The 'Thriller' Era Performances, Appearances, and Music Thread.

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This thread will be for the purpose of putting all of the different concert and TV performances, appearances, and any info on 'Thriller' era music into one organized thread. Feel free to share all of your 'Thriller' performance, music, and appearance stories/articles here- all are welcome!

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On October 4, 1983 filming began on the short film "Say Say Say". The following is an article on the making of the short film:

Say, Say, Say
By John Hammel

You’ll have seen the video by now, Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney and Michael Jackson in the action-packed “Say, Say, Say” -- Exotic locations, colourful characters and a great soundtrack! A feature film, in under four minutes. We thought you might like to know all about the behind the scenes stories that went into the finished video. So climb aboard, for the inside story on “The Mac & Jack Show”…

The original idea for the clip accompanying “Say, Say, Say” was Paul’s. He was busy finishing off his “Pipes of Peace” album, and had his “Give My Regards To Broad Street” film to complete, but wanted you all to see him and Michael in “Say, Say, Say “ . So it was pack the bags – and off we went to Los Angeles for four days.

The director was Bob Giraldi, who’d worked with Michael on his sensational “Beat It” video. The chosen location was a nice little town called Los Alamos, about 70 miles from LA (we later learned that this was the town where the world’s first atom bomb was exploded). My job is to scout out the locations, and check that everything is okay. Fortunately, Trevor Jones is coming along. We’ve worked with Paul for some time, so know just what is required.

We were all staying in a little town called Buellton (which is famous for its pea soup!) while Michael was staying down the road in Stavanger (which is famous for its pastries!). Paul and Linda are safely installed in the place they’ll be staying, and the next day I am due to drive Paul down to a meeting with Bob Giraldi to discuss the shooting. Paul takes one look at the hire car, though, and decides to drive me! It’s a real space-age Corvette, the dashboard’s all lit up with graphs, lights and things to tell you how many miles per gallon you’re doing at a certain speed. It certainly makes a pleasant change to be chauffeured by Paul McCartney!

Los Alamos itself is an amazing place – a real old cowboy town, straight out of the 1880s; you half expect John Wayne to walk down the main street. You’ll remember the scenes in the finished video when Paul goes into the hotel, well, that’s an incredible place too. The owner has kept it just like a hotel out of the 20s and 30s, and everything is right, even down to the magazines and toilet fittings! We’ve hired this warehouse , where they have built the sets you see in the finished video, and Paul and Linda come down for costume fittings and Paul learns all his dance steps from a choreographer called Jeff who’s great, really good and really fast. So, it’s all over by four in the afternoon, Paul and Linda go back for a rest, and we relax – the calm before the storm. I go and have a look at another one of the cowboy towns further down Highway 101, it’s great, and the only thing that stops it being exactly like something out of
“High Noon” is the town’s petrol station!

October 4th is the first day of the shoot, and we’re all up ridiculously early, something like 5.30a.m.! There’s dozens of vintage cars on set when we arrive. They’ve all been perfectly restored for Hollywood films, and the only difference is that they’re all fitted with automatic transmission – apparently actors can’t act and change gear at the same time!

The first shot is just of Paul, Linda and Michael looking over a truck. After being made up and in costume, Paul and Linda are on set, when it’s “Lights, camera…action!” just like in the movies. It all goes well that first morning, except that one of the grips falls off a ladder, and is a bit shaken, so we break for lunch early. He’s okay, though, just a sprained wrist. The local girls have laid on this beautiful barbeque for lunch. It’s a lovely hot day, and the trestle tables are all set up, so we sit down and eat, and “say, say, say” – waddya know? It’s all “Meat, meat, meat” – a 28oz. steak is no big deal over here.

It’s at lunch that the first of a series of amazing coincidences occurs: The lady who owns the ranch where we’re filming is called Rita, and comes from Yorkshire! (She says that this bit of California is just like Yorkshire – except for the lizards and tarantulas!) After lunch, Paul, Linda and Michael went out to meet a bunch of local schoolkids who’d come down with their headmaster. They all signed autographs and chatted to the kids and made everybody very happy.

