Music / HIStory: Past, Present, and Future -- Book I

Everyday create your history
Every path you take you're leaving your legacy
^{Click here to see the cover for Blood on the Dance Floor}

Tired of injustice
Tired of the schemes
Lies are disgusted
So what does it mean
Kicking me down
I got to get up
As jacked as it sounds
The whole system sucks, damnit

— "Scream"

HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I is the ninth studio album recorded by Michael Jackson. It was released through Epic Records via his new MJJ Music label on June 20, 1995.

A Distinct Double Album, the first CD is a Greatest Hits Album covering his solo career on Epic Records, while the second CD contains all-new material. It yielded several worldwide Top 10 hits ("Scream", "They Don't Care About Us", "Earth Song", "You Are Not Alone", "HIStory" and "Stranger In Moscow") and ambitious music videos ^note  "Scream" remains the most expensive music video of all time at $7 million . The first disc would later be re-released on its own in 2001 as Greatest Hits: HIStory, Volume I, though the second remains exclusive to the double-CD package. The music videos associated with both the previous hits included on disc one and the new material included on disc two would also be collected on the 1998 compilation HIStory on Film, Volume II.

In the interim between Dangerous and this album, Jackson was first accused of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy, which resulted in him negotiating a multi-million dollar out-of-court settlement with the accuser's family. This would lead to his public image taking a hit, and his widely publicized 1994 marriage to Lisa Marie Presley (daughter of Elvis Presley) just months after the settlement arguably made matters more complicated. Like Dangerous, HIStory was originally conceived as a standard "greatest hits" package with bonus tracks, but Jackson ended up recording more than enough new material to make a full album. These scandals provided much grist for the mill of the new songs on Disc Two of this album, resulting in a substantially Darker and Edgier work for Jackson. Sales and reviews of HIStory: Past, Present And Future, Book I were greatly overshadowed by the controversy about Jackson's private life, with most audiences failing to notice and appreciate the merits of the music itself. However, it remains one of the best-selling multi-disc albums of all time.

In 1997, eight of the 15 tracks from the second disc were remixed and compiled into Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix, a remix album which also contained four cut songs from the Dangerous sessions ("Ghosts", "Superfly Sister", "Is It Scary", and the title track), and a brand new composition, "Morphine". It's recognized as the world's best-selling remix album of all time with six million copies sold, though it remains the lowest selling album Jackson released on Epic Records, due in part to the poor USA promotion by the label. Its title song would also be Jackson's final number one single during his lifetime. ^note It was his last #1 song internationally, while You Are Not Alone became this in the United States.

---

Tracklist:

HIStory Begins

1. "Billie Jean" (4:53)
2. "The Way You Make Me Feel" (4:57)
3. "Black Or White" (4:16)
4. "Rock With You" (3:41)
5. "She's Out Of My Life" (3:37)
6. "Bad" (4:07)
7. "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" (4:12)
8. "Man In The Mirror" (5:19)
9. "Thriller" (5:58)
10. "Beat It" (4:19)
11. "The Girl Is Mine" (3:41)
12. "Remember The Time" (4:00)
13. "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" (6:05)
14. "Wanna Be Startin' Something" (6:05)
15. "Heal The World" (6:24)

HIStory Continues

1. "Scream" (4:38)
2. "They Don't Care About Us" (4:44)
3. "Stranger In Moscow" (5:44)
4. "This Time Around" (4:20)
5. "Earth Song" (6:46)
6. "D.S." (4:50)
7. "Money" (4:42)
8. "Come Together" (4:02)
9. "You Are Not Alone" (5:45)
10. "Childhood" (4:28)
11. "Tabloid Junkie" (4:32)
12. "2 Bad" (4:49)
13. "HIStory" (6:34)
14. "Little Susie" (6:13)
15. "Smile" (4:57)

The original tracks from "Blood on the Dance Floor":

1. "Blood on the Dance Floor" (4:14)
2. "Morphine" (6:28)
3. "Superfly Sister" (6:27)
4. "Ghosts" (5:13) ^note (Has its own page)
5. "Is It Scary" (5:35)

The remixes from "Blood on the Dance Floor":

