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Favourite Track from HIStory Book I? / Opinions on "History" (the song)?

BadAtGames42749

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After listening to all of the songs on it, after putting it off for a decade, I found out that "History" is my favourite song on the entire album. But, what about you? Also, I'd like to hear your opinions on his song "History"!
 
Yeah, the whole thing is Book I. Presumably you meant Disc 2? Unless you're talking about Blood On The Dancefloor?

For me it's Earth Song best, followed by Stranger in Moscow and Little Susie.

As for the song HIStory, I recently bought a version of Pictures At An Exhibition, the classical piece at the start of the song (see my thread in the Polls section)
 
BadAtGames42749 said:
After listening to all of the songs on it, after putting it off for a decade, I found out that "History" is my favourite song on the entire album. But, what about you? Also, I'd like to hear your opinions on his song "History"!
Click to expand...
HIStory (the song) is up there with MJ's greatest tracks!
 
Alright my favorite songs are childhood and little susie but I also rate TDCAU, Money and SIM highly. Come together is cool but it has more energy in the moonwalker version. I admire the passion in earth song vocally but the song in itself isn’t one of my faves. Smile is cool but I have a feeling there are better alternative versions recorded we haven’t heard yet, I don’t quite feel the drum programming, I hope there is a version with more acoustic or orchestral vibes.
The other semi dozen songs I don’t have particular feelings for, I feel most are overproduced and they’re too loud.

On the song history I like its ambition, the stop start nature of the song due to the inclusion of historical audio gives it an experimental sound. The verses are typical hard edged sounds from MJ, I quite like the music and the chorus is anthemic but at the same time we heard that Michael before several times and I got tired by it. it is no heal the world which for example shines in its simplicity and beautiful melody.
Overall it feels like 2 or maybe even 3 different ideas thrown together to create one track.
 
filmandmusic said:
Alright my favorite songs are childhood and little susie but I also rate TDCAU, Money and SIM highly. Come together is cool but it has more energy in the moonwalker version. I admire the passion in earth song vocally but the song in itself isn’t one of my faves. Smile is cool but I have a feeling there are better alternative versions recorded we haven’t heard yet, I don’t quite feel the drum programming, I hope there is a version with more acoustic or orchestral vibes.
The other semi dozen songs I don’t have particular feelings for, I feel most are overproduced and they’re too loud.

On the song history I like its ambition, the stop start nature of the song due to the inclusion of historical audio gives it an experimental sound. The verses are typical hard edged sounds from MJ, I quite like the music and the chorus is anthemic but at the same time we heard that Michael before several times and I got tired by it. it is no heal the world which for example shines in its simplicity and beautiful melody.
Overall it feels like 2 or maybe even 3 different ideas thrown together to create one track.
Click to expand...
My issue with History (the song) is the audio clips feel disjointed and detract from the song, and IMO the outro is way too long.
 
On the face of it, the 'HIStory' song sounds like an inspiring song that promotes self-motivation, unity, and compassion.

But, there is also an implicit message on the 'HIStory' song that many fans seem to be unaware of.

With the 'HIStory' song, Michael Jackson also puts himself in the same league as all those great historic pioneers of the past that the song refers to.

This is a sign of the singer's vanity (in terms of feeling so arrogant and so self-important), and this sign of his vanity is also confirmed by the whole pompous 'HIStory' era (album artwork, statues, promotion, etc).
 
Best song on the album is "Stranger in Moscow".

The title track is quite forgettable lol.
 
mj_frenzy said:
On the face of it, the 'HIStory' song sounds like an inspiring song that promotes self-motivation, unity, and compassion.

But, there is also an implicit message on the 'HIStory' song that many fans seem to be unaware of.

With the 'HIStory' song, Michael Jackson also puts himself in the same league as all those great historic pioneers of the past that the song refers to.

This is a sign of the singer's vanity (in terms of feeling so arrogant and so self-important), and this sign of his vanity is also confirmed by the whole pompous 'HIStory' era (album artwork, statues, promotion, etc).
Click to expand...


Stranger In Moscow is also my favorite from this album.

