Michael Jackson's 'Thriller': Story Behind The 'Glee' Cover

MJ classic is mashed up with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' 'Heads Will Roll' for post-Super Bowl episode.
By Aly Semigran


"Glee"
Photo: FOX

Madonna, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and now, finally, Michael Jackson. The cast of "Glee" has covered plenty of icons during their first two seasons, but it's taken 33 episodes to get around to the King of Pop.

With a huge catalog of Jackson songs, the singing, dancing students of McKinley High paid homage to the late singer with one of his biggest staples (and, arguably, the greatest music video of all time) with their take on "Thriller."

The groundbreaking single from Jackson's best-selling album of the same name was mashed up with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Heads Will Roll" for the post-Super Bowl episode (titled "The Sue Sylvester Bowl Shuffle"), featuring a zombie-fied "Glee" cast.

Bound to become a smash all over again (though with its nonstop rotation at Halloween parties and wedding receptions until the end of time, it's never truly gone away), here's a brief history of the dance/pop classic.

Released on January 23, 1984, "Thriller" was the seventh, and final, single to be released from Jackson's smash record. According to the RIAA, the album (released by Epic Records) has gone gold 29 times, narrowly edging out the Eagles' Greatest Hits 1971-1975 for the title of best-selling album of all time.

In 2009, MTV News estimated that the Thriller album was poised to go triple diamond, meaning 30 million records sold in the U.S. alone.

After Thriller's other singles (including "Billie Jean," "Beat It" and "Wanna Be Startin' Something") dominated the charts, it was time for the spooky, undeniably original track to take over. The song "Thriller" also appeared on many of Jackson's other albums, including the compilations HIStory and Number Ones.

Clocking in at a little under six minutes (though the radio edit was closer to four-and-a-half), the song features pop-music mainstays like synthesizers but shakes things up with its spooky sound effects, including creaking floors, howling and thunder.

The song was produced by Quincy Jones and written and composed by Rod Tempterton and spent 14 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #4.

But it's the music video for "Thriller" that truly made it the phenomenon it was in the '80s and continues to be today. Less a music video than a mini-motion picture, the video (over 13 minutes long and directed by John Landis) won three MTV Video Music Awards and has been named the best music video of all time by many outlets, including VH1 for the special "VH1: 100 Greatest Videos."

The chiller features Jackson in that iconic red leather jacket on a date with his girlfriend (played by Ola Ray) before things go terribly awry. After all, as Jackson (whose disclaimer at the start of the video reads, "This film in no way endorses a belief in the occult") sings in the opening line, "It's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark." Cue werewolves, zombies, Vincent Price's soliloquy and one of the most memorable dance sequences ever.

The video was (no pun intended) a monster hit. As the Los Angeles Times notes, "At the height of the song's popularity, MTV would run the 14-minute 'Thriller' video twice an hour."

Choreographed by Jackson and Michael Peters (who, as the LA Times also reported, appears in the video as one of the zombies) and with makeup by Oscar-winner Rick Baker (also an undead "Thriller" extra) was made with a huge budget of an estimated $500,000.

Still, the efforts paid off. Landis (who told the "Today" show back in 2009 that no one wanted to give them the funds to make the risky vid) made the accompanying 45-minute documentary about the venture, called "The Making of Thriller." Featuring the behind-the-scenes wizardry, as well as the music video in full, it would go on to move more than 10 million copies.

Since then, the signature song and video have seen their share fair of tributes in movies (notably in the 2004 comedy"13 Going on 30") and TV ("South Park," "Family Guy," "30 Rock," among others), not to mention the countless flash mobs that have gone viral. (Remember the prisoners in the Philippines who became overnight phenomenons on YouTube?)

Even with the "Glee" number, this likely won't be the last incarnation of "Thriller." Billboard reported in October that a "Thriller" film is in the works. With a plot allegedly revolving around Price's narration, Kenny Ortega, who directed Jackson's last effort, "This Is It," will reportedly helm the project.

Since Jackson's untimely passing on June 25, 2009, the song and video's legacy continue to live on. In the week following Jackson's death, "Thriller" was the best-selling track in the U.S., with sales of 167,000 copies on the Billboard Hot Digital Singles chart.

Then, in December 2009, "Thriller" was the first music video to ever be inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. It seems "no mere mortal can resist ... the thriller" after all.

What did you think of the "Thriller" mash-up on "Glee"? Let us know in the comments!

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1657395/glee-thriller.jhtml

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Britney Spears Made A Name For Herself With '... Baby One More Time' Video

In anticipation of the premiere of Britney's 'Hold It Against Me' video, we look back at her iconic 1998 clip.
By Jocelyn Vena


Britney Spears in "Baby One More Time"
Photo: Jive Records

It's hard to believe that in 1998 a schoolgirl uniform caused so much trouble, but that's just what happened when a pouty Britney Spears donned the now infamous costume in her video for "... Baby One More Time." Well, it seems Britney had some idea that the costume idea would make the video memorable.

