HIStory, Blood on the Dance Floor & Invincible
Michael Jackson survived the devastating child molestation allegations of a decade ago, but it could be argued not without considerable damage to his recording career. In fact, his record sales have dipped dramatically since 1993.
In 1995, a double CD was issued,
HIStory – Past, Present & Future, Book 1
. The package boasted fifteen of his greatest hits (‘Beat It’, ‘Billie Jean’, and the rest) and fifteen new songs, such as the thoughtful ‘Stranger in Moscow’, the elegant ‘Earth Song’ and ‘Scream’ (with Janet, the first single release from the package).
‘You Are Not Alone’, also included, remains among Michael’s best songs; it made chart history in America by becoming the first song ever to go straight to number one on the
Billboard
charts in its first week. It also topped the chart in Britain, after debuting there at number three. On listening to ‘You Are Not Alone’, one wonders how many times Michael tried to tell himself, during his most desperate and anguished times, that he
did
have support in his life, from a higher power, or even friends and family, whether he actually believed it or not.
The only problem with ‘You Are Not Alone’ was the bizarre video for it, in which Michael and Lisa Marie frolic about semi-nude against an ethereal backdrop. ‘I don’t know whyI did it,’ Lisa says. ‘I was sucked up in the moment. It was kind of cool being in a Michael Jackson video. Come on!’ Actually, the semi-nudity made no sense and was a bit disconcerting; one wished they would put their clothes back on.
Another stand-out is Michael’s version of Charlie Chaplain’s ‘Smile’. What a vocal performance and delivery he gives to this song! Never has he sounded more sincere, more gorgeous. The song was scheduled for release as a single, but cancelled at the last minute when it was decided it was probably not commercial. However, some promotional CDs – now collectors’ items – did slip out, with pictures of Michael nattily dressed as Charlie Chaplain.
Huge statues of Michael were constructed and unveiled in a number of European cities to coincide with the record’s release. (Leave it to Michael to have a huge statue of himself towed down the Thames as a publicity stunt!) Also, a controversy over the lyrics of ‘They Don’t Care About Us’ broke out, with Michael accused of anti-Semitism because of his lyrics ‘kike me’ and ‘jew me’. He replaced them with ‘strike me’ and ‘do me’ as a result.
However, any publicity for Michael is usually good publicity when he’s promoting a record.
HIStory
went on to sell about fifteen million copies worldwide, a slip down from
Dangerous
, which had managed twenty-seven million (
Bad
sold twenty-five million;
Thriller
went on to fifty-two million, and
Off the Wall
, fifteen million). Still,
HIStory
was a major success – artistically as well as commercially – though one largely ignored by a media still distracted by his turbulent and vastly entertaining personal life.
Blood on the Dance Dloor – History in the Mix
, Michael’s 1997 album, contained five new songs and eight previously unreleased, kick-ass dance remixes of songs such as ‘Scream’, ‘You Are Not Alone’ and ‘Stranger in Moscow’ from
HIStory
. Several of the other songs on
Blood
are also memorable. ‘Ghosts’ stands out, perhaps because it’s so evocative of Michael’s spell-binding ‘Ghosts’ long-styled video in which he is transformed into an old, white man with no rhythm. (It’s classic, must-see Michael Jackson.)
The bad news for Michael was that the collection was not a success in America; it was dismissed by critics and much of his audience, who seemed confused as to whether it was a new release or some kind of hybrid combination of songs. Michael’s British fans, however, did not disappoint:
Blood
was a major hit in the United Kingdom, kicking off with the single release of ‘Blood on the Dance Floor’ debuting at number one, then the album. In truth, there may be nothing in his entire catalogue better than ‘Blood on the Dance Floor’, a song that many of Michael’s American fans don’t even know exists, it was so overlooked. He wrote and produced it himself.
