[showtime] Thriller 40

for those who were alive in the 80s, how was it when thriller came out? were women fainting? where there pandemonium in the streets?

 

I came

 

@tinman most likely had the thriller jacket haha. Did the signature dance too

 

Man, I remember when the video premiered. I was 6. I was down the street at a friends house and it was about to start and I ran home to watch it. It was a huge deal. And then when he morphed into the werewolf at the beginning it scared the **** out of me and I ran out of the room like a little b****.

 

Faptastic......just do the new Music video.

 

Probably the same when I first played Resident Evil. Or watched 7 for the first time.

 

Couldn't wrap our heads around the fact that Eddie Van Halen was playing on a Michael Jackson album but on first listen, Beat It was incredible. Billie Jean was just awesome from the first time I heard it. Was watching the moonwalk show with some college friends. When he broke it out, our collective jaw hit the floor and we all looked at each other and were like, "What the hell was that?" It was amazing. Kind of crazy to think that Thriller is arguably the 4th (P.Y.T.) or 5th (Wanna Be Startin' Somethin') best song on the album.

I didn't think he could top Off the Wall, but damn.

Everything after those two albums felt derivative and he gradually became a caricature of himself (and then the decline when the weirdness came to the fore), but my gosh, what a talent and what a groundbreaking two albums. The talent this kid had was ridiculous, the music he created crossed ages and cultures, and the ending was both disturbing and tragic.

 

It was everywhere on the radio and MTV. That Motown 25 special was a huge catalyst. MTV didn't play much black music...until Michael Jackson. He was the perfect artist to grow that channel. For more than 18 months, Thriller was the #1 album. Released the last week of October in 1982, it stayed #1 til the week of April 21st when the Footloose soundtrack took over #1. Fun fact: Many people consider 1984 the greatest year in music history. Only 5 Albums were #1 that year though: Thriller (4 months+ at #1), Footloose, Sports (Huey Lewis and the News), Born in the USA (Springsteen), and.....Purple Rain (5 months at #1 in 1984). 1984 started with Michael Jackson and ended with Prince at #1.