InnocentMichael

Jackson and McCartney Will Continue To Thrill
by Paul Cashmere - December 30 2007

Reports that Michael Jackson has dumped Paul McCartney's voice from his 2008 25th anniversary reissue are clearly wrong.


Yesterday, a tabloid reporter in the USA reported that Michael Jackson had stripped Paul McCartney's vocals for 'The Girl Is Mine' on the forthcoming 'Thriller' reissue and replaced Sir Paul with will.i.am.

That is simply not true.

Yes, will.i.am has recorded new vocals for a remix of 'The Girl Is Mine' minus McCartney but the original version is still going to be on the anniversary album.

Sony's official site for the reissue, michaeljackson.com is also streaming the Jackson/McCartney original and clearly states McCartney's name on the tracklisting as 'The Girl Is Mine' (with Paul McCartney).

The tabloid journalist fabricated this "new" McCartney/Jackson feud, roger that!

McCartney certainly doesn't have any musical issues with Jackson. He has included the video for 'Say Say Say', the other Jackson/McCartney duet, on his 'The McCartney Years' DVD.

The 25th Anniversary edition of 'Thriller' will be released in February through Sony-BMG.

In related news Jackson is scheduled to appear on the next Usher album. The unnamed song will also feature T-Pain.

Usher has written the track but is yet to enter the studio to put it down.

Source:  Justice/Myspace....

Product Description:

Ease on down the yellow-brick road with the 30th Anniversary Edition of The Wiz, starring superstars Diana Ross and Michael Jackson! Relive all of the magic of this beloved musical when Dorothy is whisked away to the enchanting wonderland of Oz, where she encounters the Scarecrow, the Tinman and the Lion. The Wiz features spectacular musical numbers from legendary producer Quincy Jones and an all-star cast including Lena Horne, Richard Pryor, Nipsey Russell and Ted Ross. With a digitally remastered picture and the unforgettable soundtrack in new 5.1 surround sound, it's an experience of the land of Oz unlike anything you've seen before!

Region 1
Snap Case
Anamorphic Widescreen -
1.85
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - English
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo - English
Subtitles - English (SDH) - Optional
Additional Release Material:
Featurette - WIZ ON DOWN THE ROAD
Trailer - Theatrical Trailer
Additional Products:
Includes 8-Track Bonus CD Featuring Songs by Michael Jackson & Diana Ross..


MJNO...

Hiya guys,Here is the artwork for the upcoming Michael Jackson release Thriller 25...

THRILLER - 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
Thriller - original track listing - US Billboard Chart Peaks
“Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” - (#5 Hot 100, #5 R&B)
“Baby Be Mine”
“The Girl Is Mine” (with Paul McCartney) - (#2 Hot 100, #1 R&B, #1 Adult Contemporary)
Thriller” - (#4 Hot 10, #3 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks)
“Beat It” - (#1 Hot 100, #1 R&B)
“Billie Jean” - (#1 Hot 100, #1 R&B, #9 A/C)
“Human Nature” - (#7 Hot 100, #2 Adult Contemporary)
“P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” - (#10 Hot 100)
“The Lady in My Life”
Bonus Material:
10. Someone In the Dark ^
11. Billie Jean (Michael Jackson’s original demo recording) ^
12. Carousel ^
Previously Unreleased Tracks For 25th Anniversary Edition
13. The Girl Is Mine 2008 with will.i.am*
14. P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) 2008 with Michael Jackson and will.i.am*
15. Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ 2008 with Michael Jackson, Akon and will.i.am*
16. Billie Jean 2008 with Kanye West*
17. For All Time (unreleased track from original Thriller sessions)*
^From 2001 Thriller Special Edition
*-previously unreleased
Bonus DVD
The Videos
1. Thriller
2. Beat It
3. Billie Jean
4. Billie Jean performance from Motown 25: Yesterday, Today and Forever
25th Anniversary Executive Producer: Michael Jackson
Original Album Produced by Quincy Jones for [Quincy Jones Productions logo]

Sony BMG


thanks to MJSTAR for this..

Twenty-five years ago - on Saturday, Dec. 1, 1982 - Jackson delivered “Thriller,” a terse nine-song set that threw so huge a boulder into the pop pool that it ripples to this day.

It wasn’t just the music: “Thriller’s” related products and performances affected video, dance and fashion on levels that had to do with everything from esthetics to race.
To commemorate such a startling divide, The News has learned, Jackson’s former record company, Sony, plans to issue a commemorative package of the classic work on Feb. 5.

The set will combine “Thriller’s” original songs with four remixes of its hits, overseen by Kanye West, will.i.am and Akon. An additional track, titled “For All Time” - cut back in the day but left out of the initial set - will be included, along with a DVD that collects the star’s most iconic video footage from the era.

NY Daily News

Jeramaine apparently confirms Jackson's tour next year

Michael Jackson is back in the studio and rehearsing for a forthcoming tour, his brother has revealed.

Jermaine Jackson admitted that the family were planning to go on the road together. And he said the troubled singer was determined to bounce back from all the controversy he has been surrounded by.

 He said: “He’s very strong, he’s in the studio now working, we’re working together and we’re planning a tour and getting things together.

“It’s very hard because Michael’s probably the most misunderstood person on this planet earth.

“He’s the most incredible, wonderful, giving person and he’s the number one donor throughout the world in just giving money to charities and burying people who can’t afford to be buried.

“He had a big heart. This whole thing was a conspiracy. It was all contrived to sort of try to bring him down.”

Jermaine Jackson was speaking on chat show Katie & Peter: Unleashed.

The last time The Jackson's toured together was the 1984 Victory Tour.


