I dont think many people realise just how big a deal this was back then! I was only a four year old child, but I remember my mum and dad talking about it, my neighbours talking about it and even the nursery teachers were talking about it to my mum when she dropped me off at nursery! I do remember how big a deal Moonwalker was though. I was playing out with friends. The kids from the entire neighbourhood were playing out, and the buzz was that Moonwalker was going to Premier on terrestrial television (here in the UK) that evening. I remember when the time came, every kid ran home, myself being one of them, and got comfortable in front of the television screen! Michael Jackson really was that artist that created seismic waves throughout the world of media, be it music or video. Although i never counted myself as a 'fan', I know that there will never be another like him. A true star.
I'm from the UK and radio stations wouldn't play the full version as it was way too long so they created a 'radio edit' which is approx. 6 mins long. I was 7 or 8 when this premiered on tv one night. It was a real event that everyone I knew was talking about & tuning-in that night to watch. Now, you've got bear in mind that the world had only just come out of the 70s disco era so to see this in 1982 was so new, so fresh, so futuristic. It was a game-changer. I had the privilege to see MJ live in 1988 for his 'Bad' tour and his entrance onto the stage was him spring-boarding in as the werewolf in the jock jacket. It was epic. I think they're were 125,000 people there, you could smell the grass sweating. He (and his music) are so so missed.
Thank you for letting us know uour experience of the realease of Thriller. It’s great to hear from people who were old enough to remember such and iconic moment in music, and in popular culture.🙂❤
The premiere of this video was such a HUGE DEAL in December 1983. MTV promoted the debut relentlessly, but it was happening at NOON in L.A. - and I was still a senior in high school. It was simply unacceptable that other people could see it before my friends and me because of a quirk of geography, so I (working second period in the attendance office) arranged for three of us to be excused from school early that day. One of my older brother's friends picked us up and we were front and center at my house when "Thriller" aired the first time. It didn't disappoint (I'd been a huge MJ fan my whole life; saw him in concert the first time at 4 years old and many more times after that. I even got to spend 5 days at Neverland in 2002 and see him be a regular dad, but that's a story for another post lol). Things got a little funny later that premiere day when I had to pretend that I was seeing the video for the first time as my mother was right next to me at 4pm. For whatever it's worth, I did eventually confess to my parents about all of my nefarious truancy shenanigans in high school - on the day I graduated from college (with honors) 😁.
My mom and her sisters were having a paint fight painting the living room and hallway of my grandma’s house and when this came on everything stopped. And I was terrified of the video and not the paint fight! 😅
This scared me so much as a kid, I still feel kind of sweaty when I watch it now as a 43-year-old! I first saw it when I was around 5 years old, which to be fair was too young... the slightly older siblings of the kids in my street were obsessed with it and had it on video. I didn’t want to be left out so whenever they put it on I stayed, but remember sitting behind the sofa crying, with my fingers in my ears. For weeks, possibly months, whenever I went to sleep I used to see his face, when it turns and we first see him as a zombie. And I was too scared to look out of my window in case I saw them all doing the dance down the road. For years, whenever they played it on the radio on Halloween, I couldn't listen to the Vincent Price bit. I can really appreciate it now as a really great piece of pop culture, but that little 5 year-old me is still a bit freaked out by it!
Re. Halloween in England, we used to trick or treat as children (dressed in outfits made mainly out of black bin bags), but it wasn't such a big thing as we always heard it was in the US. Now more houses seem to be decorated here (I'm in London, and there are quite a few around my way), but I've lived in a third-floor flat for 18 years so have never had any trick or treaters since being here. I think the 'rule' now is that if you display a pumpkin in your window, or decorate your house, you're inviting trick or treaters to knock (otherwise you're left alone). To be honest, even growing up we were never allowed to do any tricks, and all the kids in the road basically knocked on each others' doors for treats, so it was very tame!
