Michael Jackson, yes ... Thriller, no

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It's the 25th anniversary of the release of "Thriller," to album that made Michael Jackson the King of Pop. He's now pretty much the king of jokes, hiding out and reminding us that he hasn't had that much plastic surgery.

Whatever you think of Jackson, that first album was pretty extraordinary. "Billie Jean" remains one of my favorite songs of all time, and I still like hearing "Beat It." Certainly beats some of the other songs of that year, such as "Maniac" by Michael Sembello and "Come On Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners. (OK, I admit that I liked that second song back in '83, but I was 11 years old. And it's been played so many times now that I'm sick of it.)

So back to MJ. His album was amazing, but I never really did like the song "Thriller." I don't know why, but it never did anything for me. I think maybe it's because I had to sit through the "Making of the Thriller Video" three or four times in elementary school.

Either I had lazy teachers or this was considered to be very instrumental in our education. I just thought Michael Jackson looked a little weird with all the makeup on.

Of course, compared to his look now, he looked unbelievably normal. Even human.

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