Here we are at the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson's Thriller, a monolithic album in the history of pop music and quite possibly the largest musical bid for homogeneous mass appeal ever unleashed. To commemorate this event, Thriller 25 recently hit store shelves, featuring the original album as well as remixes of certain tracks by Will.I.Am, Fergie, Akon and Kanye West tacked on at the end.
The reissue's cover rather shamelessly pronounces it as The World's Biggest Selling Album of All Time,"" ostensibly as a sales tool to make a lot of people buy something because a lot of people already bought it. Why not take this monetary testimonial to its greatness one step further? They should just call it ""The Universe's Biggest Selling, Best Album of All Time: Past, Present, Future and Beyond!"" because that's really what they're saying without being quite so direct: This album is the best ever, because it was the biggest ever.
The only thing is, Thriller isn't even the best Michael Jackson album; I'm pretty sure Off the Wall is much better. I suppose that doesn't matter, since accessibility usually has the advantage over quality in the grand game of popularity, and Thriller channeled its material through a crazy, blinding amount of accessibility. Not that I was there, but I've heard ""Thriller"" was one hell of a cultural event, and I know that ""Billie Jean"" is still a pretty big cultural event every Friday night at nearly any place you're likely to wind up.
It's amazing to think about a time like 1983 when most everyone was attuned to the same pop idol, going out and buying the same record and then, by default, having the same thing to dance to and talk about; a sort of pop culture common ground. That kind of thing seems so conspicuously absent in the present day, with record sales plummeting even as the number of disposable stars vying for the public eye is ever on the rise.
The bonus material on Thriller 25 - populated by those same fleeting stars - is perplexingly awful. It seems a strange decision to allow flavor-of-the-moment performers to run amuck on songs that are part of an anniversary package celebrating longevity. When, for example, Will.I.Am replaces Paul McCartney on ""The Girl is Mine 2008"" with shouts of ""She likes the way I rock, the way I rock!"", it's hard not to cringe at the permanence of Jackson's material being so painfully undermined.
Situated in the modern day, it's often difficult to look past the obscured image of what an artist has become - either personally or professionally - in order to appreciate what they once were; among the many examples are Phil Spector, Mick Jagger and Roky Erickson. There is no artist who has ever made ignoring the present such a challenge as Michael Jackson though, which is why the only thing more unsettling than the guests on the bonus tracks is Jackson's own re-recorded vocals that accompany them.
That people still manage to appreciate Thriller, despite Jackson's tainted standing, speaks volumes for how unshakable the songs are. But in order for that to work, it's necessary to appreciate the music as an isolated phenomenon - a fragile fasade which Jackson nearly shatters by redoing the well-known vocal tracks because it brings his modern image way too close for comfort.
In summation, be wary of what the counter-intuitive marketing ploy of Thriller 25 will do for your love of Michael Jackson. Instead, you may want to opt for the special edition where he's playing with the tiger on the cover; it's a bit less dangerous and bad, and a lot more, well, thrilling.
Wish Kanye & Co. would just ""beat It"" and leaves the King of Pop alone? E-mail Ben you aggravations at bpeterson@wisc.edu.
