It became the first-ever single to debut at number one on the U.S. "You Are Not Alone", the second HIStory's single, was written and produced by R. "Scream" was a duet between Michael and his younger sister Janet, and "Childhood" was the theme song for the film "Free Willy 2". The first single from the album was "Scream"/"Childhood", released in May 1995 as a double A-side single. The album debuted at #1 in most countries around the world.
The first disc of previously released hits was re-released in 2001 selling an estimated 3 million. Thus far, HIStory has sold an estimated 18 million copies worldwide (36 million units) and is one of the greatest selling multiple-disc album of all times. In October 1999, the RIAA certified HIStory at 7x Platinum, for shipments of 3.5 million in the United States. Over 390,000 copies of the album were sold in its first week. Michael also experimented with more genres on this album than on any other album, ranging from orchestral to adult contemporary rhythm and blues to "Gothic pop". He was also more involved in the production of this album, collaborating with producers Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Dallas Austin, Bill Bottrell and R. HIStory was the first album where Michael Jackson showcased his instrumental abilities, playing keyboard and synthesizer, guitar, drums and percussion, as well as lead and backing vocals. HIStory debuted at #1 in several countries including the UK and the U.S, while also being nominated for several 1996 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, which it did not win however "Scream", expensive science fiction-inspired music video won a Grammy Award for Best Short-Form Music Video. Other than that, it's great I would recommend this release of Michael Jackson's Bad to the fans of his music, and the vinyl record collectors out there. The second disc, (HIStory Continues) contains fifteen previously unreleased recordings, five of which were released as singles. On my copy, the second record (Labeled Sides C and Side D) appears to be a tight fit, but the first and third records are unaffected.
Top 10 singles (nine of which were number-one hits) plus the worldwide top 5 hit "Heal the World". The first disc, (HIStory Begins) contains fifteen hit singles from the past fifteen years of Jackson's career to this point. For this dreadful stretch, everything is mechanical, and while the album rebounds with songs that prove mechanical can be tolerable if delivered with hooks and panache, it still makes Bad feel like an artifact of its time instead a piece of music that transcends it.HIStory - Past, Present and Future, Book I, a double-disc album (one half greatest hits, one half studio album), was released in June of 1995 by the Epic Records division of Sony BMG. Part of the joy of Off the Wall and Thriller was that craft was enhanced with tremendous songs, performances, and fresh, vivacious beats. And they constitute a near-fatal dead spot on the record - songs three through six, from "Speed Demon" to "Another Part of Me," a sequence that's utterly faceless, lacking memorable hooks and melodies, even when Stevie Wonder steps in for "Just Good Friends," relying on nothing but studiocraft. Then, there are the album tracks themselves, something that virtually didn't exist on Thriller but bog down Bad not just because they're bad, but because they reveal that Jackson's state of the art is not hip. Look at the singles: only three can stand alongside album tracks from its predecessor ("Bad," "The Way You Make Me Feel," "I Just Can't Stop Loving You"), another is simply OK ("Smooth Criminal"), with the other two showcasing Jackson at his worst (the saccharine "Man in the Mirror," the misogynistic "Dirty Diana"). For one thing, the material just isn't as good. He wound up with a sleeker, slicker Thriller, which isn't a bad thing, but it's not a rousing success, either. This meant that he moved deeper into hard rock, deeper into schmaltzy adult contemporary, deeper into hard dance - essentially taking each portion of Thriller to an extreme, while increasing the quotient of immaculate studiocraft.
The downside to a success like Thriller is that it's nearly impossible to follow, but Michael Jackson approached Bad much the same way he approached Thriller - take the basic formula of the predecessor, expand it slightly, and move it outward.