MJTKOP

It started with a howl (from the record company) and ended with latex, zombies and beansprout sandwiches. Twenty-five years after Michael Jackson turned into a werewolf, Peter Lyle talks to members of his inner circle about the making of a classic album - and the video that changed pop history

In April 1982, Michael Jackson was the former Motown child star who would sporadically reunite with his brothers for tours and albums, had famous friends and collaborators, and had one hit solo album, 1978's 'Off the Wall', to his name.

That month, recording began on an untitled follow-up which was to alter for ever Jackson's career, the concept of the pop video, and the record industry itself. Jackson has said that his inspiration was Tchaikovsky's 'The Nutcracker Suite' because 'every song was a killer', and claimed last year that 'My dream was for it to be the biggest-selling album ever.'

Michael Jackson in the short film for Thriller

Bruce Swedien (engineer) When we started 'Thriller', the first day at Westlake [the studio on Santa Monica Boulevard where the album was recorded], we were all there and Quincy [Jones, the producer] walked in followed by me and Michael and Rod Temperton and some of the other people. Quincy turned to us and he said, 'OK guys, we're here to save the recording industry.' Now that's a pretty big responsibility - but he meant it. And that's why those albums, and especially 'Thriller', sound so incredible. The basic thing is, everybody who was involved gave 150 per cent … Quincy's like a director of a movie and I'm like a director of photography, and it's Quincy's job to cast [it]. Quincy can find the people and he gives us the inspiration to do what we do.

Brian Banks (synthesisers) [Michael] was definitely the star, he didn't interact a whole lot with us. I mean, he was around a bit, he did interact a bit … he would usually be practising his dance steps if he was in the studio, in the corner. When he got to singing, nobody was around - it was just him and Bruce Swedien and Quincy.

Bruce Swedien I tried all sorts of things with Michael - for instance, he would sing the main vocal part and we'd double it one time and then I'd ask him to step away from the mic and do it a third time and that really changed the acoustics in the room so it gave Michael's vocals a unique character … We recorded some of those background vocals in the shower stall at Westlake.

Quincy Jones (producer) Michael wrote Billie Jean - and that stuff, you know, it was just highly, highly personal. According to him, he said it was about a girl who climbed over [his] wall and he woke up one morning and she was laying out by the pool, lounging, hanging out with the shades on, bathing suit on... and Michael said she had accused him of being the father of one of her twins [laughs]. And Michael, on Billie Jean, he had an intro you could shave on it was so long. I said, 'It's too long, we gotta get to the melody quicker.' He said, 'But that's the jelly! That's what makes me wanna dance.' Now, when Michael Jackson tells you that's what makes him want to dance, the rest of us had to shut up.

Bruce Swedien When Michael liked a groove, he'd call it 'Smelly Jelly'. Also Michael doesn't curse, and when he wants to say a bad word, he'll simply call it 'smelly'.

Rod Temperton (songwriter/arranger) Originally, when I did my Thriller demo, I called it Starlight. Quincy said to me, 'You managed to come up with a title for the last album, see what you can do for this album.' I said, 'Oh great,' so I went back to the hotel, wrote two or three hundred titles, and came up with the title 'Midnight Man'. The next morning, I woke up, and I just said this word... Something in my head just said, this is the title. You could visualise it on the top of the Billboard charts. You could see the merchandising for this one word, how it jumped off the page as 'Thriller'.

Bruce Swedien [Temperton is] more like a classical composer than a pop composer - when he arrives, nothing is left to chance, and it's the same with his demos... When we were recording, Michael went home, stayed up all night, and memorised every one of [Rod Temperton's] demos, never had a piece of paper in front of him. Can you believe that?

Brian Banks It was late in the evening one night when we were working, and Quincy came to us. We all knew how Thriller was going, they were trying to get Vincent Price, they were doing all this stuff, but he wanted this huge chord sequence - he said, 'There's this sound that I've got in my head, there's this underground, this new artist, that nobody's ever really heard of but he's great, he's hot, he's got this great song.' And he pulled out the album and it was Prince, '1999'. And you know the opening sound on that? Duh-da da, Dur-duh-duh? Well that was the sound - that big, bitey chord sound at the opening of '1999' - he wanted that, but bigger, for Thriller.

Rod Temperton When I wrote Thriller I'd always envisioned this talking section at the end and didn't really know what we were going to do with it. But one thing I'd thought about was to have somebody, a famous voice, in the horror genre, to do this vocal. Quincy's [then] wife [Peggy Lipton] knew Vincent Price so Quincy said to me, how about if we got Vincent Price? And I said, 'Wow, that'd be amazing if we could get him...'

Quincy Jones Vincent did it in two takes - I'm telling you, it was so difficult [technically, to talk over the music track]... it was fabulous, man.

Bruce Cannon (sound effects) I was an assistant editor on the film E.T. Following that, Steven Spielberg and Kathy Kennedy had me help out on a record they were doing with Michael Jackson called 'The E.T. Storybook Record', which was produced by Quincy Jones, and Bruce Swedien was like his mixer. It was Michael narrating - I'm only laughing because he was very emotionally involved when he was performing, reading the lines - at times he almost breaks into tears telling parts of the E.T. story.

Following that, Quincy called me and said he was doing this Michael Jackson record and he needed sounds for the Thriller song. I went to as many sound editors as I could and listened, found - what was it? - a creaking door, thunder, feet walking on wooden planks, winds, howling dogs, all that. These were really good editors and I think they recorded some of the effects themselves. Things like the lightning may have come from old Hollywood movies - we'll never know which movies - but the best sound-effects editors do go out in the desert and find a coyote, so I have a feeling that was a real howl...


Quincy Jones The Girl is Mine was fun: Paul was in Tucson and we had to go down there and work with him for two or three days, which was fun, and rehearsing the song, and finding things to make them tailor-made for him, like the verse at the end and the rap that they had, fighting over the same girl.

