HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I, (often abbreviated to HIStory) is a double album by American singer Michael Jackson released in June 1995. The album featured one disc of greatest hits from the singer's previous fifteen years, while the second disc featured mostly newer songs, with the exception of "Come Together", which he recorded in 1987.
It has been cited as the best-selling multiple disc album ever released with worldwide sales of 18 million copies (36 million units). HIStory is the top grossing album of Jackson's career behind Thriller.
Recording started in September 1994 and would carry through the early spring of 1995. Jackson wrote the majority of the songs attacking the press for "scandalizing" him and gave messages to fans to not "feed into the tabloids". One of the songs included "Scream", a duet between Michael and sister Janet, who had agreed to do a duet with her brother after she felt that she "had made it to the top" and she didn't fear that she'd "had to ride Michael's coattails". Other songs that attacked the tabloids included "Tabloid Junkie" and "This Time Around". The Michael and Janet duet was the first of several tunes Jackson produced with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis ("2 Bad", "HIStory", "Tabloid Junkie") but not without additional help from the likes of Dallas Austin ("This Time Around"), R. Kelly (the lone ballad, "You Are Not Alone") and Jackson himself ("They Don't Care About Us", "Earth Song", "Stranger in Moscow", "D.S.", "Money", "Little Susie", "Smile"). Jackson, in fact, dominated the production of the album though not fully incorporating serious issues into his music including racism, the ecology and his own personal travails ("D.S.", in particular, was an attack on the district attorney of Jackson's case, Thomas Sneddon, in which he is heard singing in the chorus despite the lyrics reading "Dom Sheldon", possibly used to escape a lawsuit). Like on previous albums, Jackson wanted to feature guest stars. Other than his sister Janet, rapper The Notorious B.I.G. put down a rap verse in "This Time Around", soul group Boyz II Men sung background vocals on "HIStory" and basketball star and sometime rapper Shaquille O'Neal put down a verse on "2 Bad". While fourteen of the songs were new recordings, Jackson included an older recording of his cover of The Beatles' "Come Together", which he had recorded during the Bad period. It was altered slightly before being included on the album.
Promotion
To promote the album, Jackson embarked on the successful HIStory World Tour,[1] which was attended by more than four and a half million people. Jackson also made a promotional "teaser" music video showing him marching with thousands of military personnel as well as shipping statues of himself on boats around Europe[2] and 30 million dollars were spent on its promotion by Sony.[3]
Controversy
"HIStory" remains Jackson's most controversial album as seen by a number of events.
The music video for "You Are Not Alone" was controversial in that it featured an almost nude Jackson and his then-wife Lisa Marie Presley. Additionally, two Belgian songwriters, brothers Eddy and Danny Van Passel claimed to have written the melody in 1993. In September of 2007 a Belgian Judge ruled the song was plagarized from the Van Passel brothers and the song was subsequently banned from airwaves in Belgium.
Controversy arose when a verse in "They Don't Care About Us" ("Jew me/sue me/everybody do me/kick me, kike me/don't you black or white me") raised suspicion that the singer was anti-Semitic, charges Jackson denied. To make up for it, he edited the verse on later issues of the album.
HIStory is the only album by Jackson with vulgar lyrics in some parts of several songs, such as "Scream," and "This Time Around."
The original music video for "They Don't Care About Us" showed Jackson singing the song in a prison.[4]MTV took the video off its playlist because it showed scenes of violence.[4] Jackson and video director Spike Lee released another version of the video set in Dona Marta, a shanty town in Brazil, which was actually shot before the "prison version".[4] However, because of the filming location, Brazilian politicians accused Jackson of exploiting poverty to make money. The politician also alleged that Jackson was needed and given permission by drug traffickers to shoot the video.[5]
At the BRIT Awards in 1996, Jackson was given a special "Artist of a Generation" award. At the ceremony he performed "Earth Song" with a grandiose stage show, with Jackson portrayed as a Christ-like figure surrounded by adoring children. Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker mounted the stage in protest at the act. Cocker ran across the stage, lifting his shirt and pointing his (clothed) bottom in Jackson's direction. Cocker was subsequently questioned by the police on suspicion of causing injury towards three of the children in Jackson's performance, although no criminal proceedings followed. The performance saw the song and album rise back up the charts.
Critical response
The album received 5 Grammy Award nominations and won one,[6] these were:
HIStory, arguably Jackson's most conflictive album, revealed a "furious" pop icon worn by years of superstardom,[7] with Jon Pareles of the The New York Times writing that "It has been a long time since Michael Jackson was simply a performer. He's the main asset of his own corporation, which is a profitable subsidiary of Sony".[7] Some reviewers commented on the unusual format of a new studio album being accompanied by a "greatest hits" collection, with Q magazine saying "from the new songs' point of view, it's like taking your dad with you into a fight."[8]
Singles
Sales of HIStory were down from his previous albums Dangerous and Bad (although unit sales were higher). This has been attributed to the high purchase cost of HIStory and critics believe that the public purchased the singles over the album. The single sales of HIStory were collectively 10.45 million units,[9] which was higher than those of Dangerous at 8.36 million units[10] and Bad at 10.03 million units,[11] even though the latter albums had more singles released from their track lists (eight and nine releases respectively, against the five from HIStory). Only the singles from the Thriller at 19.55 million units[12] sold better than those released from HIStory.
