HIStory 30th Anniversary

It started in May (2022), when they revealed the 'Thriller 40' new logo which fans did not like at all.

In the same month, they continued with revealing new images of official merchandise (T-shirts with that 'Thriller 40' new logo splashed on them).

In August (2022), they revealed the silver 'Thriller 40' album slip sleeve with original artwork (it had a different logo due to fans' negative feedback about the first one).
Well that's interesting. We shall see then. I remember for Thriller 40 on their shop website it was already written that on disc two, there would be unreleased demos and songs. And I remember it was the same month that they revealed the logo, May 2022. So maybe just wait a little longer to see if any announcements are made or not on their shop or website
 
I'd be surprised with a full Bad 25 style re-release if I'm honest. 2025 will be full focus on the biopic I'd imagine. You'd assume there'd be a soundtrack and all the promotion around it, a HIStory re-release (as amazing as it would be, would be relegated to backseat to the biopic)
I be very surprised too. But who knows. My hopes are not up but I just find it curious that this time they altered the cover. If it was just for a calender it would make no sense to change it.

But those are just my thoughts
 
Why isn’t there a HIStory 25 release? Or a HIStory concert film?
In our opinion this album is Michael’s most underappreciated and one of his very best. Although they were never announced, the Estate had plans to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the HIStory album this year, but because of COVID-19, those plans had to be modified. So, while we still have plans to celebrate HIStory with appropriate audio and audiovisual elements, we don’t believe in making announcements until we are in a position to share all of the relevant details. It is our hope that the world will open up again soon, and allow our creators to finish their work.
 
Everything HIStory screams self indulgence to me, from the album cover to the promotion and the title (though cleverly found). The real heartfelt moments are far and few between. With this I mean songs like Stranger In Moscow, Childhood and Smile which offer a unique insight into Michael's mind, personality and even paranoia. They are genuine and touching. Another very heartfelt song is Little Susie which showcases Michael vulnerability regarding injustice and neglect.
The other songs are unnecessarily hard like D.S., Tabloid Junkie and This time Around. They're not even sung well (bar D.S.) These songs are basically a scream (no pun intended) for attention. The only none ballad I found really well done is TDCAU which speaks to and for an entire people and it feels really and rightfully anthemic.

Overall the album is just not very subtle and maybe perhaps Michael should have waited a couple more years to mellow and speak from the heart instead of spitting hateful, indulgent and aggressive lyrics. It is a mixed bag of genuine emotion and overproduced anger at the world.
 
It'd be funny if one of the songs from the Hit Factory auction that the Estate took down recently end up on the tracklist of the second disc (if the album gets one). There are at least a few of the songs that are implied to have been made by MJ.
 
It'd be funny if one of the songs from the Hit Factory auction that the Estate took down recently end up on the tracklist of the second disc (if the album gets one). There are at least a few of the songs that are implied to have been made by MJ.
Have we asked Damien Shields about any of these songs?
 
Have we asked Damien Shields about any of these songs?
Yes, he doesn't know and neither does Bill Botrell. Brad Sundberg just said that there are a few titles that remind him of something but he won't say more.
 
If there'll be an anniversary album release next year, do you think the bonus content will cover not only History session recordings but his entire solo career?
 
If there'll be an anniversary album release next year, do you think the bonus content will cover not only History session recordings but his entire solo career?
I personally don't think so. It's just gonna be HIStory outtakes. It would make no sense to be all of his career. Disc one was a best of, but the true content was on disc two
 
Everything HIStory screams self indulgence to me, from the album cover to the promotion and the title (though cleverly found). The real heartfelt moments are far and few between. With this I mean songs like Stranger In Moscow, Childhood and Smile which offer a unique insight into Michael's mind, personality and even paranoia. They are genuine and touching. Another very heartfelt song is Little Susie which showcases Michael vulnerability regarding injustice and neglect.
The other songs are unnecessarily hard like D.S., Tabloid Junkie and This time Around. They're not even sung well (bar D.S.) These songs are basically a scream (no pun intended) for attention. The only none ballad I found really well done is TDCAU which speaks to and for an entire people and it feels really and rightfully anthemic.

