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

I always liked They Don't Care About Us, it's like his version of Flowers of Romance, but how did they ever even let him get away with those lyrics? Didn't somebody at the studio say "that's not a good idea"...

xxpost

no i thought "morphine" and others featured more trad-sounding "jacksonian" melodic segments inserted into the mix w/o being fully integrated

Funny you would say that Jackson never made his peace over pop's shift from melody to rhythm since you could argue he populiarized it with "Don't Stop TIl You Get Enough."

I'm voting for "Stranger in Moscow" because it contains my favorite misheard lyric. For quite some time I thought Jackson was singing "stranger in my skull" instead of the "stranger in Moscow."

O_O

daaaaamn, that might even be creepier

"Stranger In Moscow" obv.

This album is not at all bad, but also obviously not up there with the glory of his first three Epic albums.

Btw. gotta love the production on "Tabloid Junkie".

eh, regarding misheard lyrics of his, for a looooong time, I thought he said "dance you into bed" instead of "dance you into day" in "rock with you". I must say I still prefer my version !

"Stranger in Moscow," his last really really good song.

the one with biggie

jk voted for stranger

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

this album really wheezes out kinda pathetically, doesn't it? Things are going very well through "Come Together", "You Are Not Alone" is perfectly decent (though the remix on Blood on the Dancefloor is better), then things get weird with "Tabloid Junkie" and fizzle completely at "History". I guess I'm he glad he mostly saved the syrupy ballads until the end---although they're unsettling ballads, not sweet-syrupy, more like the kind of syrup you get your foot stuck in in Candy Land.

This is one of those albums where the gulf between the awesome and not-awesome is like an abyss.

At the bottom of the abyss are Marlon Brando and Chuckles, mouths open.

the five top-placing songs on this poll are all v. good though

really could just take the top 3 and run

the five top-placing songs on this poll are all v. good though

Not "They Don't Care About Us", no. Not too keen on "Scream" ether, even though the production on it is cool.

Oh my god Geir you are so wrong. 'They Don't Care About Us' is an insanely good song in every single respect.

Love the results of this poll. '2 Bad' is brilliant but was probably the second or third choice of a load of people.

God, this is such an angry and, in places, depressing record.

"Strangers in Moscow" = gorgeous.

*Stranger

Yeah, it's without a doubt the best song on here for me.

'Childhood' is a bit of a grim listen.

Anyway, why was this put out with a greatest hits collection attached? Were Sony worried that the LP would tank without the added bonus of the hits?

This era of UK chart success fascinates me.

I did not expect an otm darraghmac first response when I clicked on this thread

I thought the extra disc was MJ's idea? Perhaps suspecting that it otherwise would only sell like...5 million otherwise

"Strangers in Moscow" is my favorite song on here by a mile, maybe my favorite MJ tune full stop. Plus it's got that bizarre Sonic 3 connection to it.

God, this is such an angry and, in places, depressing record.

no kidding. I never would have believed as a kid that the words "stop fucking with me" and "I'm taking no shit" would appear on a Michael Jackson album, although given the timeframe, not at all surprising.

so many wonderful moments, though definitely an uneven album. "Scream" is still a favorite of mine.

"Strangers in Moscow" = gorgeous.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, May 7, 2016 3:06 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I probably prefer the Book 1 disc here to Invincible by a fairly wide margin, even with its missteps

I seem to remember Invincible doing very little here... I couldn't name a single track off the record at this point!

"You Rocked My World" was the lead single, but other than that it was mostly known for its ballads.

it starts out p good but just gets bogged down in blandness.

Thats all on u wins, all on u

Giving this another spin today because for some reason I felt like hearing 'Stranger in Moscow' (which at this stage is my favourite thing he ever did) and I decided to flick through the booklet that comes with the CD edition... it's quite, uh, something!

I remember buying this album on its release date and little else about it.

One thing that still sticks out was being absolutely stunned and totally geeked that he had gotten the Notorious B.I.G. to rap on it. I just thought that was the coolest thing ever.

'Stranger in Moscow' has obviously become the highlight over time.

I don't remember anything about the booklet except for thinking that the printed lyrics to 'D.S.' didn't match up with what he actually singing.

I decided to flick through the booklet that comes with the CD edition... it's quite, uh, something!

image of the kid with the bandaged head for some reason really seared itself in my memory

Yeah, there's that, and the picture of Jacko kissing that kids head etc.

But also, the crowd photos and pictures of big banners saying "King of Pop", details of virtually every award the guy has won, celebrity testimonies, and instead of doing a long thank you list and then signing his name at the end, each "thank you" has "love, MJ" or "Michael Jackson" at the end...

Also, all the "this is dedicated to all the children of the world" stuff.

When you combine the packaging with the lyrical content of the tracks, factor in the greatest hits and think about what was happening at the time, the whole package is just...

I never took it as anything other than a big PR move. Even at fourteen, it was really obvious to me.

There's big PR move and there's ridiculously OTT PR moves!

*moves

Like, it's part "remember how successful I was/am?", part "I'm a good guy, and here's some words from my celebrity friends to prove it", part "heal the world", part "I'm still the King of Pop, dammit!" and part "fuck you!"

"and I'm a stranger in Moscow."

I'm sure the 'Come Together' cover is only there to make up the numbers - it's an old recording from the '80s and feels like an exercise in "might as well cover this since I own the publishing for it anyway" - he fucks up the words, too.

yeah there is no need for the "come together" cover; it's taken from moonwalker iirc

i put together a sequence of my favorite tracks from history and blood on the dance floor and it's the album i wish he had put out

Yeah, Blood on the Dancefloor has some really underrated stuff on it!

Wasn't there a story about how MJ wanted Bad to sell twice as many copies as Thriller? Kinda puts his whole career into perspective, that...

I think if you're going to even try to follow-up Thriller, then Bad was probably the best outcome possible.

I think among the things lacking in Bad (leaving the quality of the songs aside) are some joy and smooth, exhilarating moments that his best work has imo.
With the exception of "Liberian Girl" for the smoothness... and "Just good friends" for the fun (one of the reasons I like that song although it's not really good).
so you're only left with paranoid anger.

It's not an issue for me, but I get the impression that many don't get on board with the more "programmed" nature of Bad. Off the Wall and Thriller were both meticulously produced but were more organic.

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.

It got temporarily taken down in 2012 (warning: disturbing video), but only for restoration.

A company from Eindhoven has taken great care of Jackson and polished it.

Dom Sheldon is a cold man