They Don’t Care About Us – A HIStory of Michael Jackson’s Most Controversial Song.
by Tristan Jackson
In 1995, Michael Jackson released his first album in 4 years. Known in full as HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book 1, It was a double album, with the first disc containing his greatest hits from the late 70’s, to the early 90’s, and the second consisting of new material. Becuase of it’s long title, the record is most commonly referred to as simply HIStory, with the first 3 letters of the title being capitalized, Turning history into HIS Story. This was Jackson’s response to the shit storm which had been the previous two years of his life, Being accused of child abuse by the extortionist father of a former friend. Disregarding the lack of any actual evidence or credible witnesses, The press swarmed over the situation like vulchers to a wounded calf. MJ described it as
“At every opportunity, the media has dissected and manipulated these alligations to reach their own conclusions.”
The HIStory album was a mixed bag of pop, combining everything from classic orchestra, to hard hitting hip-hop. It’s among Jackson’s most vulnerable and autobiographical of works, addressing the 1993 allegations and the motives behind them, and the media frenzie that surrounded them, discrimination, greed, and an epic expose’ to the destruction if the planet, and a plea for all to do their part to look after it, in Earth Song.
They Don’t Care About Us is the album’s second track, and the fourth single. It’s a dark and gritty piece, loaded with meaning and emotion. It was written and produced by the king of pop himself. Though not as iconic as some of his other works such as Billie Jean, Black or White or Man in the Mirror, TDCAU was a top 10 hit in most countries, and was supported by two music videos. Never had we heard Michael so angry or defiant on record, And never before, or since, would one of his songs cause so much controversy.
Whether you love, hate, or are completely indifferent to the song, You can’t deny the genius of it’s production value. The feeling and emotion are hand delivered to the listener sonically, with it’s driving beat, and hundreds of percussion tracks. Even without the lyrics, If you just heard the song for the first time as an instrumental, you would feel the passion and anger from where it was born.
The song was denounced by Bernard Weinraub of the New York Times on June 15th 1995, the day before HIStory was released. Weinraub was the husband of Sony Pictures cheif Amy Pascal, Who’s race-laden jokes about Barak Obama were leaked in the infamous 2014 Sony Hack.. Weinraub accused Jackson of anti-semetizm due to his use of the word Kike.
The word kike originated on Ellis Island in the upper New York bay late in the 1800s. Illiterate immigrants at that time often signed their entry forms with a simple X, But many of the Jewish declined from doing this because they associated the X with the Christian cross. Instead, they signed with a circle. The Yiddish word for circle is Kikel (pronounced Ky-kul). Boarder inspectors began referring to these immigrants as Kikels in a derogatory manner, which they eventually shortened to kike.
This was all the invitation a lot of the press needed to run with the same anit-sematizm claim of the New York times, Creating a reluctance from radio stations to play the song, As a result, it peaked at #30 in the United States.
MJ responded to the controversy, saying
“The idea that these lyrics could be deemed objectionable is extremely hurtful to me, and misleading. The song in fact is about the pain of prejudice and hate and is a way to draw attention to social and political problems. I am the voice of the accused and the attacked. I am the voice of everyone. I am the skinhead, I am the Jew, I am the black man, I am the white man. I am not the one who was attacking. It is about the injustices to young people and how the system can wrongfully accuse them. I am angry and outraged that I could be so misinterpreted.”
When you take a look at the volume of stories and controversies that surround him in his lifetime, Michael Jackson only responded to, or even acknowledged very few of them. This was an exception. This was important to him.
On June 17th, the day after HIStory’s release, Jackson released a statement, saying, in part
“I just want you all to know how strongly I am committed to tolerance, peace and love, and I apologize to anyone who might have been hurt,”
And a few days later returned to the studio to alter the song for future copies of the album. The written lyrics in the album booklet were changed from “Jew me” and “Kike me”, to “Do me” and “Strike me”. Contrary to reports at the time, He did not actually record new vocals. Instead he chose to install some rather abrupt sound effects over the controversial lyrics, perhaps to express his frustration on the whole situation?
The song was supported by two music videos, Both directed by Spike Lee. The first was shot in Rio De Janero, Brazil, Where Michael sings and dances on balconies and in the streets in a festival like party with local children, fans, and Brazilian music group Olodum, who’s drums are kept audible over the track in the completed video. State authorities unsuccessfully tried to ban the video from being filmed there, Fearing images of poverty might affect tourism. And they accused Jackson of exploiting the poor. The state secretary for Industry, Commerce and Tourism demanded editing rights over the finished product, saying,
“I don’t see why we should have to facilitate films that will contribute nothing to all our efforts to rehabilitate Rio’s image.”
Some were concerned that scenes of poverty and human rights abuses would affect their chances of hosting the Olympics in 2004. Others supported Jackson’s wish to highlight the problems of the region, arguing that the government were embarrassed by their own failings. Though a judge did initially ban the production, The ruling was overruled by an injunction. Officials may have been angry about this, But residents were excited and very welcoming to Jackson and the production crew. If you only remember seeing one video for this song, This is the video you would have seen. This is the one that was played on MTV and included on the HIStory short films dvd.
On chosing Spike Lee as the director, MJ explained
“It’s a public awareness song and that’s what he is all about. It’s a protest kind of song… and I think he was perfect for it”
The second music video, commonly referred to as “The prison version”, is a no-holds-barred spotlight exposing the darkest parts of humanity. Most networks refused to play this video because of the confronting nature of much of the content. Shot in a real prison, The video cuts from shots of a handcuffed Jackson and other black and Latino prisoners, to real footage of poverty & starvation, war & genocide, The KKK, and police brutality.
The song has seen a recent return to the mainstream after becomming a makeshift anthum for protesters in Furgison, Missuri, where unarmed African American teen Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer, who was not indicted for the shooting.
They Don’t Care About Us, Michael Jackson’s angry anthum designed to expose the powerful and corrupt, is the one song that has been so regularly banned and censored by the very people it is protesting against.
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