It was twenty years ago today, December 1, 1982, that Michael Jackson released the Thriller album. As a young Elvis Costello fan, I ignored the record at the time. The intense overexposure over the next several years worked against my proper appreciation of his artistic achievement.
On top of that, the guy has gradually lost his mind. I mean this not to be snide or hateful, but the guy's obviously gone far off the rails somewhere. It's difficult to even look at the guy's face at this point. He's clearly lost his way.
Nonetheless, Thriller stands as a monumental achievement in popular music [bracketed by the classic Off the Wall and Bad albums]. This album was the biggest hit album ever, with good reason. From the slamming rock of "Beat It" to the perfect paranoid pulse of "Billie Jean" to the much maligned but perfectly plotted pleasantry of "The Girl Is Mine," this record stands as a state of the union statement on popular culture. Even the cheesy title tune (and video) exactly capture a certain trait of little boy joy in being frightened. [Yeah, yeah, save the stupid jokes for a minute.]
It comforts me now to hear Thriller. As further sad tales of corruption and despair emerge from the corpse's shell that is MJ 2002, his classic work stands perfect and immortal. Just as no amount of junk food or pills could undo the fact that Elvis recorded "Heartbreak Hotel," no horror stories emerging from Neverland can ever unrecord "Bad" or "Human Nature."
Michael Jackson's classic records stand forever, and they can't take that away from him.
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