HAPPY 20TH, Thriller!!! The biggest selling album of all time.
WOW, can ya'll believe its been 20 years??? Man, I'm old.
I was ten when it came out, and it FOREVER changed my life, and I mean FOREVER. Even though I moved on a couple years later to be a Prince freak, Thriller will forever remain the album that was a turning point in my life.
Feel free to post your memories of the first time U heard Thriller!

to terrorize y'alls neighborhood . Can you believe Vincent Price said "y'alls"?

I picked it up at Licorice Pizza on a weekly binge we used to do..didn't even know it was coming out til a week before..only inquired because they had that first single with Paul out..this was before I was "into" music like that. We got home and I started raving about whom was on the record from reading the credits sheet--"Van Halen is on this--Toto is on this, on Human Nature" etc. Went home to play it and couldn't listen to it like I wanted because my mom was watching some television program. So I had to listen to it real low


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[This message was edited Tue Dec 3 11:38:31 PST 2002 by rdhull]

rdhull said:

Wasnt that some funny shit?? Vincent was getting ghetto on us with that LMAO!!

But you know what? the First time I heard that song, I thought that was a black man narrating...when I learned it was Vincent I was like "daaayum u go man"

"Billie Jean" will FOREVER remain my fave MJ video...forget all the rest of 'em...just MJ in that black tuxedo (and he was WORKIN that jheri curl, it just looked SO RIGHT in that vid)

First album I ever bought. I still have that copy too, along with a few other replacements

I was in a record store this afternoon and Billie Jean started playing, followed by some kick ass Stevie Wonder tunes. I could see all these little kids jamming away to it like it was new. To me it still sounds so fresh. There's a bad Canadian House cover version of it in the charts at the moment in the UK. THAT sounds more dated.

FirstAvenue said:

Billy Jean was first shown on some Kasey Casem tv program out here---we tripped. MJ was the shit ..like 2-3 weeks before MTV broke down and showed it. And yeah he was WORKIN that Jheri curl...the way he moved smoothly etc..yes...this is his best. Man I gotta apologize to MJ publicly..he was the man..right before 1999 dropped..and even then it was still MJ for months.

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[This message was edited Tue Dec 3 12:01:27 PST 2002 by rdhull]

OH..Thriller was the first record that I had several copies of, as well as cassetes...when I got th cassette after losing it for a while it felt like being home again and wasnt stale because radio wouldnt let it die hehe. We all ran home from menial jobs etc to see that Thriller video in December..got home and folks are tellin me about it excitedly and then they replayed it like at ten..MJ had america in his hand!

Was "Thriller" released on December 3rd, 1982, because I thought it was on December 11,1982. Could be wrong.

More on MJ's reign in 1983 with Thriller album later...

who gives a shit...

love777 said:

dont be disrespectful to Thriller..it saved the industry ya know.

love777 said:

MJ fans give a shit...obviously.

I didn't get on board until Dangerous but there was no escaping Thriller anyway. Billie Jean, Beat It, Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', The Girl Is Mine and Thriller were everywhere. You didn't have to buy this album to hear it! I listen to it these days more than ever before. A true pop classic.

Cloudbuster said:[quote]

love777 said:

MJ fans give a shit...obviously.

The fact that it is the biggest selling album of all time{worldwide sales} tells me that more than his fans bought the record. Fans from 15 to 80 probably bought this record.

Brother915 said:

I'll check my MJ documentary book to find out...
**flips thru book**
ah, here we go...
Thriller was released in the US on Dec 1, 1982 (I was off by two days)
It was released in Dec 11 in the UK, though. (so maybe that's what you're thinking of)

anyway you slice it, its 20 years old today

OW!!

love777 said:

obviously YOU do, since u clicked on this link...PUNK!

Thriller was released in the USA on 1st December 1982. Maybe the following week or two in other parts of the world. It was 20 years ago this week around most of the world, anyway.

love777 said:

52,000,000 million copies say slightly more than a few.A sales record that'll never be beaten by anyone.

Still a very fine fine recording.I'm on my 4th copy now, the special edition is great.

Mike's greatest legacy was being the first black artist to be heavily rotated on MTV.A pity the artists that proliferate and benfit from that legacy on MTV now cannot hold a candle to him.

IMO.


