Would Jackson address the accusations? Would he ignore them and remain insular? Jackson, of course, was in a no-win situation.
Questions swirled in the lead-up to the release. Not only because it was new Michael Jackson songs, but perhaps more so as this was his first artistic venture since allegations of sexual abuse were leveled against him.
Bursting with 15 tracks, there were still obvious omissions.īut despite the obvious safe bet of the inclusion of a Greatest Hits disc, what people wanted to hear was the new material. Now volumes can, and have, been written about the collection of songs on Disc 1-the greatest hits side of the equation-that spans Jackson’s career from the dizzying disco ecstasy of Off The Wall(1979) through the juggernaut of Thriller (1982) tracks, a selection of the record-setting chart toppers off Bad(1987), and a handful of hits taken from his last outing, Dangerous (1991). Packaged as a double disc of greatest hits ( HIStory Begins) and new material ( HIStory Continues), HIStory allowed you as a listener to look back, and for Michael as an artist to look forward. Here were songs squarely aimed at the tabloid media, absent friends and his response to the accusations leveled at him over the past years. Recorded over an eight-month period from September 1994 to March 1995, HIStory sees Jackson stepping out of his isolation and back into the spotlight with a lot on his mind. Stoically silent through most of the preceding years Jackson answered his critics in the best way he knew: through his music. Its creation followed a tumultuous period in Jackson’s life that saw his image and reputation the subject of accusations, rumor and hearsay. As the title suggests, this was Jackson’s story, his most personal work. That’s what listeners are privy to with Jackson’s HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I album. But what do you do when the art is at the very heart of what you might find worrisome about the artist? What if the art is the direct result of who or what the artist is accused of being? If questionable actions in a factually questionable documentary led you to a certain point of view, could music that tackles these issues head on give you another side to the narrative? That seems to be a constant talking point around Michael Jackson in the last year. Happy 25th Anniversary to Michael Jackson’s ninth studio album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I, originally released June 20, 1995.