The Years 1982 to 1985
On December 1, 1982, the album «Thriller» was released and forever changed music history.
[Thriller album]
«Thriller» became the best-selling album of all time. More than fifty-one million copies were sold worldwide, and six of the songs from this album placed among the top ten best-selling songs. Having this many songs in the top ten—especially from only one album—was unprecedented at the time.
Both of these records are credited to Michael in the Guinness World Records book, and they have not been broken to this day.
The long-playing «Thriller» album, out of the one hundred and twenty-two weeks it spent on the United States best-selling charts, held the number one spot for an unprecedented thirty-seven weeks.
Michael: ”Ever since I was a little boy, I dreamed of making the best-selling album in music history. I remember when I was a kid, before I would jump into the pool, I would make a wish. Don’t forget, I grew up knowing the music industry, I understood the goals, and I grasped them, while everyone was telling me what was possible and what wasn’t. But I wanted to do something exceptional.
When I jumped into the pool, I would spread my arms as far apart as I could. It was like I was directing my thoughts upward, toward space. And I would make a wish, then I would dive into the water. I would tell myself, ”This is my dream, this is my wish.” Every time, before diving into the water, I did this.“
With the album «Thriller», Michael Jackson became the undisputed king of pop—and he has kept that title to this day _ unmatched!
As the director of «Billie Jean», Steve Barron was chosen to direct the first clip from the «Thriller» album. For the first time in MTV history, a music video was presented with a narrative structure—not just a collection of images and photos.
The «Billie Jean» video had a tremendous impact on MTV viewers and achieved extraordinary popularity. This video also removed many restrictions that had previously been placed in the way of Black artists, who were ignored by MTV. In fact, Michael Jackson was the first Black artist whose songs were added to the list of videos that were going to be aired on MTV. Before that, MTV refused to play videos by Black artists. And Michael changed this practice forever.
On May 16, 1983, Michael performed the song «Billie Jean» on the live television special «Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever» (Motown 25th)—which had been produced to mark its 25th anniversary. More than forty-seven million Americans watched the show. After that night, many things changed.
[Motown 25th Anniversary]
He wore the shiny black jacket that has since become legendary. Along with his black hat, which he was wearing for the first time, and the white glove that is now so famous, Michael began performing «Billie Jean» and for the first time showed the public something that would later become one of his most important trademarks.... the Moon Walk
Michael: ”I can say that the audience really enjoyed my performance. My brothers told me they had gathered at the corners of the stage and were staring at me with their mouths open. My parents and my sisters were among the audience. But the only thing I remember is that after the performance ended, I opened my eyes and saw a sea of people standing there, cheering me on.“
Some viewers later said that when Michael performed the Moon Walk, it seemed as if the whole world had stopped moving.
In an article in the weekly magazine Entertainment, published on February 19, 1999, this historic performance was described as: ”A small step for a man and a great leap for pop music: during the performance of «Billie Jean», Michael Jackson displayed his Moon Walk, which defied the laws of physics. And even rocket scientists were left stunned.“
Dan Mischer, the producer and director of NBC’s specials, said: ”We spent hours in the editing room discussing every single scene of his dance film. He put on an incredible show.“
With his dancing, he drove everyone crazy!
It was clear to everyone that the next song or video had to be «Thriller». Michael chose John Landis [the American man who lives in London, and in his stories, at night when the moon is full he turns into a werewolf] to direct this video. He knew Landis was perfectly suited for the job.
In addition, Michael’s lawyer, John Branca, came up with a great idea. He suggested that they also produce a film from behind the scenes of the making of the «Thriller» video.
Michael: ”It seemed strange that no one had done this before. We were sure it would become an interesting documentary-style report film.“
In February 1984, the «Thriller» video was aired on MTV for the first time, and it truly revolutionized the way music videos were made, forever changing the future of these videos.
[Thriller video]
With the release of this video, Michael made history and transformed MTV forever. «Thriller» was the first music video that was produced specifically to be turned into a short film.