After lunch, we move on up to the orphanage to film a scene. Paul and Linda’s daughter, Heather, is in this scene, and she looks lovely. She runs across the lawn to meet Paul and Linda, who come up the hill with a big bag full of money for the kids. In the background, Michael’s doing this spectacular dance routine on top of the fence.

There’s a break in filming, and Trevor’s gone off to help Linda sort some things out, when Paul asks me for a cup of tea. Now, normally, it’s no trouble, but when you’re virtually in the middle of the desert, this poses a problem! I run to get some hot water, and wind up making the tea on a stone. It was a right rough old cup of tea, so I had to re-boil the water to make a proper cup, which is something the Americans still haven’t mastered. The location is really out of the way, so when filming’s finished for the day, I take Paul and Linda’s truck back, while they hitch a ride back in Michael Jackson’s “wagon” – a Rolls Royce!

The next day, we’re back filming in Los Alamos in the Union Hotel. Paul is being filmed having a game of pool with this really tough looking character (who is really the film’s director, Bob Giraldi). We then move outside, to film an important shot of Paul, Linda and Michael driving down the main street in this truck. Obviously they attract quite a crowd, who were held back on one side of the street. Everyone was busy setting the shot up, when Trevor noticed that the crowd were reflected in the hotel window, which was lucky, as he managed to prevent the shot being filmed, saving an expensive re-take.

They then all move upstairs, to film a shot in one of the rooms. Linda’s lying on the bed playing a guitar, while Paul is shaving. They’re busy filming away, when Paul dabs his shaving brush on Michael’s cheek, which was completely unrehearsed, but Michael’s reaction was so great they kept it in the finished film.

Earlier on, I’d got Paul and Linda some lovely omelettes from the café next door to the hotel, and got chatting to an old guy there. He was about 77, and looked exactly like Buffalo Bill. He’d spent his entire life in Los Alamos, apart from one period during the war when he was stationed abroad – in Liverpool! Amazing. While they’re filming inside, I got chatting to one of the security guards, who’s writing a history of town. Apparently it used to be a real hide out for all the old outlaws in the days of the Wild West. It was where the original “Alias Smith and Jones” used to hide after robbing stagecoaches and stuff. The guard agreed that he had another chapter to write in his book – the day that Paul and Linda McCartney and Michael Jackson came to Los Alamos.

The scenery round here is unbelievable, real cowboy country, horses, cattle and the most incredible sunsets. The last shot of the day was Paul, Linda and Michael bowling down the road in the van towards the sunset. The sun was in perfect position, just setting on the back of the hills, this great big red ball. The sunsets really are amazing, with the orange sky, and the background which goes all black. It looked marvelous, and we were lucky to get that shot that day, because the locals told us they’d been getting a lot of rain lately.

The last day of shooting – The scene in the warehouse/studio where the “Mac & Jack Show” really gets underway, with Paul and Michael dancing around in check suits. The “Fred Astaire” routine with the top hat goes a bit wrong when Paul’s top hat keeps sticking to his head! Anyway it’s all sorted out, and Paul goes into costume as the magician with his magic cauldron.

Before the day’s shooting is over, Paul obliges with a couple of television interviews, and he and Linda go out and meet another party of schoolchildren and sign some more autographs. As Paul and Linda are getting changed, I go down to their car to find it covered in messages, scrawled by the fans in the dust. A quick wash and brush up, and it’s as good as new. On dropping them off, Linda asks us in for dinner, which was lovely. Trevor and I eventually get back to our hotel, and relax with the crew over a few drinks, a welcome change from all the pressures of filming.

On our last days, Paul drives the Corvette to Los Angeles, which he did – at 100 miles an hour! Because of that, we got to the airport really early, and went to eat in a Mexican restaurant nearby. It’s no good hanging around an airport with Paul and Linda, they are always recognized, and things start getting crazy. On our way in, I go with them to the duty free shop, where they buy some tee-shirts and presents for the family, then onto the aircraft, and off they went.

