Top 5 Michael Jackson music videos

I have a very specific and personal memory of the “Thriller” video. You know, the epic, 14-minute mini film that starred MJ as a teen werecat who dances into the night with all kinds of undead in a mega-cool choreographed routine.

The first time I saw the video, some years after its original release, the cinematic look and feel of the video terrified a grade-school-aged me in a very real way. Even though I dug the song, and would go on to become a life-long MJ fan, I recall scrambling for cover to watch safely from behind my mother’s legs, fingers crisscrossed in front of my eyes for added protection.

Although the last two decades of his life – complete with weirdo facial surgery, child molestation charges and questionable parenting – may have threatened to overshadow his untouchable and inimitable work as a musician and performer, there was a time when Michael Jackson was known more for his singular dancing, platinum albums and groundbreaking music videos than anything else.

In advance of the much-anticipated behind-the-scenes documentary This Is It, (buy the soundtrack here) we’re taking a look back at the Top 5 MJ videos that have rocked our world.

Share your faves in the comment section below!

5. Scream

This 1995 song was groundbreaking for two good reasons: it was the first video collaboration between MJ and lil’ sis Janet Jackson and apparently it holds the somewhat dubious honour of being the most expensive music video ever made, tipping the scales at $7 million. Filmed in black and white, this space odyssey featured a lot of PVC, a heroin-chic Janet and a slew of flying-V guitars not to mention snarling performances by both Jacksons since the song was a reaction to the tabloid frenzy following Michael’s 1993 child molestation case. Although a little vague on story and concept, it all comes together when the two talented siblings finally dance together in an appropriately futuristic number.

4. Smooth Criminal

An homage to the likes of Fred Astaire and the musical comedy The Band Wagon, this 1987 music video had Jackson and his fellow dancers decked out like ‘30s gangsters, pleading for a woman named Annie to let everyone know she’s okay. While the original “Smooth Criminal” video is part of a 40-minute segment in Jackson’s 1988 music-fantasy film Moonwalker, the truncated made-for-TV version oozes style and features that killer anti-gravity lean that still gives me goosebumps.

3. Bad

The story for this 1988 music video was inspired by real-life headlines after Edmund Perry, a young African-American boy who left Harlem for the honour roll at Stanford, was shot and killed by a cop after apparently trying to mug the plainclothes officer. The story initially sparked major controversy over Perry’s race and what role it played in the fatal shooting, but the officer was found to have acted in self-defence. In Jackson’s video for “Bad”, he plays Daryl, a student at a private school who’s recently returned to his crime-ridden neighbourhood and gets a hard time from his petty criminal friends. These ruffians, including a young Wesley Snipes, tease the now-uppity Daryl that he isn’t bad, though they chose to fight their battles with plies and scissor-kicks instead of punches. The short film, directed by future Oscar winner Martin Scorsese, runs about 18 minutes with the music video action taking place in a subway station, playing out like an updated version of West Side Story. Bad? Yes, indeed.

2. Billie Jean

Apparently based on a true story of a mentally disturbed woman who claimed that MJ fathered one of her twins, this now-classic R&B jam was originally rejected by producer Quincy Jones but went on to pick up two Grammys and an American Music Award and catapulted Jackson’s sixth solo album, Thriller, into living rooms the world over. The video, rather simplistic by Jackson’s later cinematic standards, was historic nonetheless, this time for breaking down the race, and mostly rock, barrier on MTV. It found a newly fashion-forward Jackson, decked out in a pink shirt, red bow tie, too-short pants and a rather sculpted nose, dodging a pesky photographer in a case of art imitating life and was considered to be the video that made MTV a taste-making station. That killer bass-line and the high-pitched hee-hees made the song all kinds of amazing while the lighted steps and tip-toe freeze frames made the video equally memorable.

1. Thriller

Whether or not mere mortals were ready for the ghoulish terror that was the "Thriller" video, no one could deny its immediate and profound effect. No artist since has made such a lasting, overwhelming statement within the medium or expertly merged music and cinema since Jackson, along with director and co-screenwriter John Landis, unleashed the power of the thriller in 1983. The oft-imitated group choreography that finds a monstrous Jackson leading a pack of surprisingly limbre corpses showed his dancing chops while delighting, and frightening, viewers and the storyline made room for a clever movie-within-a-movie concept that finds Jackson’s main squeeze, former Playboy playmate Ola Ray, unsure of what to believe. Add in a dash of Vincent Price’s seriously spooky baritone and you have an inventive, compelling, and yes scary, music video that’s still in a class of its own almost 30 years later.

What are YOUR favourite MJ music videos?

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Check out our chat with the director of This Is It here!