35 Years Since Thriller Changed Music Videos
Michael Jackson’s Thriller isn’t Star Trek, but it changed its own world. With a bit a time behind us, it’s fun to look at how efforts like Thriller came about. At the time there was nothing like it. So of course getting the funding was a challenge. It was also groundbreaking that the dancers got a week to rehearse and that such complex make-up was used for what was in effect a “music video”. Jackson saw it as a “short film”, not just a music video. Where would Lady Gaga be without Thriller breaking the way?
Michael Jackson was enamored of the work of American Werewolf Makeup artist Rick Baker who “… became the first artist to win an Oscar in the newly created Best Makeup and Hairstyling category for American Werewolf — one of only six horror movies to take home that statue to date.” https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/mvps-horror-monster-maker-rick-baker-turned-michael-jackson-scary-thriller-140055233.html
Even 35 years later, Thriller still gives me a chill.