Thrillertime

Since the time I've been on Planet Earth, there are really 2 Michael's that will never be replaced, Michael Jordan and Michael Jackson. 

They were at the top of their game and ridiculous. People were always like "This kid is the next Michael Jordan." and they're really happy and then in the late 90's people were like "This kid is the next Michael Jackson." and they were like uh no... no thanks. And then Justin Timberlake and Usher came along and were like "Yeah, that's cool, we'd like to be like Mike, with the exception of all that other stuff." So Michael got himself an asterisk.

This month marks THRILLER's 25th anniversary.

And it is not a time to criticize and mock and laugh and maybe feel sad for Michael Jackson. No, It is a day to celebrate the iconic lines from Wanna be Startin' Somethin' - "You're a vegetable." "YOU'RE A VEGETABLE!" and all of the other great things about THRILLER and a time to take a stroll down memory lane.

When I was 4 years old, we lived in an apartment complex called PEPPERTREE in Aspen Hill, Maryland. This was around the time my brother was scared of the dark. Anyway, I remember going upstairs to my neighbors apartment, it was a teenage girl, and I think she was our Babysitter and I remember she had the THRILLER record and we would listen to it and I would cover my ears at the end of the Thriller because the video had scared the bejesus out of me. I loved that album. If you go into our family photo albums,  there are many pictures where Joe and I are wearing Michael Jackson jackets and vests. It's pretty funny. 

In celebration of this album I downloaded it and have been listening to the Album for the past week. I quote Kanye West "Right when magazines wrote Kanye West off, I dropped my new shit sound like the best of." Well, this CD sounds like a a Greatest Hits album. It's not cohesive at all. It starts off right, with "Wanna be Startin' Somethin'" and then it just goes off in different directions. And it's short. There are only 9 songs. Of the 9, the only one that I really cringe listen to is "The Girl Is Mine" with Paul McCartney and symbolized a lot of what I think we hated about 80's music. BUT DAMN, listen to "Human Nature", that songs lays the blue print for what would become the dominant sound of R&B. All you gotta do is speed it up and add a rap verse to the middle 8 or bridge and you'd have most of the slow R&B songs today. Dude, there is NE-YO without Human Nature.  THIS WHOLE ALBUM is a blueprint. Sorry Jay-Z. I realized most of the Janet Jackson CDs completely ripped off the formula. It's frightening. And it's original.

Some reviewers have said that BAD was a better record and maybe it was, but Thriller was the last time Michael sounded right, lyrically and vocally.  On this album, his singing sounds so good, it's sick. He's like a rubber band. He does all the background vocals and their perfect. By the time BAD happened he was pretty white and his trademarks started taking over for his old naturalism. He's all HE-HE's and soft to hard soft singing, although some of those songs are really really good. But Thriller was the culmination album. I ask you all to listen to the album with earphones on or in a room with really good speakers. You will really understand the triumph of this album and the work of Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones. The horn section, the synthesizers, the way that Michael's voice washes over from left to right and all those fantastic sounds that ping pong across the sound field. It's magnificent.

BAD would begin Michael's internal fight with himself, his sound, his fame, and his fans. I mean, he closed BAD with the song "Leave Me Alone", really? Oh it was a fast slope. Not like Britney's 90mph waterslide ride, but it was more bizarre. Whatever. This isn't about that.

Oh great, I just got made fun of for listening to this. Okay, switching over to George Clinton. At the same time THRILLER came out, George released "Atomic Dog" which well influenced that other great art form, RAP.

Good times!