• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Thriller 25 releases this week!

Status
Not open for further replies.
A

_Alkaline_

Member
It's already out in Australia and Europe, and comes out tomorrow in the US!

thriller25cover2.jpg


200px-Thriller_25_cover.jpg


Epic/Legacy Recordings proudly celebrates the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson's Thriller, the world's biggest-selling album of all time, with a newly expanded deluxe edition of the phenomenal record-breaking pop culture touchstone, available worldwide the week of February 11, 2008.

The Michael Jackson Thriller 25th anniversary celebration kicks off in December 2007 and continues throughout 2008 with the release of a new single and a multi-faceted global marketing campaign featuring high-profile television, radio and online events around the world.

The Thriller - 25th Anniversary Edition will include the original album in its entirety as well as eight bonus tracks and a DVD featuring Michael Jackson's groundbreaking short films from Thriller ("Thriller," "Beat It," and "Billie Jean") and the artist's Emmy-nominated breakout performance of "Billie Jean" from the legendary "Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever" television special (first broadcast on NBC on May 16, 1983).

The newly expanded version of Thriller premieres five tracks previously unreleased in any form: a new Kanye West remix of "Billie Jean"; a new 2008 version of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" with Akon and will.i.am; will.i.am remixes of "The Girl Is Mine" and "P.Y.T."; and "For All Time," a rare unreleased cut from the original Thriller recording sessions, newly mixed and mastered by Michael Jackson.

Additional bonus material on the Thriller - 25th Anniversary Edition includes "Someone In The Dark," "Carousel," and Michael Jackson's original demo recording of "Billie Jean."

The deluxe Thriller - 25th Anniversary Edition packaging contains a personal greeting from Michael Jackson to his fans penned exclusively for this special release.

Originally released 25 years ago early December 1982 by Epic Records, Thriller, Michael Jackson's sixth solo album and second with producer Quincy Jones, rocketed the former child-star lead singer for the Jackson 5 into the stratosphere of international superstardom. Introducing the "robot" and the "moonwalk" into the international lexicon of clubland dance moves via the pulsing sounds of Thriller, Michael Jackson revolutionized all aspects of mainstream pop culture -- from radio airwaves to the newly emerging art form of music videos -- becoming the world's most popular entertainer in the process.

The original Thriller spent an astounding 80 consecutive weeks in the American Top 10, 37 of those at #1. Seven of the album's original nine tracks became Top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 while Individual singles from Thriller reached #1 chart positions in the US, the UK, France, Italy, Australia, Denmark, Belgium, South Africa, Spain, Ireland, New Zealand and Canada.

Thriller made history as the first and only record to be America's top-selling album two years running (1983 and 1984).

Thriller has been certified 27x platinum by the RIAA, giving it Double Diamond Award status in the US. In addition, the album has achieved Diamond or Multi-Platinum status in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. Thriller was named the Best Selling Album of All Time by the Guinness Book of Records in 1985.

In February 1984, Michael Jackson held a record-breaking 12 Grammy nominations, going on to win eight, which stands as the record for most Grammy Awards to be won by anyone in a single year. Seven of Michael's Grammys that year were for Thriller: Album of the Year; Record of the Year ("Beat It"); Best Male Pop Vocal Performance ("Thriller"); Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical (Thriller); Best Male Rock Vocal Performance ("Beat It"); Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ("Billie Jean"); Best R&B Song ("Billie Jean"). (Michael's eighth Grammy that year was in the Best Recording For Children - Single or Album, Musical or Spoken category for "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial"). That same year, Michael Jackson took home eight American Music Awards and three MTV Video Music Awards. The following year, "The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller" took home the Best Video Album trophy at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards.

Named the "Most Successful Entertainer of All Time" by the Guinness World Records, Michael Jackson is among the most highly acclaimed and influential artists in pop culture. He was named the World Music Award's Best-Selling Pop Male Artist of the Millennium and received the American Music Award's Artist of the Century Award. He has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice: in 1997 as a member of the Jackson 5 and as a solo artist in 2001.

