bboy87 said:

Trolls probably have been in this board for years...

TheKnowledge said:

it's seems like someones getting bored sucking prince's feet

Arnotts said:

Well, unfortunately everything he has done after Thriller comes across like his face; artificial!

Timmy84 said:

See, its not only mj fans who start crazy threads, prince fans are crazier

I mean, WTF, labeling "thriller" a crap album is one of the most dumb, overbroad statements i have ever seen in my life, the album has so much greatness to be labled "crap" , and they even dare to say that billie jean "has decent"..WTF, what the world is coming to?

I for example doesn't like the album " purple rain" as a whole but i will never say its crap album because i will look stupid if i said so, i would suggest to the starter of the thread to lay off the crack.

First of all his name is Michael Jackson, not wacko jacko! If he was such of a wacko he wouldnt be were he is today! Secondly Thriller is an Amazing album, it has sold over 105 million copies worldwide and thousands of people are buying it every year, so obviously the 105 million people and more who have brought the album over the years don't think it is a crap album at all.

First of all his name is Michael Jackson, not wacko jacko! If he was such of a wacko he wouldnt be were he is today! Secondly Thriller is an Amazing album, it has sold over 105 million copies worldwide and thousands of people are buying it every year, so obviously the 105 million people and more who have brought the album over the years don't think it is a crap album at all.

There are some many better albums made around the time of this album that put Thriller to Shame.

Try some of these and see how Thriller compares.

ABC - Lexicon Of Love
Duran Duran - Rio
Roxy Music - Avalon
Prince - 1999
Japan - Tin Drum
Huey Lewis And The News - Sports
Stevie Nicks - The Wild Heart
Mtume - Juicy Fruit
Don Blackman - Don Blackman

I could go on.

TheKnowledge said:

I was 12 in 1982, i've owned several of those albums, you are talking complete bollocks.

It's dated far better than those albums. Heard Billie Jean and Wanna Be Startin Something in a club last night alongside modern songs, Didn't hear no Huey.

labeling the album crap is one of the dumbest comment i have seen on the org so far.
[Edited 2/22/09 14:59pm]

seeingvoices12 said:

Right. Considering he calls himself 'The Knowledge' kinda ironic he doesn't display much.

I hate it when I see this album on the lists of great albums, it's not.

The album contains The girl is mine, this is a turgid turd of horribleness, Macca only ever does crap collaborations.

The title song is just Jeuvenille, that stuid Vincent Price Speech, I think this shows Jacko's mindset, he's just a little boy in a mans body. I want to be able to relate to a song and even as a child I thought what this shit, it gets played a halloween parties along side the Monster Mash, thats it's level

Billie Jean is about the only half decent song on there but then it's lyrically aborant, poor old jacko didn't get some poor old slapper up the duff, feel sorry for Jacko.

To sum up the album is utter shite and should be classed as noise pollution.

I hate it when I see this album on the lists of great albums, it's not.

The album contains The girl is mine, this is a turgid turd of horribleness, Macca only ever does crap collaborations.

The title song is just Jeuvenille, that stuid Vincent Price Speech, I think this shows Jacko's mindset, he's just a little boy in a mans body. I want to be able to relate to a song and even as a child I thought what this shit, it gets played a halloween parties along side the Monster Mash, thats it's level

Billie Jean is about the only half decent song on there but then it's lyrically aborant, poor old jacko didn't get some poor old slapper up the duff, feel sorry for Jacko.

To sum up the album is utter shite and should be classed as noise pollution.

I think everyone has a right to an opinion. So fair call on stating yours.

However, I have to say even if you don't think it is the GREATEST album of all time you cannot dismiss the impact it had at the time, and on the recording industry since. Remove all the sales figures and lets talk the art. Here is an album that broke playlists, broke racial lines, and opened MTV to a whole new slew of artists. Here is an album whose songs (for the most part) still sound fresh and current in their production (for which a lot of credit goes to Quincy, but also has to go to Michael) and still have melodic hooks that have stood the test of time. And here is an album that people still claim as a major influence in their careers.

Is it the greatest album of all time? Depends on your criteria. But it definitely deserves to be on the list, and in my opinion in the top 10.

Thanks for listening.

Swa

Marrk said:

yeah...you right...

