And in "Money," he whispers, "You'll do anything for money." With his paranoia, his anti-Semitic lyrics and his endless supply of uniforms, Jackson may be ready to join a militia. "Stop pressurin' me," Jackson yelps in "Scream," adding, "Tired of you tellin' the story your way." In "This Time Around," he mutters, "They thought they really had control of me." In "D.S.," he accuses somebody named Dom Sheldon (though he pronounces it like "Tom Stephan") of being tied to the C.I.A. In the second, "They Don't Care About Us," he gives the lie to his entire catalogue of brotherhood anthems with a burst of anti-Semitism: "Jew me, sue me, everybody do me/ Kick me, kike me, don't you black or white me." While he does manage to calm down for an occasional ballad or love song, he can't stop lashing out at tormentors named and unnamed, chief among them the news media that he could no longer manipulate. In the first of the new songs, "Scream," Jackson jeopardizes his commercial safety zone, the G-rated kiddie audience, by using profanity. But it's also the sound of bridges burning. The other half, "HIStory Continues," is a collection of meticulous, sumptuous, musically ingenious new songs, nearly all written by Jackson himself. Half of "HIStory," titled "HIStory Begins," is a sure thing, a collection of greatest hits from three of the best-selling albums of all time - "Thriller" (1982, 46 million sold worldwide), "Bad" (1987, 22 million) and "Dangerous" (1991, 23 million) - and from their predecessor "Off the Wall" (1979, 11 million). They're going to spend $30 million to do it. Sony executives have said that they hope to sell 20 million copies of "HIStory," which retails for $32.98 for the CDs ($23.98 for the cassettes). He's the main asset of his own corporation, which is a profitable subsidiary of Sony. It has been a long time since Michael Jackson was simply a performer. And somehow, with the strange synchronicity of pop culture's longtime survivors, his private distress may have put him back in touch with a public mood: there are a lot of aggrieved, belligerent people who feel just as victimized as he does. Yet he remains one of the most gifted musicians alive. Kennedy and Jesus Christ, he's a megalomaniac who feels like a victim. In his new songs, he is paranoid and cagey, messianic and petty, vindictive and maudlin. He's not pretending to be normal any more. On his new double album, "HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I," his rage keeps ripping through the sweet, uplifting facade he has clung to throughout his career. MICHAEL JACKSON IS BACK, AND HE'S furious.
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