The Greatest Of All Time

“no mere mortal can resist, the evil of the thriller”
Rarely has a creative force been so strong that regardless of controversy or hullabaloo its integrity remains pristine. It has been 26 years since Michael Jackson released the largest selling album in the history of well, music. The irresistible sonic soundscapes have captured the imaginations of millions across the world. And in this almost malevolent adoration, lies the story of possibly the greatest performer of all time.
Hidden behind the Neil Diamond and Ghulam Ali tapes in a drawer in my father’s study was the music that I would associate with most my childhood memories. I found it by mistake, hoping to score some lost marbles. My only care stemmed from playthings and cartoons. Michael Jackson then was just an image in a newspaper; a spirit embodied only by whatever little I read about him. His consideration was the same as that of vague politicians and sports personalities.

The cassette was decrepit. Visibly worn from several plays, it showed classic ‘graying’ and I seriously doubted its playback integrity. Still without rewinding or even checking for gear ‘drying’, it was deposited in the confines of a burnt out tape deck. Immediately Vincent Price’s maniacal, almost gruesome laughter filled the room. The crackling of the speakers made it even more sinister, almost irresistible. The shiver that ran up my spine ensured that come what may, the entirety of the tape would be heard. And then again. And then again, on repeat for the next few months. So much so that over a decade since the time I heard it, I could repeat every flinch in Price’s laugh.

Thriller has by far been the most influential album in music history. The case of albums like Sgt. Peppers and Highway 61 can be argued, but the sheer numbers just cannot be ignored. At over a 104 million records sold, the album is, in the truest sense of the term, phenomenal. It is also one of the last remaining achievements in Michael Jackson’s life that is still untouched by the vagaries of his public aura.

Startin’ Somethin’
Off The Wall, the predecessor to Thriller, brought Jackson on to the mainstream of American culture. Till then he was the quintessential underground wunderkid; cute, and with a falsetto that would put many elders to shame. Though talented, the world was still not exposed to the Jacko gold rush.  The Off The Wall period was the time that Michael was at his raw-est. He had just formed an association with high-flying producer Quincy Jones and his tunes were racy, with an undeniable air of promise.

With the closure of ‘70s rock and the rising trend of a new disco-funk movement, the early ‘80s was peak time for something fresh to take over the airwaves. But Jackson was an unlikely heir to this throne. For one, he was black. America was politically unsteady and therefore, a black artist taking over mainstream music was improbable to say the least. But he was determined; especially given that he expected Off The Wall to be a much bigger hit than it was.

Thriller’s release effectively made Michael Jackson the biggest ‘thing’ on the planet. The number of records sold was so phenomenal, that after a while, the activity became numerically insignificant. It was the start of something more than special; the birth of a legend.

Hit After Hit After Hit
Thriller changed several conceptions about pop music. It was able to do this because of several almost equally convincing reasons. For one, of the nine songs on the album, seven were singles – all making it to the Billboard top 10. At the time, such a number of singles was almost unimaginable. Even today successful albums release at best three to four singles. From the trailblazing ‘Beat It’ to the psycho-babble of ‘Billie Jean’, Thriller added to Jackson’s catalogue and live shows with stunning pomp.

Thriller also saw a rise in Jackson’s own songwriting talent. He wrote four songs on the album (‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’, ‘The Girl Is Mine’, ‘Beat It’ and ‘Billie Jean’) and all of them were huge hits. ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ became Jackson’s live show opening staple. It continued his affection with synth driven dance music. It also showed Quincy Jones’ continued influence on the then 25 year old. The song could easily have been a bombastic number, mimicking several dance tracks of the time replete with organ backing and a large chorus. But the song is tempered, and at six minutes in length, it’s a patient yet rewarding number.

‘The Girl Is Mine’ is probably the most wacko Jacko got on Thriller. A duet with Paul McCartney, the song features relatively inane banter between McCartney and Jackson in between the verse. The significance of the song, however, far outdoes its subject. At the height of his popularity, Jackson was able to join forces with whoever he chose. McCartney, then in relative silence after the end of the Beatles, was not the most obvious choice. Still, the pair shone, so much so that the song became radio staple in the same vein like Jackson’s other songs – this with Paul McCartney deliver such stunning conversation as “I’ve heard it all before Michael, she told me I was her forever lover, you know.” Unashamedly, this writer still remembers the words, exactly.