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[This message was edited Tue Dec 3 13:14:29 PST 2002 by Thecherryloon]

rdhull said:

Right on point rdhull. The following is a copy and paste post from a post I delievered on 3/06/02 King Of Pop Thread...
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...People diss MJ but how many will stand up and say that MJ was partially responsible for all the major commericial success of people(African-American artists) like PRINCE,TINA TURNER and LIONEL RICHIE. Like I said in an earlier post on this thread, the music industry was hurting in the early 80's. Records weren't moving at a quick pace. DISCO messed up a lot of careers(I love DISCO, but that's the truth). Record company received tons and tons of DISCO records that never sold(remember that big DISCO backlash in 1979 and 1980). By the time the 80's hit, everybody was in search of "the next big thing". Rap was beginning to make some big moves. You had artists like The Sugarhill Gang, Kurtis Blow, Sponnie Gee, and Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five making innovating underground records that sold tons of copies, That was good, but overall the music industry was still hurting. New Wave was beginning to take off. But still "That Next Big Thing" was still unknown. Then enters...Michael Jackson's 1982 landmark album "Thriller". I've already went into the history of the first few months of this album earlier. But still check the history of the music industry and do some research. Thriller turned the industry upside down. People were excited about buying music again. After those great videos of Beat It And Billie Jean(plus the Motown 25 special),people went out in droves to buy "Thriller" and in addition to buying Thriller, they'd buy one or two more albums. The cash registers at music retail outlets were singing again. MJ was experiencing commercial success never experienced ever by a black artist. After Thriller came, Lionel's "Can't Slow Down" came out (late 1983) which sold over 10 millions copies. Yes I know Prince's 1999 was selling too(and that it was released before MJ released "Thriller") But that album had nowhere near the commercial impact that Thriller had, even though it sold many millions of copies. Yes you could say that if MJ hadn't released Thriler, then 1999 by Prince would have been the success story of 1983(that or the Flashdance soundtrack...LOL). But still MJ's album "Thriller" set the tone for P's commercial success in 1984 with "Purple Rain". I know some of you will deny it until the cows come home...BUT IT'S THE TRUTH. Lionel Richie even acknowledged it in 84' saying that MJ broke down doors for the commercial success of him, Prince and Tina Turner. After "Thriller" having 5 singles from a album make the top 10 on Billboard's pop singles chart and having 5 to 10 million in album sales became almost the norm. Once again...RESEARCH YOUR HISTORY and see if this is not correct!!! ...Brother 9/15 - 3/06/2002
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I also wish to add that thanks to the Thriller album selling like hotcakes, the employees at the CBS Record Pressing Plant got $2 and/or $3 dollar raises. All kinds of people were benefiting off of Thriller. I wasnt really around when Hendrix did his thing in late 60s,nor can I say to have seen Miles when he was taking the jazz world by storm in the 50's and 60's. But I can say I was around to witness the reign of MJ in 1983 and 1984...more later.

Ellie said:

Thanks for the confirmation Ellie.

I never owned Thriller, but the first time I listened to it was in my brother's new car. He had the cassette playing it. And being that the new car was a NEW CAR, I stayed in while he ran errands and listened to the album. I remember thinking to myself that "Billie Jean" sounded, as a poster above said, "fresh."

At the time I didn't know anything about who exactly was on the album helping out, but while "Beat It" was playing my brother told me it was Eddie Van Halen playing the solo. I was never really enamored with the song, but I always found the video a little amusing because of that ONE GUY that screws up in the dance scene toward the end - he tries to play it off, to no avail. And it didn't take me years to scope it out.

To this day, the only song I REALLY like from the album aside from "Billie Jean" is "Human Nature." "The Girl Is Mine" is about as corny as Michael AND Paul could get, which is saying something, because both can be pretty damn cornball.

As time went on it seemed like the album was nothing but singles considering how many hit the top 10 and kept the album at #1 forever and a day.

People at school were raving about the Thriller video, though I never liked it. The big thing about it was that it was about, what, 14 minutes long? From then on it seems that all of his videos are at least 10 minutes long. Nowadays Mike says he doesn't even ALLOW the people around him to call them "videos,"...:::sternly:::"It's a short film."

At that time the music industry was in a slump (just like now), and with the advent of MTV being new, and the videos from Thriller being shown daily. Michael was ALL OVER THE PLACE during the entire year of 1983 and part of '84. He helped make MTV more than a novelty channel. It's the recording artists that are featured on that channel that make stars of people like Martha Quinn, JJ Jackson, Mark Goodman, Nina Blackwood, and Alan Hunter. Michael's videos were an event. I'm not a big video fan now, but to this day "Billie Jean" is my favorite of his. It makes its impact better than the rest of his videos that are 10-15 minutes long.