My mom was in college in the 80s and she said it was a MTV video world premiere exclusive where everyone was watching it on TV all at the same time type of thing and music videos weren't shown often back to back so you had to catch it when it came on and it was viral before viral (imagine had social media existed then it would definitely be viral). P.S. I'm from Detroit and while I use to trick or treat on Halloween I now take my kids trunk or treating where people decorate their trunks and line up their cars to pass out candy or just go to a Halloween party.
the Thriller - MJ documentaries that have come out the last 5 or so years really are vital to understanding the politics and the bs MJ endured behind the scenes in his Thriller Era. It's wild given that he was already in the stratosphere with Off the Wall and they still weren't seeing it for him on a new vehicle such as MTV. but the moment Epic put their foot down and David Bowie said in a series of interviews about racism, it was a wrap!. MJ was not to be played with by 1982 - he had something for everybody off of this album. Although Billie Jean is the best pop record ever, Thriller has the best music video ever!. it's so good you don't even notice that the song is rearranged to fit the theater aspect of the music video. MJ's mind is wild!. Also, Michael Peters the choreographer for this music video is in the Beat It music video in the white jacket and shades - i believe he also choreographed that music video as well. To drive the point home how significant MJ and Thriller album is, this was the first time that people saw that more than 2 singles entered the charts. MJ logged about 7 songs off this album on the charts at the time which inspired label expectations that future albums from artists have at least 3 songs be singles... If you actually think about it, MJ never took a break during this time. between his solo career, he was also doing the Jackson albums and tours as well. You couldn't tell though because MJ is from another world! it's been said that on tour he would lose 2-3 pounds a show, just from all the dancing and moving.
Such great video. I remember when this was premiered on MTV. Here in UK we had Cable vision we were quite privileged to have this luxury. My siblings and I would watch MTV and WWF wrestling all the time. The good old days of the 80s.
I remember seeing this video the first time with my whole family on TV , sweaty palms and fear of going to bed afterwards! Its just such a great piece of art, groundbreaking! And by the way: Michaels singing was just spectacular!
yes from the wolf to the zombie😳 gives and still gives me nightmares, has a god complex in everything and filmography time and time I will always say he is a genius😍
I remember when this first came out. This was an epic video, and it started the cinematic videos. Janet did a mini movie for Rhythm Nation 1814. Rhythm Nation and Miss You Much videos are from that mini movie.
It seems like Mike enjoyed being in that makeup. His enthusiastic performance showed he knew this would be big. If Michael hadn't seen "American Werewolf In London, the "Thriller' album may not be the highest selling album ever. Director John Landis and make-up artist Rick Baker just wouldn't be associated to this historical moment in music.
A family in Austin Texas had MJ's Thriller jacket until 2022 and either sold or donated it to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Only 2 were ever made for the music video.
For a moment when she says she cannot watch it and wants to leave and he says he is enjoying the movie and continues to eat the popcorn with glee, I swear I thought he would stay in the cinema and would not care she left. For a second, he is thinking about doing it...
This was a whole event that premiered on tv. It was a HUGE deal. Thriller Night was a massive event here in the U.S. There was a Making Of that played before the music video and interviews with everyone involved.
Walter Yetnikoff, who was the president of CBS records, threatened MTV for not playing Billie Jean. He said he would expose them as racists and pull their other CBS artists off of the channel. That threat, along with a push from Quincy Jones, broke down the color barrier on MTV. MTV ended up paying $250k for the rights to air the making of Thriller documentary. Showtime paid around $300k for the cable rights.
Theater sequence-- "See you next Wednesday" : A direct reference to "An American Werewolf in London" since John Landis directed both Thriller and AAWIL.
This was event television in the UK, I remember it was broadcast really late at night and we came back from school the next day and went round to the neighbours to watch it for the first time. Totally epic and it was a really huge event in childhood lol
He was still a devout Jehovah’s Witness when he released this & the church was NOT happy with the video,that’s why there’s that disclaimer at the beginning Smooth Criminal was the last straw for them 🙃
No...MJ funded the video and the making of paid for it. Every single kid in the 80s had nightmares after this. What an amazing human being MJ was...ive admired him all my life.
