https://www.forbes.com/sites/ogdenpa.../#32092f13acd9
35 years ago, Michael Jackson released what would become the world’s best-selling album. With over 60 million units sold worldwide, it wouldn't be surprising to see colleges and universities implement a course about the global impact of Thriller.
If you're a musician, even aspiring to attain half of the amount of acclaim, fame and fortune as Michael Jackson is a long shot at best. Still, there are some fundamental principles about showmanship, marketing and promotion that can’t be simplified with the internet or a social media campaign.
Embrace The Slow Burn
Thriller’s tracklist holds a handful of Jackson’s most popular songs. Cuts such as “Billie Jean,” “Thriller,” “Beat It” and “P.Y.T.” have become required listening when it comes to R&B and pop music - if you don’t know them lyric for lyric, some may question the rock you’ve lived under.
But none of those songs was the lead single for the album. Instead, “The Girl Is Mine,” featuring Paul McCartney, was the chosen cut to ignite the promotion of Jackson’s sixth album in 1982. The song peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, but received heavy criticism from Rolling Stone, who labeled the song to be a “wimpoid MOR ballad” and Paul McCartney’s efforts “tame.” It wasn’t until after the album was released that the aforementioned songs began to find their way onto the charts.
Invest In Your Live Show
During the television special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, in 1983, Jackson debuted a dance move that validated his superhuman image: the moonwalk.
Sales for Thriller likely increased after audiences in the Pasadena Civic Auditorium and at home witnessed the effortless glide that took place during the break beat of “Billie Jean.” Still, according to Michael Jackson, Inc., written by FORBES' Zack O’Malley Greenburg, Jackson was unsatisfied with the performance because he was unable to sustain a landing on his toes after a ferocious spin move following his moonwalk.
Invest In Ancillary Content
According to Michael Jackson, Inc., Thriller’s titular track required a impressive $1.2 million budget. And it was well worth the investment. The mini-horror film helped boost album sales and accolades, as Jackson took home eight Grammys during the 26th Annual award show - a feat that hasn’t been accomplished in a single night since.
Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ at 35: A Look Back at the Groundbreaking Album
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/30/a...-thriller.html
Michael Jackson’s sixth studio album, “Thriller,” was released 35 years ago, on Nov. 30, 1982.
The critically acclaimed album sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, won a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards and broke down racial barriers on radio and television networks like MTV. The global impact of the “King of Pop” could be measured in album sales (close to 1 billion) but is also evident in the statues of Mr. Jackson that have been erected in countries like Australia, Brazil, China and Italy.
While the album was released more than three decades ago, songs from it, including “Thriller,” “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” still play regularly on the radio and in nightclubs. The YouTube uploads of some of those songs have hundreds of millions of views: One link for “Beat It” has 300 million.
“Beat It” was the third single from “Thriller” to be released after hits like “The Girl is Mine” and “Billie Jean,” and features a dance routine that brings two rival gangs together. Over the years, the song has been sampled by Justin Bieber, Fergie and Eminem to name a few.
On Dec. 19, 1982, the Times music critic John Rockwell reviewed Mr. Jackson’s album in glowing terms:
“Thriller” is a wonderful pop record, the latest statement by one of the great singers in popular music today. But it is more than that. It is as hopeful a sign as we have had yet that the destructive barriers that spring up regularly between white and black music — and between whites and blacks — in this culture may be breached once again. Most important of all, it is another signpost on the road to Michael Jackson’s own artistic fulfillment.
While a different album, “Off The Wall,” earned Mr. Jackson recognition as one of the era’s great artists, it was “Thriller” that transformed him into a global star. He went on to release four more albums, including “Bad,” “Dangerous,” “HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I” and “Invincible” before his death at age 50 in 2009.
The cultural presence of the album was such that in January 1984, Mr. Jackson was called “a pioneering entertainer” by The Times’s pop music critic John Pareles:
Over the last year, Mr. Jackson’s songs have defined dance music. The arrangements on the “Thriller” album mesh his piping voice with a muscular blend of real and electronic sounds, in rhythms that can’t be categorized as rock or funk or disco.
“Thriller” is now played on rock radio stations that cater largely to young white listeners as well as on urban dance-music stations that appeal largely to blacks. Before “Thriller,” few entertainers were able to cross that subtle color line. A similar crossover has taken place on cable television, where Mr. Jackson’s video clips are shown on programs that rarely offer black performers.
Read More: Thriller and the Lessons of the Mega Super Album
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/ma...per-album.html
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'You know it’s Thriller, Thriller Night'! @MichaelJackson’s epic album celebrates 35 years today. Celebrate the highest selling record in history, #Thriller, including hits like Beat It, Billie Jean and more! http://bit.ly/2zRPKF2 #Thriller35
16:16 - 30. Nov. 2017