I'm pretty sure Thriller is one of the few things artistically that's not subjective. I'm convinced the universe aligned when the album was created and released. (like a musical 1992 Dream Team) You can debate his "traditional" musicianship, however people who do, neglect the fact that his dancing was an "instrument" in itself.
He may have not have physically played all of the instruments, but he externalized them in a way no one had prior to him, and numerous pop stars have been emulating since. He literally personifies artistry. If Jimi Hendrix is a guitar virtuoso, then Michael is a dancing virtuoso. And he like Stevie Wonder was a child prodigy.
His dancing is what his music looks like. If you watch the Motown 25 performance we get to see him doing the Moonwalk, but people often overlook all the dancing he was doing the whole time. All the subtle slides and the precision in movement is mind boggling. Even him wearing that jacket was a preview of where he was to take it, as he again externalized music. It looks like a music visualizer.
There's never been anything like him before. It's no coincidence that he revolutionized the "music video." He impacted all mediums. It started with the music, but he spilled into film and the world of fashion.
In the "Don't Stop til You Get Enough" he erupts like a star (musical star of love). And it might have went past everyone because that's a foreshadowing of what was to come. Even how he sings on it is pure feeling, but the music is so feel good. It sounds very pure and "light-hearted." It's something that everyone of all ages can sing and dance along to. "Rock With You" is a little more grown up, but sexy, romantic, and again pure. It's just him dancing with that simple green light. He's even wearing that sequin he would eventually wear in the Motown 25 "Billie Jean" performance. By pure, I'm not saying "puritanical" but pure as in where it's coming from. It sounds like the way you'd feel if you got to dance with that one person you always had a crush on. It's a universal feeling. The coldest "pimp" to the most deplorable "man-eater," temporarily forgets for the length of that song; and remembers that feeling.
All of what was before and everything that was to follow could be found in that "Motown 25" performance. To this day I still believe in love (magic) as a result of that. I wasn't even alive when the performance was originally shown, but every time I see it, for the length of however many times I watch it on repeat I forget that I'm 28, feel like I'm five and it's like watching a musical superhero.
He's the standard. Thriller is the musical standard. The "King of Pop" is unanimous. ALL people and cultures sing and dance. He's the best at it, and he and his team were the best at making the music everyone will sing and dance to for as long as we have the ability to do so. It's Forever.