* * * * *
THRILLER - 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Thriller - original track listing - US Billboard Chart Peaks
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" - (#5 Hot 100, #5 R&B)
"Baby Be Mine"
"The Girl Is Mine" (with Paul McCartney) - (#2 Hot 100, #1 R&B, #1 Adult Contemporary)
Thriller" - (#4 Hot 10, #3 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks)
"Beat It" - (#1 Hot 100, #1 R&B)
"Billie Jean" - (#1 Hot 100, #1 R&B, #9 A/C)
"Human Nature" - (#7 Hot 100, #2 Adult Contemporary)
"P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" - (#10 Hot 100)
"The Lady in My Life"

Bonus Material:
10. Someone In the Dark ^
11. Billie Jean (Michael Jackson's original demo recording) ^
12. Carousel ^

Previously Unreleased Tracks For 25th Anniversary Edition
13. The Girl Is Mine 2008 with will.i.am*
14. P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) 2008 with Michael Jackson and will.i.am*
15. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008 with Michael Jackson, Akon and will.i.am*
16. Billie Jean 2008 with Kanye West*
17. For All Time (unreleased track from original Thriller sessions)*

^From 2001 Thriller Special Edition
*-previously unreleased

Bonus DVD - The Videos
1. Thriller
2. Beat It
3. Billie Jean
4. Billie Jean performance from Motown 25: Yesterday, Today and Forever

25th Anniversary Executive Producer: Michael Jackson
Original Album Produced by Quincy Jones for Quincy Jones Productions.
Click to expand...

I got mine yesterday, the deluxe edition with the shiny cover. The new remixes are patchy but The Girl Is Mine is pretty good (except will.i.am says "The way I rock" waaaay too much), P.Y.T sounds great, WBSS with Akon is the best remix, Beat It with Fergie is a duet but doesn't compare to the original, the Billie Jean remix with Kanye is too slow but the beat is pretty good. For All Time sounds amazing. Some of the remixes also feature new vocals and MJ sounds as good as ever.

The videos on the DVD still hold up as well as ever.

Anyone else picking this up?

thriller25.gif
 
T

Threi

notag
15. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008 with Michael Jackson, Akon and will.i.am*
Click to expand...
every time i hear this it makes me want to cry.

but i'm not a fucking woman so i put the original on and turn it up to full blast :D
 
A

_Alkaline_

Member
Souldriver said:
thriller25.gif

Is that Mister Burns doing the moon walk in there?


Edit: Oooh, it's a head. :lol It looked like a cartoon face.
Click to expand...

Haha, the brim hat does look like a nose there. :lol

every time i hear this it makes me want to cry.

but i'm not a fucking woman so i put the original on and turn it up to full blast
Click to expand...

I actually really like it. It has the spirit of the original and I like the piano intro. It's different but it feels fresh to me.
 
M

madara

Member
I would grab this but I have the new version two years ago and the new material got ripped a new one by Rolling Stone which is pretty much what I figured.
 
M

Matt_C

Member
I want to pick it up tomorow but it is going to snow. I plan to buy it later in the week.

The only copy of Thriller I have is on Cassette and in storage somewhere.
 
B

Bloodwake

Member
The fact that it's a reissue of Thriller will probably get MJ some sales.

The fact that he's fucking crazy will probably keep most people from double dipping for this album though.
 
D

DarkJediKnight

Member
The Special Edition of Thriller is one of the best remastered CDs I own. The sound quality is exceptional for a 20+ year old album. I don't see how they can improve on the CD technology other than adding more songs, etc..

I'll buy it when they release it eventually on Blu-ray audio or something that's transparent to the master tapes.
 
S

Stoney Mason

Banned
PhoenixDark said:
Why does fucking THRILLER need to be remixed?
Click to expand...

Because every R&B song that is over a decade old needs a flavor of the month rapper rapping over the track to make it all hip. Isn't this obvious?
 
S

Stoney Mason

Banned
Thriller factoids

"Thriller," the biggest-selling album ever, wasn't the only Michael Jackson work released in November 1982. A few weeks before it was set to hit stores, MCA Records released an album of Jackson reading the story of "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" and performing the original song "Someone in the Dark." The album promotion, which featured posters of Jackson and E.T. looking very friendly, angered CBS Records, which felt it was stealing the thunder from "Thriller." Lawsuits ensued. Both albums ended up winning Grammys the following year.

