Michael Jackson Thriller Music Video

From LoveToKnow Music

The Michael Jackson Thriller music video is arguably the most famous music video ever made. The video stunned audiences and critics alike when it debuted on December 2, 1983, and it still sets the bar for music video achievements.

Michael Jackson Thriller Music Video: Basic Info

The Thriller video was a remarkable video for a remarkable song on a remarkable album. Thriller is the best selling album of all time, and the title track is a song style that has never been seen before or repeated since: a horror movie in a song. John Landis, director of An American Werewolf in London, co-wrote the song with Jackson and worked with him to bring the music video vision to life.

Working with a budget of $500,000, Jackson and Landis wrote a screenplay for a 14 minute music video. Additional music for the video was composed by Elmer Bernstein, who worked on An American Werewolf in London with Landis.

The plot of the movie was inspired by old horror movies from the 40s and 50s as well as zombie movies like Night of the Living Dead. The video starred Michael Jackson, Playboy centerfold Ola Ray and a large cast of dancers.

The video goes for 14 minutes and as of 2009 had sold 9 million units on DVD. It was named the most successful music video of all time by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Thriller won several awards, including:

Grammy: Best Music Video
Grammy: Best Video Album
MTV Awards – Best Music Video of All Time (awarded 1999)
MTV Awards – Viewer's Choice – Best Video
MTV Awards – Best Overall Performance in a Video
MTV Awards – Best Choreography

Michael Jackson Thriller Music Video: The Plot

The Thriller video opens with Michael Jackson and Ola Ray dressed in 1950s style clothing riding in a car that then runs out of gas. As they begin to walk towards a gas station, Michael gives his date a ring and asks her to be his steady girlfriend. When she accepts, he warns her that he's a little different. Then, he morphs into a werewolf as his date goes running off.

The camera then pans back to show Michael and Ola Ray in modern times in a movie theater. The opening sequence was actually the film they were watching. Ray is too scared to continue watching the movie and leaves the theatre. Michael follows her out of the theater and begins to walk her home, but he starts trying to scare her. Then, zombies appear to perform a dance routine with Michael and start coming after Ray. Ray runs away and they appear to chase her. Then, the camera shows Michael shaking her shoulder and waking her up. It appears that Ray was dreaming. Michael offers to walk her home, but as they leave the room, he turns to the camera and shows eyes similar to the werewolf eyes from the opening sequence.

Michael Jackson Thriller' Music Video Controversies

Jackson was concerned that the music video would be taken the wrong way and, given his Jehovah’s Witness faith, was worried people would believe the video suggested he believed in the occult. He added a disclaimer to the start of the video to clear things up.

The real controversy came in the years afterwards. Ola Ray began complaining about lack of royalty payments in the 1990s. She publicly blamed Jackson for her lack of payment, then withdrew her statement in 1999. Ten years later, however, shortly before Jackson's death, she sued Jackson for unpaid royalties. Jackson sold the rights to the video to Nederlander Organization to adapt into a stage production; Landis said he had not received royalties for four years.

No resolution on the royalties was reached before Jackson's death.