Trevor and I had a few drinks in the airport bar, and caught our plane on time. We slept most of the way back, and by the time we woke up we were back in dear old Blighty. Los Alamos already seemed like a dream. At least every time I see the video of “Say, Say, Say” I’ll be able to recall those four action-packed days.



Source: Club Sandwich - Paul McCartney Magazine - 1983

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On November 30, 1982 Michael Jackson’s sixth studio album Thriller was released. Thriller became the biggest selling record of all time in under a year after its release and currently has over 100 million copies sold worldwide. The album was recorded in April to November of 1982. Four of the nine songs on the album were written by Michael, and all seven of the nine songs released as singles were in the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. A record breaking eight Grammys was won by Michael for ‘Thriller’, also winning eight American Music Awards, the Special Award of Merit and three MTV Video Music Awards.

Thriller was recognized as the world's best-selling album on February 7, 1984, when it was inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records. It is one of only three albums to remain in the top ten of the Billboard 200 for a full year, and spent 37 weeks at number one out of the 80 consecutive weeks it was in the top ten. The album was also the first of three to have seven Billboard Hot 100 top ten singles, and was the only album to be the best-seller of two years (1983–1984) in the US.

The Thriller album was included in the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry of culturally significant recordings, and the Thriller video was included in the National Film Preservation Board's National Film Registry of "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant films". In 2012, Slant Magazine listed the album at #1 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s"

In 2009 ‘Thriller was certified 29x platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, selling almost 30 million copies in the US alone. The album continues to sell an estimated 130,000 copies in the United States every year.



Tracklist:

1."Wanna Be Startin' Somethin" [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
2."Baby Be Mine"
3."The Girl Is Mine"
4."Thriller" [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
5."Beat It" [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
6."Billie Jean" [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
7."Human Nature" [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
8."P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)"
9."The Lady in My Life"



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1983 - The short film and single "Thriller", featuring Vincent Price, and written by Rod Temperton, is released on December 2, 1983. It is a horror story, the victim being a girl (played by Ola Ray in the video) which is reassured by Jackson that she only had a nightmare by waking her up, and that in the midst of that terror she felt,

"Now it’s the time
For you and I to cuddle close together (yeah).
All through the night
I’ll save you from the terror on the screen
Girl, I can thrill you more than any ghoul will ever dare try,"
although on waking his set partner, he turns at the camera, revealing a smile and wearwolf eyes. This represents the clear possibility and belief that monsters (evil-mindedness) can lurk inside of real people as well.

Jackson took a special interest since childhood in studying everything monstrous, especially that which is produced by distorted human perceptions. The entertainer himself was erroneously depicted by the media and at times called a 'monster', when Jackson tried all along to evoke and/or illustrate in darker-themed songs/videos such as Thriller, Ghosts, Is It Scary, Threatened, Black Or White or Bad, the terror and pains consuming him various times in his life, and that his public persona is a reflection of the media’s perception of him, including a large part of society’s. He also was a victim of scare and emotional abuse early in his life, thus reproduced a similar fear in Thriller, where he most likely exorcised his demons, art always being cathartic for Jackson, and a way to express what he wasn’t willing to in real life in front of people, i.e. violence, anger, frustrations or terror. John Landis directs the video/film and Rick Baker is responsible for special effects and make-up. The film costs an estimated 1 million dollars which Jackson himself provides. To re-coup some of the budget costs, John Landis will negotiate a deal with Showtime, MTV and Vestron to fund a 60-minute documentary on the making of the short film. ‘Making Michael Jackson’s Thriller’ will be aired a year later and sold on video tape. It will become the biggest selling music video of all time, with estimated sales of 9 million as of 2006. A week after the single and short film gets released, sales of the album soar and once again, Thriller retains its number-one charts position. At this time, Michael Jackson hires a new manager, Frank DiLeo, who will remain with him for five years.