Overall the album is just not very subtle and maybe perhaps Michael should have waited a couple more years to mellow and speak from the heart instead of spitting hateful, indulgent and aggressive lyrics. It is a mixed bag of genuine emotion and overproduced anger at the world.
Yawn
 
Everything HIStory screams self indulgence to me, from the album cover to the promotion and the title (though cleverly found). The real heartfelt moments are far and few between. With this I mean songs like Stranger In Moscow, Childhood and Smile which offer a unique insight into Michael's mind, personality and even paranoia. They are genuine and touching. Another very heartfelt song is Little Susie which showcases Michael vulnerability regarding injustice and neglect.
The other songs are unnecessarily hard like D.S., Tabloid Junkie and This time Around. They're not even sung well (bar D.S.) These songs are basically a scream (no pun intended) for attention. The only none ballad I found really well done is TDCAU which speaks to and for an entire people and it feels really and rightfully anthemic.

Overall the album is just not very subtle and maybe perhaps Michael should have waited a couple more years to mellow and speak from the heart instead of spitting hateful, indulgent and aggressive lyrics. It is a mixed bag of genuine emotion and overproduced anger at the world.
I mean, considering what he had went through at that time I think he had every right to be and sound angry. History deserves the best Doc imo. It's his most personal album.
 
I mean, considering what he had went through at that time I think he had every right to be and sound angry. History deserves the best Doc imo. It's his most personal album.
I understand but he could have been more subtle or clever in his writing. Nobody ever liked self pitying. That is why I highlighted some of his ballads on HIStory which I think are exquisite lyrically and the way they were performed vocally. He had the right to be angry but he already started being angry in 1991 long before the world saw him as a criminal. I think his switching between songs like Keep The Faith and Why You Wanna Trip On Me Doesn’t Make much sense, as if he didn’t believe in keeping the faith himself yet we all had to believe it.

I could and still can understand where HIStory comes from but he then seemed to stay in that mindset and it hurt his songwriting . I think that is why he didn’t write much on Invincible. The glimpses of happy Michael were still there though, especially on “I like the way you love me” where I once again heard his youthful optimistic voice.
 
The re-edit of the cover is a big sign to me that they plan on doing something for History 30, as its something the Estate themselves manually did, when the golden "History on film" cover already exists:

history.jpg


their choice to recolour it signifys that they are looking to seaparate the calandar from the original releases, similar to what Eminem did for The Eminem Show (Recolouring it to Grey, rather than red):
ab67616d0000b27301e7ea60b7e9dc63cffeb63e
eminem-4lp.webp


I think we might be getting something next year, whether thats an entire deluxe edition or just a rerelease with Munich 4K, I dont know. but work has been done, because there is no hope in hell that they redid that work just for a calandar.
 
Everything HIStory screams self indulgence to me, from the album cover to the promotion and the title (though cleverly found).
With the 'HIStory' album, Michael Jackson also acted in an unethical way by forcing his fans to buy the disc 1 (which included songs that they had already bought in the past) in order to listen to his new songs (disc 2).
 
The re-edit of the cover is a big sign to me that they plan on doing something for History 30, as its something the Estate themselves manually did, when the golden "History on film" cover already exists:

I think we might be getting something next year, whether thats an entire deluxe edition or just a rerelease with Munich 4K, I dont know. but work has been done, because there is no hope in hell that they redid that work just for a calandar.
they just used Mystery Michael with a new background:
 
Explanation of the changes:

They changed the titles of both albums but capitalizing “PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE - BOOK I” and “BLOOD ON THE DANCE FLOOR”

Changed the release dates at the bottom of the albums.

Added Janet Jackson as a collaboration on Scream and the remix on BOTDF.

put dots on the right hit songs for both albums.

