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A quarter century ago, Michael Jackson unleashed the video for “Thriller,” an event that the Tribeca Film Festival commemorates April 24 at the World Financial Center Plaza with a screening, a “zombie disco” and other activities. Jackson’s director and cowriter, John Landis, will be in attendance; the singer, understandably wary of the long commute from his home on the planet Jupiter, will not.
The “Thriller” video marked a titanic moment for pop music that remains glued to the minds of those whose youths coincided with the 1980s. Earlier videos had been innovative and artful—see Devo's “Whip It,” to say nothing of Dylan's “Subterranean Homesick Blues”—but never before had the medium’s possibilities seemed so broad. Jackson and Landis viewed the promotional video as a film in miniature, with all the trappings of a Hollywood production: dialogue, plot, credits and of course, a fancy budget (nearly as extravagant, in fact, as Jackson’s current daily allowance for Pudding Pops). The video extended beyond the song, with a lengthy introduction and pauses in the music, clocking in at around 15 minutes. Along with the album’s astonishing blitz of singles, it seemed to herald a new age of multimedia pop demigod: the rare musical talent who could outdance his backup dancers.
Yet “Thriller” didn’t introduce a fresh medium so much as it marked a summit for a preexisting one. In its wake, videos became increasingly indispensable to an album’s success and accordingly, more expensive to produce. Whereas Jackson’s masterpiece took its time, the works that followed grew faster and faster, all spastic jump cuts and high-gloss flash. And few, if any, stars have matched his amalgamation of music and dancing skills, to say nothing of pop savvy.
And as for Jackson? His entire career is encapsulated in the “Thriller” video itself: He begins as a wholesome midcentury adolescent; sings and dances like nobody before him; and finally transforms, right before the world’s eyes, into a grotesque, plasticized monster, scaring the bejesus out of anyone who dares step into his path.
Join in the Thriller Night celebration at World Financial Center Plaza on Apr 24.
