"Black or White" is a song taken from Michael Jackson's Dangerous album. It was released on October 11, 1991 as the album's lead single. "Black or White" is a mix of rock, and dance-pop.
Written, composed, and arranged by Jackson with the rap lyrics by Bill Bottrell, the song promotes racial harmony. The song's introduction and main riff are performed by guitarist Slash and Bill Bottrell.
The song peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, the UK Singles Chart and in 18 other countries. It shot #1 on every singles chart in 1991, except for peaking #2 on the German Singles Chart.
To prepare the audience for the special occasion of the televised premiere of the "Black or White" video, Epic Records released the song (without the accompanying images) to radio stations just two days in advance. In a period of twenty-four hours, "Black or White", described by the record company as "a rock 'n' roll dance song about racial harmony", had been added to the playlists of 96 percent of the 237 United States of America's top forty radio stations.