F minor · Camelot 4A · 108 BPM
Remember the Time
by Michael Jackson
- 108
- BPM
- F minor
- Key
- 4A
- Camelot
- 84
- Danceability
- 15
- Acousticness
Teddy Riley said he came up with the idea for "Remember the Time" after hearing Michael Jackson describe falling in love with the woman he had just married. Riley shared that account in a 1996 Los Angeles Times interview, though he later denied on Twitter in 2011 that the song was about Debbie Rowe. When the single first came out, Jackson dedicated it to Diana Ross. Riley wrote and composed the track with Jackson and Bernard Belle, and the two of them produced it together at Record One studios.
Epic Records released the song on January 14, 1992 as the second single from Dangerous, Jackson's eighth album. It reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped both the Billboard Hot R&B Singles and Cash Box Top 100 charts. The Recording Industry Association of America certified it Gold in March 1992, and Triple Platinum three decades later. Overseas, it hit number one in New Zealand and number three in the United Kingdom.
John Singleton directed a nine-minute video for the track, filmed at the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot and set in ancient Egypt. Eddie Murphy, Iman, Magic Johnson and Tommy "Tiny" Lister all appeared in it, with choreography by Fatima Robinson. Broadcast live on Fox, BET and MTV in February 1992, the Fox airing drew a Nielsen rating of 13.1. The song went on to win Best R&B/Soul Single – Male at the 1993 Soul Train Music Awards, where Jackson performed it seated on a throne while on crutches.
Remember the Time runs at 108 BPM, the tempo of mid-tempo pop, dancehall and indie. In classical terms it sits in moderato territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 2.22 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 556 ms. It is in F minor, Camelot 4A, which shares its notes with Ab major and mixes cleanly with Bb minor and C minor.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.