Fixed “Ghost” to “Ghosts”

These things could just be simple touch ups that don’t mean anything but they are worth pointing out.
 
They also updated HIStory and BOTDF albums on Apple Music, which I think is also why they are getting more streams lately. Not that this means anything, but I just noticed that.
oh, is that what it was? I did wonder why it popped up.
 
It'd be funny if one of the songs from the Hit Factory auction that the Estate took down recently end up on the tracklist of the second disc (if the album gets one). There are at least a few of the songs that are implied to have been made by MJ.
Also wanna point out that MJ also recorded at the Hit Factory in 98/99 as well, these could be Invincible session tracks too.
 
What do you mean popped up? You mean on the charts?
Yeah, the Apple chart. Ngl, I don't track this stuff closely, I just re-post stuff occasionally from X onto the Chart Watch thread and BOTDF isn't one I see very often. Thriller, obvs. Invincible also pops up regularly but not BOTDF, not that I can remember, anyway. So when you said this:
They also updated HIStory and BOTDF albums on Apple Music, which I think is also why they are getting more streams lately. Not that this means anything, but I just noticed that.
... I wondered if that was the connection.

This is what KoPonSpotify said:

"BREAKING! #MichaelJackson #KingOfPop "Blood On The Dance Floor" has entered the Apple US 200 Albums Charts for Jul 23, 2024. This is INCREDIBLE!!!!! "
 
With the 'HIStory' album, Michael Jackson also acted in an unethical way by forcing his fans to buy the disc 1 (which included songs that they had already bought in the past) in order to listen to his new songs (disc 2).
That was Sony. Michael wanted to just release the new music. Sony wanted the greatest hits tacking on as an insurance policy in case his popularity had totally been obliterated due to 1993.
 
Don't expect anything otherwise you will be very disappointed later it may be that it was only changed for the calendar
 
Expect nothing and you wont be disappointed. It's probably just the calendar. The estate isn't too concerned with fan service they're just trying to make as much money as they can. And they're not going to make a lot by re-releasing and re-imagining a somewhat obscure and socially ignored album from 30 years ago that hasn't really spawned any longterm hits . I say that with all love for the album and appreciation of what it is, and was, and that there is a lot of great work on there (stranger in moscow is a top 5 MJ song in my books).

As an album it's a bit all over the place and inconsistent. It's not the listening experience his first four major albums were. and as a project it leverages heavily off of the 'greatest hits' side. I think a lot of people were confused about what exactly HIStory was meant to be and so overlooked it. There are a handful of songs on here that rank among his best but it wasn't really an equal to Off The Wall, Thriller, BAD or Dangerous. I liked the very different and darker direction it went in and thought some of the songs were quite striking but there was too much filler on this for me to rank it among his best albums.

Scream, TDCAU, YRNA, SIM, Earth Song these are great songs - among his best - but I can't say I hear any of them out today and that's probably why any major re-release wont be forthcoming. I'd argue that YRMW has actually had more staying power than anything from HIStory. if there is any 30th anniversary commemoration of this album expect it to be a pretty tame affair. If they can't even do Dangerous justice - an album that sold twice as many copies - then I don't see them doing all too much for HIStory. It just isn't going to bring in new fans nor make them money unfortunately.

I think the Estate will stay where the cash is.
 
Yeah, the Apple chart. Ngl, I don't track this stuff closely, I just re-post stuff occasionally from X onto the Chart Watch thread and BOTDF isn't one I see very often. Thriller, obvs. Invincible also pops up regularly but not BOTDF, not that I can remember, anyway. So when you said this:

... I wondered if that was the connection.

This is what KoPonSpotify said:

"BREAKING! #MichaelJackson #KingOfPop "Blood On The Dance Floor" has entered the Apple US 200 Albums Charts for Jul 23, 2024. This is INCREDIBLE!!!!! "
Yeah maybe since it got updated, Apple Music had it put into the algorithm or something to show up on people’s recommended music? Who knows.
 
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