Its hard to ignore all the emotion and conversation surrounding Michael Jackson’s recent untimely death. Now regardless what you feel about the guy…(all eccentricities aside and there are many), its hard not to recognize him for being one of, if not the greatest entertainer of our generation. If you were around when Michael’s “Thriller” album first hit the airwaves, you’d know what I’m talking about. It was crazy! Not only was the music incredible and new, this pop culture phenomenon was taking the world by storm. The jacket, the glove, the music, the dance moves! People were imitating him in the streets, on TV, in the playgrounds! When I first heard “Thriller”, I thought this is awesome…a Horror, Halloween type song on the radio by the biggest music star of the time.
The song was awesome and so fun for an imaginative kid! I remember trying to record and write down the lyrics to the dialogue done by the late Vincent Price. Can you believe there were crazy groups out there that wanted the song banned from the radio because they thought it had something to do with devil worship or that Michael Jackson practiced in the occult? HA!! That created so much attention, that when the Thriller video was released Michael Jackson actually had to put a disclaimer at the beginning of the video saying that the video does not support a belief in the occult. It’s not surprising those are the same morons who want to ban the celebration of Halloween.
At any rate, the video is still considered the greatest music video of all time. It was written by Michael Jackson and co-written by John Landis. John Landis also directed “Michael Jackson: Making Michael Jackson’s Thriller”, a totally engrossing documentary on the making of the video and a must see for any one interested in monster makeup. Landis also wrote and directed the classic horror film, “An American Werewolf In London” among other hit movies. I hear there are some royalty lawsuits between the two parties now, but thanks to them both, we have our beloved “Thriller”. Thank you!
