Would you say the HIStory album is a masterpiece of artistry (even by MJ’s standards) or an attempt to be “trendy”?

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

A really underrated track. It it always sounded kinda unfinished to me, I can't explain why.

It's because it has all the fundamentals of an MJ self composition (The looping beatbox, the sparse rhythm) but it doesn't have the same amount of polish as say, Billie Jean, or Who Is It. I appreciate it for that though.

Smile first part is really good. It could have been a great track but, sadly, When the 90s drums starts, It instantly dates the whole track, and that's really unfortunate.

I don't know what's bad about that. It's a 90s song. It's allowed to sound like the 90s.

 

[IhateTheMedia]

He'd have had to have been invited or have wanted to, and I can't imagine he saw it as necessary. According to Jermaine he would've tried again in 2011.

They would have bent over backwards for him, the question is was it a mistake on MJ's part by not looking into doing it again

 

[DuranDuran]

They would have bent over backwards for him, the question is was it a mistake on MJ's part by not looking into doing it again

I'm not sure about that. Mike had a lot of bad media coverage later in life. The big outcry about the Janet & Justin Timberlake performance in 2004 would not have helped either. There were lawsuits & FCC fines about that and Janet's career kind of went downhill after, but nothing really happened to Justin though. A lot of people who watch the NFL are "middle America" and I don't think they would want to turn off that part of the audience by having a controversial singer who is the brother of the newly controversial singer that had the "wardrobe malfunction".

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

I'm not sure about that. Mike had a lot of bad media coverage later in life. The big outcry about the Janet & Justin Timberlake performance in 2004 would not have helped either. There were lawsuits & FCC fines about that and Janet's career kind of went downhill after, but nothing really happened to Justin though. A lot of people who watch the NFL are "middle America" and I don't think they would want to turn off that part of the audience by having a controversial singer who is the brother of the newly controversial singer that had the "wardrobe malfunction".

None of that was Janet's fault and she deserved none of that. "middle America" is just annoyed white people.

 

[IhateTheMedia]

I'm not sure about that. Mike had a lot of bad media coverage later in life. The big outcry about the Janet & Justin Timberlake performance in 2004 would not have helped either. There were lawsuits & FCC fines about that and Janet's career kind of went downhill after, but nothing really happened to Justin though. A lot of people who watch the NFL are "middle America" and I don't think they would want to turn off that part of the audience by having a controversial singer who is the brother of the newly controversial singer that had the "wardrobe malfunction".

The 30th anniversary concert was seen by a total of 45 million in the United States, nearly 40% of the total super bowl audience two months later. There was nobody else capable of doing numbers like Mike even though it wasn't even comparable to his absurd numbers in 80s and 90s. Had he extended a offer they'd accept him with open arms for the super bowl

 

[DuranDuran]

The 30th anniversary concert was seen by a total of 45 million in the United States, nearly 40% of the total super bowl audience two months later. There was nobody else capable of doing numbers like Mike even though it wasn't even comparable to his absurd numbers in 80s and 90s. Had he extended a offer they'd accept him with open arms for the super bowl

A football audience and a audience who would watch a Michael Jackson concert are 2 different things. It's like the artists who perform at Farm Aid and the audience who watches that are mostly different from the ones for Live Aid. A lot of rednecks are NFL fans, who are less likely to be into the type of music Michael Jackson does or guys who have makeup on. Football players are considered to be traditional manly macho men. Anyway, it doesn't really matter how many people would watch a Michael Jackson halftime, if a large amount of NFL fans boycott watching the game itself. That one time would hurt the NFL brand in the long term. Like people complaining about Beyoncé's Superbowl performance with Black Panthers imagery (not the Marvel superhero, but the 1960s Black Panther Party).

None of that was Janet's fault and she deserved none of that. "middle America" is just annoyed white people.

Well that same middle America is why NFL player Colin Kaepernick lost his job for protesting during the national anthem.

 

[filmandmusic]

I don’t think anybody was waiting for a second superbowl halftime show. What was he going to do, another moonwalk on billie jean then man in the mirror or earth song or heal the world…

I never saw the big deal in his first halftime mimefest either. I’m happy everybody sees it as iconic though.

 

[R1chard]

You're not in the business of managing music charts and their efficiency either, so don't worry about if it makes sense or not. It's not our fault or choice either, it just is.

It's fine. I'm just explaining to you why only one chart is necessary, and why all the others are a waste of time, they exist only for marketing reasons, and that's why the rest of the world laughs at America. That's all.

Well maybe don't make comments like "make it more than guns and jewellery and it would sell better" if you don't know what you're talking about and don't have an interest in being informed.

You're misunderstanding me. I don't care if rap music sells or not. I don't care if any music sells or not.

I don't think Michael was trying to follow any trends when making HIStory. HIStory was a much needed and necessary album for Michael to make. After 1993 he had a lot to get off his chest and he was always better expressing himself through his music than he was in interviews.

The album is called HIS story so of course it's going to be a very personal album.

Yep, spot on. It literally says it on the front cover.

Should Michael have done the Super Bowl halftime show again?

No. Not needed.

closed the show with Man in the Mirror due to 9/11 and his sales would have significantly went up.

Ugh. What's wrong with you?!

Had he extended a offer they'd accept him with open arms for the super bowl

That's... really not how that works.

- Earth Song. Guy Pratt bass adds a lot to it The last section is among Michael's best vocal run in his discography

Thinking about it now, I'd probably say Earth Song was the best song of the 90s, from any artist.

- Little Susie is a great song, the lyrics elevates it

This is the one song that really makes me want to crank up the volume as high as I can.

- Come Together and Tabloid Junkie. But, In both cases, i would have appreciate them better on a different album (BAD and Dangerous respectively).

Interesting way of thinking about it. I wonder what people would have thought if Come Together was the CD bonus track instead of LMA

- History. It tries way to hard to be anthemic, it feels forced to me (the use of sound samples from historical events, the over the top production: choirs, orchestra, the Boys II Men, etc ).

Interesting point. I guess it is too long.

What do you think of some of the remixes of that song?

 

[eckoes]

IIRC:
- They Don't Care About Us / Earth Song were started in Dangerous sessions
- Tabloid Junkie / Come Together were started during BAD sessions
- Stranger In Moscow music was repurposed from Sonic 3 sessions
- Little Susie was started around Off The Wall sessions
-Smile was a cover

Is it correct?

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

I'm just explaining to you why only one chart is necessary, and why all the others are a waste of time, they exist only for marketing reasons, and that's why the rest of the world laughs at America. That's all.

You're not "explaining" anything. You're wasting the use of my educational ability is what you're doing.