‘Beat It’ saw Jackson finally deliver a genre-bending rock blast that ensured his accessibility to all music audiences. It was risky, being something that a pop/R&B artist, rarely undertook. But it worked. With one of the most memorable guitar solos of all time (courtesy Eddie Van Halen no less) ‘Beat It’ became one of Jackson’s most loved songs. Like Quincy Jones said at the time “I need a song like My Sharona”, and Jackson delivered. The song won him two Grammy awards – Record of the Year and Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.

‘Billie Jean’ is arguably Jackson’s best written work of his catalogue. It was intensely personal largely because of the circumstances surrounding it. Some female fans of the star claimed that they were carrying Jackson’s children. For a young pop celebrity growing up in an environment largely alien to him, Jackson had to deal with this kind of stuff very introspectively. The result was ‘Billie Jean’, a song made famous by the surreal video that accompanied it. The song is also significant in that it was the vehicle for one of Jackson’s most famous dance steps – the Moonwalk.

Thriller Killed The Radio Star
The Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center is a relatively quiet prison in the Philippines. An unlikely place to find an inmate who could speak English, the prison suddenly caught the eye of a lot of media attention in mid-2007. The reason? A YouTube video of 1,500 orange uniform clad inmates performing the ‘Thriller’ dance routine in perfect unison. With precision arm movements and facial expressions to match, the inmates effectively recreated Michael Jackson’s epic pop masterpiece. Albeit without the costumes.

‘Thriller’ the song is almost as big as Thriller the album. It resembles a missing piece of a pop opera somehow finding its way into a record full of pop-dance hits. From its cautious opening to its almost vicious close, the song embodied far more than a Michael Jackson top 10 hit. In the close to six minutes that the song plays out it becomes the story of the enigma that was the King of Pop. It was haunting and yet a strangely attractive proposition. Even in today’s world of musical cynicism it still stands as a rigid testament to the height of the man’s universal fame. But ‘Thriller’ was larger than life for more than just its musical friendliness.

The 14 minute long video for the song is often considered one of the greatest and most iconic music videos of all time. It’s almost as if the video defined the song instead of the other way around. It was a revolutionary move at the time. Music videos were mostly just replicas of live performances by bands and artists, made mainly with the intention of promoting singles on television. ‘Thriller’ changed all that. The video told a story in the same way a short-film or a documentary does. The only difference being that it was a horror spoof featuring a bunch of zombies executing choreographed moves with Jackson. At a distance, one can look at it as a gimmick or a marketing ploy. But when something captures the imaginations of millions of people worldwide as much as ‘Thriller’ did, and still does, there has to be something more to it than puffery.

It has been replicated in almost every imaginable way. From inmates in prisons, to couples at their wedding, to Superbowl commercials (Google it) to even a part in a Rajnikanth film (the film was called Valli), ‘Thriller’ has become synonymous with the DIY-video and YouTube gimmickery movement. The music industry began to see the video as more than just mindless artist promotion. ‘Thriller’ set the bar, one that has yet to be raised. Soon MTV was filled with videos that featured vivid imagery and told stories that enhanced the music rather than just ‘adding’ to it. And as kids growing up watching television, who doesn’t like watching zombies shake a leg?

Beating It, Hard
It is impossible to think of the Thriller phenomena without recalling Jackson’s now heavily mimicked dance moves. One often forgets, especially given all the controversy surrounding the man in recent times, that Michael Jackson was in fact a very talented performer. I say performer and not ‘artist’ because MJ lived on stage. He made pop music far more than a simple genre classification. Thriller brought to pop, the show. It brought huge sets, multi-coloured costumes and large dance troupes. It brought booming choruses and backing artists occupying various precarious positions on stage. Jackson was, and some may say still is, an amazing dancer. Sure there were tonnes of choreographed moves and technological wizardry that followed the ‘70s and Saturday Night Fever, but for an individual to be not only unique but also strangely graceful in movement was very hard to find.

