{"product_id":"michael-jackson-thriller-25-25th-anniversary-edition","title":"Michael Jackson – Thriller (25th Anniversary Edition)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e— The Analog Vault \/\/ Essential Listening —\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile the Jackson 5 and his solo albums on Motown Records already made Michael Jackson a superstar, it was not until Thriller that the prodigy took the throne as the “King of Pop”. It instantly topped the US Billboard charts, where it would spend a record 37 weeks at number one, before becoming the best-selling album of all-time. Coinciding with the rise of MTV, Jackson’s iconic music videos for \"Billie Jean\", \"Beat It\" and \"Thriller\" didn’t just make him a household name worldwide, they permanently revolutionised music videos as artform.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut beyond its accolades and cultural significance, just musically, \u003cem\u003eThriller’s\u003c\/em\u003e cohesive confluence of rock, funk, disco, soul and R\u0026amp;B changed pop music forever. From its seven juggernaut singles to its other two underrated tracks (\"Baby Be Mine\" and \"The Lady in My Life\"), every one of these Quincy Jones-produced songs remains a masterpiece. — \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/theanalogvault.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003eThe Analog Vault\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e—\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThriller\u003c\/em\u003e is the biggest-selling album of all time; it says so on the cover of this reissue package. What it doesn’t say is that, on a worldwide scale, it outpaces the Eagles, Pink Floyd, and Celine Dion by more than just a marginal million or so: At 100 million+ copies sold, it’s estimated to have sold more than twice its nearest rival.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor this edition Jackson called in some current big guns to provide remixes, and sadly they do provide the consistency the originals gloriously lack. Will.i.am sets the tone: He takes Macca off “The Girl Is Mine” but decides it can’t work without someone sounding like an idiot and steps manfully in himself. There’s a general reluctance to use what these guest stars are good at: will.I.am is a consistently slick, inventive pop producer but nobody wants to hear him rap, whereas on Kanye West’s “Billie Jean” a guest verse might have added dynamics to the mix’s clumsy claustrophobia. Fergie’s gift as a pop star is the way her crassness shifts into oddness—so on “Beat It” her nervous reverence is a waste of time. Only Akon comes off well, flipping the meaning of “startin’ somethin’” and turning the song into a joyful seducer’s groove, and here it’s Jackson’s own mush-mouthed new vocal that spoils things.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe biggest-selling album of all time, then, and you should probably take the “of all time” literally. His highest-clout guest stars here have shifted around one-twentieth the copies \u003cem\u003eThriller\u003c\/em\u003e has, and in a dwindling industry it’s hard to imagine anything similar happening again. Fluke it maybe was, but as a unification move it worked—the last time, maybe, one person could incarnate almost all of pop, all the corny and all the awesome in one mind. We live now in the world of the “long tail” — \u003cem\u003eThriller\u003c\/em\u003e was the big head. — (via \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/pitchfork.com\/reviews\/albums\/11163-thriller-25th-anniversary-edition\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003ePitchfork\u003c\/a\u003e)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e—\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s hard to believe now, but when Michael Jackson’s \u003cem\u003eThriller\u003c\/em\u003e was released in the UK in time for Christmas 1982, there was an initial sense of misfire. In choosing the album's most lacklustre track, The Girl Is Mine, as its lead single, the postcard delivered was mildly disappointing. The playful duet with Paul McCartney, chosen no doubt to emulate the success McCartney had had earlier the same year with Stevie Wonder on Ebony and Ivory, was simply not what the listeners were expecting. It reached number eight on the UK chart, and the album sold well, but certainly not in the manner that the man who’d delivered Off the Wall should have done.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy the following Christmas, Thriller had become the phenomenon it remains to this day. Singles kept dropping off the album like golden fruit from a platinum bough: the precision snap of that snare on UK number one Billie Jean; the raucous Eddie Van Halen guitar on Beat It; the groove-driven frenzy of Wanna Be Startin' Something. It became apparent that this was a remarkable, ever-yielding pop jukebox.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy 1984, the album got an extension on its lifecycle with the John Landis-directed video for \u003cem\u003eThriller\u003c\/em\u003e, which took the album from successful pop record to cultural icon. Casting the then-clean cut, scandal-free singer as a werewolf in a 15-rated short film was a risk, but one that truly paid off. Soon enough \u003cem\u003eThriller\u003c\/em\u003e had become a greatest hits package – seven of its nine tracks were issued as singles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLove it or hate it, \u003cem\u003eThriller\u003c\/em\u003e is pop's great, immovable Everest. Marketing departments realised that more and more singles could be pulled from a record to prolong its shelf life, and Michael Jackson became the King of Pop with the whole of the recording industry at his investiture.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was, of course, never the same for Jackson after \u003cem\u003eThriller\u003c\/em\u003e. All that followed was a long, gradual downhill slope that culminated in some forgettable records and a tragic early death. But this view from the summit remains unparalleled. — (via \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/music\/reviews\/649p\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003eBBC\u003c\/a\u003e)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e—\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRemastered, 2 LP\u003cbr\u003eComes with a gatefold sleeve.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith previously unreleased tracks, made exclusively for this 25th Anniversary Edition.\u003cbr\u003eFeaturing an unreleased track from the original Thriller sessions, \"For All Time\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" style=\"border-radius: 12px;\" data-testid=\"embed-iframe\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/album\/1C2h7mLntPSeVYciMRTF4a?utm_source=generator\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eVinyl Tracklist\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eA1 Wanna Be Startin Something\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eA2 Baby Be Mine\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eA3 The Girl Is Mine\u003cspan\u003e Featuring – Paul McCartney\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eA4 Thriller\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eB1 Beat It\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eB2 Billie Jean\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eB3 Human Nature\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eB4 P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eB5 The Lady In My Life\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eC1 Vincent Price Excerpt From \"Thriller\" - Voice-Over Session\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eC2 The Girl Is Mine 2008 \u003cspan\u003eFeaturing – Will.I.Am\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eC3 P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) 2008 \u003cspan\u003e Featuring – Will.I.Am\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eC4 Wanna Be Startin Something 2008 \u003cspan\u003e Featuring – Akon\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eD1 Beat It 2008 \u003cspan\u003e Featuring – Fergie \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eD2 Billie Jean 2008 \u003cspan\u003eRemix – Kanye West\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eD3 For All Time\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e↓\u003cbr\u003eLabel: Epic \/ Legacy\u003cbr\u003eFormat: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, Remastered, Stereo, Gatefold\u003cbr\u003eReissued: 2008 \/ Originally Released: 1982\u003cbr\u003eGenre: Funk\/Soul, Pop, Rock\u003cbr\u003eStyle: Funk, Soul, Disco, Pop Rock, Male Vocals\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFile under: TAV Essential Listening\u003cbr\u003eFile under: Funk \/ Soul\u003cbr\u003e⦿\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Epic \/ Legacy","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46363793981598,"sku":"886972334417","price":60.0,"currency_code":"SGD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0584\/5434\/3838\/files\/Michael_Jackson_Thriller_25_Album_Cover_Alt.jpg?v=1767338907","url":"https:\/\/theanalogvault.com\/products\/michael-jackson-thriller-25-25th-anniversary-edition","provider":"The Analog Vault","version":"1.0","type":"link"}