1. "Scream Louder" [Flyte Tyme Remix] (5:26)
2. "Money" [Fire Island Radio Edit] (4:22)
3. "2 Bad" [Refugee Camp Remix] (3:33)
4. "Stranger in Moscow" [Tee's In-House Club Mix] (6:53)
5. "This Time Around" [D.M. Radio Mix] (4:05)
6. "Earth Song" [Hani's Club Experience] (7:55)
7. "You Are not Alone" [Classic Club Mix] (7:37)
8. "HIStory" [Tony Moran's HIStory Lesson] (8:00)

---

Troper in Moscow:

• Album Filler: The entire first disc is a greatest-hits compilation, drawn from Jackson's previous four albums.
• Alternate Music Video:
  • "They Don't Care About Us" has three different versions, all filmed by Spike Lee: The well-known version that was filmed in Rio de Janerio, Brazil, and a version set inside a prison that was rarely shown on television, but was later included on the compilation Michael Jackson's Vision. The prison version was the first time in Jackson's career that he had filmed two music videos for the same song. In the summer of 2020, in light of the Black Lives Matter protests happening around the world, Lee released a supercut combining both versions of the video, with new footage of the BLM protests that were happening.
  • "Blood on the Dance Floor" also has three videos: The original version, the re-cut "Refugee Camp" version, which featured alternate scenes, and a re-shot version that was filmed on 8mm film. Sony reportedly hated the 8mm version, despite Jackson's approval, and vetoed an official release.
• The Artifact: The first disc. It's the result of two different aborted "greatest hits" albums Jackson worked on in 1989 and 1994, but were abandoned because Jackson ended up recording enough new material to make an actual album; the end results being Dangerous and this album.
• Artistic License – Geography: "Stranger in Moscow" makes mention of Stalin's tomb and the KGB, two things that were already abolished in 1995. Stalin's tomb had been removed in 1960, after the destalinization. The KGB was abolished in 1991.
• Bowdlerize: Later releases of the double-album version censor antisemitic slurs that were included in "They Don't Care About Us," replacing them with synthesized percussion sounds after Jackson attracted criticism for their use. Jackson claimed that the use of such language was meant to connect to his own dilemma at the time, but accusations of Jackson being an antisemite persisted nonetheless. Versions of the album with the uncensored version of the song are now considered collector's items.
• Changed for the Video: The Fugees remix of "Blood on the Dance Floor" had its own music video, and was included in the Michael Jackson's Vision DVD set over the original Teddy Riley version. HIStory also used a remix for its video.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Michael claims to be this in "Childhood."
  No one understands me
  They view it as such strange eccentricities
  It's been my fate to compensate for the childhood I've never known
• Concept Album: The original album largely serves as an allegory for Jackson's personal trials during the child molestation scandal, as well as his anger at Evan Chandler (his former friend who caused the scandal in the first place), and Tom Sneddon (the former district attorney who forced a strip search on Jackson, and later took him to court in 2005 when a similar scandal occurred). Most of the themes are listed below in the Darker and Edgier entry.
  • The Blood on the Dance Floor tracks on their own can be considered a concept album on inner demons like jealousy, relationships, lust, drug addiction, and masochism.
• Continuity Nod:
  • "2 Bad" namedrops both the title track of Bad and "Scream," the opening track of this album, in consecutive lines.
    Too bad too bad about it
    Why don't you scream and shout it?
  • In the music video for "Jam" from Dangerous a window is smashed in by a basketball. In the music video for "Stranger In Moscow" on this album, a window is broken by a baseball.
  • The music video for "HIStory" shows people dancing in a discotheque, while the TV screens in the background play clips from Michael's music videos, including "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough", "Black Or White", "Bad", "Jam", "In The Closet", "Earth Song", "Stranger In Moscow", "Ghosts",...