David Paich (keyboards) Working with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson on a duet, The Girl is Mine: that was a very magical night. Even though I wished it had been a better piece of material, it was great working with those two people...

In between takes there is me, [guitarist] Lukather, [drummer] Jeff Porcaro, and we're jamming... with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson, singing all these Stevie Wonder songs. Linda is about two inches away, snapping all these photographs of me and everybody else in the room.

Quincy Jones [Beat It] was really key to this record, with its power, with everything it has, because I said at the time, 'I need a song like [The Knack's 1979 hit] My Sharona - we need a black version.' That's a strong rock 'n' roll thing there - that has the power of everything else [Jackson] writes. And he says, 'I got something here but I don't have any voices on it.' It was just what we needed. I decided to call Eddie Van Halen, and I didn't know him, to come play the solo on Beat It.

Eddie Van Halen (guitar soloist) Everybody [from his band, Van Halen] was out of town and I figured, 'Who's gonna know if I play on this kid's record?'

Steve Lukather (guitars/bass) Quincy Jones [said Beat It] was way too heavy and to tone it down - it's Michael's record, not Led Zeppelin's. So I went back in and re-recorded it. Basically, me and [drummer] Jeff Porcaro remade that record to Michael's vocals, Eddie's solo and Michael playing two and four on a drum case. We spent a lot of time messing around with that song and to be honest, when we heard it I was like, 'This is rock 'n' roll? I don't think so.'

Quincy Jones Toto, whom I just adored - [writer/keyboard player Steve] Pocaro, all those guys, Lukather - they sent over two songs they thought might be right for Michael and we left the tape on and forgot to take it off, the tape with the first two songs - which were OK but we were not impressed, you know?

And all of a sudden, at the end, there was all this silence and then [sings the melody to Human Nature]: 'Why, why, da-dum dah dah da-dum dah dah, why, why...' Just a dummy lyric and a very skeletal thing and I get goosebumps talking about it. I said, 'This is where we wanna go 'cos it's got such a wonderful flavour.'

Brian Banks You gotta remember the time and place. The record business was in the dumps right then. I remember one night, when they were looking at a bunch of proofs, large blow-ups of the [eventual image for the vinyl] centrefold, spread out on the console, and I was just there in the background doing my thing while Quincy was talking. 'Off the Wall', I think it sold something like eight million records, and I remember Quincy saying - I'm paraphrasing here - 'the record business is not what it was a couple of years ago, and if we get six million out of ['Thriller'], I'm gonna declare that a success.' And what'd they do, 53 million or something? It was in that context that it did 53 million...

The Girl is Mine trailed the 'Thriller' album in 1982, and reached Number 2. It was followed by two Number 1 singles with great videos in 1983, Billie Jean and Beat It. Three more singles followed, each stalling lower down the charts ('Thriller' was the first album to spawn seven Top 10 hits; only Bruce Springsteen's 'Born in the USA' and Janet Jackson's 'Rhythm Nation 1814' have managed the same feat since), and without their own videos. Then Michael Jackson had an idea...

Walter Yetnikoff (then president, CBS/Columbia Records) I used to get calls from Michael in the middle of the night. 'Walter, the record is not Number 1 [anymore]' - and this is 'Thriller' - 'What are we going to do?' I said, 'We're going to go to sleep and deal with it tomorrow.'

John Landis (director, 'Thriller') 'Thriller', the album, had been in the Top 10 for a year, and maybe Number 1 for most of that year, but now it was going down - but still, in the Top 10 after a year! There had been two videos made, Billie Jean and Beat It, and both of those had been very successful.

MTV used to have a policy, no black acts, and Michael ended that because Walter Yetnikoff, he basically said, 'I'm pulling all the Columbia/CBS acts if you don't play [Jackson's videos]. Michael saw [Landis's film] An American Werewolf in London and he contacted me and asked me if I would make a video with him. And I said 'No,' actually - because they were basically commercials, right? But he persisted and said, 'No, no, no - I really wanna make it.' So when I returned to LA I called Rick Baker, who had done the make-up effects for American Werewolf? and said, 'Rick, Michael Jackson wants to become a monster.'

Rick Baker (make-up effects) John told me about the idea but I was reluctant. I got a call from John and he was like, 'You know who Michael Jackson is?' and I was like, 'Yeah, kinda. He's the guy from the Jackson 5, right?' And he said, 'Well he's got this song called Thriller and he wants to do this short film.' At first I said I didn't want to do it. It's not the most popular job - it's like being a dentist in a way: they have to sit still in a chair for hours while you work on them, it's uncomfortable - it's not something actors look forward to.

John Landis Basically, I thought about it and my intention was to exploit Michael's unbelievable celebrity at that point to make a theatrical short, a 14-minute short. George Folsey Jr, my producer and editor on a lot of things, and I, worked up the budget. I insisted it would be a union shoot - almost all videos at that time were non-union - and I also insisted the dancers have at least 10 days of rehearsal, which is also never done because it's so expensive, and we put it all down and the bottom line was that we worked out it would cost about half-a-million dollars. Which was a huge amount of money, because at that time the most a video had been was, I think, $100, 000.

[Jackson] called Walter Yetnikoff and he talked to him for a couple of minutes, telling him what I wanted to do, and then he handed me the phone. I said, 'Hello?' And then this, this blast of flaming - 'You motherf---er! What the f---'s the matter with you?' The one conversation I ever had with Walter Yetnikoff - you know in movies where they hold the phone away? It was like that. He was screaming.

