HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I
HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I is a double album containing the first non-Motown greatest hits album and ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson, released on June 20, 1995. It was Jackson's fifth album released through Epic Records, and the first on his label MJJ Productions. It comprises two discs: HIStory Begins, a greatest hits compilation, and HIStory Continues, comprising new material written and produced by Jackson and collaborators. The album includes appearances by Janet Jackson, Shaquille O'Neal, Slash, and the Notorious B.I.G. The genres span R&B, pop, and hip hop with elements of hard rock and funk rock. The themes include environmental awareness, isolation, greed, suicide, injustice, and Jackson's conflicts with the media.
"HIStory" redirects here. For the title song, see HIStory (song). For other uses, see History (disambiguation).HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I
Starting in the late 1980s, Jackson and the tabloid press had a difficult relationship. In 1993, the relationship between Jackson and the press collapsed when he was accused of child sexual abuse. Although he was not charged, Jackson was subject to intense media scrutiny while the criminal investigation took place. Several of the album's 15 new songs pertain to the child sexual abuse allegations made against him in 1993 and Jackson's perceived mistreatment by the media, mainly the tabloids. Because of this, HIStory has been described as Jackson's most "personal" album.
HIStory debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart in the United States, and in nineteen other countries. Seven singles were released, including the protest songs "Earth Song" and "They Don't Care About Us". "Scream", a duet between Jackson and his sister Janet, became the first song to debut in the top five of the US Billboard Hot 100, reaching number five. "You Are Not Alone" was the first song in history to debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100; it was also Jackson's final number-one single on that chart. Though the album received generally positive reviews, the lyrics of "They Don't Care About Us" drew accusations of antisemitism; Jackson said they had been misinterpreted and replaced them on later pressings of the album.
Jackson later embarked on the HIStory World Tour, which grossed $165 million (equivalent to $313 million in 2023), making it the highest-grossing solo concert tour of the 1990s. It was Jackson's third and final concert tour as a solo artist. The album has sold over 20 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time, and one of the best-selling multi-disc albums of all time. In August 2018, it was certified 8× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was nominated for five Grammy Awards at the 1996 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, winning Best Music Video – Short Form for "Scream". Jackson won an American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist at the 1996 American Music Awards.
Background[edit]
Starting in the late 1980s, Jackson and the tabloid press had a difficult relationship. In 1986, tabloids claimed that Jackson slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber and had offered to buy the bones of Joseph Merrick (the "Elephant Man"), both of which Jackson vehemently denied.[2][3] These stories inspired the derogatory nickname "Wacko Jacko", which Jackson despised. He stopped leaking untruths to the press,[4] and the media began creating their own stories.[4] In 1989, Jackson released "Leave Me Alone", a song about the victimization he felt by the press.[5]
In 1993, the relationship between Jackson and the press collapsed when he was accused of child sexual abuse. Although he was not charged, Jackson was subject to intense media scrutiny while the criminal investigation took place. Complaints about the coverage and media included misleading and sensational headlines;[6] paying for stories of Jackson's alleged criminal activity[7] and confidential material from the police investigation;[8] using unflattering pictures of Jackson;[9] and using headlines that strongly implied Jackson's guilt.[9] In 1994, Jackson said of the media coverage: "I am particularly upset by the handling of the matter by the incredible, terrible mass media. At every opportunity, the media has dissected and manipulated these allegations to reach their own conclusions."[10]
