Of all the album's groundbreaking and popular videos, 'Black Or White' probably remains the most aired and most remembered today. The original video is over ten minutes long, and premiered simultaneously on MTV, VH1, BET, and ABC, becoming one of the most-watched music video premieres in history. The original video begins with Macaulay Culkin playing a young Jackson fan whose father (played by George Wendt) tells him to turn his music down. Culkin's character, instead, decides to bring his speakers into the living room and cranks the speakers to full blast, which sends the father flying through the roof, in a manner somewhat similar to that used in an earlier Twisted Sister music video. He ends up landing in the middle of some exotic location. The music to 'Black Or White' then starts, and Jackson proceeds to take viewers on a trip around the world, from country to country and culture to culture. As the song ends, the video features a morphing effect, whereby the faces of several different people of different ethnicities' (including Tyra Banks and voice actor Cree Summer) are morphed one into another, as a symbol of global unity. Although this was not the first music video to feature morphing technology — former 10cc members Godley & Creme used morphing even more extensively in the 1985 video to their song 'Cry', though in a less technologically polished way — it was the first exposure many people had to the technology, and this effect amazed those who saw the video for the first time. Thanks in part to 'Black Or White', as well as the development of computer technology, the morphing effect has since become somewhat common in music videos today, and can now be done much cheaper than in the early 1990s. The original video for 'Black Or White' then continued, even after the song itself ended, for another four minutes. The last four minutes depicted Jackson doing his infamous crotch-rubbing, smashing store windows, and destroying a car with a metal crowbar. It finally ended with a cameo appearance by Bart and Homer Simpson. However, Jackson's rampage and crotch grabbing caused a good deal of controversy with many parents of young children who watched the video's premiere. MTV and other music video stations decided to cut out the last four minutes of the video for all subsequent airings, and Jackson issued an apology statement to anyone who had been offended. To date, the final four minutes of the 'Black Or White' video has only since re-aired in America on MTV2 between the hours of 1 AM and 4 AM, as part of their special uncensored airing of the 'Most Controversial Music Videos' of all time, however the extended version is available on Jackson's DVDs. A few years ago, VH1 Europe aired them in daytime but now cuts them out.
HIStory to Invincible
HIStory, a double-disc album, was released in 1995. Its first disc had fifteen of his greatest hits and second disc contained fifteen new songs. The album produced two new hit singles and videos in America: 'Scream', a duet with his sister Janet, whose futuristic music video, with a seven million dollar price tag, is the most expensive music video ever made; and 'You Are Not Alone', the first song to ever debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart and whose video had a cameo from Jackson's then-wife, Lisa Marie Presley. The album's other singles and videos, 'Childhood', 'Earth Song', 'Stranger In Moscow', and 'They Don't Care About Us' had limited success in America, and performed far better in Europe. 'Childhood' is notable for having been the theme song to Free Willy 2. 'They Don't Care About Us' caused a stir when it was released due to controversial lyrics which were considered by some to be anti-Semitic. This caused American MTV and VH1 to ban the song's music video, even though it garnered heavy airplay on many of America's Boxnetworks. The lyrics 'Jew me, sue me/ Kick me, kike me' were modified on the album's official release in reponse to the criticism. Apart from the video for 'Scream,' singles and videos from HIStory nowadays garner little airplay in America, making the album a failure overall by Jackson's standards, though it has sold over 18 million double albums as of 2004. On the other hand, the album spawned his biggest hit ever in the UK, 'Earth Song' stayed at the top of the chart for six weeks and sold over a million copies.
In 1997 Jackson released Blood on the Dance Floor, a remix album of several of the tracks off of HIStory, which also included 5 new songs and has since become the biggest-selling remix album of all time. The album only had one single and official music video, the title track, which failed to catch on in America, and again proved a far more popular hit in Europe. However, Jackson also produced 'Ghosts', a 40-minute short film, which was shown in several movie theaters and uses the songs 'Ghosts' and '2 Bad' in the film. The short film 'Ghosts' is occasionally played as an hour-long special, with space made for commercials, on MTV and VH1, especially during the Halloween season.
Jackson's 2001 album Invincible, the most expensive album ever produced, debuted at number one on the U.S. charts, selling 2 million copies in the United States and 5-6 million worldwide. While the numbers seemed impressive, the sales figures were nonetheless disappointing, considering Jackson's previous success and the cost of the album. As opposed to his earlier albums which each spawned at least six singles, most of which were generally worldwide smashes, Invincible produced only the singles 'You Rock My World' and 'Butterflies' in America. 'Cry' was also issued as a third single in Europe. 'You Rock My World' managed the top ten in America, but only for a week, and its big-budget, 14-minute music video received only sparse airplay on MTV, VH1, MTV2, and BET, usually in a shortened, 5-minute version. 'Butterflies' was a top 20 hit in America as well as a #2 hit on the R&B charts, but did not reach the top 10, despite a popular radio remix featuring rapper Eve; the song's relative lack of success also allowed no budget for a music video.In what was perhaps the 'Golden Age' of the video clip, some of Jackson's videos were virtually short films with considerable plots, impressive special effects, and featuring Jackson's distinctive dance style.Jackson held his first live concert in some years at Madison Square Garden, New York, in early September 2001.
One More Chance
On November 21st, 2003, Jackson released a new song, 'One More Chance,' written by R. Kelly. It was the only new track on his Number Ones greatest hits album.It went on to become the #1 track on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales chart for three straight weeks.The song was also featured as a montage video on the CBS TV special 'Michael Jackson Number Ones.' The special was then released on DVD as 'The One.'