You said it all: it IS a very pretentious track. This is something I don't like about the HIStory album: the huge booklet filled up with testimonies from everyone famous, the cover art and this track.

I think the album contains some really fantastic tracks: Scream, TDCAU, Stranger In Moscow, Earth Song, Little Susie.
 
HIStory is entirely modest in comparison to most of today's biggest rappers, Kanye, Drake, Jay-Z and the like, who literally deitify themselves.

MJ simply reminded you of who he was and that he did matter.

So many people want to scrub him from history, scrub their association with him, but they can't. And this is a historical testament.

Some of you people don't seem to get that. And resent him for that.
 
eckoes said:
Stranger In Moscow is also my favorite from this album.

You said it all: it IS a very pretentious track. This is something I don't like about the HIStory album: the huge booklet filled up with testimonies from everyone famous, the cover art and this track.

I think the album contains some really fantastic tracks: Scream, TDCAU, Stranger In Moscow, Earth Song, Little Susie.
Click to expand...
"Little Susie / Pie Jesu" is a good ass song! So creepy, so beautiful, a mix of emotions in one song! And, I do believe that the song was written about the murder case of "Susan Condry", a six year old girl, in 1972.
 
Great album and I like all songs except Childhood,Smile and You Are Not Alone.
Favorites are definately Earth Song and TDCAU.
 
mj_frenzy said:
On the face of it, the 'HIStory' song sounds like an inspiring song that promotes self-motivation, unity, and compassion.

But, there is also an implicit message on the 'HIStory' song that many fans seem to be unaware of.

With the 'HIStory' song, Michael Jackson also puts himself in the same league as all those great historic pioneers of the past that the song refers to.

This is a sign of the singer's vanity (in terms of feeling so arrogant and so self-important), and this sign of his vanity is also confirmed by the whole pompous 'HIStory' era (album artwork, statues, promotion, etc).
Click to expand...

I know what you mean but I think the song History is more promoting 'The American Dream'; and that you can create history even if you are, like MJ, from a poor background. That is why a sample of his younger self is in it.
The pompous artwork is a reference to totalitarism but then one with a good cause; just like the military being used to throw flowers instead of killing. Imho
 
BadAtGames42749 said:
"Little Susie / Pie Jesu" is a good ass song! So creepy, so beautiful, a mix of emotions in one song! And, I do believe that the song was written about the murder case of "Susan Condry", a six year old girl, in 1972.
Click to expand...

Little Susie is great. I’ve always thought that story about Susan Condry was pure fan speculation though. I tried looking through newspaper archives a while back and could not find a single trace of that story at all, just comments about it by MJ fans online.

There are definitely two clear sources of inspiration for Little Susie though. The first is an image from the artist Gottfried Helnwein titled 'Beautiful Victim', which depicts a young girl lay on the floor lifelessly with bandages around her head. This is included in the insert booklet for the album. The second is the poem "The Bridge of Sighs" by author Thomas Hood. A lot of lyrics in the song mirror this poem, e.g:

"One more Unfortunate
Weary of breath,
Rashly importunate,
Gone to her death !

Take her up tenderly,
Lift her with care;
Fashion’d so slenderly,
Young, and so fair !"
 
ZeconMusic said:
Little Susie is great. I’ve always thought that story about Susan Condry was pure fan speculation though. I tried looking through newspaper archives a while back and could not find a single trace of that story at all, just comments about it by MJ fans online.

There are definitely two clear sources of inspiration for Little Susie though. The first is an image from the artist Gottfried Helnwein titled 'Beautiful Victim', which depicts a young girl lay on the floor lifelessly with bandages around her head. This is included in the insert booklet for the album. The second is the poem "The Bridge of Sighs" by author Thomas Hood. A lot of lyrics in the song mirror this poem, e.g:

"One more Unfortunate
Weary of breath,
Rashly importunate,
Gone to her death !

Take her up tenderly,
Lift her with care;
Fashion’d so slenderly,
Young, and so fair !"
Click to expand...
Yes, but I think that the Susan Condry case may have given inspiration for the song, as well.
 
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