In addition to having received triple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), "Black or White" reached number one in the charts of at least 20 countries and territories, including the UK, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Cuba, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Zimbabwe and the Eurochart Hot 100.

It premiered on MTV, BET, VH1, and Fox, which gave them their highest Nielsen ratings ever at the time, as well as the BBC's Top of the Pops in the UK.

Michael Jackson hired producer Bill Bottrell to help him craft a new sound, one that would shift his style away from his earlier work with Quincy Jones.

Jackson invited Bottrell to join him in producing and composing songs at Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles in late 1988, but none of the material from several weeks of sessions there made it to the album.

Bottrell said that throughout the next 18 months of changes to the song, Jackson's initial scratch vocal was left in place, and it appears on the final version.

Bottrell added an acoustic guitar part using a Gibson LG-2 built in the 1940s, a robust model with a big country sound reminiscent of Gene Vincent's classic rockabilly style.

Bottrell wanted a section of rapping to fill the remaining gap, and he suggested LL Cool J or Heavy D, but these proposals did not work out.

He ended up using the Neve mixer at Record One to mix the majority of the song, and the SSL for the rap and heavy metal sections.

[4] The song has elements of dance, rap and hard rock music such as Bill Bottrell's guitars and Jackson's vocal style.

[5][6][7][8][9][10] The song's main guitar riff, originally played by Bottrell, is often incorrectly attributed to Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash.

The two teamed up for an energized performance of “Black or White”, after which Slash destroyed his guitar by throwing it into the dashboard of a prop car on stage, complete with explosives and fireworks.

[15] 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 24-hour period, "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 237 of the United States' Top 40 radio stations.

In a retrospective review, Chris Lacy from Albumism stated that it "merges classic rock with soulful crooning in a call for racial unity.

[22] Upon the release, Larry Flick from Billboard described it as a "surprisingly sparse, but instantly gratifying pop/rocker that reveals his grittiest and most affecting performance in years."

[23] Clark and DeVaney from Cashbox stated, "The unmistakeable voice and style are street-hip and slick, with a catchy melody and some untraditional acoustic guitar work.

"[24] David Browne from Entertainment Weekly praised the song, adding, "He still knows how to fashion a hook that will take up permanent residence in your brain (away from its video, Black or White is spare and effortless).

[28] Ted Shaw from The Windsor Star felt the song "is quite remarkable, a nearly perfect pop confection", adding, "It is the best thing Jackson has produced since Thriller.

[30] In 1992, Larry Flick commented on the remixes of the song, "Thanks to deft postproduction by David Cole and Robert Clivillés, the cut kicks a potent groove that nicely complements the original tune's kinetic pop/rock nature.

[35] The dance scene with the Native Americans shown in the video was filmed at Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park in Agua Dulce, California.

[37] The scene where Michael Jackson and a dancer appear on the freeway was filmed at 11779 Sheldon Street in Sun Valley, Los Angeles.

[40] It premiered on MTV, BET, VH1, and Fox (giving them their highest Nielsen ratings ever at the time)[41] as well as the BBC's Top of the Pops in the UK[42] on November 14, 1991.

Culkin and other children (including Michael's niece Brandi; Wade Robson; and Mark Pugh and David Shelton of Another Bad Creation) perform the rap sequence.

[45] In the extended version of the music video, after the song, a black panther walks out of the studio into an urban street and transforms into Jackson, who dances furiously, similar to the 1990 LA Gear commercial.

[39] Jackson asked his fans for forgiveness, saying that the violent and suggestive behavior had been a dance-style interpretation of the animalistic instincts of a panther.

In 1993, Jackson released a digitally altered version of the final scenes, with the glass windows smashed now marred with racist and anti-Semitic graffiti: the car windows display offensive messages with racial epithets such as "Nigger Go Home" (styled as NI66eR 6O HOMe), "No More Wetbacks", "Hitler Lives", and a storefront door is spray-painted with "KKK Rules".

[54] Yankovic believes that Jackson's rejection of the parody was ultimately for the best, because he was unsatisfied with the quality of the song and its scrapping left room on his next album for "Smells Like Nirvana", one of his biggest hits.

[56] In 2012, the television show Glee covered the song in the episode "Michael", it features primary voices from Kevin McHale, Lea Michele, Chris Colfer, Amber Riley and Naya Rivera, and backing vocals from the rest of the cast.