The HIStory album appreciation thread

Today i had a listen to the HIStory album because i hadn't heard it in awhile and i'd forgotten what a brilliant piece of work it is. The anger that MJ protrays on tracks such as They Don't Care About Us and D.S are fantastic and his singing is heavenly on Smile and Stranger In Moscow,and Stranger In Moscow is one of his best songs lyrically. Earth Song is one of the most powerfull songs i've ever heard and Tabloid Junkie is also a great song to listen to whenever you hear about some bull s**t story the media has made up.

Another thing that i found interesting about HIStory is that most of the songs were written and composed all by Michael himself, for some reason i never really looked at the album credits for HIStory and i was surprised and happy to learn that most of the material is 100% written by Michael. Infact i think the amount he wrote on HIStory is roughly the same amount that he wrote on the Bad album

yea it is a great ablum
i think that stranger in moscow is the best work of his career

been listening to "You Are Not Alone' alot lately, i just love the build up near the end and tha ad-libbing.

"Childhood" is my favourite on the album. masterpiece.

analogue said:

Today i had a listen to the HIStory album because i hadn't heard it in awhile and i'd forgotten what a brilliant piece of work it is. The anger that MJ protrays on tracks such as They Don't Care About Us and D.S are fantastic and his singing is heavenly on Smile and Stranger In Moscow,and Stranger In Moscow is one of his best songs lyrically. Earth Song is one of the most powerfull songs i've ever heard and Tabloid Junkie is also a great song to listen to whenever you hear about some bull s**t story the media has made up.

Another thing that i found interesting about HIStory is that most of the songs were written and composed all by Michael himself, for some reason i never really looked at the album credits for HIStory and i was surprised and happy to learn that most of the material is 100% written by Michael. Infact i think the amount he wrote on HIStory is roughly the same amount that he wrote on the Bad album

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I've always loved the HIStory album. You mention some great points. Yes, MJ wrote/composed most of the songs; I don't have the booklet in front of me, but I think everything was him except for Come Together, YANA, and Smile.

The album always struck me thematically more personal than other albums, just in terms of the subject matter of the songs and that MJ wrote most of them. The tracks seem to run the spectrum of emotions, for ex just a few: ranging from anger (Scream/TDCAU/TTA), sadness (SiM), reflection (Childhood), and fittingly toward the end optimism (History, Smile). And of course there's a song for the world and a love song.

The title HIStory has always struck me as dual-layered:
* MJ is telling HIS story
* And of course, the inspiring album track

Over the yrs I've read a few people complain that they don't like 'angry michael' and therefore dislike HIStory, but I love it. The 'angry' songs are aggressive and powerful, and I feel like I can do anything to them. Lift weights, work out, run a marathon -- get psyched for anything! Plus it's gr8t to play after a lousy day and say "Yeah!" to lol. And it's not all angry, the great thing about it is like most of MJ's albums there's something there for every1.

By the way, about a yr or two ago or so, around the time Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth received awards, i read an article that mentioned and applauded Mike's activism w/ the environment, and said MJ was yrs ahead of his time! I think it mentioned Earth Song; either way it was nice 2 read.

JoeyMJFan said:

I've always loved the HIStory album. You mention some great points. Yes, MJ wrote/composed most of the songs; I don't have the booklet in front of me, but I think everything was him except for Come Together, YANA, and Smile.

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MJ wrote 7 songs on HIStory and he co-wrote 5 songs.

^^ Thanks for the info! I learn something new every day here!

HIStory is a truly amazing album and the first album I ever remember having.

Tabloid Junkie :lol:

hehe... love that song!!! esp. the chorus lmao

oh yeah I love this album to me it doesn't get enough love from the fans...I don't know if it people can't relate or why...some people say they can't dance to it...I guess that's true you wouldn't find any song off this album in a club.....but that's what I like about it it's not the norm.....and yeah Stranger in Moscow is a masterpeice and Little Susie is great too......he's listed as playing instruments on this album also I wonder if he'd ever do that on stage...

