You don’t have to be born in the 80’s or earlier to know hits like “Thriller,” “Wanna Be Startin’ Something,” or “Billie Jean.” And if you don’t, it’s time to crawl out from under that rock you’ve been living under. On this day, back in 1982 (November 30th, to be exact) Michael Jackson released his sixth solo album, Thriller, which went on to become the best-selling record of all time, certified 32x multi-platinum, and win eight Grammy Awards.
Thriller, produced by Quincy Jones, was a veritable hit-maker, with Jackson penning four songs along with songwriter Rod Temperton creating three songs, including the album’s title track. It also featured guest spots from Paul McCartney (“The Girl Is Mine”), Eddie Van Halen and Toto’s Steve Lukather on “Beat It” (the former taking the ripping guitar solo), and the haunting spoken words of legendary actor Vincent Price reciting the closing lyrics to “Thriller” (easily one of the best videos ever created).
While every music video of Jackson’s featured some of the best choreography known to man, the videos for “Beat It,” “Billie Jean,” and especially “Thriller” left a lasting impression on generations of future dancers and performers, including Usher, Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown, The Weeknd, Britney Spears, Bruno Mars, and more. They didn’t call him The King Of Pop for nothing. Let’s take a look at these classic songs and subsequent videos:
“Beat It”:
“Billie Jean”:
“Thriller”:
You can stream the album in full, below.
[all videos courtesy of MichaelJacksonVEVO]