The essence of Yetnikoff's rant was: the album had already become the most successful album, it's had a year at Number 1, it's now going down and it's still selling respectably, and f--- your video and f--- you. I handed Michael the phone back and he said, 'Oh that's OK, I'll pay.' And I said, 'Mike, I can't spend your money...'

George [Folsey Jr]'s idea was: why don't we film us filming it, and then we can make a 45-minute documentary called The Making of Thriller, then in total that's an hour. And then sell that [to cable television] to get the money to make Thriller. [In the end they initiated a bidding war between cable companies.] The record company had no money in it, Michael had no money in it; and MTV and Showtime each put up $250k, so now we had the money, and it was fun.

Kim Blank (dancer) I think Michael Peters, the choreographer, called me directly about Thriller... I remember Michael had already done Beat It and I remember him calling me about it and me being really thrilled about it, but that he said something to me to the effect of, 'This isn't going to be a glamour job.'

Rick Baker You start with the casting of the actor's face, then the latex, the contact lenses... Michael's make-up started more as a werewolf and then became more cat-like. Normally you would make a cast of every actor's face, but we'd only have three days from meeting the dancers to finishing their faces, so we couldn't do it that way. I wasn't too happy about that, but in the end we made three sizes of zombie mask.We couldn't do the teeth how we normally would, either. I suggested that myself and the crew be zombies, so that we could have a few that were done properly - because we could have more time to work on the make-up.

Michele Simmons (dancer) We rehearsed it in Debbie Reynolds's dance studio [in North Hollywood]. Michael Peters called me up and said, 'I'm getting ready to do Thriller with Michael and I want you and Lorraine [Fields] to flank him, to be on either side of him' - because Michael Jackson knew us. We worked on television with him all through the Seventies and early Eighties.

Vincent Peters (dancer/choreographer's assistant) Michael Peters just wanted great dancers. He was a wonderful choreographer and I think he captured the zombie aspects of the movement really well. His choreography had eclectic rhythms, a sense of humour and a finger on the pulse of what was coming ahead in the world of dance.

Rick Baker Michael was great and very shy. I remember the first time John came over to shoot us working on Michael's make-up for his behind-the-scenes stuff - which I wasn't too happy about and Michael wasn't too happy about - Michael was so nervous that, as soon as the cameras came in, he ran off and hid in the bathroom. So different to when he was performing - Thriller was happening during the making of the Motown Anniversary Special, when Michael first did the moonwalk, and one of the guys bought a tape of the show in and said, 'Watch this.' That was him, when he was performing; that was when he came alive.

Deborah Landis (née Nadoolman) (costume designer) It was a dance that took place in a graveyard setting, it was dark, foggy, and I needed Michael to pop out of that picture. The shoulders of that jacket gave him some virility - this man, Michael, only about 99lb, he's 5ft 6in or 7in - and then he wore the red jeans and his trademark white socks and black shoes... I can look at my career and know that I designed Indiana Jones and know that I designed the Michael Jackson Thriller look. Those two things just seemed to become part of the fabric of the culture.

Brian Greenberg (cameraman) This was a much bigger production than Beat It had been. It had a definite beginning, middle and end to it. Beat It was done by a commercial director, Thriller was done by John Landis, who'd directed all these movies. He really covered it, like, Old Hollywood style - we had all the toys we needed to do it with.

Marty Thomas (props assistant) It was a long job and it was secret, you know? I remember we had to sign a non-disclosure agreement and not to tell anybody what we were filming, not to tell family or anything... very, very rare for music videos back then. What they would do is print up maps to the location and leave them around, but they were false locations. Somebody from the press would sneak on set and steal these maps and they were just sort of locations of the shopping mall that's closed, way way out in the Valley.

We couldn't believe it was just for one music video. It was a small city everywhere we went. There was a lot of police, a lot of security. And Landis, he would let people who made it there get pretty close, but behind a barrier. They had third and fourth and fifth assistant directors handling the crowd, which would be in numbers of two, three to four hundred, who had figured out where to go or had heard from one of the film crew or whatever, there watching on the set.

Lorraine Fields (dancer) This was before the internet, so I don't know how people found out. It was like dancing on stage, it was like doing a concert. We didn't start taping until the middle of the night. Every night it was like, he came out and people were screaming. It was like being in concert with Michael Jackson - it was very exciting.

John Landis It was amazing working with Michael at the time because it was at the height - it was like working with The Beatles at the height of Beatlemania or something, it was extraordinary being with him, because he was just ridiculously famous. It was like being with Jesus I used to say, because people used to see him and go into hysterics. Also, Michael's friends - it was so nuts. It used to be like, 'Michael, William [son of Walt] Disney's on the phone,' or Fred Astaire, who Michael had known very well since he was a kid. 'Mike, Henry Kissinger's on the phone'; 'Mike, President Reagan's calling.' Bizarro shit all the time.

My favourite moment during the making of Thriller, and one of the few times in my life I've ever been speechless, was when we were shooting the graveyard set in a meatpacking plant in East LA, a dodgy neighbourhood, by a freightyard. And we're shooting away and Michael's assistant comes to me and he says, 'Michael would like to see you in his trailer.' And I was like, 'OK, I'll be out in 20 minutes.'

So I go out - and it's like 3.30 in the morning - and there's a Winnebago out there and there's loads of security there, so I step up and I knock, and Michael's like, 'John, do you know Mrs Onassis?' and it was Jackie Kennedy...

Marty Thomas I was having lunch and Michael came and sat at the head of our table to talk to somebody else. It was just a crew table, and usually he was pretty separated - in fact, they told us at the start of the shoot, if anybody talks to Michael, you're fired. So he sat down and we're like, 'Oh, God,' and he started talking with us, and he had with him a mayonnaise and beansprout sandwich, and he said, 'Anyone wanna finish this?' and I said, 'I'll finish it!' So he gave me half of his mayonnaise and beansprout sandwich.