Later, at the end of the second Christian millennium, «Thriller» was selected as the best music video of all time!
Michael: ”My brother Jackie came to my house and asked, ‘Are you watching this show that’s on MTV right now? All they do is play music.’
I watched the show and thought it had an interesting concept. But I didn’t like the video itself, which was just a collection of images. I thought, if I were going to make a video, I would make something with more entertaining value. What I had in mind was the idea of making a video with a beginning, a body, and an ending—like a short film.“
After the first television broadcast of «Thriller» on MTV, CBS (Epic) released the video as a single item and album sales went crazy. According to statistics, the release of the behind-the-scenes film of the «Thriller» video and the album’s singles resulted in additional sales of fourteen million albums and soundtrack tapes over a period of six months.
At one point in 1984, one million copies of the «Thriller» album were sold every week.
[Behind the scenes of the Thriller film]
On March 30, 1984, the behind-the-scenes film of the «Thriller» video was released, becoming the best-selling behind-the-scenes film that had been made up to that time.
Michael: ”The success of the «Thriller» behind-the-scenes film was almost a shock for all of us.“
This record was later broken only by one person.
Guess who.... ”Michael Jackson”
On January 16, 1984, for the first time in the history of the American Music Awards, Michael Jackson won 8 astonishing awards.
On January 24, filming for Pepsi’s first promotional teaser began.
On November 11, 1983, a five-million-dollar contract had been signed between Michael Jackson, the Jacksons group, and the Pepsi-Cola company. With this contract, Pepsi became the sponsor of the «Victory» tour, and the Jackson brothers were also required to appear in two Pepsi television promotional teasers.
[Pepsi promotional teaser]
On January 27, 1984, during the filming of the second Pepsi promotional teaser, due to an explosion of explosive materials that had been placed in the spotlight for performing fireworks, and because the spotlight hit Michael’s head; his hair caught fire and he suffered second- and third-degree burns.
[The accident]
Miko Brando [the son of Marlon Brando and Michael’s personal secretary] was the first person who reached Michael and put out the flames with his hands. Michael was quickly taken to Cedars-Sinai Clinic and then transferred to Bratman Memorial Hospital, where he was placed under care.
The next day, on January 28, Michael was released from the hospital.
After this incident, Michael received one and a half million dollars in compensation for this accident from Pepsi, which he immediately donated to the «Michael Jackson Burn Center».
On February 27, 1984, MTV aired both Pepsi one-minute promotional teasers without receiving any payment.
The next day, on February 28, during the broadcast of the 26th annual Grammy Awards ceremony on television, two Pepsi promotional teasers featuring the Jackson brothers were shown. These two teasers are among the most successful and popular promotional teasers that have ever been made. And they are also the first and only ones whose broadcast schedule was printed in the TV Guide weekly magazine’s list of television programs.
[At the Grammys]
But most importantly, the top picks at the 26th annual Grammy Awards ceremony were chosen. On February 28, 1984, Michael Jackson won eight out of ten Grammy Awards.
Michael won in the following categories:
Album of the Year: Thriller
Best Male Pop Vocalist: Michael Jackson — for the song Thriller
Music Page of the Year: Beat It
Best Male Rock Vocalist: Michael Jackson — for the song Beat It
Best Male R&B (Jazz and Blues) Vocalist: Michael Jackson — for the song Billie Jean
Best New Song of the Year: Billie Jean
Best Producer: Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones
Best Work for Children: E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial — with narration by Michael Jackson
That day, Brooke Shields accompanied Michael at this ceremony.
For the first time, this number of awards was achieved by one person within a single year. This record is registered in the Guinness World Records book under Michael’s name.
On February 23, 2000, Carlos Santana achieved Michael Jackson’s record [for the most number of Grammy Awards won in a single year], which had been maintained for seventeen consecutive years. He won eight Grammy Awards for his album «Super Natural». Therefore, these two artists share this outstanding record.
Behind the scenes, Carlos Santana told reporters that achieving Michael Jackson’s record was a ”true honor”.
