30th November - Michael Jackson's Thriller

Artist – Album: Michael Jackson - Thriller

Released: 30^th November 1982

Sounds Like: 65 million Thriller fans can’t be wrong

 
What can I tell you about Michael Jackson’s Thriller that you don’t already know? Chances are: nothing. The best selling album of all time, it has worldwide sales estimated at between 51 and 65 million. In the UK, it has sold 4.3 million copies, which means that one in every 6 households owns the album. In the US, it’s even more impressive: 29 million copies sold, one in every 4 homes proudly displaying Michael Jackson’s sculptured façade. Seven of its nine tracks were top ten hit singles, with only the gentle ballad ‘The Lady in My Life’ and the fantastic, funky ‘Baby Be Mine’ saved as album tracks. I’ve read some reviews that described it as hits-plus-filler but if 78% of the songs were singles that’s hardly going to be a sticking point. Thriller was a phenomenon, a trailblazer, a once-in-a-lifetime album.
 
It’s also very good, although that can sometimes get lost amidst the numbers. Almost all the tracks are classic MJ: smooth, polished blends of soul, motown and rock. There’s something for everyone, from the monster hits of ‘Thriller’, ‘Beat It’ and the untouchable ‘Billie Jean’, to the lesser-known-though-no-less-awesome ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’’, ‘Human Nature’ and ‘P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)’. The one anomaly is the god-awful duet with Paul McCartney ‘The Girl is Mine’, a schmaltzy jingle describing a “doggone girl” who is inexplicably attracted to both Wacko and Macca. If you manage to make it through the first 3 and a half minutes of torture you are rewarded with spoken dialogue between the two leading men, bad enough to make suicide seem the only sane way out.
 
Still, otherwise it is very good record. But then you probably already knew that.
 
Albumaday... rating: 9/10
 

1.       Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ – 6:03

2.       Baby Be Mine – 4:20

3.       The Girl is Mine – 3:42

4.       Thriller – 5:57

5.       Beat It – 4:18

6.       Billie Jean – 4:54

7.       Human Nature – 4:06

8.       P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) – 3:59

9.       The Lady in My Life – 5:00

 
Listen to ‘Baby Be Mine’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG9OzYVSg3c

Also released on the 30^th November:

1970: George Harrison – All Things Must Pass

Also released on the 30^th November:

1979: Pink Floyd – The Wall