Having already set the bar high with the album’s first two videos, Billie Jean and Beat It, the third one had to somehow take things further. Director John Landis, director of the 1981 horror comedy American Werewolf in London, was brought in to direct a mini-feature, a video that would take the format further than merely serving as a visual backdrop for a three-minute pop song.

Running almost fourteen minutes, the Thriller video employed horror flick cliches (it was filmed during Halloween season 1983), Michael was transformed into a supernatural ghoul disguised as a seemingly hapless high school boyfriend, who torments his date (played by Ola Ray) by using his uncanny ability to get a pack of corpse zombies to execute spectacularly synchronized dance routines.

The fact that the video had its debut just over a year after the album was first released was a reflection of the album’s enduring popularity and still-mounting sales figures. A stunning finale to the pop sensation of 1983, let alone the century, it also marked a peak and turning point, a period that gradually came to haunt Michael for being a standard too high for even him to repeat.

Having set a new standard for music videos with Billie Jean and Beat It, Michael knew his third video had to take things to a new level. He collaborated with director John Landis on a short movie, a fourteen-minute horror flick/dance number, to promote the song Thriller. Filmed during Halloween week of 1983, it premiered on December 2, 1983 and marked another milestone in the music video genre.

The 7th single from Thriller, was the album's title track. "Thriller" features the eerie sound of creaking doors and a ghoulish rap by horror fim star Vincent Price. "Thriller" debuted on Billboard's Hot 100 at #20, making it one of the highest debuting singles ever. "Thriller" entered the top 10 in its 2nd week on the charts, and peaked at #4. It went to #3 on the black singles chart.

For the 7th and final single from Thriller, Michael went all out to create his most elaborate video to date. Costing $1 million to produce, it was the most expensive video ever. It was also the longest video, running 13 minutes, always being broadcast with an opening disclaimer and closing credits.

After seeing the film, An American Werewolf in London, Michael decided he wanted that film's directer, John Landis, to direct the "Thriller" video. Rick Baker, who did the makeup for An American Werewolf in London, was chosen to do the makeup for "Thriller", transforming Michael into a werewolf right on camera. Michael's co-star was Ola Ray.

The story for the "Thriller" video was written by John Landis and Michael Jackson. Running out of gas on their date, Michael starts to walk Ola home. After telling her, "I'm not like other guys", he transforms into a werewolf in front of her eyes. He chases her through the woods when suddenly the scene swithces to Michael and his date watching the scene in a movie theater. Ola, too scared to watch, leaves the theater with Michael following her out. On their way home, they find themselves surrounded by dead, or rather undead, zombies. Michael becomes one of them and joins them in one of his most dazzling dance routines ever.

Michael said of making the music video, in an interview that aired on December 11, 1999, for MTV's 100 Greatest Videos Ever Made:
"My idea was to make this short film with conversation... in the beginning - I like having a beginning and a middle and an ending, which would follow a story. I'm very much involved in complete making and creating of the piece. It has to be, you know, my soul. Usually, you know, it's an interpretation of the music... It was a delicate thing to work on because I remember my original approach was, 'How do you make zombies and monsters dance without it being comical?' So I said, 'We have to do just the right kind of movement so it doesn't become something that you laugh at.' But it just has to take it to another level. So I got in a room with [choreographer] Michael Peters, and he and I together kind of imagined how these zombies move by making faces in the mirror. I used to come to rehearsal sometimes with monster makeup on, and I loved doing that. So he and I collaborated and we both choreographed the piece and I thought it should start like that kind of thing and go into this jazzy kind of step, you know. Kind of gruesome things like that, not too much ballet or whatever."