Blood
only sold about four million copies worldwide. While it’s not fair to equate the sales of an album of mostly remixes with the sales of his other products, this was still a weak showing. It, and the ‘Ghosts’ video, like much of what Michael did at this time, was lost in the ongoing controversy of his world: the ongoing confusion about children, Lisa Marie, Debbie Rowe… Without that, this stellar work would no doubt have found an appreciative audience.
It should also be noted that it was because of its weak showing Sony executives no longer viewed Michael as being ‘invincible’. Heads would
not
roll, it was learned, if he had a flop record, or if he was unhappy with the company. After
Blood on the Dance Floor
disappointed in the USA, he was never a company priority again.
Invincible
(released in October 2001), was said to be the most expensive recording ever produced. Sony advanced Michael about forty million dollars to make it. They then spent another twenty-five million to promote it (though, it’s difficult to specify how such funds were allocated because the promotion was so weak).
From the beginning, Michael didn’t seem excited about the project, and perhaps his lack of enthusiasm and focus became apparent to some listeners. The fact that it took about three years to compose the album – more than fifty songs were produced, mixed and remixed with writers and producers being hired and fired and hired and fired – made some observers feel that Michael was, as one producer put it, ‘sick to death of the whole thing.’
Also, Michael began battling with Sony early in the production of
Invincible
. He had thought that the licence to the masters to his biggest-selling albums (
Thriller, Bad, Dangerous
, etc…) were to revert back to him in 2000, and was counting the days until that would happen. He would then be able to market the songs himself in some way or with some other label, and not have to split the proceeds with Sony. However, when his advisers checked his contract, they found that the classics revert back to Michael only if he releases about one new CD for Sony every couple of years – which was never going to happen in Michael Jackson’s world, one in which he spends
years
on just one project. There was even a Christmas CD specified in the deal (he’s not done one of those since 1970, with The Jackson 5), which Michael said he didn’t know about, as well as a couple of soundtracks. Michael was way behind in this proposed release schedule, would never be able to catch up, and wouldn’t think to even attempt to do it. However, for each specified album he did not deliver (which was most of them), Sony was able to add a few more years to the countdown of rights reversion of the others. As it stood, Michael would be just a tad older than God before the rights to his top-selling albums would ever be reverted to him.
After some investigation into the matter, it was learned that the same attorney who represented Michael on this deal had also represented Sony. (How, one wonders, was
this
ever allowed to occur?) Thus Michael managed to extricate himself from the entire Sony deal, then, using the obvious conflict of interest in this negotiation as leverage… In the end, it was decided he would be able to leave Sony, but not until he had delivered
Invincible
, then a Greatest Hits package and
then
a Box Set.
Still, signed to the label or not, Michael would owe Sony hundreds of millions in advances, loans and other monies the company had invested into in his chaotic personal life and professional career. Michael was so chagrined by the situation with Sony that he really didn’t want to produce another record for them.
If he received a telephone call while in the studio recording
Invincible
, it could mean the end of that day’s work. ‘Sorry, I’ve got business to take care of,’ he’d announce while walking out the door. If he had to go to the bathroom, the production staff would fret because Michael would sometimes sneak out and not be seen or heard from for days. ‘He’s an artist,’ explained one producer. ‘They’re usually pretty nuts.’
However, when the album was finally released, it demonstrated something many of Michael’s supporters already know: he is best when recording his own material, such as the sublime ‘Speechless’, which is really the only track he solely wrote (in about forty-five minutes, he says, after a water-balloon fight with his children) and produced, from beginning to end. However, he doesn’t seem to have the fire in his belly he once did to write and produce his own music, therefore
Invincible
was largely a compilation of material from outside songwriters and producers, such as Rodney Jerkins, the hit-making mastermind behind tunes by the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Brandy and Destiny’s Child. If Michael wants a huge-selling album in his future, perhaps he should write and produce it himself –
all
of it. He still has the magic touch, if not the drive, ambition and, perhaps, self-confidence.
