You can play an entire D&D campaign and enjoy yourself thoroughly without giving a thought as to your character's past history.

Likewise, you can find creating a detailed history enhances your enjoyment.

Which one works is affected by the preferences of you and your group

It is well worth discussing this at the beginning of the campaign. Some DMs run games that look to their players to come with backgrounds that help shape the stories to come. But this isn't all DMs. (Nor should it be).

If you come with a ten-page backstory for your DM to incorporate, not all DMs are comfortable using that. There is a school of DMing where the DM is the primary creator, and the players explore the world they create. Yes, the players' actions will shape it, but that's it.

Meanwhile, there are more collaborative approaches where the DM adjudicates the world, but is more comfortable including player-created material - even material that is created on the fly.

(It's worth noting that even though the DM is happy with this, the players might not be!)

When collaboration happens can also change. It's quite possible to do most of the collaborative world-building in "Session 0" (or at least before the campaign begins). So, the players and DM together brainstorm elements of what will be on the table. After that, it's the DM.

But with all of this, be mindful of the other players. If your inventions are shutting other players out, they'll be detrimental to the campaign as a whole. If there's a backstory element you include, it helps significantly if at least one other character uses it.

This also helps the DM. Remember, D&D is a group game. If the party is dealing with a story based on an element from ONE character's background, it doesn't engage everyone as much as if it's based on an element from EVERYONE's background!