"Scream/Childhood" - Released as a double A-side the first single released from HIStory was "Scream", sung and performed with his sister Janet Jackson. The single had the best ever debut at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and had a Grammy nomination for "Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals"[13]. The music video for "Scream" is one of his most critically acclaimed winning three MTV awards in 1995 and a Grammy in 1996.[14] "Scream" is currently the most expensive music video ever made.[15] It sold 2 million copies worldwide.[16]
"You Are Not Alone" - was the second single released from HIStory and would become the first song ever to debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100,[17] (beating his previous single "Scream"). It reached #1 in various international markets, including Britain. It was seen as a major artistic and commercial success and received a Grammy nomination for "Best Pop Vocal Performance".[18] It sold 3 million copies worldwide.[19]
"Earth Song" - was the third single released from HIStory, and was accompanied by a well received expensive music video that was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1996 but lost to his earlier video "Scream".[20] The song topped the UK Singles Chart for six weeks over Christmas in 1995 and sold one million copies there, making it his most successful UK single, surpassing the success of "Billie Jean". It sold 3.15 million copies worldwide.[21]
In October 1999, the RIAA certified it 7.00x Multi-Platinum, in recognition of 3.5 million shipments in the United States. To date, Nielsen Soundscan reports 2.6 million over-the-counter-sales. The BPI certified it 5.00x Multi-Platinum, denoting 1.5 million shipments in the United Kingdom. Overall, the album is estimated to have sold 18 million copies to date (36 million units). MSNBC cite it the best-selling multiple-disc album ever.[24] It Jackson's highest-grossing album since Thriller, due to its high retail price as a double disc record.
"Scream" produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson
"They Don't Care About Us", "Stranger in Moscow", "D.S.", "Money" and "Little Susie" produced by Michael Jackson
"This Time Around" produced by Dallas Austin and Michael Jackson, co-produced by Bruce Swedien and Rene
"Earth Song" produced by Michael Jackson and David Foster, co-produced by Bill Bottrell
"Come Together" produced by Michael Jackson and Bill Bottrell
"You Are Not Alone" produced by R. Kelly and Michael Jackson
"Childhood" and "Smile" produced by Michael Jackson and David Foster
"Tabloid Junkie" and "History" produced by Michael Jackson and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
"2 Bad" produced by Michael Jackson, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and Bruce Swedien and Rene
Album credits
Lead and Background Vocals: Michael Jackson
Background Vocals: Zedric Williams, James Ingram, Siedah Garrett, Andrae and Sandra Crouch and the Andrae Crouch Singers; Carol Dennis, Jackie Gouche, Gloria Estefan, and Linda McCrary
Child soloists:
"HIStory": Leah Frazier
"Little Susie": Markita Prescott
Rap performances by R. Kelly, Boyz II Men: Nathan Morris, Wayne Morris, Shawn Stockman, Michael McCrary; The Notorious B.I.G. and Shaquille O'Neal
Arrangements by Michael Jackson, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Dallas Austin, Bruce Swedien, R. Kelly, Rene, Jeremy Lubbock, Brad Buxer and Johnny Mandel
Vocal arrangements by Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
Orchestral arrangements by David Foster, Elmer Bernstein and Bill Ross
String arrangements by Michael Jackson
Keyboard arrangements by Michael Jackson
Orchestras conducted by Jeremy Lubbock
Horn arrangement by Michael Jackson and Jerry Hey
Pianos: David Paich and John Barnes
Keyboards and synthesizers: Randy Kerber, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, David Foster, Steve "Yada" Porcaro, David Paich, Bill Bottrell, Dallas Austin, Glen Ballard, Rene, Brad Buxer, Simon Franglen, Greg Phillinganes, Lafayette Carthon, Michael Boddicker, Chuck Wild, Rob Arbitter, Gary Adante, John Barnes and Randy Waldman
Synthesizer programming: Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Simon Franglen, Steve Porcaro, Brad Buxer, Peter Mokran, Michael Boddicker, Chuck Wild, Andrew Scheps, Rick Sheppard, Rob Hoffman, Bobby Brooks, Jeff Bova, Chris Palmero, Jason Miles, Arnie Schulze and Gregg Mangiafico
Drum programming: Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Peter Mokran and Andrew Scheps
Synclavier programming: Andrew Scheps and Simon Franglen
Guitars: Eddie Van Halen, Slash, David Williams, Larry Clayton, Dean Parks, Eric Gale, Tim Pierce, Dann Huff, Paul Jackson Jr., Steve Lukather, Bill Bottrell, Jeff Mirinow, Rob Hoffman and Jen Leigh
Drums: Ndugu Chancler, Jeff Porcaro, John Robinson and Bryan Loren
Percussion: Michael Jackson, Ollie E. Brown, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Bill Bottrell, Buddy Williams, Bruce Swedien, Simon Franglen, Rene, Chuck Wild, Paulinho Da Costa, Nannette Fortier and Bobby Brooks
Bass: Steve Lukather, Colin Wolfe, Louis Johnson, Nathan East, Terry Jackson, Doug Grigsby and Guy Pratt
Synth bass: Bryan Loren
Horns: Larry Williams, Jerry Hey, Gary Grant, William Reichenbach and Kim Hutchcroft
Technical credits
Executive producer: Michael Jackson
Recorded and mixed by Bruce Swedien
Additional Recording and mixing by Eddie De Lena, Steve Hodge and W.J.R.
Technical directors: Matt Forger and Brad Sundberg
Production coordination: Rachel Smith
Mastered by Bernie Grundman
Computer programming and technical direction assistance by Craig Johnson
Additional synthersizer programming and sound design by Michael Boddicker, Chuck Wild, Scott Pittinsky, Bobby Brooks, Roberta Swedien and Darry Ross
Encyclopedia
top
