Insights
Thriller, memes and parodies of Michael Jackson’s music video. PHOTO
Forty years ago, on November 30, 1982, the album ‘Thriller’ was released in the US and UK. The single of the same name was released a year later, and the video clip with the famous choreography danced by the singer and the zombies has become one of the most famous in the history of music. In four decades the world of entertainment has paid homage to both the song and the dance steps several times: from Bollywood to ‘The Simpsons’, from Jennifer Garner to Lady Gaga, from Gorillaz to Steven Spielberg
It’s been 40 years since November 30, 1982 when Michael Jackson’s album Thriller made its debut in the United States and the United Kingdom. A disc containing unforgettable songs such as Billie Jean, Beat It and the homonymous Thriller, the latter released in most countries on November 12, 1983 and in the USA on January 23, 1984 as the seventh and final single
Thriller is one of Michael Jackson’s most famous singles, also thanks to the video clip that the singer wanted to make with the direction of director John Landis. Costing more than 500 thousand dollars, it was one of the first music videos with a plot, choreography and special effects, and in fact revolutionized the way of making this type of video clip, which until then was usually produced with a collage of images
There are many elements of the video that have entered the collective imagination, first of all the choreography danced by Michael Jackson and the zombies to the tune of the song’s chorus. In 2009 the video was chosen to be preserved in the National Film Registry of the United States Library of Congress. And inevitably, over the decades, the video clip has been cited, honored and has become the subject of memes and parodies in the world of TV, cinema and music.