HIStory 25 [MERGED]

[DuranDuran]

we live in a world were everything offends people. it never use to be like that.

Not exactly true. Back in the 1950s, the NAACP got the TV sitcom Amos N Andy cancelled. Then in the late 1960s, Bill Cosby was part of a campaign to get syndicated reruns of the show off the air. It worked that time too and the show hasn't been on TV since. The CBS network owns the show and has never released it on home video, although there are bootleg DVDs of the show which are even sold in some stores. They have poor video quality though and none has all of the episodes. My mom has a DVD of Amos N Andy. It was common during that time and the decades before for movies theaters & TV stations in the southern USA to edit non-white actors out of the movie/TV program.

When rock n roll became popular in the late 1950s, parents complained that it made their (white) teens into juvenile delinquents and promoted n-word jungle bunny music. It was also called the "Devil's music". Elvis Presley was called a n-word lover. Records by black artists of the time sometimes had white models on the cover instead of the actual singers, so that the parents wouldn't know that the artist was black.

Also in the 1960s, Disney re-released Fantasia to theaters but removed the Sunflower scenes that were originally in the movie. The original version of Fantasia have never been officially released on home video. Disney also declined to release Song Of The South on home video, except in Japan where it has been officially released on laserdisc. Song Of The South is not on Disney+ either. Then in the 1980s, some parents claimed that heavy metal music caused their children to commit suicide, do drugs, or promoted devil worship with subliminal messages. Parental advisory stickers came about in the first place because Tipper Gore heard her teen daughter playing Darling Nikki by Prince. Before the 1980s, some comedy albums had a sticker warning about language or the record was for adults only like Richard Pryor, but it wasn't really on music albums.

[NatureCriminal7896]

All the things Michael did was pretty much mild. also Biggie saying the N word does bother me alittle but at the end i guess michael want it the world to know he was black. he actually didn't like the uncensored version of TTA.

in michael later albums he does swears. but his swearing is mild compare other artists at the time and now.

[NatureCriminal7896]

back in the 80's and 90's alot people got away with alot of stuff. either sociality has become to sensitive or it because we have social media now.

[mj_frenzy]

Someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but I think Scream was only just recently marked as being explicit on Spotify. Probably due to the hard swear before the break in the song. I know this doesn’t exactly celebrate HIStory 25 but it is interesting, could mean the album has been re-certified?

Well, it makes sense... we live in a time where anyone is offended by anything... where people are so incredibly HURT because someone else uses a WORD...

We live in a time where the BBC almost deleted a Fawlty Towers episode because of a joke about a black doctor... not understanding a joke doesn't mean one agrees with the stereotype, but rather opposes it by making fun of it.

It's the same people who were so incredibly HURT by the 'anti-semitic' words in They Don't Care About Us, not understanding the song is actually opposing discrimination.

So yeah, now Scream is probably judged by the Words Police. But those Word Cops don't look at the meaning of things. I once read that a crocodile will grab anything that moves in front of him, as long as it is within a half meter. So you could move a plastic bucket there, and he will bite. That's how simple his ancient brain works. The Words Police operates just the same. They hear a word, and they don't think about meaning or context. They simply label it 'bad'. Michael is expressing anger and frustration in Scream. The words he uses, are showing he can't cope with certain things. These words show how serious this feeling is, especially since Michael never used these words. So it means something when he does.

Certain copies of the ‘HIStory’ album did come out in 1995 with a Parental Advisory Sticker on them, at least in the US market (because of the f word in ‘Scream’).

So, it should not come now as a surprise that Spotify also marked the song as being explicit.

Technically, the f word in ‘Scream’ is uttered two times at that point (simultaneously by Michael Jackson and his sister Janet Jackson).

It is interesting to note that if the ‘HIStory’ album had a Parental Advisory Sticker on it, then it would have sold more copies.

The reason is because of the paradox concerning generally the albums that have such a sticker on them: it has been proved that such a sticker actually attracts more listeners, especially younger listeners who are more interested in explicit lyrics, to buy albums with such a sticker on them that denotes lyrically explicit content.

[dam2040]

Still nothing for 'Earth Song'.. one of MJs biggest ever hits..

[Electro]

Certain copies of the ‘HIStory’ album did come out in 1995 with a Parental Advisory Sticker on them, at least in the US market (because of the f word in ‘Scream’).

So, it should not come now as a surprise that Spotify also marked the song as being explicit.

Technically, the f word in ‘Scream’ is uttered two times at that point (simultaneously by Michael Jackson and his sister Janet Jackson).

It is interesting to note that if the ‘HIStory’ album had a Parental Advisory Sticker on it, then it would have sold more copies.

The reason is because of the paradox concerning generally the albums that have such a sticker on them: it has been proved that such a sticker actually attracts more listeners, especially younger listeners who are more interested in explicit lyrics, to buy albums with such a sticker on them that denotes lyrically explicit content.

There were no USA copies of the HIStory album that officially came with a parental advisory label.

And while this label might have added to the badass-factor and sales of Hiphop and Rock genre albums in the 80s and 90s, I doubt that a Michael Jackson Pop mainstream album like HIStory would have had a commercial benefit from it. In the end this RIAA classification means limitations to mainstream exposure, like getting banned from certain "clean" retailers like Wal-Mart, some US parents possibly being scared to buy the album for their kids etc. Nothing you'd want, if you're still trying to outsell Thriller.

To avoid this, the usual practice would have been to simultaneously release a "clean" version of the album. But there was no need for that, because the RIAA had not certified it explicit. See discogs.

[NatureCriminal7896]

i only heard the f word once. i'm not sure with the first release because i didn't hear it. History didn't have a parental advisory when it was first release. what made it get one was the fact people twisted what michael was saying about jewish people. it's wasn't mean to be that way and that's why it had parental advisory sticker afterwards.

[Electro]

i only heard the f word once. i'm not sure with the first release because i didn't hear it. History didn't have a parental advisory when it was first release. what made it get one was the fact people twisted what michael was saying about jewish people. it's wasn't mean to be that way and that's why it had parental advisory sticker afterwards.

The sticker it got after the jewish controversy was just a disclaimer sticker with Michaels apology. No parental advisory sticker. Of course in theory it's possible that certain local shops put a parental advisory sticker on it themselve in fear of potentially mad parents, but I have never seen this. It certainly was not IRAA induced, because then ALL USA copies from the second batch onwards would have had it until this day. There's not a single one on discogs. Some fans might just be mixing up the censoring and sticker stuff.

[AmGona]

As for HIStory 25, I hope Spike Lee does do a documentary. I loved the previous two documentaries, seeing unseen concert footage and studio footage. Seeing some studio footage from HIStory and Dangerous would be great. If they were to release Munich in theaters, while I would love to see MJ perform in theaters, I'd be disappointed that it would be a HIStory tour concert due to MJs voice not always being in the greatest shape, and that most of it was lip synced, unlike the Bad tour and part of the Dangerous tour.

[Anna]

NatureCriminal, this thread is for discussion about the 25th anniversary, not random trivia related to HIStory. Can you stop posting it please.