Billie Jean Is One of the 100 Best Songs in History

No surprise! Time magazine placed Billie Jean in its list of the 100 best songs in history, without ranking it. Three elements—beauty, power, and innovation—played a role in this decision.

The woman who claimed Michael Jackson was the father of “one” of her twins inspired Michael to write the song Billie Jean. Quincy Jones, who was producing the Thriller album with Michael, believed Billie Jean was a weak song and would ruin the album. Fortunately, Michael didn’t listen to Quincy, and Thriller went on to become the best-selling album of the era.

The creative music video for Billie Jean was directed by Steve Barron and made smoke rise from the heads of every viewer. Along with two other videos—Beat It and Thriller—it removed barriers of color and race from MTV and proved that a music video can be a cinematic work.

In the Billie Jean video, it takes two minutes for Michael Jackson to begin the dance he’s known for. The ground beneath his feet lights up.

After that, Michael Jackson was no longer just the offspring of Fred Astaire. He now revealed the beautiful and bad (Bad) side of himself.

Source: eMJey.com / TIME