Michael Jackson – 25th Anniversary of Thriller
Britney Spears has problems. Michael Jackson has problems. One of them created the greatest CD ever — enough said. In 2008, we celebrate a much needed interruption from the Spear’s custody drama headlines with the 25th Anniversary re-release of Thriller: the aforementioned greatest album of all time.
The comparison of Spears to Jackson begins and ends as a simple shot at our current pop culture. Spears, like every multi-talented (and I’m not counting being gross as a talent) artist who came up in the ‘90s, benefited from the countless foundations that Jackson laid – “inspiration” aside. She even took advantage of modern TV and viral marketing schemes that were not available to MJ at his time yet still fell short of accomplishing any lasting greatness and pushed no personal musical vision forward during her reign as the poster girl for pop princesses to-be. So to that, we celebrate. Long live the King.
This 25th Anniversary edition of Thriller features all nine of the original tracks digitally remastered, a new unreleased track, and five classic remixes from the talents of Will.I.Am, Kanye West, Fergie and Akon.
The classic songs of Thriller expressed what was “right” in music and are now deservingly immortalized as such. “The Girl is Mine” is such a pure and innocent song that Jackson says “the doggone girl is mine”. Who is smooth enough to get away with saying that on the radio in this day in age? Benjamin Andre (“I Can’t Wait”) is the only name to come to mind besides Michael Jackson (“Butterflies”) himself. Regardless, Will.I.Am comes through with a hard edge yet classy remix, making it the best of the bunch.
That honor would have gone to Kanye West, who drops his signature drums into “Billie Jean” but fails to stamp it with a clever flow. While hot, the track could have been so much better. The biggest surprise of the bunch is Akon’s “Wanna Be Starting Something” as he keeps pace with Jackson’s sharp vocal changes. Conversely the dud of the CD belongs to Fergie on “Beat it 2008”. Fergie immediately sounds out of place and consequently trips, fumbles and stumbles all over the track.
All in all, the CD provided a great opportunity to re-listen to a masterpiece. As you should know, the original Thriller had seven of its nine tracks released as triumphant singles. To compare, the last album I remember listening to that had any sort of similar substance to track ratio was Beyonce’s B’Day, which released five official singles out of 10 tracks.
Beyond singles, Thriller’s influence with music videos, production, style, choreography, presentation, etc will forever live on.
I wish nothing more than to have this re-release empower the Chris Brown generation to understand where it all started.
Favorite songs: “The Girl is Mine 2008” – Will.I.Am, “Billie Jean 2008” – Kanye West, “The Girl is Mine” Featuring Paul McCartney, “Thriller”, “P.Y.T’ and “Billie Jean”.
Final Review: At 25 years and counting, Thriller will prove to be timeless. Own it and pass it down to the next generation. Cop it!
February 26, 2008 at 11:31 pm
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February 28, 2008 at 11:09 am
Thank you for such a proactive and positive article. Thriller is and always will be an awesome album, however lets not forget MJ’s whole body of work which tends to get overshadowed by Thriller. Michael has given so much to the music industry with his creativity and inspiration. I wish him luck in all that he does in the future, and hope he hurry’s up with the next album!!.
March 25, 2008 at 11:25 am
i am gonna show this to my friend, guy
April 5, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Amazing text.., bro