‘Thriller 40’ Tells the Story of Michael Jackson’s Musical Opus and Why Others Have Yet To, as It Were, Beat It

The 40th anniversary of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” the best-selling album of all time, is celebrated in a new Showtime documentary, “Thriller 40.” The film marks a rare music milestone: One that doesn’t need to reintroduce old songs because they’re as fresh and influential as ever.“Thriller 40,” streaming on Paramount+ this month, follows Jackson driving himself to greatness. As a music journalist, Steven Ivory, testifies in the film, “There are two things in the music business: Before ‘Thriller,’ and after ‘Thriller.’”One after another, guests in “Thriller 40” light up with childlike joy as they recall the music’s enduring power. Despite being famous and successful themselves, they are starstruck, sharing observations about Jackson’s behind-the-scenes efforts to bring it to fruition. If “Thriller” dropped today, the contemporary artist, William Adams — who goes by the stage name will.i.am — said “it would still be the greatest album ever made.” Another fellow artist, Mary J. Blige, described being blown away the first time she heard it.“Thriller” contained, Ms. Blige said, “everything that I loved,” pop, R&B, gospel, and rock. Another artist, Usher Raymond, praised the “dance and choreography and theatrical moments” that made it feel almost “like a musical.”The steady march of collaborators, contributors, and admirers of “Thriller” seems endless. They laud Jackson for his refusal to be confined to the box of “Black artist,” fighting to open doors and expand his audience.“No single record changed the business and my life as powerfully as Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller,’” said the president of CBS Records, Walter Yetnikoff, in “Thriller 40.” Calling out racism, he “screamed bloody murder” over MTV banning Jackson and threatened to yank his white artists, like Billy Joel, forcing the channel to relent.To challenge those who presumed to know what white America wanted, Jackson partnered with the former Beatle, Paul McCartney, for a “Thriller” duet, “The Girl is Mine” and enlisted the rock guitarist Eddie Van Halen for “Beat It.” He also enlisted an Oscar-winning actress, Jane Fonda, to present him an award for the album.For the title track, “Thriller,” Jackson included a spoken-word narration by the classic horror actor, Vincent Price. For the “Thriller” short film, he enlisted the director of “An American Werewolf in London,” John Landis. Even here, Jackson showed concern for fans, including a disclaimer that it was not an endorsement of the occult.Jackson alone decided which tracks were worthy of grooves on the record. In 2009’s “Moonwalk: A Memoir,” he remembered insisting that “Billie Jean” make the cut over objections from the album’s producer, Quincy Jones, a legend in his own right.The tune for “Billie Jean” had burst into Jackson’s mind while driving, he wrote in “Moonwalk,” and had so “absorbed” him that he didn’t notice the vehicle was smoking until “a kid pulls up to us on a motorcycle and says, ‘Your car’s on fire.'”Listeners remain as taken with “Billie Jean” on digital formas as Jackson was with it on vinyl. As of Saturday, it has been streamed over 1.56 billion times on Spotify and draws almost a million plays a day. The album’s third rerelease last year debuted at number 7 on Billboard and it has sold 70 million copies during its lifetime.Again and again, “Thriller 40” shows the substance behind Jackson’s style. When he flashes his single white glove on a hospital stretcher — after suffering third-degree burns after a pyrotechnics mishap during a Pepsi commercial — it’s embraced as not mere vanity, but as reassurance to fans.Throughout “Thriller 40,” Jackson is cast as inspirational, neither obsessive nor superhuman. There are no snide accounts of eccentric behavior, no hagiographic praise, only respect for an artist at the top of his game, chasing his goal to be the best in the world.Expect “Thriller 40” to garner nominations for awards in the documentary field next year. It presents the greatest album of all time in stark relief, not relying on nostalgia or star power. Jackson may be gone, but our “Thriller” world is still spinning — and thanks to his talent, nothing else, it seems, can beat it.

‘Thriller 40’ Tells the Story of Michael Jackson’s Musical Opus and Why Others Have Yet To, as It Were, Beat It

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