Most of us know Michael’s back catalogue, inside out, back to front and side ways. We know the album tracklists, the greatest hits running orders and most importantly those unreleased gems (Sorry Michael!).
But sometimes, even those that were released fall by the way side. Sure, say to a member of the public ‘Smooth Criminal’ or ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ and you get that standard smile of acknowledgement, sometimes partnered with a hehe or a bizarre crotch grab (no, he didn’t do it like that!) But if you were to mention ‘Who Is It’ or ‘Give in to Me’, you’re met with that raised eyebrow and a “Oh I’m not familiar with that one.”
Such a revelation is surprising considering at a time, Dangerous outsold Bad and was Michael’s second biggest selling album of all time at the time. But the case remains, tracks 9 & 10 are destined to be hidden gems.
Who Is It tended to fair a lot better than Give In To Me, benefiting from 2 releases and 2 short films. Initially released in 1992, Who is it served as the 5th single from the Dangerous album and hit the market 2 months after the beginning of the Dangerous World Tour.
The accompanying short film was a work of cinematic brilliance directed by David Fincher who went on to become famous for Fight Club. The short film sees Michael in a relationship with a high-class call girl, something unbeknownst to him, and follows the demise of their love and her bizarre lifestyle. Reportedly due to tour commitments, Michael did not appear in the full video and used impersonator E’Casonova for cut away shots in the back of the car and on the sofa. However, an alternative suggestion is that Michael fell out with director David Fincher during the filming and so chose to distance himself from the filming and sent E’Cas in his place. It should be noted that the latter claim has never been verified, although this was E’Cas’s second time standing in for Michael, his first being Remember the Time. The second version of the video is the seldom seen, promotional short made up of clips from the Dangerous Tour purely for the U.S market.
For performance, Who Is It peaked at number 10 in the UK after its 1992 release which featured Michael in black and white wearing a jacket that was decorated with V8 car emblems. In the U.S, the single was released following the Oprah special in 1993, with the subsequent beat-box intro being included and a single cover that differed from its European counter parts, with Michael again rocking a car themed jacket, with car club badges attached. It reached number 14 (clearly people were hard of hearing back then!) and loomed around the charts for a short time. Over time, its legacy hasn’t developed much and despite a short instrumental inclusion in the This Is It documentary, it’s not one that’s gain the cult following as it should, although this hasn’t been helped by the fact is wasn’t official added to Youtube until November 2016 and has now gained just over 29 million views – yet still, it remains unknown.
It’s surprising that Give In To Me didn’t chart better either seeing as its release came just 2 weeks after the Superbowl half time performance in 1993, which at the time received the record for the most watched television event of all time. With the release only reaching Europe, Australia and New Zealand, all other markets had to wait seven months between Heal the World and Will You Be There.
Munich, Germany was the destination for the video shoot which took place 8 months before the release on June 25th, 1992 and featured a fan-heavy crowd, Slash and a lot of wind machines. Director Andy Morahan who had worked with Slash on five Guns & Roses videos including Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door and Don’t Cry was at the helm of the short film and placed Michael directly in to a rock concert concept, continuing the cross over to the genre that he’d begun in 1982 with Beat It. Whilst electrifying in more ways than one, it was remarkably similar to Come Together which had featured on Moonwalker a few years prior.
Interestingly some years later, the demo for Give In To Me leaked in raw form from its early 1990 inception. This version contained a more stripped back instrumentation and additional lyrics, most notably the middle eight section, where Michael demonstrates the sheer power of his rock vocal abilities with a throat ripping ‘I might live my alone girl.’ Also nestled in the lyrics was the rather humorous ‘Love is a donut’, whilst Love and donuts certainly do go hand in hand and can soothe a number of problems, fans have spent years trying to debunk the meaning behind Michael’s homage to the sugary snack.
Some clever minds have linked the line to Michael’s story about Joe bringing home bags of glazed donuts home after he finished his shift in the steel mill. Michael had comment that it felt like a sign of love from his father, and so, perhaps…..Love is a donut. Symbolic!
The limited release was more successful than Who Is It in the UK, reaching number 2, but it was in New Zealand that Give In To Me enjoyed the most success, spending 4 weeks at the top of the charts.
Sadly, Give In To Me never made it on to any tour, planned or executed and was left in 1993 where it was released. It also failed to be revisited on the Visionary Boxset in 2006, leaving both the track and the video in obscurity outside of the fan community and those with good musical taste!
When all is taken in to consideration, musically, some of the output from Dangerous was stronger than that from Bad and both Who Is It and Give In to Me demonstrate just how refined Michael’s skills as a musician had become. He enhanced the love of bass from Billie Jean to give us Who Is It and he re-invoked the grit of Dirty Diana to create Give In To Me. Both tracks are arguably some of the highest points of his career, yet remain largely over-looked. 25 years on, they’re still as fresh, relevant and sonically pleasing as they were in 1991 when the Dangerous album was released, yet for some reason, they failed to stick in the minds and hearts of the general listening public, who instead were consumed with the likes of Black or White, Bad, Smooth Criminal and Thriller. Either way, it’s two of those tracks that you can use to educate when you have one of those ‘Michael was more than Billie Jean and Beat It’ conversations.
Pez Jax
Follow Pez on twitter @Pezdann
Yes, I agree – Michael was FAR more than Billie Jean and Beat It. You’ve focused on a couple of my favourites here. Thank You!
Totally agree with you Kerry and I love that little smile he gives part way through Give In To Me. Love those songs, he always sang with such feeling.