I'm making special threads dedicated to the 25th Anniversary of 1999 and Thriller but I'm doing this one first because I'm still working on the 1999 one



25 YEARS OF THRILLER PART ONE: The Album

In April 1982, work began on Michael Jackson's sixth solo LP originally titled "Starlight", the follow up to 1979's classic "Off The Wall".
From April to October 1982, The album's dream team, Jackson, Quincy Jones, and Rod Temperton, recorded close to 800 songs, with 9 making the
final list, and retitling the LP and title track(sound and name) to "Thriller", but it was almost shelved.....

The album dealt with several setbacks. The album wasn't on schedule and getting pressure from CBS/Epic and when the album was
finally finished, the final mix sounded according to Michael "crappy". Another problem was the deal with the E.T. Storybook album.
Quincy and Michael took some time to recollect and then went back into the studio and remix and re-arrange the album. Along with
remixing the set, they also replaced the four weakest songs with the rock oriented "Beat It", the soothing groove "Human Nature", a new uptempo
version to "P.Y.T.(Pretty Young Thing), penned by Quincy and James Ingrham(the song was originally written by Michael and Greg Philliganes in 1981 or 82)
, and the slow jam, "The Lady In My Life"
THRILLER was released on December 1, 1982, debuting at #11 on the Billboard 200 and #29 in the UK. The album with success of singles, "The Girl Is Mine" and "
"Billie Jean" would reach #1 10 weeks after it's debut in the US and 12 (in the UK). In the US, it would go on to spend 37 non consecutive weeks at #1 and in the
Top 10 for 79. In the UK, it would spend 8 non consecutive weeks at the top and in the Top 10 for 78.
In 1983 Michael became the first artist to simultaneously hold the number one spots on Billboard's rock albums and rock singles charts, as well as the R&B albums and singles charts
With 7 Top 10 singles, Thriller won
7 American Music Awards, 8 Grammy Awards(7 in 1984 and 1 in 1985), 3 MTV Video Music Awards, 19 Billboard Awards(Music and Video),
4 NARM awards, 2 People's Choice Awards, 4 Canadian Black Music Awards, and a Crystal Globe Awards, and became the best sellling album
of all time, selling 104 million copies to date


Billboard Awards
Pop Album of the Year - Thriller
Pop Artist of the Year
Black Album - Thriller
Black Artist of the Year
Pop Album Artist
Pop Male Album Artist
Pop Male Singles Artist
Black Album Artist
Black Singles Artist
Pop Singles Artist
Dance/Disco Artist
Dance/Disco 12" LP - Billie Jean
Dance/Disco 12" LP - Beat It

Rolling Stone
Readers Poll - #1 Artist of the Year
Readers Poll - #1 Soul Artist
Readers Poll - #1 Video - Beat It
Readers Poll - #1 Producer (with Quincy Jones)
Critics Poll - #1 Artist of the Year
Critics Poll - #1 Video - Beat It
Critics Poll - #1 Male Vocalist
Critics Poll - #1 Soul Artist

Black Gold Awards
Top Male Vocalist
Best Album - Thriller
Best Single of the Year - Billie Jean
Best Video Performance - Beat It

Billboard Video Awards
Best Performance by a Male Artist
Best Overall Video - Beat It
Best Performance by a Male Artist Best Choreography - Beat It
Best Use Of Video To Enhance Artist's Song - Beat It
Best Use Of Video To Enhance Artist's Image - Beat It

Cashbox
Number One Male Artist
Top Black Male Artist
Top Pop Album
Top Black Album
Top Male - Singles Artist
Top Black Male - Singles Artist
Top Pop Single - Billie Jean
Top Black Single - Billie Jean

