Music Videos & Films

The short films, as he insisted on calling them. Thriller's fourteen minutes and Landis's makeup, Beat It and Bad and Smooth Criminal's lean, Black or White's morphing, Moonwalker, and MTV's colour line broken.

Part of Michael Jackson

40 moments in this segment.

1. 1978-10-24 - The Wiz - "Ease on Down the Road" (1978). Michael as the Scarecrow in "The Wiz", where he met Quincy Jones.
2. 1979-07-28 - Michael Jackson - "Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough". The first single off "Off the Wall", his first solo Grammy.
3. 1979-11-03 - Michael Jackson - "Rock with You". The shimmering disco-soul peak of the "Off the Wall" era.
4. 1981-03-16 - Michael Jackson - "One Day in Your Life". An early-solo ballad that topped the UK chart.
5. 1982-10-18 - Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney - "The Girl Is Mine". The first "Thriller" single, a duet with Paul McCartney.
6. 1983-01-02 - "Billie Jean" (1983). "Billie Jean", its video among the first by a Black artist in heavy MTV rotation, is one of the defining pop records of the decade.
7. 1983-02-14 - "Beat It" (1983). With Eddie Van Halen’s guitar solo and a West Side Story-style gang video, "Beat It" fused rock and pop and won Record of the Year.
8. 1983-05-08 - Michael Jackson - "Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’". The propulsive opener of "Thriller".
9. 1983-07-04 - Michael Jackson - "Human Nature". The wistful, much-sampled "Thriller" ballad.
10. 1983-09-19 - Michael Jackson - "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)". A bright Quincy Jones-produced "Thriller" single.
11. 1983-12-02 - "Thriller" - the 14-minute video (1983). John Landis’s 14-minute "Thriller" short film turned the music video into event cinema and is preserved in the U.S. National Film Registry.
12. 1983-12-14 - "The Making of Thriller" (1983). The behind-the-scenes documentary on the most famous music video ever made.
13. 1986-09-12 - Captain EO (1986). The Coppola/Lucas 3-D Disney attraction starring Michael, film as theme-park spectacle.
14. 1987-11-09 - Michael Jackson - "The Way You Make Me Feel". A swaggering "Bad"-era single and video.
15. 1988-01-26 - Michael Jackson - "Man in the Mirror". The gospel-tinged anthem of personal and social change.
16. 1988-04-18 - Michael Jackson - "Dirty Diana". A rock-leaning "Bad" single, his fifth #1 from one album, a record.
17. 1988-10-10 - Moonwalker (1988). Michael’s anthology feature film, music, fantasy and the "Smooth Criminal" centrepiece.
18. 1988-10-24 - "Smooth Criminal" & the lean (1988). "Smooth Criminal" and the gravity-defying anti-gravity lean became one of his most iconic visual signatures.
19. 1989-02-13 - Michael Jackson - "Leave Me Alone". A Grammy-winning video satirising the tabloid coverage of his life.
20. 1989-07-03 - Michael Jackson - "Liberian Girl". “Liberian Girl” by Michael Jackson “Liberian Girl” is the eighth of nine short films for the “Bad” album and features three dozen actors, musicians and celebrities in a humorous “behind-the-scenes” look at the set of a Michael Jackson short film as everyone awaits Michael’s arrival. At the short film’s conclusion, when everyone converges on the set, it is revealed that Michael was actually there the whole time, as he descends from a camera crane laughing and says, “Okay everyone, that’s a wrap!”Director Jim…
21. 1991-11-14 - The "Black or White" world premiere (1991). Premiered simultaneously to an estimated 500 million viewers worldwide.
22. 1992-01-14 - Michael Jackson - "Remember the Time". The ancient-Egypt-set "Dangerous" video, an all-star short film.
23. 1992-04-13 - Michael Jackson - "In the Closet". A sultry "Dangerous" single and video.
24. 1992 - Michael Jackson - "Jam" (with Michael Jordan). The "Dangerous" single that paired the King of Pop with the era’s biggest athlete.
25. 1992-07-13 - Michael Jackson - "Who Is It". Another "Dangerous" single showcasing his beatbox-built production.
26. 1992-11-23 - Michael Jackson - "Heal the World". The humanitarian ballad that named his children’s charity.
27. 1993-02-15 - Michael Jackson - "Give In to Me". A rock ballad from "Dangerous" with Slash on guitar.
28. 1993-06-28 - Michael Jackson - "Will You Be There". The "Free Willy" theme and a "Dangerous" highlight.
29. 1993-12-01 - Michael Jackson - "Gone Too Soon". A "Dangerous" ballad dedicated to Ryan White.
30. 1995-05-31 - Michael & Janet Jackson - "Scream" (1995). The most expensive music video ever made, a sci-fi siblings’ duet hitting back at the press.
31. 1995-06-19 - Michael Jackson - "Childhood". An autobiographical ballad, his plea to be understood.
32. 1995-08-15 - Michael Jackson - "You Are Not Alone" (1995). The first song ever to debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, from a beleaguered HIStory era.
33. 1995-11-04 - Michael Jackson - "Stranger in Moscow". A melancholy "HIStory" single, written in his most isolated period.
34. 1996-03-31 - Michael Jackson - "They Don’t Care About Us". The protest single and its Brazil / prison videos by Spike Lee.
35. 1997-03-21 - Michael Jackson - "Blood on the Dance Floor". The title track of the 1997 remix album.
36. 1997-05-08 - Michael Jackson - "Ghosts" short film. A 38-minute Stephen King-co-written horror short, Michael pushing the music-film form.
37. 2001-08-22 - Michael Jackson - "You Rock My World" (2001). The lead single from "Invincible", his final studio album.
38. 2001-11-27 - Michael Jackson - "Butterflies". A beloved "Invincible" R&B cut.
39. 2001-12-05 - Michael Jackson - "Cry". An "Invincible" single about collective hope.
40. 2009 - The "Thriller" filming location. The East Los Angeles street where the legendary "Thriller" video was shot. The subject dates from 1983; this photograph was taken in 2009.