mekka okereke :verified:
RIP Quincy Jones.
Legendary music producer behind hits from Sinatra to Michael Jackson.
I know I'm alone in this, but I think "Billie Jean" was more iconic and transformative Quincy Jones song than "Thriller." First time we saw the Michael Jackson moonwalk!
Dan Ciruli
@mekkaokereke You're definitely not alone. The iconic performance of Billie Jean at the Motown 25 show really seemed to be the moment that he let the world know he was on an entirely different level.
An iconic performer, an iconic song, and an iconic move in that dance. Plus, an iconic video to boot.
Greg Nilsen
Nah...I'm in agreement with you. "Thriller" was an event, but it doesn't happen without "Billie Jean". Hell, the '90s MTV juggernaut doesn't even happen without "Billie Jean".
That aside, Jones' cultural influence was extensive. May his legacy live on.
Demian
@mekkaokereke Graduated from same HS that Jimi Hendrix and Macklemore went to (and me too)
Pete Wright
Nate Vack 🍴
@mekkaokereke Every single time I see Jackson do the moonwalk it is as amazing as the first time I saw it. A magical dance move for a ridiculously awesome song.
mekka okereke :verified:
@MichaelTBacon
Yep!
Michael T. Bacon, Ph.D.
@mekkaokereke I've forgotten, was that the debut of the glitter glove? Or had he busted it out before then?
mekka okereke :verified:
Smooth criminal, also produced by Quincy Jones!
Enjoy Jonathan (I am not a drum machine! I am a real boy!) Moffett playing his iconic drums again on the track.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bRM2Gn9nU7Q
Rasmus Lindegaard
@mekkaokereke that's funny to me, seems to me most people prefer Billie Jean, when they play Michael Jackson on the radio here it's almost always that song, but amongst his performances i find it kind of Meh. My favourite is smooth criminal.
Piers Cawley
@mekkaokereke you're not wrong. Billie Jean is magnificent. Tight. There's nothing unnecessary on that track. Thriller is baggy by comparison (but only by comparison). Nobody, except maybe Prince was even close.
soy sauced up salsa
@mekkaokereke I mean just
count Basie Orchestra
didn't even expect to see that
legendary music career
Rasmus Lindegaard
@mekkaokereke watching that brings a smile to my face i couldn't suppress if i wanted to.
I never thought about Michael Jackson using an actual drummer, i always just thought he probably had that part synthesized or whatever.
Ricardo
@mekkaokereke I love Thriller (who doesn't?) but yeah, Billie Jean is definitely my favorite, no contest!
David Andersen
@mekkaokereke @rasmus91 goddamn that was amazing.
The Duke of Fall :d6:
@mekkaokereke @blogdiva Thriller's power was in its music video production. Michael's talents as a performer were better shown off in Billie Jean, imo.
Aijaz Ansari
@mekkaokereke
Agree 100%. Also wanna call out my favorite Quincy Jones composition: the theme of Sanford And Son.
四
@mekkaokereke The problem with a guy like MJ is that you could post a top 10 moments/songs, and then someone else could post a completely different one, and you’d both be right.
Plus that whole Album is one of their very rare albums where everything is good. I think that’s the true genius of people like Quincy, they aren’t just exceptional themselves, but they see and bring forth the exceptional in others.
Truly one of the greats, he will be missed.
Louis Ingenthron
@mekkaokereke @rasmus91 Holy shit. Come for the incredible timing, stay for the guy who's so damn confident and smooth in his work that he twirls his sticks even in the recording studio.
Arne Visscher
@mekkaokereke just got back from a Cory Henry gig. He did a nice tribute 😌
Raccoon 🏳️🌈 :unverified:
@dan613 @mekkaokereke
Agreed. Thriller is honestly pretty meh, outside of being a song to play at Halloween. Billie Jean, like Smooth Criminal and Dirty Diana, is a song to rock out to year round.
Dan Neuman
@mekkaokereke I still dance to Billie Jean. I've never danced to Thriller.
il_fritz
Neither - Off The Wall for the win.
Thriller was iconic ofc but too polished and cheesy for my taste, it was about his dancing rather than the groove.
viq
@louis @mekkaokereke @rasmus91 what got me is that he's doing equivalent of touch typing, most of the time he doesn't even look where the drums are
Tito Swineflu
@mekkaokereke @rasmus91 Holy shit. That is not an .. easy drum part. Playing the kick in those shoes too!
Shannon Clark
@mekkaokereke @rasmus91 that’s truly astonishingly good
JustAFrog
@mekkaokereke Reading this whole convo has Billy Jean playing in my head.
Heard it so many times I have the whole thing on file.
raganwald 🍓
@raccoon @dan613 @mekkaokereke
Thriller the song arrived just as Video was Killing the Radio Star. "Thriller" wasn't just a sing with a video, it had pretensions of being a short film that happened to be a pop musical.
One of Toronto's popular discos of the era literally closed, renovated, and reopened with synchronized video projection, and "Thriller" was the first tune where they showed it off.
Thriller was part of a new wave of pop where the video was as important as the song.
Sean Kleefeld
@mekkaokereke @rasmus91 I've seen this video dozens of times, and I never tire of those two cymbals over his shoulders. He only hits them twice in the song, but it's always (for me) a more badass visual than his stick twirls.
Piers Cawley
@tito_swineflu @mekkaokereke @rasmus91 probably easier to 'just' play it rather than trying to punch it into a drum machine, there's so much variation. Phenomenal stuff.
Demian
@mekkaokereke @rasmus91 what I love so much is how integral the drumming is to the song. So many drumming videos are just drumming gymnastics. Yes, Jonathan’s drumming is technically incredible but it also fits the song perfectly. Testament to him and also Quincy I’m sure had some influence
lkngrrr
@mekkaokereke @rasmus91 Holy crap. Even when it came out I thought that some of the drum work was machine because of the precision.
That was glorious!
Chris Palmer
@mekkaokereke Absolute Perfection
Jay Stephens
@mekkaokereke @rasmus91
My younger kid has been learning drums for a couple of years. Within weeks of starting, he was watching Moffett Youtubes.
Dude's amazing.
West Lawns
@raganwald @raccoon @dan613 @mekkaokereke
Oh gosh. Takes me back.
I first saw Thriller on a large outdoor projection screen at a wedding celebration. I was in the English Civil War Society and we had been hired to enact a battle for the guests, and in return we joined the party.
It was a merry night.
Chris Palmer
@mekkaokereke And this is somehow (??) even *more* next-level: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFbZiIjFmz8
Luke Kanies
@mekkaokereke isn’t Billie Jean a song about denying paternity? I can’t hear it any other way, and I just can’t appreciate it as a result
Demian
@mekkaokereke Local Musicians Remember Quincy Jones: https://www.thestranger.com/music/2024/11/05/79770062/local-musicians-remember-quincy-jones
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