Album Of The Year - U.K, Japan, Australia, Holland

Artist Of The Year - U.K, Italy, Japan

International Artist Of The Year - Brazil

Record Of The Year - Greece

Best Male Vocalist - Japan

Most Important Foreign Album - Spain

Single Of The Year - Australia

Guinness Book Of Records
Best Selling Album Of All Time - Thriller

Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Grammy Awards
Michael recieves a record breaking 12 nominations and a record breaking 8 Grammy awards - the most won by an artist in one year.
Album Of The Year - Thriller
Record Of The Year - Beat It
Best Male Pop Performance
Producer Of The Year (with Quincy Jones) - Thriller
Best Male Rock Vocal Performance - Beat It
Best Male R&B Vocal Performance - Billie Jean
Best New R&B Song - Billie Jean
Best Recording For Children - E.T. The Extra Terrestrial Album (narration by Michael Jackson)

Canadian Black Music Awards
Top Male Vocalist
Entertainer of the Year
Top International Album - Thriller
Top International Single - Billie Jean

American Music Awards
Special Award Of Merit
Favorite Album-Pop/Rock - Thriller
Favorite Album-Soul/R&B - Thriller
Favorite Male Vocalist - Soul/R&B
Favorite Male Vocalist - Pop/Rock
Favorite Single-Pop/Rock - Billie Jean
Favorite Video-Pop/Rock - Beat It
Favorite Video-Soul/R&B - Beat It

MTV Awards
Viewers Choice Award - Thriller
Best Overall Video - Thriller
Best Choreography - Thriller

People's Choice Awards
Best All Around Entertainer Of The Year
Favorite Video of the Year - Thriller

Hotel Royal Plaza
Presentation Casement - 37 Gold & Platinum Discs

Presidential Special Achievement Award (U.S)
Presented at the White House by President Ronald Regan to Michael Jackson in recognition of his contribution to the nation's campaign against drunk driving - Michael's song "Beat It" was run in the ads

Presentation Casement Of Platinum Disc 1985
Presented in the U.K for the "Thriller" album

NARM
Gift Of Music Award
Best Selling Album - Thriller
Best selling Single - Billie Jean
Best Home Video - The Making Of Thriller

NAACP Image Awards
H. Claude Hodson Medal Of Freedom

Ebony Magazine Award

Billboard Awards
Top Album

American Video Awards
Best Long Form Video
Best Home Video

Crystal Globe Awards
Exceeding Sales Past 5 Million

poll - World Almanac and Book of Facts 1985
Voted "Hero of Young America"

Grammy Awards
Best Home Video - The Making Of Thriller

Rolling Stone Magazine(1989)
Video Of The Decade - Thriller

MTV Awards(1989)
The Greatest Video In The History Of The World - Thriller

Music Video Producers' Hall of Fame(1991)
Thriller Video


Billboard Music Award(1992)
Commemoration of 10th anniversary of Thriller (Biggest selling album of all time).

VH1 poll(1998)
# 1 greatest video of all time - Thriller

CNN Internet Poll(1999)
Best Music Video Of All Time - Thriller

80 Classics of the 80's Poll - Dutch Music Channel (TMF)(1999)
#1 Song - Thriller

Entertainment Weekly Poll(1999)
Best Solo Artist (Modern) - #1. Michael Jackson (with 25.90% of the votes)
Best Group (Classic) - #2. The Jackson 5 (with 13.57% of the votes)
Most Underrated Artist or Group - #2. Michael Jackson (with 17.125 of the votes)
Best Modern Album - #1. "Thriller" - Michael Jackson (with 23.43% of the votes)
Best Song (Modern) - #2. "Billie Jean" - Michael Jackson (with 16.11% of the votes)
Best Music Video - #1. "Thriller" - Michael Jackson (with 25.11% of the votes)

.....and just 3 videos, 7 singles, and 1 performance

Part 2 coming soon
[Edited 5/11/07 16:48pm]

can anyone expand on the et/storybook problems...and which songs were removed from the album? have any of them seen the light of day?

as much as i despise the abundance of mj threads this one is a cool one. thanks bboy87 for creating it.