On the Motown 25 special Mike kicked it up a few notches, and a lot of people thought he actually invented the moonwalk, as good as he was at it. This helped put Thriller on even more lips asking about it at the wrecka stow afterwards. And Mike just about OWNED top 40 and R&B radio as much as he did MTV.

In retrospect I think this album is what ruined Michael's mentality about music. He wanted BAD to sell 100 million copies and was serious about it. BAD was a big seller, but it fell well short of what he wanted/expected. After Off The Wall didn't rack up Grammy after Grammy in 1980, I think he vowed to make Thriller a bigger, more commercial record. It seems he felt Off The Wall wasn't respected in the industry as it should have been.

Thriller became bigger than even he thought when it outsold his buddies The Bee Gees for the world's biggest selling album at 25 million copies. Record sales became an Indy 500 race to him, at the expense of his love for music.

Of all his albums, I favor Off The Wall. And though both OTW and Thriller were crucial to what Michael Jackson became, Thriller was a watershed when it comes to the masses of the entire world.



Correction, Ellie is right. The information I have says Thriller was released in DECEMBER of 1982.

RD, 1999 was released sometime in October of 1982.
[This message was edited Tue Dec 3 13:36:20 PST 2002 by Supernova]

Thecherryloon said:

Hasn't The Eagles' Greatest Hits album outsold it over time?

Essence said:

Worldwide, no. United States, yes (but only just!)

(Clearing my voice...talking like Casey Kasem)...Michael Jackson broke all kind of records with Thriller. Consider this one. He was the first artist to have 7 top 10 singles from one album. The record for most top 10 songs from one album was previously held by the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack with 4 top ten songs, then Micahel Jackson had 4 top ten songs from his 1979 masterpiece Off The Wall...The following are the chart position for MJ singles from Thriller...


1.The Girl Is Mine...Number #2

2. Billie Jean...Number #1 seven weeks

3. Beat It...Number #1 for three weeks

4. Wanna Be Startin Something...Number #5

5. Human Nature...Number #7

6. P.Y.T...Number #10

7. Thriller...Number #4 {Thriller single debuted on the pop singles chart at number #20...which was one of the highest debuting singles of all time on Billboard's pop singles chart}.

Actually, in the USA Thriller and The Eagles are equal. What happened was that at the end of 1999 The Eagles got a re-certification of US shipments, not sales. Since the Special Edition, Thriller has been briefly back in the catalogue charts doing healthy business. They are both at about 26m shipments in the US. Outside the US, Thriller has sold another 26m. The Eagles have sold just half of their USA total in outside territories.

Regarding MJ's sales, discounting the US, Dangerous and Bad did similar buisness to Thriller. Bad outsold Thriller in a few countries, most notably the UK (where it remains the biggest album ever by a solo artist - 3rd overall behind The Beatles and Oasis).

U guys, can we STOP talking about Thriller "statistics" just for ONCE??? All those facts have been told and retold and run into the ground, we all know theml Let's share our PERSONAL memories of listening to the album, and watching the videos or whatever. Please? Thank you.

Back to our regularly scheduled thread.

Michael came with a Mission with this Album.He was UpSet He didn't get His Full props with "Off The Wall"&He was on a Mission too making a Record that you couldn't go anywhere without knowing about.I Laughed when I Heard "The Girl is Mine"& I still do because that was as Funky as "Ebony&Ivory"IMHO.but "Billie Jean"woke My Black Ass up.Mike Brought the Pain with that Jam.Only a Dancer could come up with a Groove like that.One thing you learn about the Music Business it's about Sales&Music.but as a Black Artist you gotta bring the Goods&the Business.Michael Jackson with that Album&His Overall Vibe Has a "IT" that Few Before or Since truly Have.I think He hasn't fully challenged Himself in Years but then again He really doesn't have too because He Made His Mark back in the day when they told a Brother you can't do this or do that.MJ Proved many a People Wrong.in my Lifetime MJ Brought More Juice&Excitement than whatever the Beatles&Elvis did Combined.for a Black Child Artist too Grow up&have that kind of Impact as a Adult Artist is Incredible especially if you know how Cold-Blooded&Cut-Throat that Business is.

I remember when 'Thriller' first came out.Our local R&B station (KSOL) obtained an advance copy a few days before release,and they spent several days airing five new songs: "Beat It","The Lady In My Life","P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)","Baby Be Mine",and the title track.I thought these new songs were great,but who knew that this album would blow up the way it did?