Jackson began taking painkillers, Valium, Xanax and Ativan to deal with the stress of the allegations.[11] A few months after the allegations became news, Jackson stopped eating.[12] Soon after, Jackson's health deteriorated to the extent that he canceled the remainder of his Dangerous World Tour and went into rehabilitation.[13][14] Jackson booked the whole fourth floor of a clinic and was put on Valium IV to wean him from painkillers.[13][14] The media showed Jackson little sympathy. Also in 1993, the Daily Mirror held a "Spot the Jacko" contest, offering readers a trip to Disney World if they could correctly predict where Jackson would appear next.[13] The same year, a Daily Express headline read "Drug Treatment Star Faces Life on the Run", while a News of the World headline accused Jackson of being a fugitive; these tabloids also falsely alleged that Jackson had traveled to Europe to have cosmetic surgery that would make him unrecognizable on his return.[13] In early November 1993, talk show host Geraldo Rivera set up a mock trial with a jury of audience members, though Jackson had not been charged with a crime.[15]
Content[edit]
HIStory was Jackson's first studio album since his 1991 album Dangerous and his first new material after being accused of child sexual abuse.[16] The album comprises two discs. The first, HIStory Begins, is a compilation of songs from Jackson's albums Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), Bad (1987) and Dangerous (1991). The second, HIStory Continues, comprises new material recorded from January 1994 to March 1995,[17] although one of the songs (a cover of the Beatles' "Come Together") had been recorded as early as 1986.[18] Jackson co-wrote and co-produced a majority of the new songs; other writers include Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Dallas Austin, the Notorious B.I.G., Bruce Swedien, R. Kelly and René Moore, and other producers include David Foster and Bill Bottrell.[18]
Similarly to Thriller and Bad, HIStory contains lyrics that deal with paranoia. Several of the album's 15 new songs pertain to the child sexual abuse allegations made against him in 1993[19] and Jackson's perceived mistreatment by the media, mainly the tabloids.[20] Because of this, the album has been described as being Jackson's most "personal".[21] Two of the album's new tracks are covers.[19] The genres of the songs on the album span R&B, pop, and hip hop with elements of hard rock ("D.S.") and funk rock ("Scream"), and ballads.[19][21][22][23] The lyrics pertain to isolation, greed, environmental concerns, injustice. "Scream" is a duet with Jackson's sister Janet; with "spitting"[19] lyrics about injustice.[21]
The lyrics for the R&B ballad "You Are Not Alone", written by R. Kelly, pertain to isolation.[21] Two Belgian songwriters, brothers Eddy and Danny Van Passel, claimed to have written the melody in 1993. In September 2007, a Belgian judge ruled the song had been plagiarized from the Van Passel brothers, and it was banned from radio play in Belgium.[24][25] "D.S.", a hard rock song, has lyrics about a "cold man" named "Dom S. Sheldon". Critics interpreted it as an attack on Thomas Sneddon, who had led the prosecution in Jackson's trial.[19][22][26][27]
"Money" was interpreted as being directed at Evan Chandler, the father of the boy who accused Jackson of child sexual abuse.[19] The lyrics of "Childhood" pertain to Jackson's childhood.[28] Similar to "Scream", the lyrics to "They Don't Care About Us" pertain to injustice, as well as racism. In "This Time Around", Jackson asserts himself as having been "falsely accused".[19] The song includes a guest rap by the Notorious B.I.G. (a.k.a. Biggie Smalls).[29] "Earth Song" was described as a "slow blues-operatic",[21] and its lyrics pertain to environmental concerns. On HIStory, Jackson covered Charlie Chaplin's "Smile" and the Beatles' "Come Together".[21]
"2 Bad" was influenced by hip-hop, with a sample of Run–D.M.C.'s "King of Rock" and another guest rap verse by Shaquille O'Neal. The similarity in lyrics and name have led to some seeing it as a spiritual successor to Jackson's 1987 track, "Bad".[30] "Stranger in Moscow" is a pop ballad that is interspersed with sounds of rain,[19] in which Jackson references a "swift and sudden fall from grace".[21] "Tabloid Junkie" is a hard funk song[31] with lyrics instructing listeners to not believe everything they read in the media and tabloids.[21][22] The album's title track, "HIStory" contained multiple samples, including Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.[32] "HIStory" was not released as a single from HIStory, but its remix was from Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix in 1997.