[Pepsi press conference]
On July 2, 1984, an album by the Jacksons group titled «Victory» was released. The album gained popularity and was the last group album by the Jackson brothers.
On July 6, 1984, the opening concert of the Jacksons brothers’ tour — «Victory» — was held at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. Jermaine had joined his brothers at this concert. The Jacksons group performed fifty-five concerts over five months. In their concerts across the United States and Canada, they showcased the best stage designs that had been done on stage up to that time. The stage design took four months to complete.
[Victory Tour]
On December 9, 1984, the Jacksons group held their final concert of the «Victory» tour.
During the performance of «Shake Your Body Down To The Ground», Michael announced his separation from the group.
The tour earned more than seventy-five million dollars and was the biggest group tour that had been held up to that time.
In very large stadiums, more than two million people gathered to watch the Jacksons group perform. And for the first time, thanks to Michael Jackson, Pepsi-Cola overtook its main rival, Coca-Cola.
Michael donated all the money he received for performing on this tour to charitable institutions.
Later, he said about it: ”For me, the goal of the Victory tour was exactly this — to give the money back to its original owners.“
On November 20, 1984, Michael received a star on the «Walk of Fame» [Hollywood Boulevard], in front of Mann’s Chinese Theatre. His star, number 1793, is located among the stars of Lefty Frizzell [a traditional Southern and Western U.S. music singer] and Lupé Velez [actress].
[Michael’s star in Hollywood]
Michael is the first famous person to have been presented with two different stars. He received the first star in the late 1970s, as one of the members of the Jacksons group.
On January 28, 1985, two hours after the 12th annual American Music Awards ceremony, Michael and forty-four other artists secretly gathered for ten hours in the recording studio at I.M. in Los Angeles to record the song «We Are The World». This song had been written in early 1985 by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie at Michael’s home.
[In the recording studio of We Are The World]
Michael: ”I wrote this song after seeing terrible news about people who were dying from starvation in Ethiopia and Sudan, and with Lionel Richie’s collaboration.“
Latoya, Michael’s sister, says about how this song was written: ”Lionel had written one or two lines of this song. After he left the studio, Michael went there and wrote the entire song. The next day, he told Quincy and Lionel that the song was finished. But he never had to say who wrote the whole song.“
On March 7, 1985, the song «We Are The World» was released and was recorded in music history.
On April 5 of the same year, the songs «Good Friday» and «We Are The World» were simultaneously broadcast from more than eight thousand radio stations worldwide.
«We Are The World» is the first song in the music industry to receive multiple multi-platinum awards, thereby leaving a record in music recording history. This song received gold, platinum, and in some cases multiple platinum records in every category within just one month.
«We Are The World» was registered in the Guinness World Records book as the best-selling single of all time and remained in that position until, in 1997, Elton John’s song titled «Candle In The Wind ’97 / There’s Something About The Way You Look Tonight», written in tribute to Princess Diana, took the place of «We Are The World».
Today, «We Are The World» is still considered the second best-selling single. And without a doubt, it is the world’s number one anthem—and maybe it will be forever. «We Are The World» won a Grammy Award in four categories: ”Song of the Year — Music Page of the Year — Best Pop Group Performance — Best Music Video [Short Film]“.
The collective support of artists from Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa — USA for Africa) raised two hundred million dollars to help starving people in Ethiopia and fight famine in that country.
In August 1985, Michael Jackson bought the MTV catalog for forty-seven and a half million dollars. The value of the rights to publish this catalog is now three times its value in 1985. This catalog contains more than four thousand compositions, including two hundred and fifty-one songs by the Beatles, the best of Pat Benatar, Little Richard, Pointer Sisters, and Pretenders.
Michael currently also holds the publishing rights to the Slay Stone collection, plus a collection of the best songs from the 1960s.
Michael presented each of his lawyers, John Branca and Frank Dileo, who was in charge of his executive affairs, with a Rolls-Royce car as a reward for their help in obtaining the publishing rights to Beatles songs.
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