Saturday, December 8, 2007

"Thiller" At 25


For the 25th anniversary of one of the best selling albms of all-time pop-icon Michael has Jackson granted Ebony Magazine exclusive access for the first U.S. interview he's done in years. The response has been overwhelming!

Thriller was the sixth overall studio album by American singer Michael Jackson and his second studio album with Epic Records. It was released on December 1, 1982. It is Jackson's most popular album and catapulted him to international stardom when it was released. In 2007, the NARM and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ranked Thriller third on their "Definitive 200" list, a compilation of what they believed to be the greatest albums ever.

To mark the 25th anniversary of the release of Thriller, the RIAA & Sony combined world-wide sales to come up with the grand total of 60 million, according to MJ management, it's sold in excess of 100 million. The album is also notable for being one of only three albums to remain in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 for one full year (along with Falling Into You by Celine Dion and Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette), spending 80 consecutive weeks in the top 10, 37 of which were at number one.

Thriller is also the first album of only three in history to produce seven Billboard Hot 100 top-ten singles, and the first and to date only album to be the best-selling album of two years (1983 and 1984) in the United States, according to Billboard. The album continues to sell an estimated 60,000 units in the United States per year.

When I think of Thriller I think of one of the best years of my life because the album hit the record charts the same year I returned to Europe with the intent of trying to make a go of a career as a freelance photographer. I can recall the first time and place I heard each of the singles that would be released from the album. I can recall all-night disco dancing and get-togethers with my German friends in and around Bonn where I lived. The album will always have a special place in my heart. And MJ will always be "The King of Pop" no matter what other copy-cat comes along. Find out more about what even music critics consider a groundbreaking album at: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiller_album

Research info gathered at: www.wikipedia.org

Now, a poem that's intended to thrill:


Instructions When Going Aboard

The instructions are scribbledon a white plastic bed sheet:

Always ask for ketchup.
Pack a spare Go Greyhound T-shirt.
Say you once worked for the CIA.
Pretend you are currently a preacher.
Never sleep on a glass mattress.
Avoid people known to explode.
Hide the reserve batch of love potion.
Snub your nose at any Anglo aristocrat.
Never raid a beehive without gloves on.
Use the cherry red tent as backup only.
Execute all roving eyes but pardon ears.
Finger every face to be sure.

And remember, if a foreign voice billows
in pleasure off the dark of hotel walls,
rest assured good things do occasionally
happen & that only a real thigh could be
warm smoothie thick like that.


Poem first published at: http://www.outsiderink.com/
Visit my ezine: http://www.concelebratory.blogspot.com/
and music blog: http://www.medleymakersant.com/

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