Billie Jean

"Billie Jean" is a 1983 hit single from Michael Jackson's Thriller album. A number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100, the song was also the number-one R&B single for nine weeks in the United States. The song was replaced at number one by another Jackson single, "Beat It" that April. It was voted best single of the year in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics' poll, and received two Grammy Awards in 1984 in categories: Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best New Rhythm & Blues Song. It was nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, along with "Beat It".

Song & video impact

Upon its release, critics who had given the album's lead-off single, "The Girl is Mine", mixed reviews were praising "Billie Jean". The song soon dominated the top of both the Pop Singles Chart for seven weeks and the Black Singles Chart for nine weeks, both consecutively and respectively. But the hit song's impact wasn't limited to its chart success, and it would play a crucial role in defining Jackson's burgeoning crossover influence on pop culture.

Related Topics:
Pop Singles Chart - Black Singles Chart

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Jackson and Epic had planned to present the music video for the song to the executives of newly-formed cable network MTV, which was at the time not playing videos by black performers or even dance artists. Since its inception, the network's playlist was predominantly white and mainly featured videos by the top rock artists of the day such as Duran Duran, Peter Gabriel, The Clash, Billy Squier, Pat Benatar, and Billy Idol. In 1983 Jackson and CBS Records President Walter Yetnikoff informed MTV's president that if the cable channel didn't play Jackson's video, CBS would literally not allow them to play all of their white artists who were getting exposure on the network, most notably Billy Joel. With that ultimatum, MTV finally bowed to pressure and premiered Jackson's "Billie Jean" video on March 10 1983.

Related Topics:
Music video - MTV - Duran Duran - Peter Gabriel - The Clash - Billy Squier - Pat Benatar - Billy Idol - 1983 - Billy Joel - March 10

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Directed by Steve Barron (who would go on to feature films including the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film), the imaginative and cryptic video loosely followed the song's narrative. It featured Jackson as a lonely, elusive figure walking the streets while the sidewalk literally glowed wherever he stepped. A trenchcoated "stalker" pursues Jackson, supposedly to get the scoop on the titular love-interest, missing his opportunity when Jackson seemingly vanishes beneath glowing bedsheets with his never-seen mystery lover. The video, with its production values and dance performance by the star, was something completely new for MTV and quickly set an industry standard which even Jackson would emulate (and even more quickly re-define with the follow-up "Beat It").

Related Topics:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Beat It

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Soon enough, MTV was airing the video in heavy rotation, thus making Jackson the first African-American performer on the network. Producer Jones has said of the early relationship between Jackson and MTV: "... rode each other to glory". Other black artists to soonafter have videos on MTV included Prince, Lionel Richie and Eddy Grant. Jackson was the first – and by most accounts, is still the greatest – pop megastar to emerge from the network, each benefitting by cross-interest from the other's respective audience. This paved the way for a multitude of artists like Prince, Madonna, and within a few years his own younger sister Janet Jackson, to also have their careers blossom in the new video arena. By the end of the year, numerous other competing outlets were also showcasing the medium, solidifying music videos as a specific form of entertainment and record promotion.

Related Topics:
Prince - Lionel Richie - Eddy Grant - Madonna - Janet Jackson

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