Chances for another "Thriller?"

(the answer is NO)

(from OMM's october review of LOVE, ANGEL, MUSIC, BABY)

yep, it's happened. you haven't *missed* it have you??!!

You could argue the last real music phenom was Nirvana, and even that didn't really translate to even mom and dad buying Nevermind.

The beatles 1 was chart topping for a long while, but that's not really the same except in it was the album that people who never bought albums bought.

Dood check out my new interactive CD-ROM!

Jacko's "Thriller" success had as much to do with technology, marketing outlets, and modes of distribution as it did with the actual music. Those things are all different now, much less centralized, and changing at a much faster rate, so I don't think any analogue event is likely to occur. For the same reason there has never been "another" Beatles - the "success" is too closely tied to specific aspects of a specific time.

You could make the argument that the last person to reach that level of mass hysteria wasn't even a singer. Leonardo DiCaprio around Titanic was so colossally huge for a couple years there, it was the closest thing we've seen in awhile to Thriller-style mass adoration.

But yes, sometime soon a singer or band will become as big as Thriller. I can't see any band around now doing it, though...except maybe The Vulgar Boatmen.

You could make the argument that the last person to reach that level of mass hysteria wasn't even a singer. Leonardo DiCaprio around Titanic was so colossally huge for a couple years there, it was the closest thing we've seen in awhile to Thriller-style mass adoration.

But yes, sometime soon a singer or band will become as big as Thriller. I can't see any band around now doing it, though...except maybe The Vulgar Boatmen.

But this was MJ and Quincy Jones' aim too! Only two songs from Thriller weren't singles. It's Thriller's seven top 10's that defined album promotion for the next few years. Note the multi-single success of She's So Unusual, Purple Rain, Born in the USA, True Blue, and Rhythm Nation 1814.

Music is almost certainly bigger than it was in the days of "Thriller" because accessibility has never been easier (buying online, file sharing, iTunes, etc.). But like Shakey said, the accessibility explosion means that it's far more difficult to funnel consumers toward any one particular album or artist.

ugh, bad sentence, but you know what I mean -- discovering and obtaining music has never been as simple as it is now, and it's only going to get simpler.

haha, maybe, or my memory is just longer than yours. I guarantee you Ipods will rapidly be replaced by something else, they aren't really much more than a glorified jukebox anyway.

x-post

Which, like Thriller, went seven deep in its single releases. That's the missing link that needs to happen for any album to have a chance at equalling Thriller's impact: Singles need to go at least six deep, preferably with single #4 appealing to a completely different market than the previously targeted demographic (Linkin Park did this beautifully by holding "In the End" until single #4, crossing over to pop and creating a wholly new revenue stream).

(I suddenly start to wonder if Usher could possibly have done this if "Caught Up" had been followed by a ballad so bluesy as to cross over to C/W radio like Lionel Richie's "Stuck On You." Nahhhh.)

bruce springsteen
guns n' roses
nirvana
fugees
outkast
blah blah blah

and it will happen again, repeatedly. it may take a long while before anybody tops thriller or the eagles in sales, though. those are once-in-a-lifetime phenomena that have only a little to do with a particular era and a lot to do with the singular talent and appeal of a particular artist. but are there, and will there continue to be, gravity-defying, world-dominating pop stars? of course.

and TV appearances by the artist was generally looked upon with anticipation?

well, the world has changed in that department. when thriller came out, mtv was in its infancy and it was still rare for musicians to show up on tv, especially on the networks. now it's common. the elements of shock and surprise and rarity aren't there for the taking anymore.

Nirvana's Nevermind has sold nearly half as many copies as Hootie & the Blowfish's Cracked Rear View.

that is in fact what the record industry claims, but soundscan, which is a bit more honest in its reporting, says they're actually quite close, nirvana at 8 million and hootie at 10 million (that's u.s. sales). and a decade later, the nirvana record is selling way more than the hootie record on a continuing week-to-week basis. by that measure, nevermind has a lot more legs than cracked rear view. which is one of the many qualities an album would have to have to be even remotely thriller-like, methinks. for whatever that's worth.

Garth Brooks has sold more albums in the US than Michael Jackson.

so the closest things to MJ've got since thriller are shania and celine !

http://www.linternaute.com/savoir/classement/classement-disques-tout-temps.shtml

http://www.mjni.com/news/details.aspx?ArticleNo=508