I ate a few bites and after he left I didn't finish it, and one of the guys said, 'Why'd you take that?' I said, 'Actually, I just want to be able to say when I'm 80, I just want to say, I ate half of Michael Jackson's sandwich.' Like, mayonnaise is supposed to be so bad for you now - he won't eat meat, but he'll eat all that lard.

Kim Blank I was in make-up, dancing in the street, all night, all night, for two nights in a row. I remember it took, like, two hours to put the make-up on and it took a long time to get it off. And I remember the next night, coming to get that make-up off again, my face was literally swollen at least 50 per cent. I wasn't expecting to look cute...

Lorraine Fields I remember at one point they got some dirt on the floor and stuck it on my face - 'This looks good.'

Michele Simmons They took moulds of our teeth for the dentures that they put in our mouths. When they made the extra dentures, you put those in your mouth and now you can't close your mouth, and when you can't close your mouth, the saliva falls out. And they just said, 'This is great! Let's just put some food colour and dye in there and that'll make it really nasty-looking!' That was part of the deal.

Marty Thomas One day, they were yelling, 'No flash pictures, Michael is very, very sensitive to light.' And I was like, that's so funny, you know? He's more sensitive than I am? He's standing in front of these 10 kilowatt lights all night long, man - but he can't handle a flashbulb? So we're all set - everybody ready? - and 'OK Mike'; 'No flashbulbs when Michael comes out.'

Michael comes out and he's got this gigantic bodyguard walking with him. And as he walks out, somebody flashes a shot, 'Snap!' And Michael, you might as well have hit him with a whip. He cowers down and he's like 'Uh... I just... that was right in my eye' and he's talking and he's leaning on the bodyguard and the guard's holding him up because he might fall down in a pile and melt... and he's saying 'Uh... I just... I just' and he turns around, and he starts being helped back into the motorhome. We're like, what?

The bodyguard looks around, he opens the door and helps him in, and somebody else comes out of the motorhome and helps him up the stairs, and the bodyguard looks at everyone with a look of death: how dare you? And he goes in and he turns around and he slams the door - at which the entire crew burst out laughing... I think he was really tired and he was punchy and he didn't like it that the set wasn't controlled - and he didn't like his picture being taken, so he was making a point.

Mike Wilhoit (sound editor) They didn't have sound when they shot it, just the song and some dialogue. We had some of the dancers come into the recording studio [afterwards] and record the sound of their feet... The biggest thing was the sound of the monsters and the zombies, to get them to sound all scary and weird: voices were changed around, reversed, played slower...

John Landis We put all the footage together and we saw it was, like, only 26 minutes long. Oh shit... I said, 'Do you have any other footage you own? What do you own? I literally went into the closet at Mike's house. I said, 'Mrs Jackson, where do you keep all your home movies?' 'I don't know.' And I found a box of home movies - and now everyone's seen it, that amazing 8mm footage of Mike dancing at five years old. I found that in a closet so I said, 'OK, we own this too...' We called it 'The Making of Filler'.

Michele Simmons I knew it was gonna be fabulous, but I was also of that mindset that we shouldn't have done it as a video [contractually speaking]... they show Thriller, still, all the time, and we're not paid a dime because it was considered publicity for the record company. So it was a huge rip-off. For the amount of people that were in Thriller and the amount of money that was made from it, they could have easily paid us.

Marty Thomas In one day I made over $1,000, which back then was a lot of money.

John Landis Vincent [Price] called me about a year later and he said, 'Look, the kid made the most successful record of all time and I made less than $1,000 dollars... Michael won't take my calls... I'm very upset about it.'

Sales of 'Thriller', the album, tripled after the Thriller video aired, sending it on its way to its current certified worldwide tally of 55 million sales (though some estimates put that figure at double). In February 1984, it won eight of the 12 Grammys for which it was nominated, and in 1999 VH1 viewers voted it the greatest video of all time. A new version including remixes by Kanye West and others is due for release in February.

John Landis We had a première - which was a riot - because Michael wanted a première. I've been to the Oscars and I've been to the Baftas, I've been to the Emmys, I've been to the Golden Globes, and I've never been anywhere like this première. It was incredible. There was everyone from Diana Ross and Warren Beatty to Prince. It was nuts. Amazing... got a standing ovation and all that stuff and they're shouting, 'Encore, encore,' and I said 'Encore? There is no f---ing encore!'

Then Eddie Murphy got up and shouted, 'Show the goddamn thing again!' So they sat and they watched Thriller again. Why not? It was just amazing, it was just amazing...

[Afterwards] Walter Yetnikoff said, 'OK, we own this music,' and I understand why he did it for his company - they had technically fulfilled their obligation to me with the theatrical release - so it went on Showtime, and two weeks later it went on MTV - and they showed Thriller and The Making of Thriller, like, 24 f---ing hours a day. [Yetnikoff] then took Thriller and gave it to every TV station in the world...

And so that was so extraordinary that it made MTV, and it made the video business become a real business. They priced video very high then - to buy a movie then was like $85, and that is what created the video rental market. The way it worked then, video stores, Blockbuster and Broadway video - they'd buy thousands of copies and then they would rent them, so the studio got nothing from the renting but they got their money up-front.

A guy name Walter Furst, he ran this company called Vestron Video, he called me and said, 'I want to put it out on VHS.' I said, 'We can't sell it for $90, it's on TV for free every five seconds.' He said 'No, no, no - we'll price it for sell-through' - the first time I ever heard that expression - 'We'll sell it for $24.95.' I thought, who's gonna buy it for $24.95?' But they shipped a million of them just in the United States. And what Thriller did, it created the sell-through video. It changed everything.

