Off the Wall was a massive success, spawning four Top Ten hits (two of them number ones), but nothing could have prepared Michael Jackson for Thriller. Nobody could have prepared anybody for the success of Thriller, since the magnitude of its success was simply unimaginable -- an album that sold 40 million copies in its initial chart run, with seven of its nine tracks reaching the Top Ten (for the record, the terrific "Baby Be Mine" and the pretty good ballad "The Lady in My Life" are not like the others). This was a record that had something for everybody, building on the basic blueprint of Off the Wall by adding harder funk, hard rock, softer allads, and smoother soul -- expanding the approach to have something for every audience. That alone would have given the album a good shot at a huge audience, but it also arrived precisely when MTV was reaching its ascendancy, and Jackson helped the network by being not just its first superstar, but first black star as much as the network helped him. This all would have made it a success (and its success, in turn, served as a new standard for success), but it stayed on the charts, turning out singles, for nearly two years because it was really, really good. True, it wasn't as tight as Off the Wall -- and the ridiculous, late-night house-of-horrors title track is the prime culprit, arriving in the middle of the record and sucking out its momentum -- but those one or two cuts don't detract from a phenomenal set of music. It's calculated, to be sure, but the chutzpah of those calculations (before this, nobody would even have thought to bring in metal virtuoso Eddie Van Halen to play on a disco cut) is outdone by their success. This is where a song as gentle and lovely as "Human Nature" coexists comfortably with the tough, scared "Beat It," the sweet schmaltz of the Paul McCartney duet "The Girl Is Mine," and the frizzy funk of "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)." And, although this is an undeniably fun record, the paranoia is already creeping in, manifesting itself in the record's two best songs: "Billie Jean," where a woman claims Michael is the father of her child, and the delirious "Wanna Be Startin' Something," the freshest funk on the album, but the most claustrophobic, scariest track Jackson ever recorded. These give the record its anchor and are part of the reason why the record is more than just a phenomenon. The other reason, of course, is that much of this is just simply great music.
Michael Jackson: "Billie Jean"by Mark Asch • July 21, 2009Michael Jackson's best song—and I can say that it is with certainty, now, in the ecstatic hindsight that his death has brought, following weekends of car speakers and barrooms full of young, dancing Brooklynites and barbecue boom boxes—is also, in hindsight, his most poignant. "Billie Jean", aside from being his breakthrough hit, and
More >
The phrase "King of Pop" must have been used a billion times since his death. But was he? I don't deny the quality behind Off The Wall and Thriller, but to be honest he hasn't produced a decent record for 22 years.One of the most striking aspects of Jackson's death is how much respect is being showered on him by the press. This is the same media outlets that have pilloried the man for the last ...
More >
When I was working as a music journalist from the early '80s to the mid-'90s, I spent about five months a year in New York City (Manhattan), Los Angeles (Hollywood, 90028) and varying additional U.S. cities. In L.A., I became friends with Shirley Brooks, a Japanese-African American who, among other duties, was CBS Records' liaison for visiting foreign journalists like me.Her kids were friends w...
More >
The cover song is a powerful musical institution, capable of producing tremendous good…or unspeakable evil.Laudable examples like Jimi Hendrix's driving take on "All Along the Watchtower" (Bob Dylan) or Jeff Buckley's impassioned "Hallelujah" (Leonard Cohen) achieve their own artistic triumphs in ways the original songwriters may never have dreamed. But more compelling can be the covers that fa.
More >
Teenage Australian singer Gabriella Cilmi became the first artist to pay tribute to Michael Jackson on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival.She was greeted with applause after slipping in a few lines from Jackson's Billie Jean into her single Sweet About Me during her performance today (June 26).click here for more
More >
My mom only had two albums in her car when I was growing up -- the Eagles' Hotel California and Michael Jackson's Thriller. And given how many soccer practices, guitar...
More >
Artist: Michael JacksonAlbum: Thriller (25th Anniversary Edition)Click here to downloaddownload Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' mp3download Baby Be Mine mp3download The Girl Is Mine [w. Paul McCartney] mp3download Thriller mp3download Beat It mp3download Billie Jean mp3download Human Nature mp3download P.Y.T. [Pretty Young Thing] mp3download The Lady In My Life mp3download Vincent Price mp3download...
More >
I just saw this on fark and knew it belonged here:
More >
via LA Times: Paramedics arrived at his Bel-Air home today and found the singer in full cardiac arrest. A doctor was in the home performing CPR on the him. LAPD has opened an inquiry. Pop star Michael Jackson was pronounced dead today after paramedics found him in a coma at his Bel-Air mansion, city and law enforcement sources told The Times.via. CNN: Michael Jackson, the show-stopping singer w...
