1983

Thriller music video 1983

On this day (that is, December 2) in 1983, MTV aired the full version of Michael Jackson’s Thriller for the first time.

If you recall, this music video took the world by storm for many reasons – first, it was a great song and very easy to like. It peaked at number 4 in the Billboard top 100 in 1984, and revisited Billboard’s charts in 2009 following his death.

What was unique about the music video was it’s length – it ran for 13 mins and 42 seconds and was more like a mini movie than a music video. But it was done so well that you didn’t mind watching the whole thing. If you prefer just the song only, it starts at 4 mins 13 seconds into it šŸ™‚

At the very beginning is the following disclaimer:

thriller-music-video-start-disclaimer

(screengrab source: youtube.com)

Interesting but remember see the contentĀ of the movie errrrr music video? It’s heavily themed on werewolves and zombies,Ā and at the time MJ was aĀ Jehovah’s Witness.

Some other interesting trivia:

* At the height of the song’s popularity, MTV would run the full 14-minute Thriller video twice an hour.

* The “Thriller” album has sold more than 104 million copies

* The YouTube has had more than 200 million views

* The song Thriller was originally titled Starlight (Phew for that!).

* The 1988 movie Return of the Living Dead Part II features a zombie dressed as Michael Jackson.

* Jackson’s girlfriend in the video, Ola Ray, was Playboy magazine’s Miss June in 1980. She also appear in Cheers and Beverly Hills Cop II

 

Here is the full 14 minute version. Enjoy!

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What do you think of the song?> If you grew up in the 80’s , did you like it as much as everyone else? Leave a comment below.

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99 Luft Ballons

Who thought a song sung in German would be so popular? The group Nena, with their sexy lead singer of the same name released this protest song in 1983.

Luftballon is German for air balloon, and an English version of the song (called 99 Red Balloons) was released in 1984. The English version, however, is not a direct translation of the original. In fact the lyrics are quite different.

Both the German and English versions tell about two children who buy 99 balloons at a toy shop and release them into the air, and faulty radar equipment is unable to identify the balloons. The government immediately put their troops on red alert, and sends fighter jets to intercept which ends up triggering a nuclear war between East and West.

Nena was born Gabriele Susanne Kerner on March 24 1960 in West Germany. She started dating actor Benedict Freitag soon after the band separated in 1987. The couple had 3 children together, with the first was born disabled due to alleged medical mistakes during the birth, which caused Nena to go into cardiac arrest. The son, sadly died at the age of 11 months.

Enjoy the two versions of this classic song:

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80s songs about horses

There were a lot of different themes in the 80s – whether they be fashion, movies or in music. And in music, horses were a popular thing to sing about. Here are three that I can remember and still like.

Wild Horses – Gino Vanelli
This catchy tune was released in 1987, and reached #55 in the US top 100 but #7 in Canada (where Gino was born). The song earnt Vanelli the Juno Award for Recording Engineer of the Year (which he incidentally shared with his brother that year).

The clip is in black and white and features a sexy female playing the harmonica. And no, I have no idea what her name is – in fact I don’t know the names of the other band members either (can someone help me?).

I know I said the tune is catchy, but when you look at the lyrics ……. well I’ll let you make up your own mind. Weird.

As the sun goes down on the Arizona plain
And the wind whistles by like a runaway train
Hey hey hey it’s a beautiful thing
Well it’s me and you and a flatbed truck
My heart kicking over like a whitetail buck
Hey hey hey in the middle of spring

You can cut me deep
You can cut me down
You can cut me loose
Don’t you know it’s okay
You can kick and scream
You can slap my face
You can set my wheels on a high speed chase
Hey no matter what you do

Wild horses could not drag me away from you
Wild horses could not drag me away from you

As the sky falls down from the midnight blue
Spittin’ like bullets on a hot tin roof
Hey hey hey it’s a beautiful sound
Well it’s me and you in a flatbed truck
In a foot of mud just my luck
Hey hey hey a hundred miles out of town

You can call me a fool
You can call me blind
You can call it quits
Can’t hear a word you say
Cause if I had you once
I’m gonna have you twice
I’m gonna follow my heart instead of good advice
Hey no matter what you do

Wild horses could not drag me away from you
Wild horses could not drag me away from you

Watch the video clip on YouTube.

Wild Horses – Nik Kershaw
Not one of Nik’s more popular songs (he had far better), but this one was released in 1984 on ‘The Riddle’. The Riddle reached UK #8, U.S #113, AUS #39.

Laid Back – White Horse
I love this song. Laidback were a Danish band, and released this song in 1983. White Horse was a dance track with a repetitive, memorable bassline and ambiguous, drug and/or sex-themed lyrics (“white horse” being slang for heroin) that became popular in US clubs. It spent three weeks at number one on Billboard’s National Disco Action charts. White Horse ’89 was released in (have a guess) 1989 by Laidback’s label but it did not have the success of the original.

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Break Machine 80s rap

If you want to see proper rap music, go back to where it started and in particular the group Break Machine. The trio of rappers was led by Keith Rodgers, and the act was produced by a couple of guys that were bheind the Village People (remember them?).

Streetdance was released in 1983 and quite well in the charts worldwide in ’83 and ’84. It actually hit number 1 in Norway for 5 weeks at its peak in 1984.

The group released only two other singles which unfortunately did not do as well as their first.

Check out the video below, and in typical 80s fashion, I think the highlights are the spinning on their backs (and head), the moonwalk, and the boom box sitting in the background.

Enjoy!

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