THE RECORDING SESSIONS WERE EVER SO SLIGHTLY COMPETITIVE
To celebrate its anniversary, here's a look at some of the stories surrounding the making of “Scream” and its video. It also came with one of the best (and allegedly most expensive) videos of all time, director Mark Romanek housing the siblings in their very own wipe-clean, hyper-modern spaceship, complete with indoor zen garden, remote controlled art gallery and futuristic squash court. Its sense of unleashed frustration makes it one of Jackson's most enduring songs outside of his 80s purple patch, the aggression sounding defiant as opposed to bitter. A duet with younger sister Janet Jackson, and produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, “Scream” finds the pair spitting out tightly wound lines railing against the press almost through gritted teeth, the industrial beats and clattering percussion encasing an incredible vocal performance from Michael that peaks with the line, “oh brother please have mercy 'cause I just can't take it”. While his often toxic relationship with the tabloid media had been tackled before in his music – most notably on Bad's “ Leave Me Alone” and Dangerous’ “ Why You Wanna Trip On Me” – the majority of HIStory's unfettered anger made those heavy-handed pleas feel like metaphorical flights of fancy.Īmazing lead single “ Scream” – released twenty years ago today – however offered a more relatable and enjoyable sense of catharsis.
Released two years after Jackson was accused, and subsequently cleared, of child molestation charges, the album's full of bitter songs like “ Money” and “ D.S.” that feel alienating to anyone unfamiliar with the ins and outs of the allegations (“D.S.” for example stands for Dom Sheldon, which is a non too subtle allusion to Tom Sneddon, the district attorney who brought the charges against him).
Drink every time Spencer Charnas recreates a famous movie quote.By the release of 1995's HIStory album, Michael Jackson's music – often imbued with something close to pure joy – had become polluted by solipsism. From Cabin Fever to Psycho to Evil Dead, this record takes listeners on a detailed tour of every flick on the late-late-late-nite horror marathon. Welcome to Horrorwood is a spirited sequel to 2018’s The Silver Scream, with the band offering their diehard legions soaring metalcore takes on a whole new stack of blood-soaked classics. “If a slasher movie marathon is more your speed than trick-or-treating, Ice Nine Kills are here for you. The Pit’s own Chris Krovatin included Welcome to Horrorwood in our list of the 2021 releases that would make perfect soundtracks for this Halloween. It’s good to know that horror-worshipping records with songs about Evil Dead on them can still enter into the Billboard Top 20.īillboard isn’t the only place where Ice Nine Kills are landing solid spots. In any event, congrats to Ice Nine Kills on this massive achievement. It’s worth noting that the Top Album Sales chart relates solely to the traditional sale of records and doesn’t account for streaming, which makes sense given that the horror metal fanbase is probably more accustomed to buying physical music as opposed to using online streaming services. Overall, the record hit the following chart positions and sales metrics:
Now, the band have revealed their chart standings, and apparently there are a lot more horror hounds out there than one might think!Īccording to a press release, Welcome to Horrorwood not only dominated the rock charts, it also landed at #18 on the Billboard Top 200 - not bad for an album whose songs are breakdown-heavy anthems to serial killers. This month saw horror-obsessed metalcore act Ice Nine Kills release Welcome to Horrorwood: The Silver Scream 2, a sequel to the band’s massive 2018 album.