Music videos are such an ordinary part of the musical landscape today that it feels completely uncomfortable for us to think of a time when they were not being made. Today, any time we want to become more immersed in our favorite songs we just simply go to YouTube and play the exact music video that we want to see. Back in the day, it was not so easy for music fans to see their favorite music videos. MTV was the only channel where one could see such coveted materials. It is no wonder that with each music video being watched and judged equally there would some videos that would be considered of higher quality than others.
MTV aired one of the most monumental music videos of all time on December 2, 1983. The music video that I am speaking of is Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. With its advanced choreography and dazzling visual elements, viewers experienced one of their favorite songs in a way that they never had before. In fact, the significance of this music video allowed it to be inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. “Thriller” was and always will be a blueprint for how to make a legendary music video.
Artists today try their hardest to attain the same sort of transforming success with their own music videos. Michael Jackson, though, was truly one of a kind. Instead of inventing new mediums through which modern artists can let their art flow, today’s artists choose to let their thirst for edgy content guide how their music videos look and feel. In this respect, Michael Jackson did something that surely will not be done again for a very long time.
