Michael Jackson - The King of Pop (Videos)

Michael Jackson - The King of Pop (Videos)

Michael Jackson started his music career as part of the Jackson 5:-

Jackson 5 - "Rockin' Robin"

Made in 1971
Basic music video style - only for promoting the song
Limited complexity
Features only lip-synching



He then went solo:-

Michael Jackson - "Rock With You"

Made in 1979
Start of his solo career
Emphasis on costume and lighting



Michael Jackson - "Billie Jean"

Made in 1982
Emphasis on storytelling and uses other elements other than just lip-synching



Michael Jackson - "Beat It"

Made in 1983
Emphasis on storytelling (gang war)
Detailed choreography near the end of video



Michael Jackson - "Thriller"

Made in 1983
Considered the most famous music video of all time (according to the Library of Congress, who added the video to its National Film Registry in 2009, making it the first music video in their registry)

Cultural Milestone - Featured elaborate choreography, costumes and "said" dialogue, emphasis on storytelling and, in a way, invented the concept of a long-running music video (13, nearly 14, minutes) (the video had also a shorter, edited version of about 5 minutes)

100 million views on Youtube
MTV usually showed the short version, which only showed about 1 minute of the "said" dialogue
The music video won Best Performance Video, Best Choreography and Viewer's Choice at the very 1st MTV Video Music Awards in 1984.

The video started a trend of group dance routines in future music videos, inspired by the famous graveyard dance.
The video is an homage to Alice Cooper, who created a stage show, for his "Welcome to My Nightmare" tour, in 1975.

By 1983, most homes already owned Video Cassette Recorders and the sales of videos (on VHS) were a big business at the time. You were able to buy a VHS or Beta copy of "Michael Jackson's Thriller", which included the full music video and the "Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller" behind-the-scenes documentary.

The VHS tape became the best-selling music video of all time and, later certified by Guinness World Records, top-selling music video of all time (over 9 million units).
The video was also released with good timing (a few weeks before Christmas).



Finance for the "Thriller" music video
Cost $500,000 to make - at the time, the most expensive music video ever made
Michael Jackson's record company did not intend to pay for it, so, according to the director of the video John Landis, Michael Jackson offered to pay for it himself (as a way to turn himself into a real monster). John Landis himself said he took up the job as director because he wanted to revive the short film genre.

In the end, MTV and Showtime covered the costs for the video. Showtime aired a 1 hour documentary on the making of the video, as well as the video itself, before it got broadcast everywhere else.

MTV executive, Bob Pittman, competed with Showtime and payed $250,000 for the exclusive rights to the video once Showtime was finished with their end of the deal. Part of MTV's policy was that they don't have to pay for videos so Bob Pittman pretended payed for the documentary, but actually payed for the video.

The Making of "Michael Jackson's Thriller"





Michael Jackson - "Bad"

Made in 1987
After his milestone that was "Thriller", Michael Jackson was the biggest popstar in the world. His videos made the news.
It also made the news that Michael Jackson was changing his appearance.
His new video "Bad" was a major event and premiered at midnight on the BBC.
People stayed up to watch this event because they wanted to see Michael Jackson looked like now, as well as his dance routine for this song.



Michael Jackson - "Black or White"

Made in 1991
Very expensive ($4 million to make) and inventive video
Created to resurrect Michael Jackson's career after allegations of him being "strange" and losing most of his black fan base after his change of appearance in "Bad".
It has a serious message, directed to both his black and white fans, saying that colour of skin doesn't matter, you're all human beings (racial harmony).

The ending of the video, when numerous different celebrities, all of different ethnicities, morph into each other as "singing heads", is a reference to one of Peter Gabriel's best music videos, "Sledgehammer". (Here is the original 1986 and the 2012 remastered versions of the song.)



Michael Jackson - "Earth Song"

Made in 1995
Like "Black or White", this song also has a serious message; this time, about all kinds of issues like war and endangered animals.
Michael Jackson is portrayed as a somewhat "Christ-like" figure in this video, as he pleads to God about these issues in the world.



Michael Jackson - "Heal the World"

Made in 1991
Like "Black or White" and "Earth Song", this song has a serious message, primarily about the seriousness and negative impacts of war (anti-war song) and how they affect the children in those countries.
According to an internet chat with fans in 2001, this is the song Michael Jackson is most proud to have created.
Uses archive footage of children in actual war situations, showing the terrible consequences of war on them.
The video is one of his few that do not feature Michael Jackson himself beside his voice.



Michael Jackson - "Scream"

Made in 1995
Featured his sister, Janet Jackson
His first song to include profanity in the lyrics
Was made when Michael Jackson was having a difficult relationship with the press, who were constantly publishing insulting or incriminating stories about his health, appearance and the accusations about child sex abuse in 1993. The song was made in response to this.



Michael Jackson - "The Way You Make Me Feel"

Made in 1987
The full version is 9 minutes and 30 seconds long. The short version is 7 minutes and 54 seconds long.
The video is about a man (played by Michael Jackson) trying to win over a woman's (playing by model/singer Tatiana Thumbtzen) heart.
Arguably an example of Laura Mulvey's theory