Thriller

It's hard to believe, but it's been 25 years since M.J's Thriller came out.

Yep. 25 years.

It's probably the best example of Pop at the top of the form. Over produced, slick, almost all the soul has been sucked clean by the brilliance of Quincy Jones and who knows how many engineers. The man child that wore a single glove sang with a tender falsetto that bridged the end of Motown and the rise of techno-80's-pop. The "songs" were arranged perfectly in a sequence of iconic (and Ironic) sequence that have stood the test of time - and were instantly dated the instant you heard them.

The Thriller album is the music equivalent of a dairy product. That product would be cheese.

The volume of Thriller albums sold ranks it in the top album of all time.

So why did they screw with it?

Today they're putting out a "Special Edition" of Thriller. I just posted a something from Will.Am.I, and I guess they let him do some covers... four tracks!
They also let ex-crack addict Fergie take a shot at ruining, "Beat It".
And some pop-I've-never-heard-of Akon takes on, "Wanna Be Starti'n Somethin'."

When I hear or see "Special Edition" I immediately think of Star Wars and Han Solo stepping on Jabba the Hutt -- then Gredo shooting first-- and I step back from the cliff that is anything called a "Special Edition."

Then I thought, Hey, if Thriller really is the best selling album of all time - what chance do you have of people picking up another copy? I mean, statistically - shouldn't you already own the thing? In multiple formats? Are you going to pick it up again just for Fergie singing karaoke?

Cap'n's Take Away: Dust off your old cassette version of Thriller. Listen for one minute. Wax philosophical over your old parachute pants. Place Thriller album back into storage.