approach to the private sphere, someone with a boundless sensuality which he unleashed mostly on record and on stage due to the extraordinary circumstances of his life. And that is why I believe Dangerous reflects very well the two essential sides to Michael: the public consciousness and duty combined with the quest of private bliss. I now realize that HIStory was too much on the dark side for me. There is much evil in this world and plenty of reasons to feel down and out about humanity and Michael had some very persuasive arguments in 1993 and 2005 to feel that way, but I like to think that light is greater than darkness and evil can be defeated and overcome by love.
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Love this post and I agree with you! Thank you for posting this
 
Dangerous, the consummate album. He was tackling bigger issues and still delivering with the funky dance numbers, seamless pop and sexy ballads. Plus he was moving into rap and gave a first rate gospel performance, with will you be there.

It was the most influential album for me and in some ways his creative peak (Of course he never lost it), but I was like 15/16 when this was hot and that was like my most enduring memory of the time.
 
They are both strong in different ways... The instramentals in a couple of the songs on Dangerous are so for the time.. ie. 90's where as HIStory, every track sounds present.. However Dangerous, every track is strong with rhythms.. If I did track by track Dangerous in that regard may win on a track.. mayybe two.. But lets not forget how honest and autobiographical HIStory is..

And the title of HIStory is freaking awesome to me.. double meaning of it for each CD is awesome..

In that regard they are equal with different strengths.
 
Dangerous has it all - rock, rnb, new jack swing, pop, gospel.

Give In To Me is the ultimate MJ rock song. Slash's guitar work is better than Van Halen's on Beat It and better than Steve Stevens's on Dirty Diana. This is the sort of song that is missing on HIStory. DS as a "rock" song doesn't come close.

Musically, Dangerous is far and away above History. Just listen to the flute solo on Who Is It - genius.

Will You Be There is epic from start to finish - which other pop star has incorporated gospel as well as this?

The rnb songs on Dangerous also beat the ones on History - songs like Jam and Dangerous are far more hard hitting. Remember The Time sounds soulful, WYWTOM combines new jack with rock guitar. Even the "lesser" songs such as She Drives Me Wild and CLHGA have an edge to them.


As for History, it is criminally underrated by critics and is a very good album. Lyrically it's probably MJs best album and songs like Stranger In Moscow and They Don't Care About Us rank up with some of his best - musically and lyrically.

As an album though, Dangerous has a lot more to offer in my opinion. MJ was able to draw on more musical influences and it's a journey from start to finish. The run of songs on side 2 from Who Is It to Dangerous is simply incredible.
 
Dangerous...by a whisker. I adore HIStory and Stranger In Moscow Is my favourite MJ song of all time. But overall it has to be Dangerous. Great post above this by dmehta, swung it for me to pick it!
 
StaceyMJ said:
Dangerous...by a whisker. I adore HIStory and Stranger In Moscow Is my favourite MJ song of all time. But overall it has to be Dangerous. Great post above this by dmehta, swung it for me to pick it!
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Stacey your post made me rethink about this whole topic and I've come to a new conclusion. For me, if i isolate History and look at each track individually, not as part of a whole, I think they edge out Dangerous just by a little bit. I know this is kind of cheating but I consider the songs on Blood On The Dancefloor (minus the title track and superfly sister) to be a part of History as well.

Stranger In Moscow (my favorite MJ track as well),
TDCAU,
2Bad,
Childhood (another favorite of mine),
Earth Song (honestly could be his greatest musical achievement)
Little Susie
Is it Scary
Morphine

As individual songs I think they are better than many songs on Dangerous.. BUT.. but Dangerous as a whole package with the music videos, the order of the songs, the era, the tour and the whole experience makes dangerous a better album too me. The variety in in topics and mood also makes Dangerous a little better to me.
 
Girl said:
I saw it as the closest he had come to making a concept album. There was structure, honesty and a lottt of anger and sadness at the injustice he had been subjected to.
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I would call it a concept album straight-up. The full title of the album is HIStory: Past, Present and Future: Book I.

By having his greatest hits on Disc 1, it allowed him to present 'The Past', his musical story so far, which then evolves into 'The Present' on Disc 2. The album is telling and exploring his story, his history, from his troubled upbringing (Childhood), the influences/people he looks up to heavily (Charlie Chaplin/The Beatles/Martin Luther King/Rosa Parks etc), his dealings with the press (Scream, Tabloid Junkie), racial injustice that he has faced (TDCAU), even successful and savvy business decisions that became a significant part of his legacy (Come Together represents his purchase of the publishing rights to music's most valuable catalogue) and more.

Disc 2 starts with 'Scream', how he was feeling leading up to the album, but ends with a 'Smile', hinting at a positive outlook for The Future. Continuing on the Future concept, the subtitle 'Book I' suggests he isn't finished yet, that he's going to keep making HIStory and there's going to be even more books! All of this is his story, his HIStory.
 
Hmm... I think Dangerous, although I adore History! Every time I hear any song on Dangerous I'm just blown away. I love history but I fade a little towards the end of the album.
Both contain absolute masterpieces!
 
Love them both but Dangerous for me. Gahh its too hard. Ok I'm staying with Dangerous before I go insane!
 
I choose History.
The strength of his vocals are in full force on this album. I love his vocal growth from Thriller to History, it's beyond astonishing.

I think History has more memorable songs, and that's why I choose it. They Don't Really Care About Us, Earth Song, Stranger in Moscow, Scream, and You Are Not Alone are beautiful and amazing songs that beat anything on Dangerous, in my opinion.
Not to mention, I was not a fan of the Dangerous Tour much, I prefer History alot better.
 
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