It seems hard to believe that we’re about to celebrate the 40th anniversary of one of the greatest albums of all time – and our undisputed best-seller. Thriller has moved over 70 million copies since its release on November 30, 1982. It’s iconic title song and video remains the most iconic and influential music video in history. It broke viewership records when it was broadcast on December 2, 1983, and then broke sales records when it was released on home video. The climactic zombie dance routine is endlessly imitated, and even Jackson’s red leather jacket is still instantly recognizable almost forty years later. So why on Earth would a star be so desperate to destroy it, especially when the whole thing was his idea in the first place?
Thriller was released as the seventh and final single from the album of the same name and Jackson had only one goal.
He wanted to restore the album to its number one position on the charts and decided that an attention-grabbing video would do the trick. A big fan of the horror comedy An American Werewolf in London, he approached its director, John Landis.
The rest is history – except it wasn’t nearly as well. Two weeks prior to the short’s release, Jackson demanded that the film be destroyed for very personal reasons, and went to extraordinary lengths to attempt to do so.
Everyone involved in the project immediately agreed that the negatives needed protection, so they were removed from the laboratories and locked safely in Branca’s office to prevent Jackson from taking matters into his own hands.
When he found out what had been done, the distraught star locked himself in his bedroom. He was devoted to his church — he famously even preached with a fake hat and mustache to canvas for new converts — but he also loved the sexy video he helped create.
Eventually, Jackson’s head of security, Bill Bray, calls Bandis concerned about his accusation that he hasn’t eaten in days. The director described the sad and broken man he found when he arrived at Encino’s home in Jackson, Havenhurst.
Landis said, “Bill and I kicked the door in, and I knocked it down, and Michael was just lying there. He said, ‘I feel so bad. ‘” I said, “Michael, did you eat?” He didn’t eat, it was weird. I just said, “Look, I want you to see a doctor now.”
The next day, Landis returns to see the star to tell him that they did not destroy the negatives for Thriller. He was nervous about The King of Pop’s reaction, but described how MJ simply said, “I’m sorry, John. I’m embarrassed.”
Landis added, “I said, Michael, I’m not going to let it be destroyed. He said, ‘Really?'” Because I think it’s really good. I go, ‘Michael, he’s great and you’re great.'”
Unusually, two weeks later, the star-studded Los Angeles premiere at Crest Theater featured Diana Ross, Warren Beatty, Prince and Eddie Murphy. Michael himself hid in the screening room and wouldn’t come out.
As for his mixed feelings about Thriller, a compromise was reached and a special disclaimer was added at the beginning of the film: “Because of my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult.”
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