What is damage control? The child-sex-abuse allegations against Jackson evaporated last year, but there was a lingering question about whether his career had evaporated too. Epic Records has just launched a $30 million marketing campaign-likely the biggest blitz in history-to prove it hasn’t. “HIStory,” a double CD with 15 greatest hits and 15 new songs, is due June 20. Jaekson’s talking to Diane Sawyer on June 14–Oprah redux-and he’s just released a $4 million promotional film to play in 1,000 movie theaters. There’s been no indication the allegations will hurt. According to Hits magazine, Jackson’s just-released single, “Scream,” was added to the playlist of more radio stations in its first week than any song in history. And Tower Records executive Stan Goman says of the scandal, “People will whisper. Big deal. Look at Elvis, or John Lennon. A kook and an artist are the same thing.”
“HIStory” is Jackson’s showy monument to himself. (The album’s full title is a mouthful: “HIStory: Past, Present and Future–Book I.”) Stylistically, the singer races from rock to hip-hop to R&B in what seems a calculated effort to tap every market. Lyrically, he’s full of self-righteous rage over his recent travails. “Scream,” a duet with sister Janet, is nicely noisy and mean. But the fulsome, orchestral “Childhood” sounds like Jackson doing Barbra Streisand doing Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Piggybacking Jackson’s new songs and his greatest hits was a masterstroke. The singer needs a spectacular hit album to clinch his comeback, and the remastered old singles will suck fans into stores even if the new songs don’t. Epic will release singles until Christmas 1996, and they hope to sell at least 20 million albums worldwide. No doubt they will. Still, it’s too early to tell if “HIStory” will be considered an artistic triumph. “It’s not where music is headed, it’s where music has been,” complains Bruce St. James, music director for L.A.’s KPWR. “For a long time, Michael was a visionary, but this is not a futuristie record.” It’s a shame if that’s true: the one thing Jackson needs is a future.
