Another posthumous honor for Michael Jackson – his classic 1983 music video “Thriller” has become the first music video to be inducted in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress of the United States. The coordinator of the National Film Registry Preservation Board, Steve Leggitt, commented on why “Thriller” was chosen.
He stated that,
“Because of the way the recording industry is evolving and changing, we thought it would be good to go back to the development of an earlier seismic shift, which was the development of the music video”.
What makes this honor so important is that “Thriller” being included in the congress library of film will put the music video alongside other classic historic events such as original copies of classic films, TV and other recordings that have been determined as important American filmed moments. There is no denying that “Thriller” is the most mainstream, popular music video in pop culture. Michael Jackson in his prime, piping an addictive chorus while strutting around with ghouls was definitely an image that upped the bar for music videos at the time.
A few facts about the Thriller video
- “Thriller” was one of the most expensive music videos ever made costing at the time $1,000,000 to produce
- Michael Jackson’s disclaimer at the beginning of the music video which stated, “Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult” was made because he was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness and did not want to spread the wrong message about his beliefs
- The song was originally called “Starlight”
- In 2008, “Thriller” was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame
- Is mentioned in the Guiness World Records as the most successful music video ever
- Rick Baker, the makeup artist for the music video also portrayed one of the zombies
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