Thriller by the numbers

55m Estimated total sales of 'Thriller'. It's the second-biggest-selling album ever, after 'Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975' by The Eagles.

24 Michael Jackson's age when 'Thriller' was released. It was already - counting his solo, Jackson 5 and The Jacksons work - his 19th studio album.

3 The number of tracks Freddie Mercury recorded with Jackson in the early 1980s. Yet, to Mercury's great regret, not one of their collaborations made it on to 'Thriller'.

2 The number of calendar years in which 'Thriller' was the world's biggest-selling album. It achieved this 'double', unmatched by any other record, in 1983 and 1984.

1,000 - 10,000 The estimated, one-off fee (in American dollars) that Horror film veteran Vincent Price received for his narration on the Thriller song and video. He had opted for this form of payment, rather than a percentage of all album sales.

0 The number of music videos better than Thriller, according to MTV's '100 Greatest Videos Ever Made' list. It beat Madonna's Vogue to top spot.

1 The number of Playboy spreads that actress Ola Ray had featured in, before starring as Jackson's lover in the Thriller video. According to John Landis, Jackson had no idea what Playboy was, at the time of casting.

14 The length of the Thriller video, in minutes. It remained the world's longest music video until 1996, when it was surpassed by another Jackson video, for Ghosts.

2 The number of Jackson's siblings to appear on the 'Thriller' album. Janet and LaToya sang backing vocals on 'P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)'. Guitarist Paul Jackson wasn't a relation.

4 The number of the album's nine songs written by Michael himself: The Girl Is Mine, Billie Jean, Beat It and Wanna Be Startin' Somethin. These were also the first four 'Thriller' tracks to be released as singles.


Source:Telegraph.co.uk   

A spokesperson for Michael Jackson has said that accusations that he has disowned his children’s nanny are a “hilarious rumour.”

Jackson was accused on Tuesday (October 9th) of disowning Grace Rwaramba who is understood to be suffering from Lupus disease.

A source told the New York Daily Post: "(Rwaramba) is not doing well. She's ill, and she could use his spiritual, mental and financial support right now.

"I do believe (Jackson) has affection for Grace, but he acts like a child. He could at least give her a call and say, 'How are you doing, Grace? Do you need more doctors?' But it's never like that. It's always taking."

Jackson’s spokesperson, Raymone Bain, has denied the claims however. Bain said: "(It's a) hilarious rumour. I can guarantee she is not very ill, I've spoken to her in the last two hours."

Last month it was reported that Jackson had married Rwaramba, although these claims were also denied.


Source:Gigwise/MJTKOP

According to rumours in the press and Michael Jackson fan community, the King Of Pop is currently in New York to be photographed for the cover of Italian Vogue magazine and spent hours having his hair styled to perfection.

A source told the New York Post newspaper: "Jackson has been holed up in a fancy Midtown hotel since Thursday (13.09.07) afternoon with an enormous entourage.

"Since he arrived he has only left once, at 5am, to take part in the 10-hour shoot for Italian Vogue.

Michael is believed to be appearing in a sprawling spread in the fashion magazine, however, it is still to be confirmed by Vogue.

As this story has came from the NY Post it should be taken as a rumour until it is confirmed.

MJTKOP will post any more news of MJ in New York as it becomes available.

Source:NY Post/MJTKOP.COM

A Brussels court has ruled that Michael Jackson's 1995 hit "You are not alone" is largely similar to a song penned by Belgian twins two years previously, local media reported Tuesday.

All the authorial rights of the Jackson number one hit, written by Robert Kelly, alias US singer-songwriter R. Kelly, therefore are switched to the brothers according to the court ruling handed down last week.

The twin composers have fought for 12 years to gain recognition for their work, however the judgment is only applicable in Belgium and getting hold of royalties may be no simple task.

"You are not alone" was released in August 1995, the second single off the multi-platinum Jackson album 'HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I'.

It became the first-ever single to debut at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

On their website the Belgian composer-brothers said that the Belgian rights society SABAM had confirmed that "the most important and largest part" of the Jackson hit is "identical" to the Van Passels' work.


Source:AFP/MJTKOP

MJ and Will have done 3 or 4 songs 2 of them are finished

In an interview with KIIS FM last Thursday producer Will.I.Am revealed some more info about the new album, namely that him and Michael have done about 3 or 4 songs together and 2 of them are finished.

"We probably did like 3, 4 songs" Will.I.Am told KIIS FM, when asked if they where finished he replied "Two of them are"

According to speculation in the MJ fan community 2 possible titles for the songs are 'I'm Dreamin' and 'The Future'

Out of the four songs Will.I.Am has wrote two, Michael has wrote one and the both wrote one together.

Will also revealed that the songs are feel good songs and they aren't songs about Michael's life, "They're just feel good joints. Really feel good songs." Will told KIIS FM.

Will also revealed that Michael is doing great, he's in a great place and the vents of the last few years have not taken its toll on him. "When I was with him it was a super-duper place. You know? Flying to Ireland and being there for like a week in this great facility, great studios, great vibe, great atmosphere. It was just awesomeness."

Unfortunatley Will.I.Am did not hint at any release date as to the release of the new songs or indeed the release of a new album, "See I don't know when he's gonna put them out. That's up to him. It's his project. You know?, I'd put them out tomorrow. But I dunno dude. He'd probably be like, kinda angry" Will.I.Am told KIIS.

A transcript of the Will.I.Am interview can be found below.

Ryan Seacrest: It's 9:05am, five minutes after nine o'clock. How about Michael Jackson? Are you working with him?

will.i.am: Yeh, I went to Ireland to work with Mike. That was a great experience.

Ryan: What have you done so far with him?

Will: We probably did like 3, 4 songs.

