In 2007 some of my coworker friends were 22 and had been raised in China, cut off from world media. Dead serious, they asked me why MJ was famous and why people said he was black. I simply said he was the greatest singer/dancer/entertainer of all time.
And don't forget his unmatched fame and star power. Who else could make people faint just by showing a gloved hand out a window?
10 Random Thoughts on Thriller
4. "The Girl is Mine" should have been dropped from this record??? corny ass tune.. Would have rather hear McCartney and Jackson on "Hot Street"???
Haha, gotta agree. Even when I was 5-years-old my little fingers would lift the needle over that track.
I'm an 'Off the Wall' man myself (when pressed to pick between the two, which is inherently ridiculous), but 'Thriller' was my childhood and brings me back to that time when Michael Jackson was King. I played "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" to death as a boy (I never played "Thriller" all the way through because I was terrified of the end/Vincent Price's laugh), but as an adult I still come back to and enjoy "PYT", "Human Nature", "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", etc.
i was born in 1990, so MJ (and Thriller) wasn't my gateway to a world of music, it was that weird dude who used to be black and now sleeps with children.
Whatever.
Some people shun idolatry, find unanimous opinion repulsive, like to kick against (what they perceive as) the accepted view. Call it contrarian, call it a denial of self-evident truth, call it a psychological flaw.
It's real, it's confined to the minority of course, you must deal.
This album was lauded from minute one. For me, it was inevitable that I couldn't touch it with a barge pole.
A form of self defeating madness, for sure. But as with John Peel, some of us prefer the crusty burnt edge of the pie to the soft, sweet, succulent centre.
All part of life's rich tapestry....
Whatever.
Some people shun idolatry, find unanimous opinion repulsive, like to kick against (what they perceive as) the accepted view. Call it contrarian, call it a denial of self-evident truth, call it a psychological flaw.
It's real, it's confined to the minority of course, you must deal.
This album was lauded from minute one. For me, it was inevitable that I couldn't touch it with a barge pole.
A form of self defeating madness, for sure. But as with John Peel, some of us prefer the crusty burnt edge of the pie to the soft, sweet, succulent centre.
All part of life's rich tapestry....
Now we're talking. To each their own. More "soft, sweet succulent centre" for the rest of us!
You are welcome to it.
Now I can get back to that flaky charcoal bit of crust that will sail through my musical colon to come out the other end, intact, undigested, aka the Crass back catalogue in its entirety.
Responsible for my first pangs of the more hype it has, the further I want to get from it.
I can say it's a good record, I can also say I never feel like hearing it. I know it was ever-present in my life when it came out but I can't say what, if any, impact it actually made on me.
I used to hang at this woman's house and help with her kids - they had floor to ceiling record shelving running along one of her living room walls. She would do shit like play Marianne Faithful before and after Jagger for me to talk about him 'ruining' her, talk about why Styx and ELO were amazing and smoke for the duration of her whole second pregnancy.
Thriller was the only 'black' record in her and husband's collection, she had me know, because Michael Jackson was really really talented.
It got played a lot when I was over there. It was a weird contrast to how kids in school were losing their minds over it.
Comments
And don't forget his unmatched fame and star power. Who else could make people faint just by showing a gloved hand out a window?
b/w
Haha, gotta agree. Even when I was 5-years-old my little fingers would lift the needle over that track.
I'm an 'Off the Wall' man myself (when pressed to pick between the two, which is inherently ridiculous), but 'Thriller' was my childhood and brings me back to that time when Michael Jackson was King. I played "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" to death as a boy (I never played "Thriller" all the way through because I was terrified of the end/Vincent Price's laugh), but as an adult I still come back to and enjoy "PYT", "Human Nature", "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", etc.
GOOOOO AWAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.........ARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGG....
shit changed the game and my underoos
I read somewhere that "Carousel" was left off in favor of "Human Nature." Makes perfect sense to me!
Ah, Generation Y.
"I weep for the future."
I remember my neighbour had the special edition VHS with the behind-the-scenes making-of. I'd be over there to watch that shit at least twice a week.
Personally, though, I was never really an MJ fan.
Quincy is the man, however.
what about it?
Totes.
but it certainly doesn't deserve all those superlatives if we're are strictly about its musical merits
Actually for a Crossover record shit was in front of what other R&B cats were doing at the time.
This record with at least one song hits the nail on all genres at the time; dance;pop;rock;boogie;cheeze ballad duets
Which pretty much means I rate every other LP I own as greater than this, for make purpose of enjoying music.
So, taking a random example...
Gato Barbieti "Caliente" >>>>>> Thriller
And for that matter
Shakatak's Greatest Hits >>>>> Thriller.
Apologies for this heresy.
"Thriller" dance on Ferris Bueller's day off... awesome. Anyone else remember this?
Apology DENIED.
So it's cool to hate on 'Thriller' now?? Contrarian hipster bullshit, or are you just clowning?
The former.
I have Beat It on 12 doe. Purely for the EVH, which was the true face melter in this whole thing. IMHO.
Some people shun idolatry, find unanimous opinion repulsive, like to kick against (what they perceive as) the accepted view. Call it contrarian, call it a denial of self-evident truth, call it a psychological flaw.
It's real, it's confined to the minority of course, you must deal.
This album was lauded from minute one. For me, it was inevitable that I couldn't touch it with a barge pole.
A form of self defeating madness, for sure. But as with John Peel, some of us prefer the crusty burnt edge of the pie to the soft, sweet, succulent centre.
All part of life's rich tapestry....
Now I can get back to that flaky charcoal bit of crust that will sail through my musical colon to come out the other end, intact, undigested, aka the Crass back catalogue in its entirety.
I can say it's a good record, I can also say I never feel like hearing it. I know it was ever-present in my life when it came out but I can't say what, if any, impact it actually made on me.
I used to hang at this woman's house and help with her kids - they had floor to ceiling record shelving running along one of her living room walls. She would do shit like play Marianne Faithful before and after Jagger for me to talk about him 'ruining' her, talk about why Styx and ELO were amazing and smoke for the duration of her whole second pregnancy.
Thriller was the only 'black' record in her and husband's collection, she had me know, because Michael Jackson was really really talented.
It got played a lot when I was over there. It was a weird contrast to how kids in school were losing their minds over it.
Fortunately!