Albumpedia
Explore
Main Page
Discuss
All Pages
Community
Interactive Maps
Recent Blog Posts
Wiki Content
Recently Changed Pages
Parachutes
A Rush of Blood to the Head
Alanis
Spawn of Possession: Noctambulant
Random Access Memories
Love Or Die
Prism
2010s albums
Straight to DVD
Dirty Work (All Time Low)
American Tragedy (Hollywood Undead album)
Don't Panic
Nine Lives (Deuce album)
The Marshall Mathers LP 2
Speak Now (Taylor Swift)
Pop
Speak Now (Taylor Swift)
Three Dog Night
Red (Taylor Swift)
Tug of War (Carly Rae Jepsen)
Red (T'Pau)
Red (The Communards)
Moondance
Community
Recent blog posts
Forum
FANDOM
Fan Central
BETA
Games
Anime
Movies
TV
Video
Wikis
Explore Wikis
Community Central
Start a Wiki
Don't have an account?
Register
Sign In
Sign In
Register
Albumpedia
1,413
pages
Explore
Main Page
Discuss
All Pages
Community
Interactive Maps
Recent Blog Posts
Wiki Content
Recently Changed Pages
Parachutes
A Rush of Blood to the Head
Alanis
Spawn of Possession: Noctambulant
Random Access Memories
Love Or Die
Prism
2010s albums
Straight to DVD
Dirty Work (All Time Low)
American Tragedy (Hollywood Undead album)
Don't Panic
Nine Lives (Deuce album)
The Marshall Mathers LP 2
Speak Now (Taylor Swift)
Pop
Speak Now (Taylor Swift)
Three Dog Night
Red (Taylor Swift)
Tug of War (Carly Rae Jepsen)
Red (T'Pau)
Red (The Communards)
Moondance
Community
Recent blog posts
Forum
Editing
Thriller
(section)
Back to page
Edit
Edit source
View history
Talk (0)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==Critical Reception== In a contemporaneous review for Rolling Stone, Christopher Connelly called "Thriller" a ''"zesty LP"'' with a "''harrowing, dark message".'' He compared the songs on the album with the life challenges that the 24-year-old Jackson had faced since "Off the Wall", while observing that he ''"dropped the boyish falsetto" ''and was facing his "''challenges head-on"'' with ''"a feisty determination"'' and ''"a full, adult voice".'' John Rockwell wrote in The New York Times that perhaps Jackson was a ''"sometimes too practiced ... performer"'', that at times Quincy Jones may ''"depersonalize his individuality" ''with his ''"slightly anonymous production"Β ''and that Jackson may be hiding his true emotions behind ''"layers of impenetrable, gauzy veils".'' Rockwell nonetheless deemed the album ''"a wonderful pop record, the latest statement by one of the great singers in popular music today" ''and that there are ''"hits here, too, lots of them".'' Rockwell believed it helped breach ''"the destructive barriers that spring up regularly between white and black music",'' especially as ''"white publications and radio stations that normally avoid black music seem willing to pretend he isn't black after all".'' In The Village Voice, Robert Christgau said "this is virtually a hits-plus-filler job, but at such a high level it's almost classic anyway." He later wrote in his 1990 book, "Record Guide: The '80s": ''"what we couldn't know is how brilliantly every hit but 'P.Y.T.' would thrive on mass exposure and public pleasure."'' A year after the album's release, Time magazine summed up the three main singles from the album, saying:''"The pulse of America and much of the rest of the world moves irregularly, beating in time to the tough strut of 'Billie Jean', the asphalt aria of 'Beat It', the supremely cool chills of 'Thriller'."'' In 1989, Toronto Star music critics reflected on the albums they had reviewed in the past 10 years in order to create a list judging them on the basis of ''"commercial impact to social import, to strictly musical merit."'' The album was placed at #1 on the list, where it was referred to as his ''"master work"'' and that ''"commercial success has since overshadowed Jackson's artistic accomplishments on Thriller, and that's a pity. It was a record for the times, brimming with breathless anticipation and a dread fear of the adult world, a brilliant fantasy that pumped with sexual heat, yet made room for serious reflection".'' The album won a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards in 1984 (including "Album of the Year"). Jackson won seven of the Grammys for the album, while the eighth Grammy went to Bruce Swedien. That same year, he won eight American Music Awards, the Special Award of Merit and three MTV Video Music Awards. "Thriller" was recognized as the world's best-selling album on February 7, 1984, when it was inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records. It is one of four albums to be the best-seller of two years (1983β1984) in the United States. [[Category:1980s albums]] [[Category:Pop]] [[Category:Michael Jackson albums]]
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to the Albumpedia are considered to be released under the CC-BY-SA
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Follow on IG
TikTok
Join Fan Lab