Ryan: Are they finished?

Will: Two of them are.

Ryan: What are they like? When are they coming out? Tell us.

Will: See I don't know when he's gonna put them out. That's up to him. It's his project. You know?

Ryan: But they're done and it's up to him?

Will: I'd put them out tomorrow. But I dunno dude. He'd probably be like, kinda angry.

Ryan: How's he doing?

Will: Awesome.

Ryan: How is he to work with?

Will: The freshest.

Ryan: Really?

Will:Tabanackle.

Ryan: Has anything over the last few years, in your mind when you were working with him, taken its toll on him? Or is he in a good place mood right now?

Will: When I was with him it was a super-duper place. You know? Flying to Ireland and being there for like a week in this great facility, great studios, great vibe, great atmosphere. It was just awesomeness.

Ryan: Are the songs about his life?

Will: No, no. They're just feel good joints. Really feel good songs.

Co-host: Did you write them together? Did he write them? Did you write them?

Will: Um, a little bit of both. I wrote two songs, then he wrote one song and then we wrote one song together.


MJTKOP.COM

A judge in Santa Maria ruled Tuesday that a lawsuit filed against pop star Michael Jackson and Marian Medical Center cannot continue in court as filed.

The suit was filed by the family of a Santa Maria woman who died at the hospital shortly after she was moved to another room to make space for the entertainer to be examined.

Judge Rodney Melville of Santa Barbara County Superior Court, who was also the judge in Jackson's child-molestation case two and a half years ago, granted demurrers filed by attorneys for Jackson and Marian Medical Center. He also gave the attorney for the plaintiffs, San Luis Obispo-based James McKiernan, 30 days in which to file a re-drafted complaint.

McKiernan immediately said he would re-file the necessary documents.

A demurrer is a pleading that attacks the legal sufficiency of an opponent's pleadings.

The complaint, filed in February, alleges abuse of celebrity status and blames Marian Medical Center and Jackson for the “outrageous, circus-like atmosphere they orchestrated during the last hours of Manuela Ruiz's life and its obvious emotional and mental lasting effects upon the plaintiffs.”

The plaintiffs, mostly children of Manuela Gomez Ruiz, are seeking undetermined damages. They allege intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, elder abuse, false imprisonment and conspiracy on the part of Jackson, Marian Medical Center and Catholic Healthcare West, which owns the hospital.

During his trial, which ultimately resulted in his acquittal on child-molestation charges, Jackson was taken to Marian Feb. 15, 2005, complaining of flu-like symptoms.

Ruiz, a 73-year-old woman who was on life-support after a massive heart attack, was moved from a two-bed trauma room so that Jackson could privately occupy the room, according to the plaintiffs' complaint.

Ruiz was moved to an exam room, while kept alive by hand-pumped oxygen, until she could be reconnected to life-support machines. She had another heart attack, but milling crowds delayed her arrival at the critical-care unit, according to the complaint. She died later that evening.

During the hearing Tuesday, the attorney for the hospital, Santa Barbara-based Hugh Spackman, argued that facts alleged in the case were filed under an ill-fitting cause of action.

McKiernan, attorney for the plaintiffs, defended the allegations in the complaint as being based on an “outrageous set of facts,” and he described the events surrounding Jackson's hospital stay as “highly unusual.”

Outside court after Melville's granting of the demurrers, McKiernan said the judge didn't find that Jackson or the hospital had a duty to Ruiz's relatives.

McKiernan said he will file a re-drafted complaint in the case.

“We're always confident in our work,” he said.

Spackman and the attorney representing Jackson in the case, Timothy Gorry of Los Angeles, declined to comment on the judge's ruling.

Source: http://www.lompocrecord.com

Michael Jackson was in Washington DC yesterday touring the capital…

Michael Jackson touring the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space and American Indian museums yesterday. The reclusive pop star (trademark hat, sunglasses, striped pants), his kids (well behaved) and bodyguards arrived before the buildings opened to the public. At Air and Space, the 45-minute tour was led by 84-year-old Deputy Director Don Lopez, a World War II ace who gave Jackson a similar tour 25 years ago.

The singer lingered over the 1903 Wright Flyer, his kids loved R2-D2 and C-3PO. What’s he doing in D.C.? The tourist thing. “He wanted to show them the sights,” said rep Raymone Bain, who said Jackson will be in the area for a few days.

Washington Post

The matter ended up in court and the jet’s owner is now the target of a civil lawsuit. The jet company wants the judge to set punitive damages without hearing from witnesses who would have testified about his financial worth.

The judge has heard testimony in the two million dollar invasion-of-privacy suit, but hasn’t ruled on it yet.

Jackson was later acquitted on all charges.

Associated Press

Much of the rock ‘n’ roll and pop canon is well established.Buying the albums of `60s and `70s acts like the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley is akin to a rite of passage for any young music fan. These are the artists that baby boomers love to keep buying, and with whom seemingly every teenager at some point experiments.

Now that the `80s and `90s are ancient history, what albums are people still buying from those decades? Do critical favorites like Radiohead and the Pixies grow more popular with time? Or do the Backstreet Boys and Madonna still rule the charts?

Michael Jackson, of course, still has one of the most desirable back catalogs. His best- selling “Thriller” moves over 60,000 copies a year and his “Number Ones” collection yielded 162,000 sales last year.

Associated Press

A clause in the existing agreement between the Thriller singer and the Japanese electronic giant prevents Sony backing a music publisher to rival their Sony/ATV venture, which has the copyrights to all 252 Beatles songs in its catalogue.

If Sony can persuade its volatile and cash-strapped business partner to relax or even erase the clause as part of the negotiations, that would allow Sony BMG, the recorded music concern, to become a part-competitor.