• Cover Version: "Come Together" (The Beatles; recorded for Moonwalker), and "Smile" (Charlie Chaplin).
• Cradle of Loneliness: "Stranger in Moscow."
  How does it feel?
  How does it feel?
  When you're alone and you're cold inside?
• Crossover/The Cameo: The Fugees remixed "Blood on the Dance Floor" and "2 Bad", with John Forte and Wyclef even appearing on the latter remix as guests.
  • Shaquille O'Neal and The Notorious B.I.G. also appeared on "2 Bad" and "This Time Around", respectively. Jackson would later reuse one of Biggie's verses from O'Neal's "You Can't Stop the Reign" in his album Invincible, and appeared alongside O'Neal and Ice Cube on the unreleased "We Be Ballin'".
  • Q-Tip and fellow Native Tongues member J Dilla (both credited as "The Ummah") created several remixes for the album's title track, though they didn't lend any vocals. MJ and Tip would work together again as backing vocalists on Jay-Z's "Girls, Girls, Girls (Part 2)"
  • Rap group Naughty By Nature remixed "Scream," with group member Treach appearing on a guest verse.
  • R&B group Boyz II Men appear as backing vocalists on "HIStory."
• Cue the Rain: "Stranger in Moscow"'s music video is in black-and-white and about feeling sad and lonely; however, the rain represents a healing process.
• Darker and Edgier: Many songs are about injustice, from parents ("Scream"), politicians and police officers ("They Don't Care About Us"), pollution ("Earth Song"), justice system ("D.S."), capitalism ("Money"), the tabloid press ("Tabloid Junkie") and warfare ("HIStory").
• Deal with the Devil: "Money."
  Anything for money
  Would lie for you
  Would die for you
  Even sell my soul to the devil
• Deliberately Monochrome: The music videos for "Scream" and "Stranger in Moscow."
• Distinct Double Album: The first CD is a compilation; the second is new material.
• Drugs Are Bad: "Morphine" is a song about addiction to painkillers, complete with a moment where the Industrial Metal drums suddenly cut off and are replaced with an orchestra, Not only was this extremely poignant for Michael to address this, while being addicted to it himself, it got even more notability after his death in 2009, more or less from the same cause.
• Everything Is an iPod in the Future: The sleek design of the spaceship appearing in the music video for "Scream".
• Face on the Cover: Michael, albeit as a statue.
• Flipping the Bird: Janet Jackson does this in the "Scream" music video, during the line "stop fucking with me" (usually pixelated in airings).
• Flipping the Table: Michael Jackson does this in the prison version of "They Don't Care About Us."
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: Listen to any radio edit of "This Time Around", and you'll notice that Jackson's curses are edited out, but Biggie's N-bombs is left intact. You would never hear anyone, rapper or otherwise, get away with that on mainstream radio today.
• Glass-Shattering Sound: Michael's screams in the video for "Scream" shatter the glass in his spaceship in a few instances.
• Grief Song: "Little Susie."
  Everyone came to see
  The girl that now is dead
• Greatest Hits Album: The first CD.
• Green Aesop: "Earth Song." In the music video, Jackson and various people on Earth summon nature's forces to magically reverse the killing of animals, rainforest deforestation, warfare, and pollution. To answer complaints that Jackson saw himself as some sort of Messianic Archetype who could change the world by himself, he pointed out that in the video the healing requires the grief of many people.
• Gratuitous Foreign Language: "Stranger in Moscow" ends with a whispering voice in Russian. It translates to: "Why have you come from the West? Confess! To steal the great achievements of the people, the accomplishments of the workers..."
• Hidden Track: Original pressings of the French, German and Holland releases contain a hidden twenty second greeting from Jackson on the first disc. Here's his greeting from the album's Holland release:

