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20 Years Later, 20 Things You May Not Have Known About Michael Jackson's HIStory

Paris78 said:
Joe Vogel retweetete
Steven James ?@TheLaunchMag June 20th
20 years ago today, Michael Jackson drops "HIStory" featuring #1 single "Scream" w/ his sister Janet
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Brilliant pic! Never seen that, thanks.
 
A short Documentary filmed by SONY about the manufacturing process of the HIStory CD especially for Michael Jackson !



'Michael Jackson changes HIStory' MTV SPECIAL

 
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Michael Jackson ? ?@MJJLegion June 21th

Michael Jackson's "HIStory" album (released 20 YEARS ago this week!) is currently #1 in 3 countries on iTunes!
 
Has any other major artist released a double album containing their first greatest hits package and a brand new album packaged together? Always fascinated me what an unorthodox release HIStory was. It was very expensive and I was only a casual fan. $30 was a lot of money for a 12 year old kid. Plus I already had his albums, so the greatest hits disc meant nothing to me. Simply meant having to spend $30 to hear Scream. I wonder how many kids didn't pick up the record because of the cost.

How much is known about Sony's thought process at the time and why such a unique strategy was chosen for MJ's album at the time?
 
MSL said:
Has any other major artist released a double album containing their first greatest hits package and a brand new album packaged together? Always fascinated me what an unorthodox release HIStory was. It was very expensive and I was only a casual fan. $30 was a lot of money for a 12 year old kid. Plus I already had his albums, so the greatest hits disc meant nothing to me. Simply meant having to spend $30 to hear Scream. I wonder how many kids didn't pick up the record because of the cost.

How much is known about Sony's thought process at the time and why such a unique strategy was chosen for MJ's album at the time?
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I know nothing of Sony's thought process in regards to the release but the fact it was a double album and he price was higher than normal certainly affected sales but the whole history(greatest hits)and his story(Michael's side of what had gone on)was very smart but it probably sailed by most,I know I told everyone I could back in the mid 90's and they all said that was the first time they knew there was a double meaning to it.

The new material on a single disc would have sold more but I love what HIStory was and still is.
 
Silverstone said:
I know nothing of Sony's thought process in regards to the release but the fact it was a double album and the price was higher than normal certainly affected sales. But the whole History (Greatest Hits) and his story (Michael's side of what had gone on) was very smart, but it probably sailed by most. I know I told everyone I could back in the mid 90's and they all said that was the first time they knew there was a double meaning to it.
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Sorry, call me slow (I haven't been to bed yet / nightshifts) but can you elaborate? I think I know what you're talking about, but I just want to clarify :)
 
Silverstone -

I can only speak for the market I live in (United States), but any MJ release was going to be a struggle at that point in time. It's hard to argue with the success of selling 40 million discs worldwide. So I'm not saying it was a mistake to take the route that Sony took. I'm not convinced it would have been more lucrative to release them separately.

But it's definitely a very interesting release historically because I can't think of anything else quite like it.

I do remember as a kid there being rumors of a two disc "best of" album with five new songs. This was in the late 80s before Dangerous. Seems that idea morphed into something else completely. I'd be curious to know contractually what commitments HIStory fulfilled in terms of MJ's record contract.

Most old school contracts were 7 album deals. Was Invincible the last album on Michael's original Sony deal?
 
I just typed in two long detailed replies to the above couple of posts using multi-quote and when I had finished and tried to submit it,it said I needed to log in or refresh,I was signed in and have since lost what I had typed so I'm not starting all over again,screw that.
 
There are many available photos from the making of ‘Scream’, for example:

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Scream-michael-jacksons-scream-13187676-760-974.jpg


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-MAKE-ME-WANNA-SCREAM-michael-jacksons-scream-21562803-594-402.jpg


Michael-and-Karen-michael-jackson-37092885-533-547.jpg


Scream-michael-jackson-13156089-300-481.jpg


Making-of-Scream-michael-jackson-9628099-386-604.jpg


Making-of-Scream-michael-jackson-9628103-432-604.jpg


-MAKE-ME-WANNA-SCREAM-michael-jacksons-scream-21203977-574-709.jpg


Scream-michael-jackson-12453964-500-344.jpg
 
Was always curious about the name Book I. Were there plans to do another Past, Present and Future release if the concept was successful?
 
I remember it's release too. i queued up at midnight at Echo Records in Christchurch to get my copy on cassette. It was in a box with the two tapes (History in the Beginning and History Continues) and the large booklet. I loved that booklet.I remember about 20 of us waited outside the shop on an icy June night (Christchurch is at 43s and June is like December for you Northern Hemisphere people!) and people drove past saying "Why are you buying anything by that kiddie fiddler" and the rest. i loved it, had my sleeping bag and talking to a guy who had been following the Dangerous tour around.

Remember loving that music too, everyone I knew loved the album and a lot of the fairweather fans loved the album of hits and no doubt a few more copies of OTW, Thriller, Bad and Dangerous sold. The store opened and we all filed in and got our albums and the store put it on, with Scream coming through the airwaves and of course racks with the new album and racks with all of their other Michael Jackson albums were lined up. It was a great time, after we bought the albums they had a corner where we got a hot drink after waiting outside in the snow and we all sat there and just talked about Michael Jackson. Because it was 95, no one had a cellphone or the net, but if anyone remembers me I was the guy talking about Prince and the Gold Experience coming out all the time. What else, listened to the album non stop for a month afterwards.:chillin:
 
visionwalker said:
Was always curious about the name Book I. Were there plans to do another Past, Present and Future release if the concept was successful?
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I'm sure I remember talk of this at the time. It's so long ago now my memory is hazy. I'm sure I remember a HIStory edition talked about that held some kind of commemorative coin? Does this ring a bell with anyone? It never showed up in my local record stores.

mjprince1976 said:
I remember it's release too. i queued up at midnight at Echo Records in Christchurch to get my copy on cassette. It was in a box with the two tapes (History in the Beginning and History Continues) and the large booklet. I loved that booklet.I remember about 20 of us waited outside the shop on an icy June night (Christchurch is at 43s and June is like December for you Northern Hemisphere people!) and people drove past saying "Why are you buying anything by that kiddie fiddler" and the rest. i loved it, had my sleeping bag and talking to a guy who had been following the Dangerous tour around.

Remember loving that music too, everyone I knew loved the album and a lot of the fairweather fans loved the album of hits and no doubt a few more copies of OTW, Thriller, Bad and Dangerous sold. The store opened and we all filed in and got our albums and the store put it on, with Scream coming through the airwaves and of course racks with the new album and racks with all of their other Michael Jackson albums were lined up. It was a great time, after we bought the albums they had a corner where we got a hot drink after waiting outside in the snow and we all sat there and just talked about Michael Jackson. Because it was 95, no one had a cellphone or the net, but if anyone remembers me I was the guy talking about Prince and the Gold Experience coming out all the time. What else, listened to the album non stop for a month afterwards.:chillin:
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I love stories like that. Takes me back. I was 11 when HIStory was released and we went into Virgin Records on the Saturday (the day after release). My dad bought me it, I remember it being really expensive. When we got home I listened to it all the way from start to finish while lying on the living room floor (I don't know why I didn't just sit on a chair!).
 
Another great fact: HIStory are the only regular album which exist in individual numbered (first pressings, x of 200) editions. Of course they are some various individual numbered records and CDs but its the first MJ Album which are numbered like that.
But: did anyone knows if they where for sale in 1995 or just for competitions??
 
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