The number of dance moves that Thriller spawned would themselves fill volumes. From the Moonwalk, to the Robot, to the ‘Thriller’ routine, movement in the ‘80s would never be the same. Michael’s aesthetic was a function of not just his music, but the persona that he would soon come to embody. This aesthetic was what defined the show. Remember, we’re talking about the black Michael Jackson here. This was the time when people had still not gotten over the boy from the Jackson 5. Suddenly they were faced with this young man who could not only sing like a star (rivaling Paul McCartney for the affection of girls no less) but also dance like man possessed. He was fresh, appealing and completely unexpected. Plus he wore red jackets with V stripes down the front. Soon everyone took to wearing white socks and trousers that were just that little bit short. The entire culture of gangs became so much more aesthetically acceptable. When rock ‘n roll was telling people that they didn’t need to fit in, MJ created an ‘in’ into which it was cool to fit.

Success was inevitable. Live performances by the man were flocked to. If numbers are anything to go by, one in every 20 people in the world has seen MJ perform live. One in 60 own Thriller.
Business
1983 was a big business year for music companies. According to Time magazine the fallout of Thriller ensured estimated total domestic revenue of $4.1billion to the American music industry. Michael Jackson was so big that one commentator described there being two bodies in the music business – MJ, and everyone else. In 1984 Epic records was selling nearly a million copies of Thriller worldwide, every week. The music industry as a whole bore the fruit of the Jackson bandwagon’s efforts.

For one, royalty rates became more meaningful for artists. At the time, Michael was earning $2 for every record sold. Such a rate was unheard of in the business. Jackson’s personal wealth shot up tremendously. He was being paid in the millions to perform live. If artists have someone to thank for any large sums made touring, it’s MJ. The tour that followed the release of Thriller was sold out almost as fast as it was put on sale.

Black music, which was previously shelved in off prime hours, became mainstream. Jackson ruled the airwaves for a very long time, far after the release of Thriller. The marketing madness that ensued rivaled iconic campaigns. Pepsi sponsored many MJ shows post the album, and the soundtrack that he provided for E.T. at the same time won a Grammy. The money train was following him wildly, throwing money at whatever he did. The Guinness World Records went so far as naming him the ‘Most Successful Entertainer Of All Time’. Everything he touched turned gold, and then platinum.
Thriller 25
Thriller’s legacy lives in the many avatars that it was responsible for. Be it fashion, business or music videos. However, with international superstardom, came a price; one that Michael Jackson pays to this day. The last few years have been relatively quiet on the Jackson PR menu. With the fallout of 2005’s court cases still bearing much pressure on the image of MJ pre-the 21^st century, it has been his continuous effort to avoid media attention.

2008 brings with it the 25^th anniversary of the release of Thriller. To commemorate this landmark, Epic has released a special edition of the album called Thriller 25. Apart from the regular nine tracks that comprised the original album, this special release features seven bonus tracks with collaborations from contemporary pop acts like Kanye West and Fergie. To many this move by Epic comes as a refreshing reminder of Jackson’s biggest album. Thriller 25 is already in the Billboard 200 charts though it’s not as ‘big’ as its more illustrious namesake.

To some though, this new release comes off as a marketing gimmick intended to make Epic and the contributing artists a bunch of new money. It is also seen a move to bring MJ back into the limelight. If Sony music learned one thing with the release of Invincible (a total flop with rumoured marketing spends in excess of $55 million) it was that just shoveling money to buy ad spots wasn’t going to sell records. The new collaborations may help rejuvenate interest in Michael Jackson’s musical persona.

Thriller though, remains untouched. Every year, Epic adds the numbers like a mindless tally of copies sold. Whichever way you look at it, the sheer size of impact that the one album has had on the music industry is just immense; far more than many artists can hope to have in a lifetime.

The summer I ‘discovered’ Thriller was an endless loop of air guitaring and embarrassing dance moves. It visibly annoyed everyone around in a way that only rock ‘n roll can. But within that microcosm of musical exploration and the yelling of parents, a new era of pop music was unveiled. And Michael Jackson held the reins. The true measure of an artist isn’t in how much noise he or she can make in a lifetime. It’s in how indelible the music remains despite it. And that is why Thriller will remain the greatest of all time.

(This feature was the cover story of The Record magazine celebrating the 25th anniversary of Thriller)