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''HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I'' (often abbreviated to ''HIStory'') is a double album by Michael Jackson, released on June 20, 1995, and is Jackson's ninth album. The first disc, named 'HIStory Begins' consists of a selection of Jackson's greatest hits from the singer's past fifteen years, while the second, named 'HIStory Continues' features new songs, with the exception of ''Come Together'', which was recorded in 1987. ''HIStory'' has been cited as the best-selling multiple disc album ever released, with worldwide sales of 20 million (40 million in terms of units). It is the top grossing album of Jackson's career behind ''Thriller''. The album won one Grammy for Best Music Video - Short Form for Scream.

The first disc of greatest hits was reissued in 2001 as a single disc under the name ''HIStory: Greatest Hits''.

History

Recording

Recording started in September 1994 and would carry through the early spring of 1995. Jackson wrote the majority of the songs attacking the press for ''scandalizing'' him and gave messages to fans to not ''feed into the tabloids''. One of the songs included ''Scream'', a duet between Michael and sister Janet, who had agreed to do a duet with her brother after she felt that she ''had made it to the top'' and she didn't fear that she'd ''had to ride Michael's coattails''. Other songs that attacked the tabloids included ''Tabloid Junkie'' and ''This Time Around''. The Michael and Janet duet was the first of several tunes Jackson produced with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (''2 Bad'', ''HIStory'', ''Tabloid Junkie'') but not without additional help from the likes of Dallas Austin (''This Time Around''), R. Kelly (the lone ballad, ''You Are Not Alone''), Charles Chaplin (''Smile'') and Jackson himself (''They Don't Care About Us'', ''Earth Song'', ''Stranger in Moscow'', ''D.S.'', ''Money'', ''Little Susie'' with Jackson-arranged variation of Maurice Duruflé's ''Requiem'' as prelude). Jackson, in fact, dominated the production of the album though not fully incorporating serious issues into his music including racism, the ecology and his own personal travails (''D.S.'', in particular, was an attack on the district attorney of Jackson's case, Thomas Sneddon, in which he is heard singing in the chorus despite the lyrics reading ''Dom Sheldon'', possibly used to escape a lawsuit). Like on previous albums, Jackson wanted to feature guest stars. Other than his sister Janet, rapper The Notorious B.I.G. put down a rap verse in ''This Time Around'', soul group Boyz II Men sung background vocals on ''HIStory'' and basketball star and sometime rapper Shaquille O'Neal put down a verse on ''2 Bad''. While fourteen of the songs were new recordings, Jackson included an older recording of his cover of The Beatles' ''Come Together'', which he had recorded during the ''Bad'' era. The version included on the album is an early fade of the original version.

HIStory was originally to be called ''Decade'', which would include several previous Jackson hits and several new songs from the later part of his career. This was shelved and HIStory was eventually expanded into a two-disc set.

Promotion

To promote the album, Jackson embarked on the successful HIStory World Tour, which was attended by more than four and a half million people. Jackson also made a promotional ''teaser'' music video showing him marching with thousands of military personnel as well as shipping statues of himself on boats around Europe and $30 million was spent on its promotion by Sony.

Controversy

Singles

Sales of ''HIStory'' were down from his previous albums ''Dangerous'' and ''Bad'' (although unit sales were higher). This has been attributed to the high purchase cost of ''HIStory'' and critics believe that the public purchased the singles over the album. The single sales of ''HIStory'' were collectively 10.45 million units, which was higher than those of ''Dangerous'' at 8.36 million units

Chart performance

''HIStory'' debuted at number-one on the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts selling over 391,000 copies in its first week. and, according to MSNBC, is the best-selling multiple-disc album of all-time.

Charts and certifications

Track listing

Disc one: ''HIStory'' Begins

Disc two: ''HIStory'' Continues

Credits

Production credits

Album credits

Technical credits