I was having this discussion with some people at work. I said "Billie Jean", but someone else said "Thriller". What do you think?
I can see why some would say "Thriller". It's the name of the album, and the video is iconic. It also gets played every October. But "Billie Jean" is the song that really took his stardom to another level, it's the video that broke the color barrier, it's associated with the moonwalk, its the bigger hit, and it's the far better song. I think people remember "Thriller" more because its the name of the album, and for it's video more than the actual song.
I think it goes without saying that he won't be remembered for only one song.
FWIW, they're reporting in the news that "Thriller" is currently the most downloaded of all Michael Jackson songs, so for now the answer would seem to be "Thriller".
Originally posted by stevie: I think it goes without saying that he won't be remembered for only one song.
Yeah, agreed. I think it's impossible to nail down one song that he'll be remembered for. And a bunch of songs seem to be gaining popularity in his postmortem.
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Given that "Billie Jean" is Michael's biggest hit to date and much bigger than "Thriller," I say "Billie Jean" takes the cake easily. The "Thriller" video is probably Michael's most memorable video, though.
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Posts: 24753 | Location: North Carolina, USA | Registered: April 11, 2005
Artists aren't always necessarily remembered for their biggest hits. While "Billie Jean" is definitely my favorite MJ song and one of my favorite songs of all time, I think he will be remembered more for "Thriller" because of the impact the music video had.
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Well, for me, "Billie Jean" takes the cake for that reason. I think "Thriller" is the more memorable video, while "Billie Jean" is the more memorable song. "Billie Jean" actually put Michael on the map, at least from my understanding.
"Billie Jean" introduced one of the biggest dance moves in the history of music. I think "Billie Jean" was the first video by a black artist played on MTV. I think the song and video broke boundaries, which is why it's probably the most memorable. As for "Thriller," the video was more memorable than the song itself. I actually think "Beat It" is more memorable than "Thriller."
"Billie Jean" (and "Beat It") was a bigger hit, but due to "Thriller"'s accompanying video, it's made the song overall the one he's most remembered for, IMO.
When you hear the name Michael Jackson, you simultaneously think about "Thriller." Whether it's the song, video or album, that's probably the first word that comes to mind.
It's really hard to say when it comes to someone like MJ. I could honestly say that I think he'll be equally remembered for "Thriller," "Billie Jean" and "Beat It."
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