NY Daily News: Thriller's 25th anniversary

MkGenie

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/m...lbum_that_.html Thursday, November 29th 2007, 4:00 AM 'Thriller,' the Michael Jackson album that remixed pop culture, turns 25 by Jim Farber The 'Thriller' album cover Eons have passed since anyone paid attention to Michael Jackson for a happy reason. But this week, the endless parade of high scandals and low antics deserves to be overshadowed by the anniversary of a key moment in pop history that he made happen. Twenty-five years ago - on Saturday, Dec. 1, 1982 - Jackson delivered "Thriller," a terse nine-song set that threw so huge a boulder into the pop pool that it ripples to this day. It wasn't just the music: "Thriller's" related products and performances affected video, dance and fashion on levels that had to do with everything from esthetics to race. To commemorate such a startling divide, The News has learned, Jackson's former record company, Sony, plans to issue a commemorative package of the classic work on Feb. 5. The set will combine "Thriller's" original songs with four remixes of its hits, overseen by Kanye West, will.i.am and Akon. An additional track, titled "For All Time" - cut back in the day but left out of the initial set - will be included, along with a DVD that collects the star's most iconic video footage from the era. At the same time comes word from Jermaine Jackson of a full Jackson 5 reunion tour for 2008, their first road show since they came together to catch the tail end of "Thriller" mania in 1984. As with all works that jump-start history, it's hard to remember what things were like before "Thriller" came barreling along. Jackson's album carved out a sound, courtesy of producer Quincy Jones, that virtually defined '80s style and production. Such songs as "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" housed rhythms and textures like none before. And the songs begat videos that greatly elaborated that emerging art form. It may sound like nothing at this point, but the mere use of the real sound of a garage door opening at the start of the "Beat It" clip startled back then. When fans first caught sight of that clip, it hit with the creative bang of "The Birth of a Nation." Nothing in the medium was the same thereafter. Likewise, Jackson's fancy moves changed the role of dance in pop, pushing it decisively to center stage. Jackson's moonwalk took that achievement to the ultimate level. As seen on the TV special "Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever" in 1983, the moonwalk became one of the transcendent moments in pop history, approaching the Beatles' appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show." All pop fans remember where they were at the precise moment Jackson went up on his toes and moved backward with a glide that seemed to defy gravity, time and space. Jackson's long and steady ascendancy with "Thriller" - as the album kept building sales over the course of two years - also helped advance Motown's old notion of an African-American performer as a mainstream pop star, rather than one ghettoized in R&B or soul. It's not going too far to say that Jackson's paramount place in pop at the time presaged the broader racial change in music that would occur in the '90s. When hip-hop and R&B artists came to power in that decade, African-American performers achieved a new level of corporate power and personal confidence, blueprinted by Jackson. In that vein, the story of "Thriller" has as much to do with hard numbers as anything else: It won seven Grammys, went platinum 27 times and spent 37 weeks at No. 1 on the charts. But other albums have racked up gigantic sales without having such an effect on the culture. (See: goofy flukes like "Frampton Comes Alive" or, worse, Vanilla Ice's "To the Extreme"). And while other important and huge-selling albums changed youth culture - like, say Nirvana's "Nevermind" - "Thriller" affected people older and younger than that, giving it far broader reach. "Thriller" gains even more power, and poignancy, when you realize what a fleeting time it represented in Jackson's career. However far out front he was in his time, he all too quickly lost his creative footing, even if it took well over a decade for the public to fully accept it. Jackson's next release after "Thriller" - 1987's "Bad" - already saw him retreading formulas with a depressing cynicism that would only get worse from there. Yet in that wondrous sliver of time between '82 and '84, Jackson lived up to the name his handlers had concocted for him - the King of Pop. That role holds even more significance when viewed from 25 years later, at a very different time in pop culture. In the Internet age - where everyone lives in a personal bubble of babbling chat rooms and cultish Web sites - the very notion of a pop star as pervasive as Jackson seems as quaint as the Model T. And that's a loss worth mourning. Back when we had more centralized media, Jackson's' "Thriller" was able to provide a great and easy touchstone, a connection that bridged ages, races, cultures and sensibilities. It won't happen again, but not because we won't see a talent of Jackson's stature in the future - we most certainly will. It's just that our ever-fracturing pop world no longer allows for the focus and consensus that would anoint such a character to begin with. With the death of all that, there's even more reason to take a spare moment to salute the power and meaning of it now. jfarber@nydailynews.com ----------------------------------------------- Top 10 Albums Week of DEC. 24, 1983 'Thriller's' last week at No. 1 1 THRILLER Michael Jackson 2 CAN'T SLOW DOWN Lionel Richie 3 WHAT's NEW Linda Ronstadt 4 SYNCHRONICITY The Police 5 UNDERCOVER The Rolling Stones 6 MENTAL HEALTH Quiet Riot 7 90125 Yes 8 AN INNOCENT MAN Billy Joel 9 COLOUR BY NUMBERS Culture Club Source: Billboard's top 200 albums chart

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/m...iversary_p.html Thursday, November 29th 2007, 4:00 AM In honor of 'Thriller's' 25th anniversary: Pop culture hits in 1982 and now Before the King of Pop became forever W@cko J@cko, there was "Thriller." Twenty-five years later, Jackson's hit stands the test of time. It's No. 3 on the National Association of Recording Merchandisers' Definitive 200 album list despite a sea of cultural changes, including: Infamous style icons: 1982: Jackson's white rhinestone glove 2007: Chanel ankle purses, a la LiLo's alcohol monitor Hit TV show: 1982: "Dallas" 2007: "American Idol" N.Y. minimum wage: 1982: $3.35 ($7.25 in today's dollars) 2007: $7.15 - 10 cents less, taking inflation into account Subway fare: 1982: 75 cents 2007: $2 High-tech gadget: 1982: Commodore 64, 8-bit personal home computer 2007: iPhone, multimedia mobile phone/camera/Internet device Teen movie: 1982: "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" 2007: "Superbad" TV talk: 1982: "Late Night With David Letterman" goes on air. 2007: Writers Guild strike sticks Letterman in reruns. Price at the pump: 1982: $1.24 a gallon 2007: At least $3.08 a gallon Top-selling car: 1982: Ford Escort 2007: Toyota Camry Leading ladies: 1982: Valley Girls, like, totally spoil proper English. 2007: "Gossip Girl" spotlights the spoiled upper East Side. Compiled by Nicole Lyn Pesce

ordine

Even though it's now 25 years later,to me the songs in THRILLER are seem like new!I believe even after 50 years,the songs will still reflect back on our minds vividly !

Michaelia

说的什么啊

Rainlotus

Michael Jackson is still important for USA even he got almost all of NOT LIKE THAT GOOD news in past 10 years~