"Thriller's" phenomenal success led to a breaking down of traditional racial barriers on FM radio at the time. New York's WPLJ, a "white" station, played Jackson's "Beat It" because of Eddie Van Halen's appearance on it. The song caused a wave of protests from some listeners who didn't want "black" music on their station. MTV also had a reputation for favoring white performers at the time, and its heavy rotation of Jackson videos helped alleviate the criticism.

The music video of "Thriller" played in a Westwood theater for one week in 1983 to qualify for an Oscar nomination. It opened for Disney's "Fantasia," much to the dismay of unsuspecting parents.

After the success of the "Thriller" video, a Hollywood production company began serious work on turning "Billie Jean" into a feature film. (In 1985, Helen Slater starred in the teenage drama "The Legend of Billie Jean," although there is no connection.)

In 1984, the National Coalition on Television Violence classified more than half of 200 MTV videos surveyed as too violent, including the videos for Jackson's "Thriller" and "Say, Say, Say." Dr. Thomas Radecki, chairman of the coalition, was quoted as saying, "It's not hard to imagine young viewers after seeing 'Thriller' saying, 'Gee, if Michael Jackson can terrorize his girlfriend, why can't I do it too?' "

Brooke Shields was Jackson's date to the 1984 Grammys, when he won eight awards.

"Thriller" video makeup artist Rick Baker already had an Oscar on his resume. He won the award for best makeup in 1981 -- the first time the award was handed out -- for his work on "An American Werewolf in London."

Baker actually appears in the video: He's the zombie seen stumbling out of the mausoleum.

Dance choreographer Michael Peters also had a role as a zombie in "Thriller," and shared a Tony Award with Michael Bennett for his choreography work on Broadway's "Dreamgirls." Before his death in 1994, he was an advocate of adding a choreography category to the Academy Awards.

Jackson's girlfriend in the video, Ola Ray, was Playboy magazine's Miss June in 1980, telling the publication that her favorite entertainers were "Michael Jackson, Donna Summer, Ben Vereen, Emry Thomas." She also listed her turn-ons as "music, men, dancing and romancing, health and nature" and turnoffs as "waiting for something that never comes."

Just as Van Halen's guitar solo begins in "Beat It," there's a noise that sounds like someone knocking on a door. According to rock 'n' roll myth, the knock is someone walking into Van Halen's studio. Another story claims it's simply the sound of Van Halen knocking on his own guitar.

"Thriller's" opening cut, "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," is also the longest track on the album, clocking in at over six minutes. The radio version, however, is about two minutes shorter.

The movie theater seen in the beginning of the video was also seen in director John Landis' "The Kentucky Fried Movie." The posters seen in the theater are for the movie "Schlock," also directed by Landis.

Jackson's disclaimer at the beginning of the video, in which he discounts any belief in the occult, was prompted by his status as a Jehovah's Witness at the time.

The 1988 movie "Return of the Living Dead Part II" features a zombie dressed as Michael Jackson.

Forrest J. Ackerman, creator of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, can be seen sitting behind Jackson in the theater at the beginning of the video.

The video that popularized Jackson's "Moonwalk," 1983's "Billie Jean," was directed by Steve Barron, but it may not be the clip he's best known for. That would be the live-action comic book treatment he gave to A-ha's "Take on Me."

The song "Thriller" was originally titled "Starlight."

Producer Quincy Jones wanted "Billie Jean" to be titled "Not My Lover," so people wouldn't think the song was about Billie Jean King.

During the "Thriller" era, Jackson's plastic surgery became noticeable. His face changed from the time the photo was taken for the album cover to the filming of the "Thriller" video.

Real gang members were brought it to be extras in the "Beat It" video.

Although "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' " was one of the biggest singles off "Thriller," no video was ever made for the song.

The man who wrote the song "Thriller," Rod Temperton, also wrote songs for Boyz II Men, Herbie Hancock, Karen Carpenter and Michael McDonald.

The "Thriller" album has sold more than 104 million copies.

