Michael Jackson: HIStory - Past, Present And Future: Book 1 Poll

oh wait, I forgot about Dangerous, lol

Apparently, 'Stranger in Moscow' made it to #4 in the UK singles chart, but other than a couple of times on MTV Europe I can't remember it ever getting any airplay.

Couldn't help but notice that 'In The Closet' didn't make it onto the HIStory greatest hits...

Y'know, for a song that has always made very little impression on me beyond "oh, Jackson is singing about the '93 allegations", I haven't been able to get the chorus to 'Money' out of my head for the last couple of hours.

I got a weekend's work through my local Job Centre, selling merch at the Wembley History tour dates. Amazing show. We spent the concert walking through the crowds, selling outrageously overpriced chintz. The top seller was a Michael Jackson glove-on-a-stick, doing a peace sign. If you turned it on, there was a strobe light effect in the fingers, so you could wave it in the air during Earth Song. I sold one to Jo Whiley!

D'ya remember how much "live" singing went on at those shows? I heard that MJ had a tendency to mime for a portion of his shows.

im sure he did for some, but not all of it. watch the "This Is It" documentary on his final tour for solid evidence he wasn't just a drugged up robot puppet they pushed out on stage. there is an amazing improv version of "Beat It" that is just him singing w a drummer and bass player.

I can't remember him mimimg but the show was super-production-intensive and choreographed - I think he flew around in a jetpack at some point??

yes the end of the Bucharest concert for the Dangerous tour. nobody can really top that for spectacle.

Yeah, Michael Jackson was pretty much the definition of "superproductionintensive" - the guy liked to throw the chequebook at pretty much everything he did: his music, his videos, his stage productions. Madonna and Prince did production intensive and chereographed shows too, but neither of them did "big budget" like Michael Jackson, who seemed to want to take everything to the most ludicrous extreme possible.

"who is it" is his best '90s song and his best song

― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson),

yep

It doesn't seem to matter and it doesn't seem right.

well, actually, wait – NOT his best song, although when it's on it feels like it.

I AM THE DAMNED
I AM THE DEAD
I AM THE AGONY INSIDE A DYING HEAD

hyperbole on my part but it is my favorite

No idea, tho, why "In the Closet," "Will You Be There" and "Jam" weren't on the first disc.

None of his 90s songs are as good as "Butterfly" in the 00s.

I can't remember him mimimg but the show was super-production-intensive and choreographed - I think he flew around in a jetpack at some point??

― Chuck_Tatum, Wednesday, June 21, 2017 7:30 AM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes the end of the Bucharest concert for the Dangerous tour. nobody can really top that for spectacle.

The extremely interesting backstory of that jet pack: http://thedollop.libsyn.com/237-jet-pack-madness

None of his 90s songs are as good as "Butterfly" in the 00s.

waht

"Invicible" has a couple of good songs ("Rock my world" particularly) but the "hard" stuff is weak with no groove at all and the ballads are mostly ott corny (and everything is too long).
it's a shame since there were so many possibilities to make a great album considering the many talents in rnb at that specific time... especially since it turned out to be his final record.

amazing just how forgotten/under-heard Invincible is/was. i mean you never hear anything from it ever.

I AM THE DAMNED
I AM THE DEAD
I AM THE AGONY INSIDE A DYING HEAD

― mark s, Wednesday, June 21, 2017

sung to the tune of Annie Lennox's "Why"

I AM THE DAMNED
I AM THE DEAD
I AM THE AGONY INSIDE A DYING HEAD

― mark s, Wednesday, June 21, 2017

sung as the verse of "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt

amazing just how forgotten/under-heard Invincible is/was. i mean you never hear anything from it ever.

― piscesx, Thursday, June 22, 2017 1:09 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I remember when it was released, the general attitude towards the record was almost like "Michael Jackson's got an album out, I see... *shrug*" which felt a bit bizarre considering how successful HIStory was and the 'Blood on the Dancefloor' single.

i did see someone absolutely kill "butterflies" at karaoke recently

I love Marsha Ambrosius' own version.

In fact, thinking about it, Invincible felt quite a great deal more "low key" than previous MJ records, even if the album apparently had millions thrown at it during production. There seemed to be very little promotion, or any huge budget videos, or any tour or anything. It seemed to flop the moment it was released, which was odd for a Michael Jackson record - especially since HIStory had shown that he still had a huge fanbase.

There was, I think, a pretty splashy premiere for the "You Rock My World" video but I vaguely remember it coming out maybe right after 9/11?

It was promoted extremely heavily iirc

I remember that it was released in a range of covers, but uh...

were there even other singles beside "you rock my world" ?

'Cry' and 'Butterflies' were both apparently singles - I can't remember either of 'em.

Here's Butterflies, which I love.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmRMT4CesgA

Invincible had a cheap, crappy unmemorable cover - like, every MJ cover (even History!) is kind of iconic or at least memorably weird, whereas Invincible is the herald of 00s and 10s "oh who gives a shit about the cover" product.

plus didn't he get into a very public feud with his label/promoter? Wikipedia calls it "the most expensive album ever made" so yeah it's kinda lol that it's basically unknown.

Ah yeah, I remember now...

http://www.mtv.com/news/1455976/michael-jackson-shocks-al-sharpton-by-calling-tommy-mottola-a-racist/

I have absolutely no recollection of "cry" and "butterflies" as singles !
but if they were singles, how come there were no videos ?

Ah, no wonder I have no recollection of 'Butterflies', it was only a single in the US. 'Cry' was released in the UK, but was a flop - only making it to #25. Frogbs is correct, I'd forgotten about this but Jackson was feuding with Sony at the time, hence the album sinking like a stone. It was a huge difference to Thriller, Bad, Dangerous and even HIStory where virtually every track seemed like it was going to be a single - those records were really promoted into the ground.

No. of singles per LP:

Off The Wall: 5
Thriller: 7
Bad: 9
Dangerous: 9
HIStory: 8 - 9 if you count the remix of 'HIStory'
Invincible: 3

I mean the other thing is, Invincible is just kind of a sucky album, not in a "disappointing but somewhat redeemable" way like History, it just...sucks. Amazing that someone with so much talent and cash and access to any producer on the planet could put out something so dull and unmemorable. Though I do still dig "You Rock My World", maybe due to it being one of the few MJ singles that wasn't pounded into the ground

It's not any less dull than Bad.

Empirically untrue.

I don't really like Bad but that's a bit excessive !
I'm not even sure I managed to listen to Invicible all the way through once...

'Unbreakable' is a good groove but also kinda weird in that it's so clearly inspired by 'Unbelievable', he must have really been into that one.

aaaah will I REALLY have to listen to Invicible because of this thread...?

Bad is about as dull as an F-color diamond

Listening to Bad right now and it rules.

invincible is his worst album but it's still good, jeez

I just realized that I don't think I've ever heard HIStory in full. I remember biking to the mall the day it came out, being stunned by the price (cause it was packaged with the best of), buying Natalie Merchant's solo debut (out the same day?) instead, and never bothered thinking about it again after that.

i remember one summer MTV hyping this up w a fascistic video of a giant Michael statue floating down a river

There's still one of those MJ statues stood outside a McDonald's in The Netherlands, apparently.