Damn soooo MANY awards and there is more that's crazy 37 consecutive weeks at #1 the album was on the charts for years and it was still selling 1 MILLION cds a year 15 years after it's release
[Edited 5/10/07 18:24pm]
[Edited 5/10/07 18:26pm]

sosgemini said:

Starlight (which was the original album title) is one of those songs. This is the same track that was rewritten to became Thriller later on.

sosgemini said:

"carousel" and "someone in the dark"

sosgemini said:

thanks sosgemini! I know you get annoyed when there's too many Mj threads but I thought this would be a cool one and a way for orgers to use this threads(and the ones following this one) to discuss the album and songs

Epic Records didn't want the ET Storybook to come out when Thriller did(Thriller was already MONTHS behind schedule) there was an agreement but MCA released it anyway and sent promo copies of Someone In The Dark to radio stations. Epic took them to court and the album was withdrawn but still won a Grammy Award for Best Children's Recording.
The only song recorded for the set was Someone In The Dark pt 1 and 2

Most of the unreleased songs from the Thriller sessions are still unreleased. There are a few out there that are circulating:

Carousel(written by Michael Sembello and Daniel Freeman)
Trouble
Hot Street
Niteline(later given to Randy Crawford)
Love Never Felt So Good

another one, "Got The Hots" and the original version of "Starlight" were to be included on the 2001 Special Edition but were withdrawn. They are on the acetate pressings from 2001 so they're are out there but some fans are selfish bastards and won't share

It sure is. He spent some time on this one.

While we are talking about the 25th Anniversary of "Thriller" and "1999", my favorite memory of the two albums is the time my sister and I went to the carnival. We went to one of the game booths where you throw a dart, hit a balloon, and win a prize. The prizes were those mirrors that had a picture of an album cover on it. Anybody remember those? My sister got a "Thriller" mirror and I got a "1999" mirror that same day. Two years later, I got a "Purple Rain" mirror.

My sister's "Thriller" mirror got broke the same year she got it when she was fighting with my other sister. I still have both my Prince mirrors to this very day.....growing up, I kept all my shit at my grandmother's house so those evil siblings of mine couldn't fuck with it when they got mad at me.

Interesting.

But 800 songs? I'm finding that a little difficult to believe.

That reminds me of what happened when I FIRST became a fan of MJ. My mother had the vinyls of Thriller when I was really young. My brothers were huge MJ fans when they were little but then they discovered rap and that love became hate.(They're fickle) one day, my brothers went into the basement where my parent kept their LPs at that moment and broke several of them by playing frisbee. I saw pieces of Thriller and cried my eyes out. My mom was mad.....then she saw some of her Isley Brothers and O'Jays records in pieces..and all hell broke loose!

Xagain said:

Well, Michael worked on several demos from 1980 to 1982. He was working on songs for Triumph, Thriller, and the soundtrack to the Richard Pryor movie "The Toy". Quincy said there were 800 songs, then he said around 300 so who knows

wow 25 years since Thriller...I must admit that video scared the hell out of me when it first came on lol

Although I'm a big MJ fan I'll agree that there are a lot of unecessary MJ threads on here, but The 25th Anniversary of Thriller certainly deserves it's own thread for the fact that it was such a phenomenon.

Throwback articles from when "Thriller" was first released:








The Day London Witnessed "Thrillermania".

Big ups bboy

Nice read.

Reading those are cool. NO ONE thought it was going to do as well as Off The Wall, which was the best selling black album of all time

Once shit hop took over, every damn thing was fucked up. In the 1980s, the glam look was in. Even some of the rappers wore make-up such as The World Class Wrecking Crew, in which Dr. Dre was a part of.

