Buried on Michael Jackson’s 1995 album HIStory is a track that most casual listeners skip right past. It is called “D.S.” The printed lyrics tell you it is about a man named Dom Sheldon. There is just one problem. Dom Sheldon does not exist.
The real story is one of the boldest things Michael ever put on a record.
In the early 1990s, Michael was under investigation, and the man leading the charge against him was the Santa Barbara district attorney, Tom Sneddon. Michael was furious, and he did what artists do with their anger. He wrote a song about it. The original title said it plainly. The track was simply called “T.S.”
Naming a sitting prosecutor and going after him on a global album is the kind of thing that makes lawyers break out in a cold sweat. So the title on the finished album became “D.S.,” and the lyric sheet pointed to a made-up character, Dom Sheldon. On paper, it was about a stranger. Nobody could complain.
But Michael had a trick up his sleeve. When he actually stepped up to the microphone, he did not sing about any Dom Sheldon.
Hear it for yourself:
Michael Jackson – D.S. (Audio)
Listen to the way he bends the words. What the booklet calls “Dom Sheldon” comes out of his mouth sounding exactly like “Tom Sneddon.” He names the man over and over, in a snarling chorus that leaves no doubt who he is singing about. The fictional character was a fig leaf, and Michael knew it. The song even ends with the sound of a gunshot.
The most fascinating part is how the target reacted. Years later, Sneddon said he had never even bothered to listen to the song. He only knew that it ended with a gunshot, and he brushed the whole thing off.
Whatever you think of the feud behind it, the song is a rare glimpse of a side of Michael the public almost never saw. Not the gentle entertainer or the careful public figure, but a man who felt cornered and angry, and who fought back the only way he knew how, through his music. He let the lawyers have their fake name on the page, then walked into the studio and sang the truth anyway.
Press play and listen for the name hiding in plain sight.