At the height of the song's popularity, MTV would run the 14-minute "Thriller" video twice an hour.
Click to expand...

http://www.latimes.com/entertainmen...2,0,5481196.story?track=mostviewed-storylevel
 
S

Stoney Mason

Banned
Powerslave said:
May I ask why PYT is loved so much? I never understood the crazy amount of love it gets.
Click to expand...

Its an amazingly catchy song. It should be cheesy with that voice effect but instead it's like a perfect pop funk dance song.

Outside of The Lady in My Life it's pretty much as perfect an album as you can make especially for its pop genre.
 
F

FnordChan

Member
Thriller was the first album I ever owned, with the cassette given to me along with a tape player when I was a kid. It's also the only copy I still own, so I may have to upgrade, especially considering the DVD pack-in. I can sit around and watch Thriller for hours on end and practice my zombie choreography. It'll be awesome.

FnordChan
 
D

Dyno

Member
Powerslave said:
May I ask why PYT is loved so much? I never understood the crazy amount of love it gets.
Click to expand...

You get a bunch of hardcore heads dancing in some garage at 3:00am and all they're going to accept is the funkiest, raunchiest beats. If you put on PYT with the base way up the crowd will give the DJ an ovation. The song has got serious chops, it forces people to boogie.
 
P

Powerslave

Banned
Well I don't know. The song is way too cheery and happy and is just straight-out average. MJ has at least a dozen better songs than PYT, but somehow this one gets mentioned the most.
 
S

Stoney Mason

Banned
Powerslave said:
Well I don't know. The song is way too cheery and happy and is just straight-out average. MJ has at least a dozen better songs than PYT, but somehow this one gets mentioned the most.
Click to expand...
No it doesn't.
 
D

Dyno

Member
PYT is something of a sleeper hit on an album of hits. It didn't get a video and I'm not sure it even got much airtime, but it was always a dancefloor favorite which is probably why it got the remix treatment over some of the other songs.
 
S

Stoney Mason

Banned
Powerslave said:
I certainly noticed it.
Click to expand...

What dyno said. It was always the underground hit of the album. If it's getting any more attention now than it did in the past, that probably has more to do with Good Life than anything else.
 
V

Vargas

Member
Stoney Mason said:
Its an amazingly catchy song. It should be cheesy with that voice effect but instead it's like a perfect pop funk dance song.

Outside of The Lady in My Life it's pretty much as perfect an album as you can make especially for its pop genre.
Click to expand...

Is PYT 2008 a remix of that song or the original that was a bit slower?
 
A

_Alkaline_

Member
Big Grammy Gains For Many; King of Pop Returns
February 20, 2008

SMALL EXCERPT
"More on the Grammys in a moment, but first, we switch our attention to the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart. Any title that is 18 months or older, including reissues of older albums, finds a home on this 50 position chart. That includes the 25th anniversary reissue of Michael Jackson's landmark 1982 album "Thriller." The set, expanded to include reworkings of some of the original album's songs by Akon, Kanye West, Fergie and will.i.am storms the chart at No. 1, selling 166,000. That's not only the best sales week for Jackson since 2001, but also the biggest number any catalog title has seen since Christmas week of 1996, when Kenny G's "Miracles - The Holiday Album," powered through 192,000."
Click to expand...

Not bad at all!
 
The Chosen One

The Chosen One

Member
I'm really digging the remix of P.Y.T. and Wanna Be Startin Something. And I normally don't like Akon.

But all the Fergie stuff is absolute garbage and I'm still wondering why Kanye's name is on the Billie Jean remix when basically just said "huh" once and laced a simple beat on the song. I could have done the remix.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

50 Cent & Live Nation Announce "The Final Lap" Global Tour To Celebrate Get Rich Or Die Tryin's 20th Anniversary (90 Concerts)
News
3
2K
Big Baller replied
All Major PlayStation Franchises And Their Current Status
|OT| News Platform
44
4K
dorkimoe replied
Meat Loaf Dies: ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ Singer & ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ Actor Was 74
2
65
5K
Master Of Illusion replied
2021 Album of the Year
Social 2
51
5K
e0n replied
PlayStation Plus Game Catalog lineup for December 2022 Revealed
News 2
91
8K
StealthGoblin replied
Top Bottom