Michael has another scary short film called ghosts it came out in the 90s and it's 45 minutes long and it's phenomenal and it's spectacular he also has a short film called Moonwalker that's the full version of what people see in the Smooth Criminal music video the Smooth Criminal music video is one part of the film
Fantastic suggestion, Sultan’s World. Few music videos could stake a claim to being the greatest ever made, but this one could. So many legends worked on bringing this film to life, but I’d like to pay tribute to Vincent Price and that mesmerizing voice of his. He could read out a grocery list and have you transfixed with every word. I’d encourage every horror fan to check out Price’s movies, particularly the Edgar Allan Poe films he did with Roger Corman, which are masterpieces of gothic horror.
Rick Baker, the Oscar-winning make up artist for American Werewolf in London, did the make up here and Jackson was a huge fan of his work in that movie. The werewolf design in this video is also meant to evoke the Universal Studios movie monsters from the 1950's.
I've had VHS with Mitchel's videos in 1995, and this was my favourite☺️ I watched it 1000 times☺️ in my former-ussr environment everything looked boring and grey, comparing to this)) thank you Mitchel Jakson for my bright emotions as a child☺️ from Ukraine♥️
To think we got this greatest in part because Michael was upset when Off the wall was categorized as just a r&b album. So Michael set out to Show the industry he was more than just an r&b artist he was an artist in general. So his next album was thriller and we have history made ladies and gentlemen. The Greatest to ever do it 🔥🔥🔥
Jonathan Landis directed the music video. He also directed American Werewolf in London, Coming to America, Animal House, Trading places, and Twilight Zone: The Movie which kind of killed his career because a lead actor and 2 children died of helicopter decapitation while filming. The entire incident was filmed and can be found here on youtube.
The director of this video, John Landis, was a huge Hollywood film director who also happened to have directed the horror movie "An American Werewolf in London".... Then there's Vincent Price, a huge figure in the horror genre, at the time. This was a Viewing EVENT. I was a kid, at the time, and remember ppl across the world waiting for the scheduled MTV Thriller video drop. What a time... and he was ahead of his.
This music video/short film was inspired by the awesome werewolf movie An American Werewolf in London! And Michael got a lot of the same crew who made An American Werewolf in London to make the Thriller music video/short including Director John Landis and the legendary make up artist and special effects guy Rick Baker who actually won the very 1st academy award for makeup and special effects!
I totally remember this one! Junior or senior in high school. I'd never seen anything like it. I was not aware there was a shorter version.😂 Love it! Oh, also, just that was Vincent Price was narrating this.
If u hear the imax 3d cut version of the dance break u can hear the snap and drum beat with more stomp and pounding bass line..it sounds even better...they only release d it in theaters back in 2018 in imax 3d for limited time
If I'm not mistaken in 1984 The Grammy's added Short and Long Form Music Video category because of MJ videos for Billie Jean, Beat It, and of course Thriller.
If you're looking for another horror based music video to check out then Coheed and Cambria's "Blood Red Summer" would be right up your alley. Really fun song and really fun video.
BIG FUN FACT: this legendary was short film (Michael hated the label music video), that inspired generations of artists, almost never saw the light of day! The reason why you see the disclaimer at the beginning of the video was because at the time, Michael was a practicing Jehovah’s Witness. Did Jehovah’s Witnesses were threatening to excommunicate him if he did the music video. So after all that money was spent and all that work was done, Michael told his attorney ( he did right by Michael there, but not later…) that he wanted the video destroyed immediately! His attorney thought he was nuts, and was trying to think of a way to convince Michael. Nothing seemed to work, until he suggested to Michael that he make a disclaimer that he did not believe in the occult. Because of that, Michael agreed and put the disclaimer at the beginning of the music video.
