“He’s out to shock,” MJ sings about the district attorney who tried to put him in prison, but he may as well be referring to himself. This song, from his History album, is a surprising departure for the pop icon. Michael Jackson songs have always been radio-friendly and relatively inoffensive. Even Dirty Diana handled groupie sluts with kid gloves. He takes those gloves off for DS, the seemingly ambiguous title of which represents Tom Sneddon’s phonetic initials. The “T” is changed to a “D” presumably to avoid a future defamation lawsuit.

The “BS” DA, it’s implied, has ties with not only the CIA but the KKK. But before you can ask yourself if Michael Jackson’s actually trying to play the race card, the chorus kicks back in. “Tom Sneddon is a cold man,” it goes and, as elementary as it is, it’s just catchy enough to hook you in, especially near the end of the song when the background harmonies begin. The music, led by a simple guitar riff on repeat, is tame compared to past rockers like Give In To Me and the aforementioned Dirty Diana; let alone Beat It; but it goes hard nonetheless.

my rating : 4 of 5

1995