That day on MTV, it wasn’t just any music video that was broadcast, but the FIRST HORROR VIDEO in the HISTORY OF POP, Thriller by Michael Jackson.
December 2, 1983, is a date that horror fans should never forget.
The video lasted a whopping 14 MINUTES and was directed by a filmmaker like JOHN LANDIS, fresh off the success of An American Werewolf in London, a mix of FEAR and IRONY that had impressed and surprised everyone, especially Michael Jackson.
The singer was interested in recreating the same atmosphere for the Thriller video, and it’s safe to say that he got what he wanted, along with SPECIAL EFFECTS that could rival the best cinematic productions.
Thriller was shot on 35mm film and was the first video to have a plot and cinematography.
This shows how it dramatically CHANGED the HISTORY OF MUSIC VIDEOS, which from then on became increasingly important.
FIRST AND FOREMOST
For the first time, a music video was shown on the BIG SCREEN and was also included in the National Film Registry (Library of Congress).
To this day, it remains an unparalleled achievement.
The views on YOUTUBE are around 722 MILLION, but it broke countless RECORDS.
The eponymous ALBUM that includes Thriller remains the BEST-SELLING album in music history, so much so that the record company, EPIC RECORDS, didn’t see the need for such an expensive music video.
But Michael Jackson believed in it passionately, and in the end, Epic gave in, luckily for everyone: the success was so great that album sales increased even further.
For those curious about BEHIND THE SCENES of this video’s production, there’s THE MAKING OF THRILLER, which was the best-selling music VHS at the time: 9 million copies, filling Epic’s coffers after they had “forked out” $500,000 to produce the video, a figure later surpassed by another Jackson video, Bad.
CURIOSITIES
The howl heard both in the music video and the song is by Jackson himself, who proved to be excellent at mimicking an animal’s cry;
Even the footsteps heard were Jackson’s, made by having him walk across a wooden platform and recording it in stereo;
Rod Temperton, the song’s author, was looking for a “horror” voice to recite a text at the end of the song: Vincent Price was chosen, thanks to Peggy Lipton (Norma Jennings from Twin Peaks), a friend of his. The famous laugh heard in the video is also his.
Thriller was shot in Los Angeles in October 1983. The famous zombie dance scene was filmed on Union Pacific Avenue. The theater where Michael Jackson and Ola Ray (the female lead, a former Playboy bunny) exit is the Palace Theatre: here, you can see two posters: one for House of Wax, a tribute to Price, and the other for Schlock, a nod to John Landis.
I think that’s enough, folks, but there’s still so much more to say… WHAT DO YOU THINK?
HERE’S THE OFFICIAL VIDEO of Thriller by Michael Jackson
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
