yes, we do have to make a tribute to the Peter Pan who mesmerized and confounded the world in the last 30 years. i'm sure this is like the eleventieth million blog to do so at this very moment.
let's start with my most-remembered Thriller moment. back in early '83, i was over at our landlord's listening to the seminal album, the coolest thing to have back then, that would go on to become the best-selling album of all time (and maybe will even gallop much further away after this). they had a stereo radio/cassette player (which i didn't). somebody said to rewind the song that just played. Jeremy, the landlord's youngest son, immediately pressed the Rewind button without stopping the song first (anybody who grew up with mp3 players will go "what's the big deal?"). that action ate the tape, and i told Jeremy not to do that and he should press the Stop button first. Jeremy, being a 6 year old prick at that time, snarkily blamed me for not teaching him that before he pressed the Rewind button. prick.
oh, and the 2nd-most remembered Thriller moment: 2nd year high school, group dancing field demonstration, dancing to Thriller, much, much earlier than those Cebu inmates.
here's a fact ... Prince songs outnumbers Jacko's on my iPod 3-to-1. and the reason is obvious. Prince went for long-term, sustained excellence, with highs and lows, for his career. which is why he's still making songs now, and even made a SuperBowl halftime appearance two years ago. Michael Jackson's star, brilliant as it was, peaked with Thriller. therein lies the irony: his best work burdened him and forced every succeeding album to be, unfairly or not, compared against this bar. considering his gifts, he could have been still making records at this time. who knows what might have been if despite his unhappy childhood, the early notoriety and fame, he managed to keep his head straight and just churned out music? i guess musical star celebrities need to go out in a spectacular tragic way (the list is long) - after craving and crawling and climbing their way up that mountain, there's nowhere else to go.
well, fans should just be thankful he wasn't found lifeless along with 10 other dead kids [insert other details here].
in this episode of 5 for Playing, we double the songs, because, well ... he is who he is. no need to embed YouTube vids here.
10. P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing), Thriller (1982)
9. Billie Jean, Thriller (1982)
8. Beat It, Thriller (1982)
7. Human Nature, Thriller (1982)
6. Rock With You, Off The Wall (1979)
5. One Day in Your Life, Forever, Michael (1975)
4. Thriller, Thriller (1982)
3. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough, Off The Wall (1979)
2. Smooth Criminal, Bad (1987)
1. Wanna Be Startin' Something, Thriller (1982)
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I remember Columbia didnt have a local distributor at the time Thriller came out and so most cassettes then contained songs from Thriller recorded from the radio, or cassettes and albums sent over by relatives from the US. I had an original cassette from the US and we wore it out not only through repeated play but also through frequent copying for friends. It was only about two years later when one could actually buy Thriller in local record stores, and even then it was still a monster hit.
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