If those albums put thriller to shame why didn't they get the publicity they deserved, and before anyone says anything, i would not buy that crap that "MJ was already a mega star" or you gonna say that record sales don't mean shit,back in the day record sales meant something, people bought the record because they loved "human nature" , "billie jean", startin something",lady in my life" ,"baby be mine", "PYT" and "beat it" ,so there is a reason why "thriller" got so many attention, every freaking song on the album is good and pleasant to ear, labeling the album crap is one of the dumbest comment i have seen on the org so far.
[Edited 2/22/09 14:59pm]

Swa said:

Here's the thing, i rarely see it in those lists, or if i do, not that high up, never top10 anyway. It never gets as high up as say, 'Sgt Pepper' or 'What's Going On' and the usual albums you see on those lists. I don't think critics raved about it on it's release.

The music wasn't groundbreaking in itself, how it was presented to the world was. It didn't become a juggernaught in sales til after it was out about a year or more. This was back when Mike was clever, omnipresent (but not overdoing it like Beyonce) and had a clear stragedy. Motown25, videos, tour.

Thriller wasn't one of those "landmark albums" I agree but it definitely set the mark for a time for promotion, for how many hits you can have on one album, and for what happens when you use different forms of promotion to build up sales. It's something the music industry has forgotten about in the awake of the internet and downloading.

Timmy84 said:

I think the kicker is, on top of everything you said . . .

the songs were actually very good pop songs, and I mean the term "pop songs" as a compliment. I don't see any way MJ could have sold that many copies of a bad album, no matter how clever your marketing strategy is.

(by the way, "Baby Be Mine" is the largely overlooked gem on that album . . .)

Timmy84 said:

I think the kicker is, on top of everything you said . . .

the songs were actually very good pop songs, and I mean the term "pop songs" as a compliment. I don't see any way MJ could have sold that many copies of a bad album, no matter how clever your marketing strategy is.

(by the way, "Baby Be Mine" is the largely overlooked gem on that album . . .)

Swa said:

Here's the thing, i rarely see it in those lists, or if i do, not that high up, never top10 anyway. It never gets as high up as say, 'Sgt Pepper' or 'What's Going On' and the usual albums you see on those lists. I don't think critics raved about it on it's release.

The music wasn't groundbreaking in itself, how it was presented to the world was. It didn't become a juggernaught in sales til after it was out about a year or more. This was back when Mike was clever, omnipresent (but not overdoing it like Beyonce) and had a clear stragedy. Motown25, videos, tour.

Swa, you're right. Everybody is entitled to an opinion of course. But for 'Theknowledge' to dismiss it as 'noise pollution' is laughable and pure idiocy, As is 'Theknowledge' bigging up his education when he spells 'juvenile' the way he did (not to mention numerous other grammatical errors!). Then having the front to put others down.

Not that bright.


[Edited 2/23/09 6:28am]

while we all might be sick of hearing it and while it may not be as heavy as a What's Going On or Innervisions...the fact is many records we regard as "art" dont have the sociological or spiritual depth of those records...

it would be easy to say that the work of Leroy Burgess or even James Brown is fluff based on the subject matter and dismiss it as not being artistic..which is in fact what mainstream music press does to Black music as a whole...and I have a problem with that...

it would be easy to say that I Want You is just a record abt being horny just the same as a Jodeci record is....

now as far as Thriller is concerned, it is an artistic as well as a commercial landmark for these reasons:

A) you said in another post that you do not regard MJ as a songwriter or producer...which is unfair because he CLEARLY does both...as far as his first 2 albums w/Q.....people tend to overestimate Q's role...they tend to think that without a producer at the helm, Mike is helpless...it was Mike(w/the help of Randy Jackson) who created the the Jackson sound....it wasnt Jackie, Tito, or Marlon....and you see how well Jermaine faired on his own....

the the biggest issue that led J5 to leave Motown was lack of creative control....Mike was tired of being a singing puppet...he wanted his freedom in the studio...

CBS was unsure and made the group do two albums w/Philly Intl...after that it was time to put up or shut up...

so Mike and the boys got in the studio....CBS sent some studio pros in to make sure the shit didnt go wrong....the result was the Destiny album...the album that put them back on top....

with the exception of Blame It On The Boogie, ya boy wrote every song on that record...

he wanted to distance himself from his family and create a new sound for himself....since he'd already lent his sound to the family brand he brought in Q....

NOBODY else wanted Q...the word was that he was too old, that his track record in pop was unproven...look at the facts....before OTW and Thriller, Q was known as a bandleader and film composer, NOT a pop hitmaker....he'd had success w/the Brojays but that's it...the last pop hit that he was responsible for before that was It's My Party by Leslie Gore....

if you hit you tube and listen to the demos that Mike brought Q, you will see that very little is different from the album versions...

matter of fact, here ya go:
Dont Stop demo:


Working Day and Night demo:


let's go to the Thriller demos....

