January

Quincy Jones Talks About 'Thriller'

(22-11-2012) Producer Quincy Jones was interviewed by The Denver Post last month while attending a fundraiser for the Global Down Syndrome Foundation in Denver (USA). He talked about the 'Thriller' album, which was released on November 30, 1982, and thus soon turns 30. Quincy Jones said that his goal was not to produce the highest-selling album in history.

"Our underlying plan was to take disco out. That was the bottom line. I admired disco, don't get me wrong. I just thought that it had gone far enough. We needed to go someplace else."

The cultural impact of 'Thriller' is still being felt worldwide:

"Everywhere we go," said Jones, "I don't care if it's Soweto or Cairo or Monte Carlo or Abu Dhabi or Shanghai, if we're at a disco at midnight, they still play that song."

Reece Livingstone, a Colorado State University graduate now living in Golden, was a zombie dancer in the "Thriller" video. You can see blood coming out of his mouth in a street-scene close-up. He later went on to teach at-risk students at a South Central Los Angeles high school, where Michael visited a year after "Thriller" was released.

"One really angry black kid at the school thought Jackson was a sellout who was not content with the color of his skin," Livingstone said. Michael shook the teen's hand that day, "and from that moment on, he was a different person. The one legacy I take from that whole experience was that, because of Michael Jackson, that kid is not dead."

Livingstone remembers Michael Jackson as being "a little pissed" by the lack of artists of color on MTV at the time the album was released, and said Jackson enjoyed breaking through that barrier.

It's fair to say that most people have first-hand experience with the "Thriller" craze. Former Denver actor Murphy Funkhouser Capps lived overseas until she was 7, when her military father was assigned stateside.

"We came home in 1982, and the first thing I saw on TV was a Michael Jackson video," she said. "My first thought was, 'Whoa ... this is America? Awesome.'"

Army veteran John Paul Rojas of Denver was 9 and growing up in Sidney (Nebraska, USA) when he caught the fever:

"I remember sliding around on our shiny, linoleum floor in my onesies PJs with that album playing while my parents entertained their friends," he said. The next year his parents bought Rojas a red M.J. jacket with a glittery glove for Christmas -- and a Broncos coat. "And I was teased more for the Broncos coat than for the M.J. jacket," he said.

Back to Quincy Jones: He said the 30th anniversary of 'Thriller' will likely pass without fanfare because of Michael Jackson's death. He says he has been unable to come to any kind of meaningful resolution about his death.

"It's just tragic that somebody had to leave us at 50 years old," said Jones, who was in Luxembourg when Jackson died. "I was there at the invitation of the duke and duchess. There was a band that gave us a wonderful reception at the airport, and on the way into town, the duke told me, 'Oh, by the way, Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon and Michael Jackson just died.' It just knocked me off my socks... . Michael had it all: Talent, grace, professionalism and dedication. He was the consummate entertainer, and his contributions and legacy will be felt forever."

To view a video of the interview with Quincy Jones, please click here.

Source: MJFC / The Denver Post