HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I

HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (usually shortened to HIStory) is the ninth overall studio album and his fifth under Epic Records by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was released on June 16, 1995 by Epic Records. This is Jackson's first album on his own label, MJJ Productions, and consists of two discs: the first disc (HIStory Begins) is a compilation of some of his greatest hits from 1979 onward, while the second disc (HIStory Continues) is a studio album composed entirely of new material. The majority of the second disc's tracks were written and produced by Jackson, often in conjunction with collaborators.

HIStory was Jackson's return to releasing music following the accusation of child sexual abuse in August 1993. Many of the 15 songs pertain to the accusations and Jackson's mistreatment in the media, specifically the tabloids. The songs' themes include environmental awareness, isolation, greed, suicide and injustice.

HIStory is Jackson's most controversial album. Jackson was accused of using anti-Semitic lyrics in "They Don't Care About Us". Jackson stated that he did not mean any offense and on multiple occasions denied anti-Semitism. The dispute regarding the lyrics ended with Jackson re-recording them. R. Kelly was accused of plagiarizing one of the album's songs, "You Are Not Alone". In 2007 a judge ruled that the song was plagiarized and the song was subsequently banned from radio stations in Belgium.

Money (Blackadder)

"Money" is the fourth episode of the BBC sitcom Blackadder II, the second series of Blackadder, which was set in Elizabethan England from 1558 to 1603.

Plot

Blackadder owes one thousand pounds to the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who threatens to have him killed if he does not pay. Blackadder tries unsuccessfully to blackmail the Bishop. He has only 85 pounds, which he loses when the Queen wins a bet about him with Lord Melchett.

Blackadder and Baldrick manage to get sixpence from a sailor, which is also taken by the Queen. Lord Percy tries to make them money by alchemy, without success, only producing a green substance, which he seems convinced is valuable. Blackadder manages to bully a couple into buying his house for 1100 pounds, but is again tricked out of the money by the Queen.

Finally, Blackadder drugs the Bishop and has a painting made of him in a highly compromising position. He uses this to successfully blackmail the Bishop into writing off the debt and giving him enough money to buy back his house and live in comfort. The Bishop is impressed by his treachery, but asks who the other figure in the painting is, at which Blackadder reveals Percy.

Money (KMFDM song)

"Money" is a song by industrial rock group KMFDM from their 1992 album of the same name. It was released as a single in 1992, and released as a 7" in 2008, as the ninth release of KMFDM's 24/7 series. The song charted at No. 36 in July 1992 on Billboard's Dance/Club Play Songs Chart.

Track listing

1992 release

2008 7" reissue

Personnel

References

Usher (album)

Usher is the eponymous debut studio album by American singer and songwriter Usher. It was released on August 30, 1994, by LaFace Records. The album debuted at number 167 on the US Billboard 200, while it has reached at number 25 on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts.

Reception

Billy Johnson Jr. of Yahoo! Music called the debut album "an enjoyable ride." Anderson Jones of Entertainment Weekly in a less than enthusiastic review of the album called the songs "sophomoric" and "remarkably dull."

Track listing

Chart history

Album

Singles

"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

Personnel

Information taken from Allmusic.

Crazy (Willie Nelson song)

"Crazy" is a ballad composed by Willie Nelson. It has been recorded by several artists, most notably by Patsy Cline, whose version was a #2 country hit in 1962.

Partly due to the genre-blending nature of the song, it has been covered by dozens of artists in several genres over the years; nevertheless, the song remains inextricably linked with Cline. Nelson's own version appears on his 1962 debut album ...And Then I Wrote.

Origin

With some help from a friend named Oliver English, Nelson wrote the song in early 1961; at the time he was a journeyman singer-songwriter who had written several hits for other artists but had not yet had a significant recording of his own. Nelson originally wrote the song for country singer Billy Walker who turned it down for the same reason Roy Drusky turned down "I Fall to Pieces" the previous year - that it was "a girl's song". The song's eventual success helped launch Nelson as a performer as well as a songwriter.

Musically the song is a jazz-pop ballad with country overtones and a complex melody. The lyrics describe the singer's state of bemusement at the singer's own helpless love for the object of his affection.

...Famous Last Words...

...Famous Last Words... is the seventh album by the English progressive rock band Supertramp and was released in October 1982.

Overview

...Famous Last Words... was the studio follow-up to 1979's Breakfast in America and the last album with vocalist/keyboardist/guitarist Roger Hodgson who left the group to pursue a solo career, thus it was the final album to be released by the "classic" Hodgson/Davies/Helliwell/Thomson/Siebenberg lineup of the band.

...Famous Last Words... reached number 5 on the Billboard Pop Albums Charts in 1982 and was certified Gold for sales in excess of 500,000 copies there. It also peaked at number 6 in the UK where it was certified Gold for 100,000 copies sold.

A remastered CD version of the album was released on 30 July 2002 on A&M Records. The remastered CD comes with all of the original artwork and the CD art features a green pair of scissors and a black background.

Background and recording