CLEVELAND - I'll never forget how I felt the first time I watched "Michael Jackson's Thriller" video because even though I was just six years old, I knew that is was a masterpiece of originality and brilliance.I'm not kidding.
It was 26 years ago today that the groundbreaking music video premiered on MTV after a much ballyhooed promo campaign in the weeks leading up to its release. Even though it was officially a music video for the title track of Michael's unstoppable album, it was ostensibly a short film musical complete with a storyline, horror film motifs and expensive special effects. Jackson had already wowed the world with his creativity in music videos with the early 1983 clips for "Billie Jean" and "Beat It." But "Thriller" was a far more ambitious endeavor as Jackson treated it like a feature length film from the start. The 25-year old megastar eschewed traditional music video protocol and instead enlisted film director John Landis to helm the project.
It had never been done before.
MJ also brought in acclaimed film make-up artist Rick Baker to make the gore of the flick as realistic as possible. In other words, he went all out and spared no expense to craft a stunning film that would amaze its viewers and acquire a lasting legacy. As a result, the budget was outlandishly high for '83 and nearly derailed the film's production.
Nearly.
Looking back, it stuns and amazes me when I think of how ahead of his time Michael was. Nothing about the "Thriller" video was standard or commonplace and its tour-de-force nature inspired artists then and since then to up their game and their creativity. While it is very true that the "scary" nature of the video terrorized countless children nationwide, the true scariness was in just how brilliant Jackson's mind was. He trumped every one of his peers, not just because he outworked them, but because his outside-the-box thinking was fourth dimensional.
If anyone wants to know how enormous of an impact "Michael Jackson's Thriller" still has, take one look at the recently completed worldwide "Thriller dance" in which prisoners and scores of individuals from foreign countries get together in their streets and re-create the famous, synchronized choreography of the video. Take a look at any contemporary music video and notice the "story" as well as the costumery and how slick the production is. Those characteristics derived from the ultimate game changer; "Thriller" and today's artists readily admit its influence on them.
Just one more reason why Michael Jackson is the greatest entertainer in history.
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