HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I
HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I, often referred to simply as HIStory, is a double album by the American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson, released on June 20, 1995. It consists of the greatest hits album, HIStory Begins, in addition to his ninth studio album, HIStory Continues. It was Jackson's fifth album released through Epic Records, and the first on his label MJJ Productions. The album includes appearances by Janet Jackson, Shaquille O'Neal, Slash, and the Notorious B.I.G. Its genres span pop, R&B, and hip hop with elements of hard rock and funk rock. Lyrical themes include environmental awareness, isolation, greed, and injustice.
Several of the songs on HIStory Continues pertain to the child sexual abuse allegations made against Jackson in 1993 and Jackson's perceived mistreatment by the media. Singles included the protest songs "Earth Song" and "They Don't Care About Us", the latter of which drew accusations of antisemitism. Jackson vehemently denied these accusations. Jackson embarked on the HIStory World Tour, which was his third and final concert tour as a solo artist. The tour grossed $165 million, making it the highest-grossing solo concert tour of the 1990s.
HIStory debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200, and in nineteen other countries. Five singles from HIStory were released. The first single of the album, a double A-side of "Scream" and "Childhood", was a Top 5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. "You Are Not Alone" became the first song in history to debut at number one on the Hot 100 and was also Jackson's final US number-one single.
HIStory has sold over 20 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time, and was certified 8× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2018. It received generally favorable reviews by critics, though it was viewed as a regression from Jackson's previous releases. Despite this, it was nominated for five Grammy Awards at the 1996 Grammy Awards, including Jackson's third Album of the Year nomination. It won Best Music Video – Short Form for "Scream".
Background
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, both of which Jackson vehemently denied. These stories inspired the derogatory nickname "Wacko Jacko", which Jackson despised. He stopped leaking untruths to the press, and the media began creating their own stories. In 1989, Jackson released "Leave Me Alone", a song about the victimization he felt by the press.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. Media coverage included misleading and sensational headlines; paying for stories of Jackson's alleged criminal activity and confidential material from the police investigation; using unflattering pictures of Jackson; and using headlines that strongly implied Jackson's guilt. In 1993, 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. The same year, 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. 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. 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."
Jackson began taking painkillers, Valium, Xanax and Ativan to deal with the stress of the allegations. A few months after the allegations became news, Jackson stopped eating. Soon after, Jackson's health deteriorated to the extent that he canceled the remainder of his Dangerous World Tour and went into rehabilitation. Jackson booked the whole fourth floor of a clinic and was put on Valium IV to wean him from painkillers.
Content
HIStory was Jackson's first studio album since his 1991 album Dangerous and his first new material after being accused of child sexual abuse. The album comprises two discs. The first, HIStory Begins, is a compilation of songs from Jackson's albums Off the Wall, Thriller, Bad and Dangerous. The second, HIStory Continues, comprises new material recorded from January 1994 to March 1995, although one of the songs had been recorded as early as 1986. 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. 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."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 and Jackson's perceived mistreatment by the media, mainly the tabloids. Two of the album's new tracks are covers. The genres of the songs on the album span R&B, pop, and hip hop with elements of hard rock and funk rock, and ballads. The lyrics pertain to isolation, greed, environmental concerns, injustice. "Scream" is a duet with Jackson's sister Janet; with "spitting" lyrics about injustice.
The lyrics for the R&B ballad "You Are Not Alone", written by R. Kelly, pertain to isolation. 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. "D.S.", a hard rock song, has lyrics about a "cold man" named "Dom S. Sheldon". Critics interpreted it as an attack on district attorney Thomas Sneddon, who had led the investigations into the allegations against Jackson.
"Money" was interpreted as being directed at Evan Chandler, the father of the boy who accused Jackson of child sexual abuse. The lyrics of "Childhood" pertain to Jackson's childhood. 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". The song includes a guest rap by the Notorious B.I.G.. "Earth Song" was described as a "slow blues-operatic", and its lyrics pertain to environmental concerns. On HIStory, Jackson covered Charlie Chaplin's "Smile" and the Beatles' "Come Together".
"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". "Stranger in Moscow" is a pop ballad that is interspersed with sounds of rain, in which Jackson references a "swift and sudden fall from grace". "Tabloid Junkie" is a hard funk song with lyrics instructing listeners to not believe everything they read in the media and tabloids. The album's title track, "HIStory" contained multiple samples, including Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. "HIStory" was not released as a single from HIStory, but a remix of the song was included on Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix and released as a single in 1997.
As an introduction for "Little Susie", Jackson used his own variation of "Pie Jesu" from Maurice Duruflé's Requiem. The song's accompanying album artwork resembles the painting "Beautiful Victim" by Gottfried Helnwein, which may have inspired the song. Jackson admired Helnwein's work and had purchased some of his paintings. Helnwein later painted a portrait of Jackson.
Controversy
Accusations of antisemitism
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". In a statement, Jackson responded:Jackson's manager and record label said the lyrics opposed prejudice and had been taken out of context. 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. 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".
On June 17, Jackson promised that future copies of the album would include an apology. 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. 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. Remixes of the song that were later released instead use repeated words. An apology was included in later issues of the album:
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."