The Girl Is Mine demo 1:


Girl Is Mine studio demo 2:


Billie Jean demo:


so...my point...is that Mike created these albums from his own vision....he hired Quincy for a)legitimacy and 2)to run the studio 3) for his connections 4)quality control

so what you hear is his vision not Quincy's...so from an artistic standpoint, he didnt just sit around and sing what Quincy put in front of him....he knew what he wanted and hired Q to translate....

after OTW, Mike went and cranked out another Jacksons album, Triumph...where he wrote every song except two...

so w.out Master Quincy, Mike was responsible for:
Shake Your Body
Heartbreak Hotel
Lovely One
Can You Feel It
Walk Right Now
Things I Do For You
...and the remaining songs on both Jacksons albums of that period...

but the music snobs like to think that Maestro Quincy sat Green Mike down and told him what to do....we can also add the folks that think Rod Temperton wrote every song on those two albums...and that's the reason why those records came out the way they did...

Mike created those albums from his own creative muse, so artistically for him, that's a W....

B) as far as Thriller specifically...Mike did something that no one else had done....he created the musical bridge for mainstream music from the 70's to the 80's...he was the cat who survived the 70's and led the way to he 80's, where most other 70's cats were tryna figure out what to do next...most of them were doing disco knock-offs and praying for their survival...

people glaze over it now...but what soul/R&B figure could create a hit rock record that was embraced across the board...AND considered authentic by the rock audience?(the snobs may have been pissed off, but they werent the ones buying the records)...what soul/R&B cat was collaborating with Van Halen....and have it WORK?

it wasnt Prince....w/out Beat It, could you have a Let's Go Crazy?

what other soul/R&B cat could get one of the Beatles on Black radio in the 80's?

what soul/R&B cat would get Vincent Price to drop spoken word in the middle a funk/R&B cut cum horror movie?

who was else at the time was incorporating African chants and percussion at a time when everyone was whitening it up sonically(including MJ)...and who would reference Soul Makossa in the 80's?

listen to the fact that a Black artist who was considered strictly soul/R&B decided to do a stylistic tour de force in one album when it hadnt been done before...

Thriller had:
Funk
straight R&B
Quiet Storm
MOR Pop
Rock

...all in one album by a Black aritst when such a thing was not only unheard of but frowned upon.....

futhermore, on Thriller he spoke abt teen preganancy, gang violence, challenging the social constructs of manhood, the culture of gossip, emotional blackmail, obsession, false accusations of paternity, and belief in one's self...

fluff?

these are ARTISTIC RISKS....they could have gone horribly awry, but they didnt....he did the record HIS way....and in a rare occurence that we will only see once in a lifetime, hit the bulls-eye and pleased EVERYBODY...the effects of that had both deep positive and negative effects on his work and the entire music industry after that....

let's remember...when Thriller was being conceived and recorded, MJ was still thought of as strictly an R&B act (Rolling Stone refused to do a cover story on him at the time), a boy band singer made good and the success or failure of the record was of little consequence to anyone BUT MJ...so pulling those strings wasnt as easy as we'd think it to be....

but WHY did he want to make a record like Thriller?....was it just to win the awards and make copious amounts of dough?

partially, yeah...but beyond that...why would MJ risk his entire career (which he'd done a few times before at that point) on a record that everybody, even QUINCY, thought would only be a mild follow up to OTW?

because he wanted out of the box...he wanted the limitations placed on Black musical artistry lifted...to end the segregation, so to speak...to send a message that you can follow your muse no matter what people say or think...you can do the kind of music you want to do and nobody should get in your way or try to stop you....

and he DID that...he achieved that goal of ARTISTIC freedom that reaps commercial success where it is unusual that the two paths EVER cross...

and whether you believe it or not is beside the point....MJ kicked down a huge barrier with Thriller...and many artists, regardless of culture or genre have reaped the benefits...

so at a superficial glance, it could appear that Thriller is nothing but the hottest chick in school for a couple years...but what happens when you talk to that chick and find out that there's more there than just eye candy...

so like I said....people can feel how they wanna feel abt the artist and the record, we're all entitled to our opinions...but give credit where credit is due is all Im saying....

namepeace said:

and "lady in my life" another great gem.....

And, im obsessed with "human nature"

seeingvoices12 said:

Have you heard the instrumental?
It sounds like some Lil Mermaid shit

namepeace said:

and "lady in my life" another great gem.....

And, im obsessed with "human nature"