I read this article in my local paper and thought you might like it. There will probably be lots of articles about the 25th anniversary, BUT here's one from where I live.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/dec/06/thriller-25-year-anniversary/
Thriller: 25 Year Anniversary
By Curtis Ross
Published: December 6, 2007
The numbers associated with Michael Jackson's 1982 album, "Thriller," still are astounding — 27 million copies sold in the United States; seven Top 10 singles; 37 weeks as the No. 1 album in the country.
But they don't show the full impact.
Consider how many black artists regularly reach the top of the charts these days. The year-end Top 10 singles chart for 1982 contained only one black artist — Stevie Wonder. The song was a duet with Paul McCartney, "Ebony and Ivory," from McCartney's "Tug of War" album.
Eight of the Top 10 songs are by black artists on the latest Billboard magazine pop singles chart.
Black performers now are commonplace on MTV. Before "Billie Jean," black faces were notably absent from the network's programming. In fact, the network only played "Billie Jean" after Walter Yetnikoff, head of CBS Records (parent company of Jackson's label, Epic), threatened to pull all of its artists' videos unless MTV relented.
No one thinks twice now when Fiona Apple producer Jon Brion works with Kanye West, or Justin Timberlake records with 50 Cent, or The Hives turn up on a Timbaland album.
When Eddie Van Halen played the guitar solo on "Beat It," the second single from "Thriller," it was news.
"It's undeniably an album that, at its time, had never been heard before," says Jonathan Cohen, senior editor at Billboard. "It was a combination of pop and R&B and a little rock which, at that period of time, was very groundbreaking."
"Beat It' reeled in the rockers. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" heated up the dance floor. "Human Nature" roped in the adult contemporary crowd.
Top 40 embraced it all and the videos for "Beat It," "Billie Jean" and the epic title track made the album seemingly ubiquitous.
"The videos were a huge factor," Cohen says. "This was a guy who was experimenting not just with the length of videos but with storytelling and special effects and taking it way beyond what was on MTV then, which was often just live clips of bands performing. That definitely set a new standard."
Those videos also meant that elementary-school age children, at that point an insignificant part of the pop music demographic, suddenly had a pop star of their own.
"For a lot of young kids, and I was one of them, it was our first real taste of what a music superstar was all about," Cohen says.
"I had never heard of him until the 'Billie Jean' video," Cohen recalls. "It seemed that within a couple of weeks' time everyone knew who he was. For a lot of kids, ["Thriller" was the] first [album] they had to go have of their own accord."
To assess the impact of that, consider the clamor for tickets to see the concert tour starring Miley Cyrus and her TV alter ego, Hannah Montana. The audience for the show and its music primarily is grade-school children.
Accusations of child abuse, an unchecked ego and generally bizarre behavior have helped alienate Jackson from a large portion of his "Thriller"-era fan base. But at the time, Jackson got love from all over. He had a Beatle for a buddy; Paul Weller cited Jackson's influence on the latter-day albums by his band, The Jam; Marshall Crenshaw name-checked him in song. He seemed strange, sure, but unthreatening, benevolent even, not unlike E.T.
"You just don't have that crossover today," Cohen says. "Some people dabble in it — Justin Timberlake, Outkast, but certainly not to the degree we saw back then."
And if he's been written off by a segment of the public, Jackson still has the regard of his peers. The upcoming "Thriller: 25th Anniversary Edition," to be released in February, features remixes by Kanye West and will.i.am, and an appearance by Akon.
"Those are three of most popular urban artists around," Cohen says. "Regardless of what's going on with him, he still has a huge number of fans in the industry. And a lot of artists still cite him as a major inspiration."
'Thriller' Re-Imagined
To sell as many copies as "Thriller" did, an album has to appeal to a broad range of fans. "Thriller" certainly did, with dance, pop, rock, balladry and over-the-top theatrics contained within its grooves.
Turn that logic around, and it's easy to imagine a host of bands from different genres performing the songs. And that's just what we've done.
Our "Thriller" fantasy-tribute matches the nine songs with nine disparate acts for an album you can only hear in your imagination. But it will set you back less than the upcoming "Thriller" deluxe edition.
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," Talking Heads: It's easy to hear the influence of Jackson's 1979 album, "Off the Wall," on the Heads' "Remain in Light" from 1980. They return the favor with David Byrne's strangled vocals an excellent match for the lyrics' paranoia.
"Baby Be Mine," Prince: Jackson's primary competition in the '80s could add a coating of funky grit to this silky number.
"The Girl Is Mine," Roxy Cottontail and Peaches: Two foul-mouthed female MCs from the outer reaches of clubland give this sugary number a raunchy ride through the gutter.
"Thriller," Flaming Lips: Oklahoma's masters of bombast-with-heart likely would take this horror-film homage into sci-fi territory. Rob Zombie directs the video.
"Beat It," Bad Brains: Jazz-schooled Rasta-punks take this tough pacifist's anthem to the mosh pit.
"Billie Jean," Kanye West: Like Jackson, West is a talented bundle of insecurities with an ego the size of Saturn. West samples the original as well as Kraftwerk's "The Model" for an extra touch of doom.
"Human Nature," John Legend: Legend brings a gospel edge to the prettiest moment on "Thriller."
"P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)," The Hives: Sweden's sartorially splendid garage rockers polish this one off in 1:59.
"The Lady in My Life," Todd Rundgren: Like this song, Rundgren's Philly soul roots have never been far from the surface. Rundgren closes the disc in a Technicolor swirl of synthesizer textures.
'Thriller' By The Numbers
27: Millions of copies "Thriller" sold in the United States.
2: Songs that weren't released as singles ("Baby Be Mine" and "The Lady in My Life"); singles that reached No. 1 ("Beat It" and "Billie Jean").
7: Singles that went Top 10.
37: Weeks "Thriller" was No. 1 on Billboard's pop album chart.
80: Consecutive weeks "Thriller" was in the Top 10.
7: Number of Grammys "Thriller" won at the 1984 ceremonies. (Jackson took home an additional trophy for Best Children's Recording for "E.T. The Extraterrestrial.")
13Length in minutes of the "Thriller" video, longest ever at the time.
Sources: Billboard, Sony Legacy