Sony BMG is desperate to enter the music publishing market because it would help to offset the collapse in recorded music and would allow the record label behind Justin Timberlake and Bob Dylan to sign up songwriters in tandem with acts.

Recorded music sales are expected to be off by as much as 11 per cent this year, but publishing has been more stable because it generates income from growing areas, such as radio airplay and use of music in advertising as well as CD and download sales.

Rolf Schmidt-Holz, Sony BMG’s chief executive, said in May that “we will do everything to reenter the market for music publishing”. His remarks surprised rival executives, who knew that a decision to go into publishing was not within his power. However, the existence of the previously unknown discussions explains his confidence.

Discussions between Sony and Jackson are at an early stage and could collapse. Relations between the two have been strained in the past. Sony/ATV has faced problems making acquisitions because contacting the controversial star quickly enough to agree bids has been difficult.

Jackson recently agreed to allow Sony/ATV to expand aggressively under Marty Bandier, the newly appointed chief executive. The company now also has an option, which it has so far declined to exercise, to buy a further 25 per cent of the business from its partner. It is unclear how far the shareholder agreement between the two parties will be relaxed. There are hopes that Jackson will not have to be paid, although if that is the case he is likely to insist that Sony BMG can only sign up a handful of songwriters.

Half-owned by Sony and Bertlesmann, of Germany, Sony BMG is the second-largest recorded music company in the world, but it is unique because the company does not include a publishing arm.

The music business is traditionally split into two halves. Recorded music operations find, develop and promote artists, while music publishing units handle and manage songwriter copyrights. Its rivals Universal, EMI and Warner Music all conduct both activities.

Sony and Sony BMG declined to comment.

Times Online.

Michael thanks hotel staff for their efforts.

Michael Jackson's children infuriated hotel staff by ordering fast food from room service at 4am, it has been claimed.

The 'Thriller' singer - who was staying at the Inn at Perry Cabin in the seaside town of St. Michael's, Maryland, last week - demanded finger food be brought to his room for ten-year-old Prince Michael, nine-year-old girl Paris and five-year-old Prince Michael II, who is known as 'Blanket'.

"We were getting calls at 4am from Jackson himself asking for all kinds of things, including chicken fingers and other types of kids' food."

However Jackson was apologetic for his requests, and thanked the staff for their efforts.

The source added: "He even called and blessed the manager."

The 'Beat It' singer is rumoured to be looking into buying a home in St. Michaels after it was made a "no-fly zone".

The picturesque town has become a property hot spot for stars wanting to escape paparazzi helicopters after US Vice President Dick Cheney imposed the ban when he bought a house there in 2005.

Legendary guitarist Eric Clapton enjoys yachting holidays in the town and both Julia Roberts and Oprah Winfrey are also said to be looking at beachfront homes.


Source: Monsters and Critics/MJTKOP.COM

Raymone Bain confirms Michael is visiting Maryland to "scout out some summer houses."

Local media reported that Jackson helicoptered last weekend into the 17th century Chesapeake Bay-front village on Maryland's Eastern Shore, where the US vice president and former defense secretary keep holiday getaways, to cruise the real estate market for his own digs.

Washington's Examiner newspaper reported Tuesday that he checked into the luxurious colonial manor house Inn at Perry Cabin -- though the innkeepers weren't talking -- while the local WBAL television showed footage from the air of a mysterious person hiding behind white sheets as he got into a stretch limousine at the hotel.

The Washington Post said Wednesday that Jackson's Washington-based publicist Raymone Bain confirmed the visit to "scout out some summer houses."

"He's always admired the properties on the East Coast because they have a lot of land. Neverland (Jackson's shuttered California estate) has 3,000 acres (1,200 hectares) -- he likes privacy. You can't find as many properties like that on the West Coast," Bain said.

If he does buy in St. Michaels -- a romantic tourist town in an area of corn farmers, crab and oyster fishermen and duck hunters -- he will be trading the flashy Hollywood elite he knows well for Washington's grey-suited powerful and privileged.


Source:AFP/MJTKOP

The lawsuit by Prescient Acquisition, a Hackensack, New Jersey, firm, was settled just as jury selection was set to begin in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

Terms of the settlement were not released.

Steven Altman, a lawyer for businessman Darien Dash, who owns Prescient, said Dash was owed the money for helping Jackson refinance a $272 million (€202.9 million) bank loan and secure $573 million (€427.5 million) in financing to buy Sony’s half of the Beatles’ song catalog that Sony co-owned with Jackson.

Jackson had claimed he never heard of Dash and did not remember signing an agreement.

Associated Press

Michael Jackson says in a court deposition that the Rev. Jesse Jackson and billionaire Ron Burkle gave him advice to help save him from financial disaster when he was fighting child molestation charges.

The Daily News said in Sunday editions it reviewed seven hours of transcripts, finding that the singer believed disloyal advisers took advantage of him financially before a Santa Maria, Calif., jury acquitted him of child molestation in June 2005.

Michael Jackson said in a deposition taken last summer in Paris that the entertainment industry was "full of sharks, charlatans and impostors."

"Because there's a lot of money involved, there's a bunch of schmucks in there," Jackson said. "It's the entertainment world, full of thieves and crooks. That's not new. Everybody knows that."

Jackson testified that during his trial he received wise advice during bathroom break cell phone calls with Burkle, the billionaire friend of former President Clinton.

Burkle brought in Jesse Jackson, who has known Michael Jackson since he was a child, to help with the consultations, the newspaper said.

The deposition was made in preparation for a civil trial expected to begin this week in U.S. District Court. The case against Jackson was brought by a Hackensack, N.J. finance company that claims he cheated the company of $48 million.


Sorce:Associated Press/Yahoo! News