  Michael Jackson: Hi, this is Michael Jackson. I wanna thank all of my fans in Holland for their continuing love and support over the years. I hope to come and visit you very soon and perform for all of you. I look forward to seeing you. Until then, I'd like to say good bye. I love you, take care. Bye.

• Last Note Nightmare: "Stranger in Moscow," a slow, moody ballad, ends with a man whispering menacingly in Russian over the end. Chills right up the spine. Allegedly this is a KGB agent interrogating us. The liner notes for Michael's album Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix give a translation: "Why have you come from the West? Confess! To steal the great achievements of the people, the accomplishments of the workers..."
• Let's Duet: "Scream" is a duet between Michael and his sister Janet.
• Letters 2 Numbers: "2 Bad."
• List Song: "Earth Song" has a list near the end of things Michael thinks we should worry about involving the Earth's ecology.
• Mistaken for Gay: "Tabloid Junkie."
  Just because you read it in a magazine
  Or see it on the TV screen
  Don't make it factual, actual
  They say he's homosexual
• Money Song: "Money," where Jackson criticizes someone for doing "everything for the money."
• Moonwalk Dance: Jackson is seen performing the moonwalk during a concert on one of the TV screens in the background in the music video for "HIStory," intercut with the famous shot of an astronaut walking on the moon.
• My God, What Have I Done?: "Earth Song," about pollution, war and animal extinction caused by humans.
  What have we've done to the world?
  Look what we've done
• National Stereotypes: "Stranger in Moscow" takes place in Moscow and mentions the Kremlin, recalling more the USSR (like Stalin's tomb and the KGB), than Russia after the fall of the Iron Curtain — odd, since it was written in 1993, two years after the collapse of Soviet Union.
• New Jack Swing: Both HIStory and Blood on the Dance Floor still contain elements of this subgenre, despite being rather passé by the mid-90's. This is largely because both albums contain leftover tracks from Dangerous.
• Nostalgia Filter: In "Childhood," Jackson looks back at what he thinks an ideal childhood for him would have been like.
  Have you seen my childhood?
  I'm searching for the world that I come from
  Cause I've been looking around
  In the lost and found of my heart
• N-Word Privileges: Not invoked by Jackson himself, but by The Notorious B.I.G. on "This Time Around."
• One-Woman Song: "Little Susie."
• One-Word Title: "Money," "Scream," "Childhood," "HIStory," "Smile."
• Parental Abandonment: "Little Susie," which is about a little girl who lives alone in her apartment with just a music box to keep her company — and who eventually winds up dead.
• Pep-Talk Song:
  • "You Are Not Alone."
  You are not alone
  I am here with you
  Though we're far apart
  You're always in my heart
  • "Smile":
  Smile, what's the use of crying
  You'll find that life is still worthwhile
  If you just smile
• The Power of Love: "You Are Not Alone."
• Precision F-Strike: "Scream."
  Stop fucking with me
• Police Brutality: "They Don't Care About Us."
  I'm the victim of police brutality
• Protest Song: "They Don't Care About Us," against injustice.
• Pun-Based Title: The album title is a pun on "history" and "his story." This is especially made clear in the music video, where people are dancing in a club with various TV screens show clips from Michael's music videos.
• Rearrange the Song: "Stranger in Moscow" is a rearrangement of the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 credits music of all things; Jackson co-composed the track with sound team member Brad Buxer, and it was one of only a small number of Jackson compositions that were retained in the final version of Sonic 3.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: "2 Bad."
  You ain't done enough for me
  You ain't done enough for me
  You are disgustin' me, yeah yeah
  You're aiming just for me
  You are disgustin' me
• Remix Album: Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix, which also doubles as a 4-track EP of cut tracks from HIStory and Dangerous that didn't fit the main themes of the rest of the vanilla album.
• Record Producer: All songs have a different producer, so let's break it down:
  • Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis ("Scream," "Is It Scary," "Tabloid Junkie," "2 Bad")
  • Dallas Austin ("This Time Around")
  • David Foster ("Earth Song," "Childhood")
  • Janet Jackson ("Scream")
  • Teddy Riley ("Ghosts," "Blood on the Dance Floor")
  • Bryan Loren ("Superfly Sister")
  • Rene Moore ("This Time Around," "2 Bad")
  • Brad Buxer (Not credited, however he co-composed two versions of "Stranger in Moscow": The original Sonic 3 & Knuckles version, and the final album cut.)
  • R. Kelly ("You Are Not Alone")
  • And finally, Jackson himself, who produced several songs on his own ("Money," "D.S.," "Little Susie," "They Don't Care About Us") and has co-producing credits on everything else.
• Rockers Smash Guitars: Michael Jackson smashes a guitar in the video for "Scream."