"My idea originally was just jeans and T-shirts, and we were at the wardrobe fitting and Britney holds up the jeans and T-shirts and says, 'Wouldn't I wear a schoolgirl outfit?' " the video's director, Nigel Dick, told MTV News in 2009. "Every piece of wardrobe in the video came from Kmart, and I was told at the time not one piece of clothing in the video cost more than $17. On that level, it's real. That probably, in retrospect, is a part of its charm."

In 2000, Spears spoke to MTV News about baring her belly in the clip, noting that it felt like the most natural thing in the world to do. "Me showing my belly? I'm from the South: You're stupid if you don't wear a sports bra [when you] go to dance class, you're going to be sweating your butt off," she explained. "It was such a wonderful experience. All these people there, working for you. I had my own trailer. It was an amazing experience."

Spears was then an unknown pop singer and Dick had already established himself as a music video guru. The decision to work with Spears left many perplexed. "My response was, 'It's a great song. I don't know anything about Britney. I never watched 'The Mickey Mouse Club.' She seems like a great kid and she's very enthusiastic,' " he said. "But I just love the song. It's just a great song.

"I decided to try this idea that someone had thrown at me and they hated it — they absolutely hated it," Dick said about the video's simple setup. "So I jumped on the phone with Britney and she says, 'Well, now I think it should be about me in school and there should be lots of hot boys around,' and that was pretty much it — oh, and a bunch of dancing. And my response was, 'OK.' "

In a 1998 interview with MTV, Spears revealed that she wanted the video to reflect the lives of her fans, so she wanted to set it in a school. "The first idea we had for the video was so off the wall," she said. "I was like, 'I want something a lot of kids can relate to.' It's just a fun video."

That same year she noted that as soon as she heard the song, she knew she had to record it. "It's a song every girl can relate to," she said.

The song was recently featured in the "Britney/Brittany" episode of the hit show "Glee," with Lea Michele playing the Britney schoolgirl role.

Before Britney Spears debuts her music video for "Hold It Against Me" on February 17 on MTV, MTV News is taking a look back at some of the singer's most memorable videos. The new much-anticipated clip will air on MTV and MTV.com Thursday at 9:56 p.m./ET, right before a new episode of "Jersey Shore."

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Daniel Radcliffe To Star In Indie Comedy 'The Amateur Photographer'

Christopher Monger, the Emmy-nominated co-writer of HBO's 'Temple Grandin,' will direct.
By Eric Ditzian


Daniel Radcliffe
Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/ Getty Images

At the same time that Daniel Radcliffe readies to return to Broadway — previews of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" begin on February 26 — the 21-year-old actor is continuing to plot his post-"Harry Potter" career on the big screen.

Radcliffe is now attached to star in "The Amateur Photographer," an indie comedy from writer/director Christopher Monger, according to Variety. Monger shared writing credits on HBO's "Temple Grandin," the biopic that earned him an Emmy nomination and Claire Danes a Golden Globe win.

Set in a New England mill town during the 1970s, the movie will follow Radcliffe as a young man who finds in himself an unlikely artistic streak when he begins photographing the "most intimate moments" of the townspeople's lives, as Variety puts it, and ends up battling "local authorities while bringing a bit of a velvet revolution to the community."

Radcliffe has already wrapped production on his first film following the completion of the "Harry Potter" series. "The Woman in Black" is a thriller in which Radcliffe plays a lawyer who travels to a strange town filled with supernatural secrets. The Brit has also lined up another big-screen project in "All Quiet on the Western Front." He's set to play a German soldier during World War I when the production kicks off in the spring of 2012. And come July, he'll be busy with promotional duties for the final part of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

For now, though, Radcliffe is settling in on Broadway. After a month of previews, "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" will officially open on March 27.

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Daniel Radcliffe To Star In Indie Comedy 'The Amateur Photographer'

Christopher Monger, the Emmy-nominated co-writer of HBO's 'Temple Grandin,' will direct.
By Eric Ditzian


Daniel Radcliffe
Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/ Getty Images

At the same time that Daniel Radcliffe readies to return to Broadway — previews of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" begin on February 26 — the 21-year-old actor is continuing to plot his post-"Harry Potter" career on the big screen.

Radcliffe is now attached to star in "The Amateur Photographer," an indie comedy from writer/director Christopher Monger, according to Variety. Monger shared writing credits on HBO's "Temple Grandin," the biopic that earned him an Emmy nomination and Claire Danes a Golden Globe win.

Set in a New England mill town during the 1970s, the movie will follow Radcliffe as a young man who finds in himself an unlikely artistic streak when he begins photographing the "most intimate moments" of the townspeople's lives, as Variety puts it, and ends up battling "local authorities while bringing a bit of a velvet revolution to the community."

Radcliffe has already wrapped production on his first film following the completion of the "Harry Potter" series. "The Woman in Black" is a thriller in which Radcliffe plays a lawyer who travels to a strange town filled with supernatural secrets. The Brit has also lined up another big-screen project in "All Quiet on the Western Front." He's set to play a German soldier during World War I when the production kicks off in the spring of 2012. And come July, he'll be busy with promotional duties for the final part of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

For now, though, Radcliffe is settling in on Broadway. After a month of previews, "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" will officially open on March 27.

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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