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“Give In to Me”

Date range confirmed in Mike Smallcombe’s “Making Michael” (“In the summer of 1990, Michael finally decided to shelve the Decade project in favour of an album of new material, due to an avalanche of song ideas… [which included] on ‘Black or White’, ‘Earth Song’, ‘Who Is It’ and ‘Monkey Business’... [and] ‘Give In to Me’.”

Michael Jackson, singing/chatting with Bill Bottrell before recording session

Like a Rollin Stone

Like the FBI (hear that?)

Like the CIA

Like the BBC

BB King

They called it Can you dig it

And Doris Day

Dig it, dig it

...I’m tellin’ you it would be neat for you to sometime just hook up your electric guitar or whatever and just start playin’, and get me a mic… Out of the moment, you know, which would be really, really fun. A lot of magic is created out of the moment like that. It really is.

"Michael Jackson Talks…to Oprah" interview (February 10 1993)

Oprah Winfrey: So, we want to know how it starts on a piece of paper--”quench my desire”--and turns into that.

Michael Jackson: Well, “Give In To Me”, I wanted to write another song that was kinda exciting and fun and had a rock edge to it, like when I did “Beat It” and “Black or White”. And Slash, who's a dear friend of mine, we love animals and things like that, he wanted to play guitar and I wanted him to play guitar.

Teddy Riley, “Dangerous” album producer, “MusicRadar” (July 3, 2009) (archived)

"Bill Bottrell put in some great production on this track. Because he had his hand in there it ended up sounding perfect. He had the magic touch and had everything levelled up nicely. He's been doing it for so long. He's the best with microphones, and knowing where to sit the instruments on the track. He's really good.

"I also like Bruce Swedien who mixed some tracks on this album. I'd never worked with Brucey before that. But I always ask for him as an engineer after working with him on this."

Bill Bottrell, co-writer, engineer and co-producer, “Sound on Sound” magazine (August 2004) (archived)

"In fact, on 'Give In To Me' he looked to me for those looser, more instinctive vocals. These contrasted with what was achieved by the other people he was working with, because in that case he had the same agenda as I had. Still, we took that song too far. We had a live take of me sitting on a stool, playing guitar, and him singing, with a very simple drum loop running throughout. Michael loved that, but it was me who got insecure and started layering things. Eventually, he had Slash come in and add loads of guitars, and the song was transformed; not for the better, in my view. And that had nothing to do with Slash, but by virtue of the production that went into it.

Mike Smallcombe, Making Michael

The idea for ‘Give In to Me’, a hard rock ballad, came when Bottrell played a tune on his guitar in the studio one day. Michael loved what he was hearing and added a melody, before the two performed a live take together with Bottrell on guitar and Michael singing.

Michael added lyrics, and Guns ’N’ Roses guitarist Slash was invited to perform on the song as a special guest. “He [Michael] sent me a tape of the song that had no guitars other than some of the slow picking,” Slash recalls. “I called him and sang over the phone what I wanted to do. I basically went in [to the studio] and started to play it – that was it. It was really spontaneous in that way. Michael just wanted whatever was in my style. He just wanted me to do that. No pressure. He was really in sync with me.”

‘Give In to Me’ was originally drafted as a dance track rather than hard rock, with a drum beat programmed to play while Michael sang and Bottrell played the electric guitar. The song evolved and ended up as a rock track, but Bottrell regrets changing it from its original concept. “We took that song too far,” he said. “It was me who got insecure and started layering things. Eventually, he [Michael] had Slash come in and add loads of guitars, and the song was transformed; not for the better, in my view. And that had nothing to do with Slash, but by virtue of the production that went into it.”

...

[Tim] Pierce recorded his parts for ‘Black or White’ at Record One in one day, and also played on ‘Give In to Me’. “Firstly we did the bridge for ‘Black or White’, and Michael was present for that,” Pierce recalls. “He wanted a heavy metal guitar part and that’s what I brought in. After we finished that part, I then did my part on ‘Give In to Me’. It was just Bill and me… Michael had gone by then. Michael was really sweet, nice, and looked me in the eye whenever we spoke. I liked that. He looked good as well, like a real superstar. He was definitely a fourteen-year-old wrapped in a thirty-year-old body.”

Rolling Stone (January 9, 1992)

More than a year later, Slash got a call. It was from Jackson. He had a power ballad, "Give In to Me," that he wanted Slash to solo on. "He sent me a tape of the song that had no guitars other than some slow picking," says Slash. "I called him and sang over the phone what I wanted to do."

Slash, however, didn't have time to record the solo. "I was leaving for Africa," he says. "Our schedules were not in sync. So they were going to blow me off, but Michael managed to work it out so we could do it when I came back from Africa. I got off the plane and drove to the studio.

"I basically went in and started to play it — that was it," Slash says. "It was really spontaneous in that way. Michael just wanted whatever was in my style. He just wanted me to do that. No pressure. He was really in sync with me. I don't come from this heavy-metal school of guitar playing. All the stuff that I do or dig is from the same place that Michael Jackson comes from. We may go in separate directions or be on different sides of the fence, but when it comes down to it, it all comes from the same shit."