My favorite songs on that album would have to be
Childhood, it has such a deep meaning, and you really tell that its something from a very deep place in his heart. It's so true.
Stranger In Moscow, damn that beat just makes me wanna dance. Amazing song.
D.S, such a cool song! You can really feel his anger, and the lyrics is genius.
They Don't Care About Us, I adore that song, and the music video. Man! It's just an amazing song, esp. the beat.

Lyrically it's his best album. I love the production and everything but it's the subject(s) that make it a masterpiece. Hot sh*t dawg.

:heart: CHilDHooD is my fave song :heart:

i dig that album :woohoo:

One of his best works, my fav s song from this are Stranger in Moscow; They Dont care about us,Earth song, Little Susie, Money, and This time around, great great ones

I think it's m favourite album, it's great!

Michael's voice in Scream is incredibly powerful, and the song is good too, TDCAU is such a great rebellious song, Stranger In Moscow is very beatiful and inspiring song, Earth Song is simply a masterpiece, Little Susie kills me with it's lyrics. And I like Tabloid Junkie very much, it's chorus really handsome. Great album

HIStory is seriously underrated. History was the first album I've ever owned, so it will always have a special place in my heart. Childhood, Earth Song, Stranger in Moscow, Little Susie, and They Don't Really Care About Us are some of the best songs MJ's ever written in my opinion. I also loved his version of smile, his vocals were incredible. I feel it's one of his most personal albums. He really tells the story of his life and how he feels, which I don't think he had done so before, with the exception of Will You Be There, another underrated and brilliant song. I find it sad that after the BAD album, Michael's works hadn't been given the attention that they deserved. I think musically, Dangerous and History were better than BAD, and dare I say, Thriller...History is truly one of my favourite albums of all time, and every track has a meaning and message.

StephluvsMJ said:

HIStory is seriously underrated. History was the first album I've ever owned, so it will always have a special place in my heart. Childhood, Earth Song, Stranger in Moscow, Little Susie, and They Don't Really Care About Us are some of the best songs MJ's ever written in my opinion. I also loved his version of smile, his vocals were incredible. I feel it's one of his most personal albums. He really tells the story of his life and how he feels, which I don't think he had done so before, with the exception of Will You Be There, another underrated and brilliant song. I find it sad that after the BAD album, Michael's works hadn't been given the attention that they deserved. I think musically, Dangerous and History were better than BAD, and dare I say, Thriller...History is truly one of my favourite albums of all time, and every track has a meaning and message.

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I agree, Dangerous and HIStory are such greats albums , wonderful ones, only MJ could have created these albums, History's and Dangerous production are extremly difficult, dont forget of Blood On The Dance Floor, the very song BOTDF its one of the most ritmical songs ever, then the Morphine song just cant explain it, Superfly Sister never heard anything like that, the most creative song i ever heard since Johann Sebestian Bach, or W.Amadeus Mozart, i mean only Michael can sing the songs of Blood On The Dance Floor and many of the ones in Dangerous and History, Michael its the most personal singer, noone can make covers of him, cause its almost impossible, its like not to believe, i mean can you imagine a cover of the Dangerous song, wow that would a laughable thing to hear(no mean to belittle noone), but i would appreciate if someone can even come close to, now the cover of Chris Cornell of Billie Jean was good cause it was made into his own style, but the one these fall out boys have made of Beat It :bugeyed, i just cant stand it, or more i just laugh.
Concluding Dangerous, History, Blood on the Dance Floor show the real Artist in Michael Jackson, of course Thriller and Off The Wall album too, Bad its very good but i prefer History or Dangerous by far.

Vard said:

Dangerous, History, Blood on the Dance Floor show the real Artist in Michael Jackson

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Noone could have explained it better. That's michael jakson. MJ is DANGEROUS, HISTORY, BOTDF. Bad, Thriller and OTW are masterpices of a young new star (MJ) driven by QJ, an old extremely good producer. But From DANGEROUS to INVINCIBLE it's THE work that only michael can do.

roiklow said:

Noone could have explained it better. That's michael jakson. MJ is DANGEROUS, HISTORY, BOTDF. Bad, Thriller and OTW are masterpices of a young new star (MJ) driven by QJ, an old extremely good producer. But From DANGEROUS to INVINCIBLE it's THE work that only michael can do.

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Thank you for your appreciation:yes: