How “Thriller” Became the Most Influential Music Video Ever

Sometimes an artist is able to capture lightning in a bottle. In the case of “Thriller,” it was like lightning electrifying a graveyard.

When Michael Jackson set out to make the video for the funky “Thriller”—the song written by Rod Temperton, produced by Quincy Jones, and featuring a “horror rap” from Vincent Price—he was already a major star. The album of the same name had already sold about 10 million units domestically (and 14 million globally) by this time and had been No. 1 for 20 weeks during the first 11 months of 1983.

Having released six of the album’s nine tracks as singles and two as videos (“Billie Jean” and “Beat It”), label executives at Epic Records likely thought his sixth solo album Thriller had peaked and had no interest in financing a third video for the album’s seventh single, particularly one that they viewed as a novelty track and took a horror slant as the future King of Pop wanted. This was his chance to play a monster as he was a fan of the genre’s classic movies.

The soulful singer felt the spark of something special and would not be deterred by his label’s indifference. Through an unusual arrangement with Showtime and MTV as equal financial backers—their individual $250,000 investments would be rewarded with exclusivity to air the 35-minute “The Making of ‘Thriller’” video—Jackson teamed up with director John Landis to write and create a promotional clip like no other. Inspired by 1950s horror movies and Night of the Living Dead (which MTV had aired on Halloween in 1982 and 1983), and plugging into what was a growing trend of fear flicks in movie theaters, the duo and their creative team broke down barriers in so many different ways.

Those Werecat Eyes

The video featured an actual story. The first four minutes were entirely exposition—unheard of at the time—as Jackson and his girlfriend (Playboy playmate Ola Ray) watched a ’50s-style movie in a cinema featuring actors who looked like them on a date. After his onscreen alter ego professed his desire to be with her, he soon transformed into a werecat and chased her down in the woods. When the “real life” Ray couldn’t take the scary movie anymore she left, and Jackson followed her outside, first teasing her about being frightened then walking along with her on the street as he sung about protecting from things that go bump in the night. Unfortunately, they strolled passed a graveyard with zombies rising from their tombs. The couple were soon surrounded, and then Jackson turned into one of the undead, performing an impressively flexible dance with them before pursuing her into a creaky old house. Just before they grabbed her, everything in the room turned normal again as Jackson implied it was all a dream—until he turned to the audience with his werecat eyes.

Over the span of 13½ minutes, “Thriller” delivered a fun short story, dynamic dancing, and effectively gruesome effects from Rick Baker, who had worked with Landis on the scarily cheeky An American Werewolf In London in 1981. Jackson was  a fan of that movie but also insisted the “Thriller” video be lighthearted so as not to scare children, thus his zombie alter ego did not look as decayed and ghoulish as the others around him. There was little blood and no overt gore as one would see in R-rated movies of the time. And the fantastically choreographed zombie dance moves from Jackson and Michael Peters (who also did “Beat It” and Pat Benatar’s “Love Is a Battlefield”)—along with a cadre of skilled dancers who could move fluidly and in sync with the singer—made it exciting to watch. This is arguably still the best dance sequence of any music video ever, and there have been some great ones since.

Debuting on Dec. 2, 1983, the “Thriller” video was a smash success, doubling Thriller’s domestic album sales to 20 million by October 1984, and it was groundbreaking in many ways. First off, Jackson and Ray were all-American black leads in place of the white leads that had dominated American horror movies for decades. Many of the zombie extras were black as well. Secondly, the use of narrative and dialogue elements within the mini-movie influenced many more clips to come, including Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” which would become a megahit clip five months later. Jackson purposefully wanted to elevate the medium, and he did.

Thirdly, big name directors did not make videos back then. Directors like Russell Mulcahy and later David Fincher transitioned into movies from videos. Landis, who had also made the hits National Lampoon’s Animal House and The Blues Brothers, had no interest in a short clip and told Jackson he wanted to do something more elaborate. Jackson concurred with this idea. Fourth, the 35-minute “Making Of ‘Thriller’” documentary, which sold over a million units on videotape, begat a trend of behind-the-scenes special features that continues to this day and was a big selling point of the DVD revolution of the 2000s.

A Dance Craze Inspired

Jackson’s bold video, which early on was shown hourly on MTV for many weeks to satiate demand, also inspired a “Thriller” dance craze that has spanned four decades; and the red and black jacket worn by Jackson and designed by Landis’ wife Deborah Nadoolman has become iconic. Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo, and Andy Serkis performed the dance in the movie 13 Going On 30. A young Chris Brown performed a “Thriller” tribute at the 2006 World Music Awards. A video of over 1,500 inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in Cebu, Philippines rehearsing the dance in 2007 has nearly 60 million views on YouTube. The “Thriller” dance is performed at annual Halloween parades at sites including Lexington, Kentucky; Wadsworth, Ohio; La Crescent, Minnesota; and New York City. There have also been “Thriller” flash mobs in various cities.

Most importantly, Jackson and “Thriller” broke down the doors for black artists on the very white MTV of the early days. (Watch this video of David Bowie debating VJ Mark Goodson and taking MTV to task for that back then.) Jackson also broke down doors for himself. By October 1984, album sales of Thriller skyrocketed to 20 million units and have since topped 34 million domestically. It remains the biggest-selling album of all time (70 million in sales globally), and no pop star today, not one, can lay claim to such staggering sales in so short a time, or a video capturing that level of attention and changing the game the way this one did. While “Thriller” is just under a billion views on YouTube, that does not take into account the number of eyeballs on it back in the ’80s. It won three MTV Video Music Awards, and Jackson took home eight Grammy Awards in 1984.

Jackson’s Pre-Release Anguish

If there was any downside to the creation of “Thriller,” it is that Jackson was then a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a highly rigid religious sect that allegedly threatened to ex-communicate him when they heard he was making a “werewolf video.” Hence the disclaimer about him not believing in the occult at the start of the clip. The singer was anguished before its release, but Landis convinced him of its greatness, and the world got to see that. Jackson reportedly adhered to his faith until he left the sect in 1987.

In recent years Jackson’s legacy has been tarnished by allegations about his personal life, but regardless of how some feel about him, no one can deny the power and impact of this music video. “Thriller” turned Michael Jackson into a superstar, reinvented the medium and reinvigorated the music industry, and inspired a dance craze that’s still going strong to this day. It also proved that many artists know better than music executives about exactly what will take them to the next level.

That said, no one, not even Jackson, could have foreseen how huge he and “Thriller” would become. There has been never been anything like it before or since.

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Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images