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Here are some interesting facts on the making Michael Jackson’s Thriller 1983 music video for the song “Thriller” by the American singer Michael Jackson, released on December 2, 1983. The video was directed by John Landis, written by Landis and Jackson, and stars Jackson and Ola Ray. It references numerous horror films and sees Jackson dancing with a horde of zombies.
Jackson’s sixth album, Thriller, was released in November 1982 and spent months at the top of the Billboard 200, backed by successful videos for the singles “Billie Jean” and “Beat It”. In July 1983, after Thriller was displaced from the top of the chart, Jackson’s manager, Frank DiLeo, suggested making a music video for “Thriller”. Jackson hired Landis after seeing his 1981 film An American Werewolf in London. The pair conceived a short film with a budget much larger than previous music videos. It was filmed at various locations in Los Angeles, including the Palace Theater. A making-of documentary, Making Michael Jackson’s Thriller, was produced to sell to television networks.
When making Michael Jackson’s Thriller there was great anticipation and played regularly on MTV. It doubled sales of Thriller, helping it become the best-selling album in history, and the documentary sold over a million copies, becoming the best-selling videotape at the time. It is credited for transforming music videos into a serious art form, breaking down racial barriers in popular entertainment and popularizing the making-of documentary format. The success transformed Jackson into a dominant force in global pop culture.
Many elements of making Michael Jackson’s Thriller have had a lasting impact on popular culture, such as the zombie dance and Jackson’s red jacket, designed by Landis’ wife Deborah Nadoolman. Fans worldwide re-enact its zombie dance and it remains popular on YouTube. The Library of Congress described it as the most famous music video of all time, and it has been named the greatest video by various publications and readers’ polls. In 2009, it became the first music video inducted into the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”.
More About Making Michael Jackson’s Thriller Video
This is a rare pop song with a horror theme. Halloween novelty songs like “Monster Mash” had been around for a while, but this was the first hit song with year-round appeal containing lyrics about creatures of the night who terrify their victim. At the time, Michael Jackson was one of the least frightening people on Earth, so the video had to sell it. John Landis, who worked on the 1981 movie An American Werewolf In London, was brought in to direct. Landis had Jackson turn into a Werewolf in the video.
Vincent Price, an actor known for his work on horror films, did the narration at the end of the song, including the evil laugh. Price’s rap includes the line “Must stand and face the hounds of hell.” This was inspired by the most popular Sherlock Holmes novel to date, The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in which Sir Henry Baskerville’s family is supposedly cursed by a bloodthirsty, demonic hound. Price’s personal friends, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee (who appeared in several horror films with him), starred in a loose 1959 film adaptation of it. It was the first Sherlock Holmes film shot in color.
Price recorded the central spoken section in this song on his second take, after it had been written by Rod Temperton in the taxi on the way to the studio for the recording session. >>
The music video is considered the most famous music video of all time, at least by the Library of Congress, which added it to its National Film Registry in 2009, the first music video in their registry.
The video was a cultural milestone, introducing elaborate choreography, costumes and dialogue into the format. It also introduced the concept of the long-form music video, where a mini-movie was made for a song, then edited down for the short version. The long version of “Thriller” runs nearly 14 minutes, but had remarkable longevity, easily racking up over 100 million views when it showed up on YouTube. MTV usually ran the short version, which ran a little under five minutes but still contained about a minute of non-song content in a storyline that omits most of the movie the couple is watching at the beginning.
With its famous graveyard dance, the video popularized group dance scenes in pop videos, a trend Pat Benatar pushed forward earlier in 1983 with her “Love Is A Battlefield” video.
The “Thriller” video owes a debt to Alice Cooper, who in 1975 created a movie based on the stage show for his Welcome To My Nightmare tour. Cooper’s production was based on an entire album, but it also used a horror theme and was narrated by Vincent Price.
A British songwriter named Rod Temperton wrote this song. He was the main songwriter in his band Heatwave, which he formed with two Americans. After Heatwave’s song “Boogie Nights” took off in 1977, Jones asked Temperton to write songs for Jackson, resulting in “Rock With You” and “Off The Wall,” which became the title track to Jackson’s 1979 album. When it came time for Jackson’s next album, Temperton again delivered the title track, this time the song “Thriller.”
Temperton also wrote two other songs on Thriller: “The Lady in My Life” and “Baby Be Mine.” Those were the only songs on the album that weren’t released as singles.
Most homes had VCRs in 1983 and sales of videos were big business. Along with the Jane Fonda workout tapes, you could buy a VHS or Beta copy of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, which included the full video and also “The Making Michael Jackson’s Thriller,” a behind the scenes documentary. This tape became the best selling music video at the time, and was later certified by Guinness World Records as the top selling music video of all time, moving nine million units. Part of its appeal was the price, a mere $24.95 at a time when movies on tape cost much more.
The video distribution deal was through a company called Vestron, which approached John Landis about selling the film directly to consumers, a move that turned out to be very profitable. The timing helped, as the video was released a few weeks before Christmas.
For More on Making Michael Jackon’s Thriller, Follow this link…
Thriller – Michael Jackson Official Site