The initial single release was the somewhat formulaic Rodney Jerkins song, ‘You Rock My World’. It had been Sony’s decision; Michael was against it and fought for the upbeat, probably more commercial ‘Unbreakable’ to be issued. He had already conceived of a video for the song. It’s interesting that even at this stage of his career, his choices were vetoed by his label. In the end, ‘You Rock My World’ stalled at number ten in the United States. It debuted at number two in the United Kingdom, but dropped from there quickly. Sales in the rest of Europe were comparable; a Top Ten hit in most countries, but not a huge record.
The video for ‘You Rock My World’ was a miscalculation; it looked like a remake of the ‘Smooth Criminal’ short-film, but with Michael in a black suit instead of a white one. In most of the production, Michael seems to be camouflaging the top half of his face with his fedora, causing the viewer to wonder what he is trying to hide. Again, he didn’t seem inspired by the concept, anyway – even if it did have a weird cameo appearance by Marlon Brando. There had been upsetting debates between Michael and Sony over the video’s budget, and by the time he was to begin production he was, as one of his intimates put it, ‘completely over it, done with it.’ The dancers had rehearsed for days before Michael appeared on the set. When he finally arrived, he did pretty much the same variety of jerky, robotic steps he’s been doing for years, as if trapped in his own myth and afraid to break out of it.
A stand-out on
Invincible
is Carole Bayer Sager’s, Kenny ‘Babyface’ Edmonds and John McClain’s sparkling, ‘You Are My Life’. It was recorded just five weeks before the album was released – that’s how late in the schedule they were considering material. The writers first played it for Michael on a Thursday, he loved it – changed the lyrics from ‘You Are My World’ to ‘You Are My Life’ (and got a songwriting credit in the process!) and then recorded it the next evening. John McClain, an executive at DreamWorks Records, has been one of Michael’s most trusted and capable advisers for decades. He wrote the song based on a finger exercise he had created for his guitar practice!
The second release from the album was ‘Cry’. However, Michael was so angry at Sony for the budget allocated for the video, he refused to even appear in it. Then, the delightful ‘Butterflies’ began receiving radio, and could have been a hit record. However, again, Jackson and Sony battled over the video, and production was cancelled – as was the commercial release of the song.
The battle lines were boldly drawn between Michael and Sony in a war that continued to be so bitter it would contribute to the commercial failure of
Invincible
. The executives at the label, all the way up to its chieftain at the time, Tommy Motolla, didn’t care what Michael thought about anything, he was now that low on their priority lists. His very good song, ‘What More Can I Give?’ (recorded with a host of pop stars in the wake of 9-11 in an effort similar to ‘We Are The World’), was shelved by the label. Of course, Michael didn’t help matters when he hired a former gay porn director to direct the video; the man is a friend of his, and Jackson didn’t feel that anything was wrong with the association. However, he inadvertently provided Sony with more ammunition to use against him. Frustrated and angry at the label for this and other sins, Michael then went on a terrible, ill-advised campaign against Tommy Motolla, holding a press conference and other public events in the summer of 2002 to call him a ‘racist’, insisting he is ‘very, very, very… devilish.’ This was not his best moment.
In the end,
Invincible
sold only about ten million copies worldwide – a crushing blow for Michael, as well as for loyal fans who campaigned for it with more devotion and organization than Michael’s own label, Sony, possibly did. Even though it entered the
Billboard
charts at number one, it sank quickly, falling out of the Top Ten in a month. It also debuted at number one in the UK, Germany, Holland and a number of other countries, but didn’t last long at the top of those charts either – except in France, where it was number one for three weeks. (In Britain, it fell out of the Top Ten completely in three weeks.) The reviews were, generally, dreadful, and often unfair, focusing on the artist’s unusual nature, rather than his music. Maybe the expectations had been so high for a new Michael Jackson collection, there was no way for
any
recording to rise to the occasion, let alone one caught in the cross-fire of such acrimonious exchanges between artist and label.