This was not the video that MTV didn't want to play. When MTV started in 1981 there were no black artist being shown, they slowly started showing black artist like Michael Jackson, Rick James and Prince in 1983. That story you told must apply to Billie Jean because I remember watching it on MTV and they played Beat It what felt like every hour. By the time the Thiller video came out in late 1983 he was very well known to MTV because of his first 2 videos from the Thriller album.
You’re wrong as a cursory internet search will confirm. MTV played black artists from the start and long before Thriller; Musical Youth, Grace Jones, Joan Armatrading, Eddy Grant, Tina Turner and others.
MTV were playing black artists before 1983: Musical Youth, Tina Turner, Grace Jones, Eddy Grant, Joan Armatrading… and others. A quick internet search confirms this.
Ever noticed that when Ola is being chased and scared inside the rundown house by the ghouls/zombies that none of the female ones are present? Just a little "nitpick" I noticed as a kid when I first saw this on VHS in 1984.
Hey! I'm from Madrid and Halloween is an amazing time here! We love scaring and getting dress like any night creatures😂😂😂😂😂... i got dressed like MJ in this video 4 years ago. Everybody recognized this Red jacket😅.
Yes, they changed the order of the verses for the video. They played 2 verses back to back without the chorus. It's not like that on the album, and Vincent price is at the very end of the song, but they moved that as well. Yes, that was Vincent Price. The have a documentary for the making of this video. It's about an hour long. You both should check it out. Also the reason that disclaimer is at the beginning and end is because back then little kids that saw the video actually got scared and cried etc. Parents and churches got so mad saying they should have been warned. And I'm not sure if this is the reason why jehovah witness through mj or the church but they were pissed saying that it was the occult .... blah blah. It was the 80s and he actually got some flack about this video. For at least a month you could only see this video on MTV and they would tell you the times in advance when they would play it. Kids were skipping school to see this video
Yea they didnt sing the bridge ..from the regular album version of the song, but they did extend the instrumental beat and looped it for longer play for the graveyard rising of the zombies and of course the middle zombie dance break
Judging by the fashion they are watching a cheap old movie, maybe from the early 60's, so the plot is supposed to be low on logic too. I've always thought that the girl is imagining the movie characters as her and Michael, that's why she's so terrified.
Well, Michael's videos have almost always been "shorts", including "Remember the time" with Eddie Murphy, Iman and NBA star Magic Johnson, or "In the closet" with a very young Naomi Campbell, directed by the photography wizard Herb Ritts, they are cornerstones, I don't think anyone has spent astronomical sums, with international guests, acclaimed directors, numerous dance troupes, and I'm thinking of "Smoth criminal"... small films, jewels that will remain over time, to celebrate the eternal myth by M. Jackson.
Please react to Michael Jackson’s ‘Ghosts’ from 1995. It was his next attempt at a scary Halloween theme short film and is 40 minutes long! And it’s epic!
That disclaimer at the beginning wasn't so much an 80's thing. The Jacksons are Jehovah's Witnesses and they're very strict in what you can be seen as celebrating. If you watch "An American Werewolf in London" you'll see why Michael chose John Landis to direct "Thriller". The werewolf transformation scenes and the hits of comedy are pure John Landis and I believe Rick Baker did the makeup and effects. Also when the announcer in the movie theatre says "See you next wednesday", that's a John Landis trope that is in all of his movies in some way. That phrase is always worked in as a running gag. Lastly, MTV started out as a rock oriented station. They didn't play black artists because most of them were considered Soul and R&B and they didn't think middle America would be into it. Michael Jackson was so big that they were forced to play him and I think that's also one of the reasons he made put "Beat It" on his album and had Eddie Van Halen play on it. He was looking for sounds that were less dance, R&B that would get him MTV airplay. And to be honest I think "Beat It" was probably played more than "Billie Jean" or "Thriller" on MTV. The same went for Prince, he put out a lot of rock sounding songs in the early 80's to go along with his funkier stuff. I think it was the MTV effect. Genres began to blend together a bit more.
@mattloca24 Forgot to mention the top 4 or 5 lists with the highest votes will be on a poll on their Saturday live show and voted on again to eventually have a winner
