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Staff Writer
Michael Jackson’s record album Thriller turns 40 years old on Nov. 30. This masterpiece has affected the world and changed Black culture forever.
When the album was first released, sales were not that great—but Michael had an idea to get them where they needed to be and it worked.
In the early 1980s, MTV had teenagers and young adults obsessed similar to TikTok in 2022. However, you rarely saw Black artists on the channel at that time. Knowing this, Michael Jackson created a top-quality music video called “Billie Jean.” The executives had no choice but to show it on MTV.
Michael Jackson created a second video, “Beat It,” which also premiered on MTV. If MTV was playing it, the radio was playing it and sales of the Thriller album were going up.
Adding to Jackson’s repertoire, with the “Thriller” album came the third video—and this one had to be better than the first two.
The 14-minute “Thriller” music video had a budget of $1 billion, which brought a whole new meaning and format to the entertainment industry.
The storyline, characters, wardrobes, choreography, music, and singing accentuated Jackson’s supernatural persona. Viewers could not look away for fear of missing something.
The “Thriller” album won eight Grammys, and according to Wikipedia, has become the best-selling album in history
Happy birthday, “Thriller!”
