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Thriller 40th Anniversary

83magic said:
yes, but it became popular in ‘83 with the release of ‘billie jean’, the short films, and motown 25.
only ‘the girl is mine’ was released alongside the album at the end of ‘82. it hadn’t made as much of an impact as it would the following year.
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True.
 
Yeah wasn’t the album already dropping in sales after the first few weeks/months before before billie jean exploded onto the scene?
 
filmandmusic said:
Yeah wasn’t the album already dropping in sales after the first few weeks/months before before billie jean exploded onto the scene?
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I would say that it hadn’t really begun yet. I know that sales stalled in the late summer/autumn of ‘83, before the ‘thriller’ film was released in in november.
 
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83magic said:
I would say that it hadn’t really begun yet. I know that sells stalled in the late summer/autumn of ‘83, before the ‘thriller’ film was released in in november.
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I agree. I think it's a little bit premature to talk about dropping sales in the period before BJ was released as a single. The album had only been out a few weeks at that point. Bit too early to be judging its performance, imo.
 
But that is how fast it goes. Look how invincible dropped like a stone after 4 weeks. The only way to revive that album was with a great single release which did not happen. In hindsight it was just beginning but nobody could have guessed sales would explode the way they did.
I don’t remember where I got it from but initially there was disappointment about thriller’s sales
 
filmandmusic said:
But that is how fast it goes. Look how invincible dropped like a stone after 4 weeks. The only way to revive that album was with a great single release which did not happen. In hindsight it was just beginning but nobody could have guessed sales would explode the way they did.
I don’t remember where I got it from but initially there was disappointment about thriller’s sales
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I can't remember. I wasn't tracking it. I just followed it as it all unfolded in real time. Maybe there was stuff in the pop papers about sluggish sales but I don't remember. I'd be a bit surprised, tbh. OTW did really well but I'd be surprised if it raised expectations hugely for Thriller. But I really have no idea.
 
the record industry was in a slump at the time. ‘thriller’ wasn’t even expected to match the sales of ‘off the wall’. these concerns came from quincy (among others). ‘thriller’ was initially released with little noise, with only ‘the girl is mine’ preceding it. there wasn’t even a video for that.. there were a couple of lukewarm reviews at first (rod temperton confirmed that). music was very segregated at the time, and michael was seen primarily as an r&b artist. some people couldn’t understand why he would do a song like ‘beat it’. the context of the title track wasn’t understood until the short film. that all changed the following year, when the album started receiving rave reviews.
 
Hot_Street said:
Why wasn't Someone in the Dark on Thriller 40? Would be a better choice than Can't Get Outta the Rain, which isn't even from that era.
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Can't Get Out of the Rain was a B-side on one of the single releases for Billie Jean (according to this Discogs entry, at least), so it's kinda from that era? But yeah, Someone in the Dark would have been a better choice.

EDIT: Typos
 
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Hot_Street said:
Why wasn't Someone in the Dark on Thriller 40? Would be a better choice than Can't Get Outta the Rain, which isn't even from that era.
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I don't really like can't get outta the rain. I don't think many people do but the estate keep putting on any MJ project that comes out.

Not a fan of what the estate does in terms of music releases at all.
 
I guess the sample of ET made Someone in the Dark more expensive for the Estate than Can't Get Outta the Rain.
 
Hot_Street said:
I guess the sample of ET made Someone in the Dark more expensive for the Estate than Can't Get Outta the Rain.
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Don't think so. Sonymusic bought RCA Records (iirc in 2008), so there should be no licensing fees


edit: just ignore what I wrote.

My bad, ET Storybook was released with MCA Records (now property of Universal Music Group)
 
Amaya said:
Cant' Get Out of the Ran was a B-side on one of the single releases for Billie Jean (according to this Discogs entry, at least), so it's kinda from that era? But yeah, Someone in the Dark would have been a better choice.
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They didn't put anything post Thriller on here. The opposite of Thriller 25 which was nothing but (For All Time, Someone in the Dark)
 
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