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Michael Jackson is Still Thrilling 25 Years Later

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Contributed by: Steve Gregor on 3/16/2008

As the crowd cheered and the infamous drum beat started, a young Michael Jackson started the performance that would make him a legend. That performance was his powerful rendition of Billie Jean at the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, and Forever concert, in which he thrilled the world with the first moonwalk.

Now, 25 years after the release of his groundbreaking album Thriller, Michael Jackson has teamed up with well-known artists will.i.am, Fergie, Akon and Kanye West to release Thriller 25. This album features all of the original classics that made Thriller the best selling album in world history, selling over 100 million copies since it's release 1982, along with several new remixes that incorporate new elements to the timeless hits.

Immediately following Vincent Prince's proclamation that Michael Jackson is the thriller, the listeners to this magnificent album are presented with an upbeat, club beat backing the original Michael Jackson vocals to The Girl is Mine. However, Michael Jackson removed the lyrics sung by former-friend Paul McCartney and replaced them with his own. will.i.am accompanies Jackson with backing vocals and a very catchy verse towards the end of the song. The Girl is Mine2008 modernizes which was probably the most temporal song of the original album and gives it substance and the dance-ability that gave Jackson his fame.

P.Y.T. 2008 initially catches the listener off guard, as the vocals are not from the well-known version off the original album, but rather from the demo recording. This song also has an edgy beat to introduce the song, and does a great job of not just remixing an old song, but creating a new one with a fresh sound. Again, will.i.am contributes backing vocals and a brief verse to this song which is very catchy and original, as his lyrics 'girl you lookin' really cute in them jeans. I'll peel them off like a tangerine" shows. This song also has some marketability in the clubs as it has a great beat, dance-ability and Jackson's amazing voice.

Akon and Jackson teamed up to create a new version of Wanna Be Startin' Something, which will delight Akon fans but more than likely leave devout Jackson fans wanting more. Akon sings the majority of this song, with Jackson contributing to the background vocals, and only one verse. Although this song is unique and much different than the original, it is disappointing that Jackson only sings one verse, especially because it's the best verse of the entire song. Akon transforms this song into more of a love ballad than the original version was, but it still has great substance, a good tempo and sounds great. It is interesting, however, to listen to both versions of each song and hear how they take many of the same elements to create a completely different product.

Although all of the remixes are great, the best is Beat it 2008 featuring Fergie. This contrasts to Wanna Be Startin' Something 2008 because Jackson and will.i.am almost replicate the song exactly as it appeared on the original album, only slightly modifying the beat and adding Fergie's vocals to explode this classic hit onto the modern dance scene. Fergie's voice sounds great coupled with Jackson, and the new beat is just as catchy, if not moreso than the original. It still has the spark to it that attracted heavy metal fans to Jackson to begin with, and maintains Eddie Van Halen's great guitar solo. The bass in this song is unbelievable, and it is the perfect tone and pitch to rock out any subwoofer in a great system.

Kanye West was faced with the almost impossible task of remixing Billie Jean. However, he transforms the classic hit into a brand new song, as the bass is removed and substituted with a heavy, dark drum beat. This creates a darkness to the theme of the song, and also enhances Jackson's breathtaking vocals. The song is slowed down from the original, so it loses a little bit of the original feel that made you want to get out of your seat and dance, but the new version straps you to your seat as you hang on to every word of Jackson's narrative. His vocals and the deep, dark beat carry this song, on which West did a good job. He contributes the vocals of just a few grunts and 'number one' which either should have been omitted or elaborated upon, but the rest of the song is great.

Finally, Jackson shows his genius as both artist and producer as he remastered a previously unreleased track entitled For All Time, which is a slow love ballad that contains beautiful lyrics and will probably be popular in weddings as Jackson swoons 'when I say I love you, baby you've gotta know it's for all time'. This song is beautifully remastered, as the original was very dated in the beat. Jackson tones down the backing vocals and reworked the sounds of the instrumentation to enhance his vocals as well as to update the context of the song.

Overall, Thriller 25 not only shows why the original was the best selling album of all time, but also displays how, 25 years later, Michael Jackson still is the greatest entertainer of our time. The remixes of his songs are magnificent, without detracting from the quality of the original. They expose a classic hit updated, a demo modernized, another popular singer's take of a classic hit, a new duet that keeps the same qualities of the original, a rapper's reproduction of the song that defined a decade and a previously unreleased love song. It is for these reasons that the album has already sold close to a million copies worldwide in its first month, debuting as the number 2 album in the United States, and as a number one in several European countries. There are, however, two letdowns from this album. The first is that there is no new music video of any of Jackson's new songs, as of yet. The second is that we still have to wait for Jackson's other new album to come out.

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