A brief improvised survey in the editorial office of this newspaper is enough to realize the impact that video had on people. Transversely. Everywhere… “It was the end of the year, I was at the house of some of my parents’ friends and when I saw it for the first time I was very scared. Of course, I was nine years old.” “I remember what it was like to go back to school after that. All the children talked about the same thing and recreated the choreography”; “To be able to see it again, my mother recorded it for me on Betacam.” Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video turns 40 today and shows the mark it has left on society.
To say that Michael Jackson is the king of pop is an understatement. The artist who began to build his career at the age of eight, with his brothers in the Jackson Five group, revolutionized the entertainment and music industry throughout his career – also the fashion industry – and turned the art of the music video into a business for himself. itself.
To understand it, you have to go back to the end of 1983, when his album Thriller achieved overwhelming success. With songs, now legendary, like Beat it or Billie Jean, it quickly rose to the top of the charts, being the best-selling album by a solo artist in the history of music. But far from settling, a 25-year-old Michael Jackson wanted to further promote the album’s self-titled single and produce a video. The production company Epic Records did not consider the musical short necessary, so the singer financed it largely from his own pocket. It cost more than half a million dollars. It premiered on MTV on December 2, 1983 and in Spain it was broadcast at the end of the year on RTVE, taking advantage of the New Year’s Eve special. His success, given the comments he provokes 40 years later, precedes him.
Directed by John Landis, director of titles such as An American Werewolf in London or The Blues Brothers, and choreographed by Michael Peters, the Thriller video revolutionized music history by lasting 14 minutes. A little bit what happened in 1975 with Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody (it lasted 5.55 minutes).
It had its star protagonist, a Playboy model as a co-star – Ola Ray –, suspense, choreography and even a conceptual background: Landis sought to reflect the changes that occur during puberty. But without a doubt what ended up turning this horror short into a milestone was her wardrobe. In charge of costume designer Deborah Nadoolman, Landis’ wife, Michael Jackson’s styling in that video clip is part of fashion history and shows how the film industry is capable of influencing the wardrobes of an entire generation. In an interview for Vanity Fair, the designer explained that the iconic red and black leather jacket worn by Jackson was based on three ideas: a shape that enhances his slim figure, a color to make him stand out and give him strength and masculinity. Thus, the shape and complexion of the legendary piece, which reached the auction figure of 1.27 million euros, actually responded to the need to enhance the Thriller star. “I guess I thought I could turn him into a superhero. Look at the jacket, deep down it looks like a superhero’s uniform: it creates a shape, it provides strength, and the masculinity that helped Michael stand out from the rest,” explains Nadoolman in the same 2018 interview.
The sports bomber crowned with a large M for Michael that the artist wears in his characterization as a wolf also left its own mark. Replicated in streetstyle ad nauseum, the piece has been established as a timeless item without gender labels, as well as showing socks. In Jackson’s case, this last aspect of his styling responded to the need to highlight his elaborate dance moves. Whatever the reason, his wardrobe choices transcended and are still part of our wardrobe today.