More >
Someone's acquired a liscence to take Michael Jackson's zombie-rific "Thriller" video concept to the Broadway stage. (First U2 and Spiderman and now this! These Broadway folks keep getting wackier ideas.) According to an "AP report,":http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090126/ap_en_ot/people_michael_jackson;_ylt=AuDPfTbjaiqzxgS7XX0IMstxFb8C producer James L. Nederlander, whose company owns nine Broa...
More >
Remember when you'd watch footage from Michael Jackson concerts and everyone was fainting and being passed over people's heads to the sidelines. Well get ready for Michael Jackson mania to strike back, with the forthcoming 25th anniversary of the Gloved One's Thriller.There have been rumors of ol' Jacko Wacko partnering up with his brothers for a Jackson 5 reunion, and most recently reports of ...
More >
Michael Jackson's ??Thriller??, the 1982 album that turned the Gloved One into a pop superstar and went on to become the biggest-selling record of all time, is among 25 musical works selected today by the Library of Congress to be preserved in perpetuity."Click Here":CH to see the other entries[CH]http://news.yahoo.com/s/eonline/20080514/en_music_eo/ef74379a00e3_43b7_8f49_bde72e100db6
More >
My mom only had two albums in her car when I was growing up -- the Eagles' Hotel California and Michael Jackson's Thriller. And given how many soccer practices, guitar...
More >
I can't say that I truly know what to make of Michael's untimely passing...I have an odd, delayed response to death in the first place, and my boyfriend is clearly more affected than I.But, watching hours and hours of his music videos, it did have me re-thinking my relationship with my childhood music. Chipmunk Punk was my first album; Thriller was my second. But it's no longer in my collection...
More >
I just saw this on fark and knew it belonged here:
More >
The cover song is a powerful musical institution, capable of producing tremendous good…or unspeakable evil.Laudable examples like Jimi Hendrix's driving take on "All Along the Watchtower" (Bob Dylan) or Jeff Buckley's impassioned "Hallelujah" (Leonard Cohen) achieve their own artistic triumphs in ways the original songwriters may never have dreamed. But more compelling can be the covers that fa.
More >
The Sun reveals the shocking autopsy findings after the apparently not-so-sudden death of the King of Pop.(RIP MJ)
More >
Yes, that is a man in the pink shirt. EEK!Lucky it fades to black before the gang rape starts!Sorry if this has already the MOS rounds.
More >
Michael Jackson: "Billie Jean"by Mark Asch • July 21, 2009Michael Jackson's best song—and I can say that it is with certainty, now, in the ecstatic hindsight that his death has brought, following weekends of car speakers and barrooms full of young, dancing Brooklynites and barbecue boom boxes—is also, in hindsight, his most poignant. "Billie Jean", aside from being his breakthrough hit, and
More >
DOWNLOAD: Michael Jackson - Thriller (Album) 1. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" 2. "Baby Be Mine" 3. "The Girl Is Mine" 4. "Thriller" 5. "Beat It" 6. "Billie Jean" 7. "Human Nature" 8. "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" 9. "The Lady in My Life"
More >
In a rare recorded video message to fans, Michael Jackson thanked and assured his fans.Humbled Jackson said, "To be able to say that Thriller still holds the record as the biggest selling album of all time is just mind-blowing. I have you, my fans throughout the world, to thank for this achievement." The video could be considered shameless self promotion, since today also marks the release of t...
More >
_cebu provincial detention and rehabilitation center, Cebu, Philippines_
More >
Fire FestivalUpon this night, All Hallow's EveTradition migrated from the emerald isleBonfires ablaze; in lightless corners spirits prevailGhosts and goblins, robed to deceive?A night of underworld make-believeWandering souls; death a denialLine between dead and alive blurred for awhileSee for yourself, give the mask a heaveJack-o'-lanterns, trick-or-treatCautious night crawler; a darkened imag...
More >
| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' |
|
|
| 2 Baby Be Mine |
|
|
| 3 The Girl Is Mine |
|
|
| 4 Thriller |
|
|
| 5 Beat It |
|
|
| 6 Billie Jean |
|
|
| 7 Human Nature |
|
|
| 8 P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) |
|
|
| 9 The Lady in My Life |
|
|
Click to purchase…
© 2006-2009 Mog Inc. All Rights Reserved
 "Thriller")
