Michael Jackson's Thriller turns 35: How it shaped the artist, industry and MTV generation

In 1980, Rolling Stone declined to do a cover story on Michael Jackson. His fifth studio album and first solo one, Off The Wall, sold 20 million copies, received much critical acclaim and established him as a solo performer to reckon with. Up until that point, he had been in the industry for a decade already; transitioning from child prodigy to teen idol successfully. And he had made it to the cover of the magazine as early as 1971 when he was just an 11-year-old. That Rolling Stone refused to put the adult star on their cover  despite the success of his album, rankled with Jackson. He reportedly confided in his then manager just how lonely the past couple of years had been as he stood at the threshold of adulthood, and how unfair it felt that Off The Wall did not win Record of the Year. “I’ve been told over and over that black people on the cover of magazines doesn’t sell copies … Just wait. Someday those magazines are going to be begging me for an interview. Maybe I’ll give them one, and maybe I won’t,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_4234663” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Michael Jackson in a still from Thriller[/caption] Rejection, they say, is among the greatest inspirations in life. Jackson was determined to create a definitive album where every song was a hit. He reunited with producer Quincy Jones and recorded 30 songs, nine of which made the final cut. Exploring post-disco, pop, rock & roll and funk, Thriller was released on 30 November, 1982. It won a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards in 1984, including Album of the Year. Jackson won seven of the eight Grammys for the album. Thriller was recognized as the world’s best-selling album on 7 February, 1984, when it was inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records, and remained a best-seller for two straight years in the US (1983–1984). It continues to be the world’s best-selling album, having sold over 66 million copies. The album was a game changer for Michael Jackson the person, the black man, and the artiste, as well as for the record industry and for the MTV generation that consumed music visually. Thriller was transcendental the way The Beatles or Elvis Presley were. Jackson graced the cover of the magazine in February 1983, for the first time as an adult, in an article appropriately titled Life as a Man. The whole industry benefited from the success of the album. With a domestic revenue of approximately $4.1 billion, the album restored the confidence of the industry in the post-disco era by straddling multiple genres, riding high on the fully matured voice of the young star, and optimising the synth pop sound. It was the first album to achieve such dizzying success through all the media available at the time: radio, records and music videos. Legend has it that before the success of Thriller, Jackson struggled to get his videos aired on MTV, alluding to his black lineage, a claim that MTV roundly denies. To make sure that Jackson’s Thriller got the time it deserved on-air, CBS Records’ then president Walter Yetnikoff is said to have told MTV, “I’m not going to give you any more videos and I’m going to go public and f****** tell them about the fact you don’t want to play music by a black guy.” The music videos were way ahead of their time and were critical in the history of pop music. Epic Records’ plan to create a song and video that would appeal to the mass market went on to influence the way professionals now market and release their songs. With each video having a distinctive storyline that showcased the best of Michael Jackson: the performer, the dancer and the singer, Thriller became a case-study on how an album can be all-encompassing. While there were so many other elements at play for Thriller, one cannot take away from the sheer genius of its music and collaborations. The first single to be released from the album was ‘The Girl Is Mine’, a collaboration with Paul McCartney. While the song received a lukewarm response and critics feeling that this was Michael Jackson’s way of pandering to white sensibilities, people had absolutely no idea what was to come. The next song to release was the incredible ‘Billie Jean’. Jones said in the 2001 reissue of the album that the song was so personal to Jackson. Although Jones disapproved of the extended intro, Jackson felt the drum and bass introduction made him want to dance. It was one of the best-selling singles of 1983, was the biggest-selling single for Jackson as a solo artist, and remains one of the best-selling singles worldwide. Its distinct bassline aside, the song introduced the listeners to the trademark Jackson hiccup and frantic lyrical style; traits that went on to define the Michael Jackson sound. [caption id=“attachment_4234667” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Michael Jackson in a still from Thriller[/caption] Thriller’s other immensely successful song was ‘Beat It’, a number that saw Michael Jackson collaborate with Eddie Van Halen and Toto’s Steve Lukather. Reeling in the post-disco era, Jones and Jackson were inspired to create the ultimate rock song that would appeal to people of all musical palates. Eddie thought it was a prank call when Jones rang him up for a guitar solo on the song. Convinced that this was indeed the real deal, he borrowed an amplifier and recorded the solo free of charge. Lukather later reduced some of the distortion in Eddie’s playing to give it more mass appeal. ‘Beat It’’s success won it Record of the Year and Best Male Rock Vocal Performance at the 1984 Grammys. With ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’, ‘Human Nature’, ‘PYT’ (‘Pretty Young Thing’) and the title track ‘Thriller’  forming the remaining seven hit singles out of nine, the album brought together a range of genres, establishing Jackson as a highly successful cross-over artiste, transcending genres, and barriers of race and age, to achieve unprecedented, wide-spread acceptance and acclaim. He proved that a black man can sell a song on MTV or a magazine cover; that a child prodigy can morph into an equally, if not for more, successful adult with perhaps an even better voice; that a music video can take the lyrical story forward so convincingly that generations to come cannot disengage the sonic from the visual. For those of us who lived through the genius of Thriller, the album is an indelible part of our life’s soundtrack. It gave us the Michael Jackson we want to revere.