Michael Jackson - Billie Jean (Motown 25th Anniversary 1983)

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean (Motown 25th Anniversary Yesterday Today And Forever)
His 1st Moonwalk Performance

"Billie Jean" is a dance-pop R&B song by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was written by Jackson and produced by Quincy Jones for the singer's sixth solo album, Thriller (1982). Originally disliked by Jones, the track was almost removed from the album after he and Jackson had numerous disagreements. The song's lyrics refer to a real-life experience, in which a mentally ill female fan claimed that Jackson had fathered one of her twins. The song is well known for its distinctive bass line and Jackson's vocal hiccups. The song was mixed 91 times by Bruce Swedien before it was finalized. Following the successful chart performance of "The Girl Is Mine", "Billie Jean" was released on January 2, 1983, as the album's second single. "Billie Jean" was a worldwide commercial and critical success; it became one of the best-selling singles of 1983, and topped both the US and UK charts simultaneously. Cited as one of the most revolutionary songs in history, "Billie Jean" was certified platinum in 1989. Honored numerous times—including two Grammy Awards, one American Music Award and an induction into the Music Video Producers Hall of Fame—the song and corresponding music video propelled Thriller into the best-selling album of all time. The song was promoted with a short film that broke down MTV's racial barrier as the first video by a black artist to be played in heavy rotation by the channel, and an Emmy-nominated performance on Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, in which Jackson premiered "the moonwalk." The song was also promoted through Jackson's Pepsi commercials; during the filming of one commercial, Jackson's scalp was severely burned. Covered and sampled by modern artists, "Billie Jean" sealed Jackson's status as an international pop icon.
Thriller Album: Thriller is the sixth studio album by American recording artist Michael Jackson. The album was released on November 30, 1982 by Epic Records as the follow-up to Jackson's critically and commercially successful 1979 album Off the Wall. Thriller explores similar genres to those of Off the Wall, including funk, disco, soul, soft rock, R&B, and pop. Thriller's lyrics deal with themes including paranoia and the supernatural. With a production budget of $750,000, recording sessions took place between April and November 1982 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California. Assisted by producer Quincy Jones, Jackson wrote four of Thriller's nine tracks. Following the release of the album's first single "The Girl Is Mine", some observers assumed Thriller would only be a minor hit record. With the release of the second single "Billie Jean", the album topped the charts in many countries. At its peak, the album was selling a million copies a week worldwide. In just over a year, Thriller became—and currently remains—the best-selling album of all time. Sales are estimated to be over 110 million copies sold worldwide. Seven of the album's nine songs were released as singles, and all reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album won a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards at the 1984 Grammys. Thriller cemented Jackson's status as one of the predominant pop stars of the late 20th century, and enabled him to break down racial barriers via his appearances on MTV and meetings with President Ronald Reagan at the White House. The album was one of the first to use music videos as successful promotional tools—the videos for "Thriller", "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" all received regular rotation on MTV. In 2001, a special edition issue of the album was released, which contains additional audio interviews, a demo recording and the song "Someone In the Dark", which was a Grammy-winning track from the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial storybook. In 2008, the album was reissued again as Thriller 25, containing re-mixes that feature contemporary artists, a previously unreleased song and a DVD. Thriller ranked number 20 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list in 2003, and was listed by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers at number three in its Definitive 200 Albums of All Time. Thriller was preserved by the Library of Congress to the National Recording Registry, as it was deemed "culturally significant".

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  Music

[Leo lapulga]

best part of my life start to 3:25 :') but ends on jun 29, 2009 :'(

[heinzkitzvelvet]

This is the moment he became the biggest star in history, this performance. He wasn't going to do it but his producer Quincy Jones talked him into it. His album was already huge but this performance shot him to a level of super stardom that no one had ever seen. FYI the kid who played 'turbo' in the 1984 movie 'Breakin'' invented and perfected the moonwalk and taught it to Michael Jackson.

[demoncho1]

why june 29 ?? 

[mlw0603]

I remember my mom taping this from the live TV performance because my brother and I were too young to stay up that late and we aere huge MJ fans. This is such an iconic performance. As heinzkitzvelvet said, this solidified his King of Pop status. BTW... mom still has the original VHS tape with this performance! Ha!

[Andre Boy]

On june 25 ... ;(

[PixelatedGurlCrocz]

so cool



[007BFS]

Beyond words!

[castillo6131angel]

Everything was equal...until we lost mj. Now we have these rap crap losers...pity on the illuminatic.music industry

[Susan Helene]

I really miss MJ "Gone To Soon"

[hemery paiz]

Swag for days boy real swag

[reckless walker]

no he disnt the moowalk was creates in the 20s and done with salt

[task zulu]

He nailed it