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The singular 80s record. A new standard in just about every way. An onslaught of hits.
4
The singular 80s record. A new standard in just about every way. An onslaught of hits.
I was never a huge Jackson fan and of his catalogue this always felt like the slightly less deserving massive hit that followed a much better album. The best thing about this is the video to the title single. In a bubble this would be a 3. He loses a point for being who he was.
Maybe the most ubiquitous album of all time, I found this one hard to really judge. Like a lot of posters here, I've known a lot of these songs since my childhood and have varying views of them today. The 1-2 punch of Beat It and Billie Jean are still wonderful and top songs of the era, Wanna Be Startin Somethin is still a great kick off and rocks, and I even kind of like Human Nature and PYT as great come-downs from the middle of the album. Now for the bad, Thriller as a song really doesn't hold up for me, The Girl is Mine brings together the worst of both MJ and McCartney in one shmaltzy package, and the other album tracks are kind of forgettable. And yes, the baggage with MJ probably makes me less accepting of this album's obvious faults.
This is a masterpiece. Despite what you may think of him outside of the music, you can't deny how well crafted every piece of this is. If you're not going to give the credit Michael at least give props to Quincy Jones. This is the best pop record period.
So... unpopular opinion time: I don't like Michael Jackson. I also have a hard time separating art from the artist so I'm not sure if I could fully enjoy this album even if I did like his music better. Perhaps fittingly, I like this album better than Bad which I got a while ago in my personal list, but I am not a fan.
Stone-cold classic. Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean! Paul McCartney! If the Thriller video didn't scare you shitless as a kid in the 80s, what were you even doing?! NO ONE WANTS TO BE DEFEATED!!! EVH guitar solo! 1.3 billion streams! Ah, it's like a nice mellow come down. And back up again. And down. Wow. 5 / 5 stars.
favs: Billie Jean, Beat It, Thriller (the obvious 3 lol) least fav: The Girl Is Mine