As an introduction for "Little Susie", Jackson used his own variation of "Pie Jesu" from Maurice Duruflé's Requiem. Some speculate, the inspiration behind the song likely came from an artist called Gottfried Helnwein. An urban legend states that "Little Susie" was written about a girl called Susie Condry who was murdered in 1972. However, no evidence of this event can be found. Jackson admired Helnwein's work and had purchased some of his paintings. One of them, "Beautiful Victim", inspired the song. Helnwein later painted a portrait of Jackson.[33] There appears to be a similarity between the "Beautiful Victim" painting and the artwork included for the song in HIStory.[33]
Controversy[edit]
Accusations of antisemitism[edit]
On June 15, 1995, The New York Times said that "They Don't Care About Us" contained antisemitic slurs in the lines "Jew me, sue me, everybody do me / Kick me, kike me, don't you black or white me".[34] In a statement, Jackson responded:
Jackson's manager and record label said the lyrics opposed prejudice and had been taken out of context.[34] The following day, David A. Lehrer and Rabbi Marvin Hier, leaders of two Jewish organizations, stated that Jackson's attempt to make a song critical of discrimination had backfired. They felt the lyrics might be ambiguous and were unsuitable for young audiences because they might not understand the song's context. They acknowledged that Jackson meant well and suggested that he write an explanation in the album booklet.[35] In his review of HIStory, Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote that the song "gives the lie to his entire catalogue of brotherhood anthems with a burst of anti-Semitism".[36]
On June 17, Jackson promised that future copies of the album would include an apology.[37] On June 23, Jackson announced that he would alter the offending wording on future copies of the album. He reiterated his acceptance that the song was offensive to some.[38][39] It was reported that "Jew me" and "Kike me" would be substituted with "do me" and "strike me", however, the offending words were instead covered up with loud, abstract noises drowning them out.[38][40] Remixes of the song that were later released instead use repeated words ("Jew me, sue me" being replaced with "Sue me, sue me").[41] An apology was included in later issues of the album:[40]
Spike Lee defended Jackson's use of the word, by mentioning the double standard from the media. "While The New York Times asserted the use of racial slurs in 'They Don't Care About Us', they were silent on other racial slurs in the album. The Notorious B.I.G. says 'nigga' on "This Time Around," another song on the HIStory album, but it did not attract media attention, as well as, many years before, use in lyrics of word 'nigger' by John Lennon."[42]
Commercial performance[edit]
HIStory debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts selling over 391,000 copies in its first week.[79][80] In its second week, the album stayed at the top with 263,000 copies sold, a decline of 33%.[81] In its third week, it slipped to number 2 with 142,000 copies sold, a 46% decline.[82] However, the album spent just six weeks at the top 10, selling over one million copies in total.[83] According to Soundscan by March 1998, the album had sold more than 2.2 million units.[84] According to SoundScan, the set fell short of many observers' expectations.[85][86] The album has further sold 730,000 copies through BMG music club as of February 2003.[87] The album was certified eight times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on August 23, 2018, in the United States.[88] Because HIStory is a double disc album, its CDs are therefore counted separately for certification purposes, meaning the album achieved platinum status in the United States after 500,000 copies were shipped, not one million.
However, the album was a massive success in other countries. In Europe, before it was released, three million copies were shipped, breaking records as the most shipped album ever. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry certified HIStory six times platinum, denoting six million shipments within the continent, including 1.5 million in Germany and 1.2 million shipments in the United Kingdom.[89][83]
In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number one and sold 100,000 copies in just two days. It was certified 4× platinum by the BPI.[90] Eventually, it sold 1.6 million copies.[91]
In Australia, an advance order of 130,000 copies was the largest initial shipment in Sony Australia's history. In first two days HIStory sold 30,000 units in Spain and 75,000 units in Italy.[92] In Spain, HIStory was the 20th best selling album of 1995 and the 12th best selling album by a foreign artist.[93] In Chile, the album topped the charts and broke all sales records in the country when it sold 25,000 units within 72 hours of its release on June 16.[94]
HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I has sold over 20 million copies worldwide,[95] making it simultaneously one of the best-selling multiple-disc releases and one of the best-selling albums of all time[96] The greatest hits disc was reissued as a single disc on November 13, 2001, under the title Greatest Hits: HIStory, Volume I and had sold four million copies worldwide by 2010.[97] The second disc was released separately in some European countries in 2011.