Makeup artist Rick Baker on his hesitation to work on "Thriller":
"John told me about the idea but I was reluctant. I got a call from John and he was like, 'You know who Michael Jackson is?' and I was like, 'Yeah, kinda. He's the guys from The Jackson 5, right?' And he said, 'Well he's got this song called 'Thriller' and he wants to do this short film.' At first I said I didn't want to do it. It's not a popular job -- it's like being a dentist in a way: They have to sit still in a chair for hours while you work on them. It's uncomfortable -- it's not something actors look forward to."
Makeup artist Rick Baker on Jackson's off-stage shyness:
"Michael was great and very shy. I remember the first time John came over to shoot us working on Michael's makeup for his behind-the-scenes stuff -- which I wasn't too happy about and Michael wasn't too happy about -- Michael was so nervous that as soon as the cameras came in, he ran off and hid in the bathroom. So different to when he was performing -- 'Thriller' was happening during the making of the Motown Anniversary Special, when Michael first did the moonwalk, and one of the guys brought tape of the show in and said, 'Watch this.' That was him, when he was performing. That was when he came alive."
Actress Ola Ray on the experience of filming "Thriller" with Jackson:
"Everyone thinks I made millions, but I don't care ... I wouldn't change a thing. The minute I walked into the audition, I knew the part was mine. Michael seemed taken by the fact I was a Playboy model. He was cute, but childlike. He loved chasing me or jumping out from behind a wall."

The purpose of making "Thriller," in Landis's mind -- it was nobody's brilliant idea. "I took the job to direct Michael Jackson's landmark music video because I saw it as a chance to resurrect a genre that had once been a Hollywood staple. It was a great opportunity to bring back the theatrical short. Music videos were new in 1983, and MTV was just two years old. At that time the videos were used to sell records and when Michael decided to do the 'Thriller' video, the album had already become the biggest-selling album of all time. It ended up costing $500,000 -- still enormous money at that time for that kind of thing. Nobody would give us the money because the album had already been so successful. Michael said he would pay for it, but I wouldn't let him. He was still living with his parents in Encino, behind a supermarket."
To qualify for an Academy Award, "Thriller" debuted at a special theatrical screening, along with the 1940 Disney motion picture Fantasia.

The A-list turned out for the premiere at the 500-seat historic Crest Theater; Diana Ross, Warren Beatty, Prince, Eddie Murphy. “I’ve been to the Oscars, the Baftas, the Emmys and the Golden Globes, and I have never seen anything like this,” remembers John Landis. Ola Ray looked for Michael before the lights went down and found him in the projection booth, He told her that she looked beautiful, but refused her entreaty to come sit in the audience, telling her “This is your night, go enjoy yourself.” […] Then came Thriller, cranked at full volume. Fourteen minutes later the crowd was on its feet, applauding and crying “Encore! Encore!” Eddie Murphy shouted “Show the goddamn thing again!” And they did.

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12/6/89
MTV aired a special show called, "Rate The 80's", in which they revealed how viewers had voted in several phone in categories, including their choices for Best Movie, Video, and TV show of the 80's. Michael Jackson had the most nominations with 3. "Thriller" was nominated for the Greatest Video in the HIStory of the World, THRILLER was nominated for Really Big Album, and Michael was among the nominees for Mega Artist of the 80's. "Thriller" was chosen as the Greatest Video in the History of the World with 35% of the vote. This award was presented to Michael Jackson when he made a surprise appearance on the Arsenio Hall Show to give Eddie Murphy MTV's Comedy Award.

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December 11,1989 - MTV award for Thriller as the Greatest Video in the History of the World was presented to Michael when he made a surprise appearance on the Arsenio Hall Show.

This was a dream come true for Hall who had earlier told an interviewer he hoped Michael Jackson would make an appearance on his show, even if it was a very brief appearance, just to say, "I don't do TV!" Hall's guest was Eddie Murphy. Murphy had been chosen by MTV viewers as the Humor God of the 80's. Michael made a special appearance on the show to surprise Murphy and present him with the award. Murphy then surprised Michael by presenting him with the video award.

After the audience's deafening applause to Michael's unannounced appearance subsided, Michael, dressed in red and black, spoke only briefly from behind his dark glasses: "Presented to the King of Comedy, of all time, the King." Michael handed the award to Eddie and hugged him. Eddie then presented Michael with his video award: "Viewers Award fo Michael Jackson for the Greatest Video in the History of all Videos, 'Thriller'". With no mike, michael smiled big and waved to the crowd before walking off the set.

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