Micheal Jackson, the King of Pop, was a huge star from a young age. The creation of MTV and Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video propelled him onto another level.
His music videos were always a production. “Billie Jean,” “Bad,” “Beat It,” all told a story set to a fantastic song.
After a lot of controversy and threats “Billie Jean” premiered on MTV on 10 March 1983. After the video premiered the album Thriller sold another 10 million copies.
“Billie Jean” was a significant and groundbreaking video, but Jackson will always be remembered for another video released in 1983.
“Thriller” was the seventh single released from the album of the same name. Jackson decided to release the single after the album Thriller dropped out of the Billboard Top 200.
“Thriller” (the song) was written by Rod Temperton as an homage to Jackson’s love of movies.
Jackson conceived of the music video for “Thriller” after watching (or maybe re-watching) An American Werewolf in London. Jackson contacted director John Landis to direct the music video.
Jackson and Landis developed a short film which revaled the production of feature movies and had a budget of $900,000. Larger than any music video ever created. The average music video at the time came in around $50,000.
What they created is easily the best music video ever created. It’s actually a short film clocking in at over thirteen minutes in length. It’s known world wide, spawned a dance craze (maybe the first flash mob) and solidified MTV as a channel for the new generation.
While you’re practicing the “Thriller” zombie dance read through these fun facts you might not know about the video.
The song wasn’t called “Thriller”
Michael Jackson’s chart topping hit conjures an eerie chill and goosebumps just by saying its name. That wasn’t the case with the first title of the song.
Legendary producer Quincy Jones brought Rod Temperton on board to write songs for Jackson’s sixth album. The song was originally titled “Starlight”. While Jones liked the titled he thought it needed a different hook. He sent the song back to Temperton to rework.
Temperton said he wrote “two or three hundreds titles” but the best was “Thriller” because, “You could visualize it on the top of the Billboard charts.” Jones liked it so much that he titled the album Thriller as well.
Jackson wanted Landis to direct the “Thriller” video after seeing An American Werewolf in London
Jackson was a huge fan of Landis’ An American Werewolf in London, the dark comedy-horror starring David Naughton, Jenny Agutter and Griffin Dunne.
Jackson said in the Making of ‘Thriller’ feature that the werewolf movie convinced him that Landis was the man to direct the short film he wanted to make for “Thriller.” He also brought the movie’s legendary makeup artist, Rick Baker, on board to create the look of the film’s monsters.
Jackson would re-team with Landis in 1991 for his song “Black or White.”
Jackson added the occult disclaimer at the beginning of the video
Jackson was a devout Jehovah’s Witness at the time the video for “Thriller” was made, he felt it was important to include a personal disclaimer.
The video features a Playboy Playmate
Jennifer Beals, the star of Flashdance was offered the role of Jackson’s girlfriend in the video. She declined for unknown reasons. It’s rumored she turned it down because it was a music video. At the time, music videos weren’t regarded as worthy of Hollywood actors.
Playboy Playmate and aspiring actress Ola Ray was given the role.
The famous red outfit came from John Landis’ wife
The famous red costume was designed by Landis’ wife Deborah. She said in an interview that she wanted to make an outfit for Jackson that would make him “absolutely pop off the screen,” especially during the famous dance scene with the dark and dreary zombies.
Only two red jackets were made. One sold at auction in 2011 fro $1.8 million.
Quincy Jones’ wife helped the ‘Thriller’ team score Vincent Price
Quincy Jones produced the album Thriller and his wife helped land one of the biggest talents in Horror movies, Vincent Price. Jones’ wife, the actress Peggy Lipton was close friends with Price and asked him to work on the video.
According to Jones, Price was a professional and recorded his narration and laugh in two takes.
Vincent Price felt cheated out of future profits
Price was given a choice of a flat fee, $20,00 or a percentage of the royalties. Price choose the flat fee of $20,000.
In a 1999 biography Vincent Price’s daughter wrote:
“[Price’s] desire to remain in the public eye often led him to accept paltry fees. His work on Thriller simply followed that pattern; but when the album began making its millions he was irate, feeling that Jackson should have materially acknowledged his significant contribution to the album’s success. In truth, he was also angry with himself for not having made a more sensible financial arrangement . . . .”
At the time $20,000 was a sure thing. Music Videos were a new art form and there was no guarantee it would make a profit.
The ‘Making Of’ documentary raised the money to make the actual video
The astronomical budget of $900,000 was a significant setback for the video and the record company refused to approve the budget.
John Landis and his producer, George Folsey Jr. Cam up with the idea of making a ‘behind-the-scenes’ documentary and sell it to fund the music video.
MTV and Showtime purchased the rights to the documentary, Making Michael Jackson’s Thriller, for $250,000 each, giving Landis the money to make the video.
Thriller is the only music video in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry
Thriller won three MTV Music awards and the documentary Making Michael Jackson’s Thriller won a Grammy award. But those pale in comparison to the acknowledgment it received in 2009.
In 2009 The National Film Registry selected Thriller as one of the years’ inductees. Choosing to preserve the video in its archives for future generations. Thriller is the only music video to be inducted into The National Film Registry.
“Thriller” didn’t just impact music, it fundamentally redefined and legitimized the music video as an art form. In 1999 MTV named Michael Jackson’s Thriller the greatest music video of all time. VH1 followed in 2001 and Time Magazine in 2011.
Do you remember seeing the “Thriller”music video for the first time? Was it in 1983? Did you do the “Thriller” dance? I did, everybody did back in the 80s!
Let us know in the comments below. You can share your thoughts on X too. The main Retro Network channel is @TRNSocial and I’m @PitfallGary.
If you want more Halloween music videos check out Eric’s Halloween Music Video Countdown!
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