Alot of people think "The Girl Is Mine" is corny,but I think it's a nice song with a great melody.It's certainly more listenable than "Ebony and Ivory"...lol...in his biography,producer Quincy Jones says that,when people heard this first single,they were like "So,this is ALL you got to offer?" It seems that Quincy,Michael and Epic Records deliberately wanted to release a weaker song as the first single,to save the best for later.It was a wise strategy.

In 1983,'Thriller' was unstoppable.You really couldn't go anywhere without hearing this album.I used to take the bus to school every morning,and my bus driver would play this cassette every single day.Back in 1983,Walkmans were still new and one of my classmates would be playing the cassette every day at school.When 'Billie Jean' was released as the second single,the album really took off.That song STILL sounds fresh to this day! That beat,that memorable bassline,those haunting synth lines,Michael's effective vocal delivery...that one song is simply breathtaking!! I actually heard "Billie Jean" at a nightclub the other night,and people went crazy when it came on.That's the impact of a really great pop song.

And then came the videos.Michael's videos were *EVENTS*.I remember the kids in school would rush home to catch his videos on MTV.The "Billie Jean" video is my favorite.At the time,many MTV videos were very simplistic.In many cases,music videos just showed the artist or band lip-syncing the song in a bare studio.Michael took the whole concept up a few notches.The way the ground lights up with his every move...his awesome dance moves during the second verse...his dramatic encounter with Billie at the end of the song.It was nothing short of incredible.Likewise,the "Beat It" video killed almost everything else that was being shown on MTV at the time.People went crazy when they saw Michael in that cool,red jacket with all the zippers,doing those kickass dance moves.It's almost a sin to call the "Thriller" video a "video" because it is so much more.It's more like a mini-movie.

But back to the music.'Thriller' is a masterpiece from beginning to end.There is no filler on this album.The opening track "Wanna Be Startin Something" is a powerful,take-no-prisoners rave-up that could STILL get a party jumpin'."Beat It" simply rocks."Human Nature" is a gorgeous gem that even Miles Davis played in concert."The Lady In My Life" has become a Quiet Storm staple,and with good reason.It's a sensational ballad with a kickass melody and arrangement.The funky "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" is irresistible and catchy."Billie Jean" is the album's amazing centerpiece,a pulsing,intoxicating uptempo track that,lyrically,deals with an interesting topic (a paternity suit).It wasn't your average bubblegum pop hit."Baby Be Mine" is a charming R&B track that,like everything else on the album,could have easily been a hit single too."The Girl Is Mine" sounded so good on the radio in the fall of 1982.And despite some silly lyrics,the title track is another winning song,with a cool rap by Vincent Price.


Throughout 1983 and much of 1984,Michaelmania was unlike anything I had ever seen.I used to see people wearing one white glove,and the "Beat It" and "Thriller" jackets were seen everywhere.Young girls would have MJ pins all over their shirts and jackets.Whenever MJ would make a TV appearance (such as the Motown 25th Anniversary,or the various Awards shows),the next day in school,that's ALL people would be talking about.I remember the girls at school complaining that Mike took Brooke Shields with him as his date..."How dare he date her! She's just using him"

I really don't think we'll see another album like 'Thriller' in this lifetime.No album by ANY artist will ever sell that many copies,or have the same kind of impact around the world.But I'm "thrilled" to have been around for all of that.

Here's a little trivia about the 'Thriller' album...


***Eddie Van Halen plays the guitar solo on "Beat It" but he refused to make a cameo in the video because he didn't really think the song would be a big hit.I kid you not!

***The original version of "Billie Jean" featured a long,haunting intro that was discarded,and Michael was really disappointed.

***The bassline on the song "Thriller" was actually "borrowed" from Rick James' 1981 hit "Give It To Me Baby".

***Quincy originally intended to produce 'Thriller' in early 1982 and it was tentatively scheduled for a summer release.But,he got involved with producing a Donna Summer album instead,and 'Thriller' was delayed.

***But Michael spent that extra time composing songs on his own.He wrote "Billie Jean"(in 1981) and "Beat It" before going into the studio with Quincy.

***Speaking of "Billie Jean",there were two 1984 songs that borrowed its' distinctive sound...The Bar Kay's "Dirty Dancer" and Billy Ocean's "Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run)".

FirstAvenue said:

I don't know why,but this post cracks me up

DavidEye said:

me too!

I wondered what he/she expected everyone to say!

I thought the release date was nov. 29, 1982

Have any of you guys heard the demo to The Girl Is Mine? It's just MJ singing it alone and it sounds SO much better. Maybe Ebony & Ivory would have been passable if it was solo Stevie.