• Self-Plagiarism: To a degree. In 1993, Michael and his sound team were tapped to help compose the music for Sonic the Hedgehog 3. However, they were abruptly dropped from the project for unclear reasons (their removal happened to coincide with the child molestation accusations, though others who also worked on the game said Michael didn't like the sound quality of the music and voluntarily quit), though their music was kept in the game. Not wanting the music to go to total waste, Michael took the ending theme he composed for the game, slowed it down, and turned it into "Stranger in Moscow." It would be ten years before Sonic fans started putting two and two together.
• Shout-Out:
  • In the music video for "Scream," Michael and Janet are seen looking at famous art objects, including René Magritte's painting "Son of Man" and a self portrait of Andy Warhol. Clips from AKIRA and Red Photon Zillion can also be seen.
  • "King of rock come on, and there is none higher! Sucker MC's shall call me sire!"
  • "They Don't Care About Us" makes mention of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Martin Luther King who, if they "were livin'" "wouldn't let this be, no no."
  • The music video for "HIStory" shows archive footage of John F. Kennedy, the Berlin Wall being destroyed, Desmond Tutu, Martin Luther King, Neil Armstrong,...
  • "Tabloid Junkie" namedrops John F. Kennedy and his murder and the death of Marilyn Monroe.
• Singer Name Drop: "2 Bad"
  I'm really undefeated when MJ is on my team, theme
  (...) Mike's bad, I'm bad, who are you?
• Slow Motion: The music video of "Stranger in Moscow" is shot in slow-motion.
• The Something Song: "Earth Song."
• Sound-Effect Bleep: The lines "jew me" and "kike me" in "They Don't Care About Us" lead to accusations of antisemitism, which Jackson denied. In later releases, the lines were censored out with record scratches.
• Special Guest: "2 Bad" features a rap segment by basketball player Shaquille O' Neal. "This Time Around" also has one by The Notorious B.I.G..
  • Once again, Slash of Guns N' Roses lends his guitar skills on an MJ album, this time on "D.S."
• Strawman News Media: "Tabloid Junkie" is built on this trope, decrying the news reports surrounding his child molestation accusations as falsified sensationalism and flat-out comparing them to the crucifixion of Jesus.
• Stealth Insult: Though he openly attacked Thomas Sneddon on "D.S.", MJ had to resort to subliminal disses for Evan Chandler on the tracks "Money", "2 Bad", and "This Time Around" because of a non-disclosure agreement as a result of the child molestation settlement. Chandler attempted to sue him again anyway in 1996 for breaching it, but the case was thrown out.
• Take That!: The song "D.S." The lyrics say that someone named "Dom Sheldon" is a cold man, but if you listen to the song, he's clearly saying "Tom Sneddon", the Santa Barbara DA who went after him for child molestation back in the '90s and again in 2005 — in fact, some people believed that Sneddon had a vendetta against Jackson because of this song, and it was at least part of the reason he took him to trial.
  • "Superfly Sister" has allusions to his sister LaToya's abusive marriage to Jack Gordon...
  Sister's married to a 'hood,
  Sayin' that she got it good.
  • ...As well as subtle shots at his brothers promiscuity during their Jackson Five days:
  Mother's preaching Abraham,
  Brothers, they don't give a damn.
• Take That, Critics!: "Tabloid Junkie" is aimed at the tabloid press.
  Just because you read it in a magazine
  Or see it on the TV screen
  Don't make it factual
  Though everybody wants to read all about it
• Title Track: "HIStory"
  He say one day you will see
  His place in world history
• The Unintelligible: "Tabloid Junkie." Jackson raps the verses so ridiculously fast it's impossible to figure out exactly what he's saying the first time around. The fact he raps in a bitter growl the whole time doesn't help.
• Updated Re-release: Alongside Off the Wall, Thriller, Bad, and Dangerous, the first disc was remastered and released as Greatest Hits: HIStory Vol. 1 in 2001 to help promote Jackson's final album Invincible. Interestingly, outside of the remix album, the second disc had never been released by itself in any format until 2013's The Indispensable Collection, which was released exclusively in iTunes and contains only the second disc.
• The Vamp: Susie, from "Blood in the Dance Floor." She seduces Jackson, all the while planning to stab him.
• War Is Glorious: Subverted in "HIStory."
  Every soldier dies in his glory
• War Is Hell: "They Don't Care About Us", "Scream" and "HIStory" all criticize war.
  How many victims must there be
  Slaughtered in vain across the land
  And how many struggles must there be
  Before we choose to live the prophet's plan
• A Wild Rapper Appears!: During "2 Bad" basketball player Shaquille O'Neal has a rap segment. Halfway into "This Time Around", The Notorious B.I.G. has a rap.
  • Jackson himself offers up two variations: "Money" and "Tabloid Junkie," the seventh and eleventh tracks respectively on the second disc, are done entirely in rap, save for the chorus.

---