When that ignorant gangsta shit took over, they embraced everything boring....slow music, "talking" over nothing but a weak beat, and homophobia. They would get into arguements with other rappers and talk about each other. They would talk about Dr. Dre wearing make-up in the 1980s (like that's really a bad thing). Hell, he looked better then than he ever did and made better music too. They just like to spew hate to take the world's focus off of them not having the talent that God gave a pea. That's why I really enjoy giving them a dose of their own medicine. They like to talk about gay people as if they are weak but it is the rappers that are making shit slow enough to be a dorky opera. Hell, the gay people were throwing down to the fast house music.



I would have tore their little asses up!

I also remember the world premier of the 20 minute long "Thriller" video on "Friday Night Videos". It became such a hit, "The Making of Thriller" was made. I remember local radio stations getting the instrumental of "Thriller", writing new lyrics, and making a humorous song called "The Faking of Thriller".

Because of the megasuccess of the album Thriller in 1982-1983, Michael Jackson (at THAT moment of his life) was bigger & better than Elvis. Yeah, I said it!!!
[Edited 5/10/07 19:35pm]

TonyVanDam said:

Well it's a fact

Hell yeah, he was bigger than Elvis at that time. Even if he had never recorded anything else, he would have been remembered as the biggest star of all time. After the two child molestation scandals though, Elvis is back to being the biggest star of all time.

bboy87 said:

Nope! People told MJ that he would be lucky if "Thriller" sold 2 million copies. I think the thing people forget about "Thriller" though is that it wasn't this mega selling album from the gate. Thriller was selling like a regular album until he did the Motown 25 performance which made the album shoot up the charts once again. However, it was the video that really pushed the album over the top. MTV was playing that thing sometimes twice an hour. And I read somewhere that after just one airing of "Thriller" on MTV, album sales tripled. At Thrillers peak, it was selling close to 500,000 copies a week. I don't think we will ever see another phenomenon like it again.

bboy87 said:

Don't fuck with O'Jays records, thats a No No...

vainandy said:

Not really. Elvis for as big as he was still isn't as well known as Michael is. Michael is known by 99.9% of the population and is known by people even in the most remote places in the world. Now MJ may be more infamous than famous these days but The whole thing about Elvis being the biggest star ever is really media propoganada. He may be the biggest star in the eyes of the media, but that's it.

MTV was another big factor in it's success. Not just from the regular rotation they gave the song but from the publicity the album got from the fight that Michael and his record company had to go through to get the vidoes on the air. CBS records threatened to pull all the videos of their white artists if MTV didn't play Michael's videos.

I'm thinking of all the crazy people to this very day that claim to have "Elvis sightings". I have never seen an artist so popular that it's fans absolutely refuse to accept the fact that he is actually dead.

vainandy said:

I remember Russell Simmons saying that MTV wasn't playing videos by black artists....except Michael Jackson and Prince, but they were "safe" artists. Basically, he said Michael and Prince weren't black enough. But RUN DMC REALLY broke the racial barrier down. WTF?

vainandy said:

It's also gonna happen to Michael Jackson when he passes away.

Part 2 will be on The Girl Is Mine. The most boring song on the LP, I know but I'm going in the order how the singles were released:

The Girl Is Mine
Billie Jean
Beat It
Wanna Be Startin Somethin
Human Nature
P.Y.T.
Thriller
Baby Be Mine(A side in some areas)
The Lady In My Life
The Victory Tour and Michaelmania '83-84

bboy87 said:

And what about Lionel Richie, Tina Turner, Donna Summer, and even Kool & The Gang? That makes 6 black acts crossing over to the MTV mainstream before RUN DMC.


As for Rusell Simmons (or Hustler Simmons if you think he a sellout! ), he never liked Prince as an artist from day one. But yet, Russell had no problem having Shelia E in a movie like Krush Grooves to represent the MPLS sound that was holding the New York hip-hop sound back from taken over FM Radio.

bboy87 said:

Thriller is one of my favorite albums ever. Human Nature to me is one of the most beautiful songs written. It's a song that will never grow old.