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Post by lasvegaskid on Nov 25, 2013 15:38:59 GMT -5
Listening to last week's 1983 show and hearing Casey's announcement PYT was "leaping" into the top 10, I gotta wonder if the Billboard staff realized the historical significance of having six top tenners off of 1 album and helped it along a bit?
It's top 10 stay would last only that one week before it would do a 180 down to #12 the following panel. In those days, that was very unusual chart action.
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Post by mkarns on Nov 25, 2013 15:59:28 GMT -5
Listening to last week's 1983 show and hearing Casey's announcement PYT was "leaping" into the top 10, I gotta wonder if the Billboard staff realized the historical significance of having six top tenners off of 1 album and helped it along a bit? It's top 10 stay would last only that one week before it would do a 180 down to #12 the following panel. In those days, that was very unusual chart action. We can't prove that, but it is worth pointing out that it also hit #10 in Radio & Records. By contrast, "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", "Human Nature", and "Thriller" hit #2, 2, and 1 in R&R while only reaching #5, 7, and 4 in Billboard, implying a lack of sales points for the singles (which is easy to understand, as everyone was buying the album.) There's no reason why PYT should have been any different. |
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Post by pointpark04 on Nov 25, 2013 16:15:57 GMT -5
Speaking of Thriller (song) if there was a Youtube back then, with current chart rules, can you imagine how many weeks it would have spent at #1 on just the strength of video views. Great observation. I'd add to that "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel and quite possibly "Land of Confusion" by Genesis. Perhaps not on the same level as "Thriller" or, say, "Like a Virgin", but doubtfully Gabriel's hit would have been number one for more than one week, and Genesis may have even hit the top of the charts with LOC. Hmm. Sounds like a great thread idea in and of itself... |
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Post by blackbowl68 on Nov 26, 2013 11:49:15 GMT -5
Speaking of Thriller (song) if there was a Youtube back then, with current chart rules, can you imagine how many weeks it would have spent at #1 on just the strength of video views. I doubt it would have. The video premiered in early December 1983 while the single (which sans the Vincent Price rap) was released in late January 1984. Radio airplay was about to peak. The album had just made into the Guinness Book of Records. Video airplay had long since peaked. And nothing was gonna get past Van Halen's "Jump." |
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Post by Hervard on Nov 26, 2013 17:23:39 GMT -5
I always wondered why Michael didn't release the title track of Thriller until over a year after the album was released. Generally, if the title track is released, it's not the final one from the album - much less the seventh.
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Post by mga707 on Nov 26, 2013 20:15:45 GMT -5
I always wondered why Michael didn't release the title track of Thriller until over a year after the album was released. Generally, if the title track is released, it's not the final one from the album - much less the seventh. What if "Thriller"--single AND video--had been released as the fifth single instead of "Human Nature". It would have peaked in October 1983, right before Halloween. That would have been spectacular! |
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Post by Hervard on Nov 27, 2013 18:35:26 GMT -5
I always wondered why Michael didn't release the title track of Thriller until over a year after the album was released. Generally, if the title track is released, it's not the final one from the album - much less the seventh. What if "Thriller"--single AND video--had been released as the fifth single instead of "Human Nature". It would have peaked in October 1983, right before Halloween. That would have been spectacular! Or better yet, the sixth release instead of P.Y.T., since that song was starting its climb around Halloween. Just think how "Thriller" would have flown up the chart! |
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Post by adam31 on Nov 28, 2013 4:02:54 GMT -5
Yes this is one of the biggest mysteries of Michael Jackson's Thriller, why was the song released in January 1984, instead of around Halloween. I've always wondered that. It still reached #4. If this song is released in the fall, it's a sure #1 hit.
Just this year, the song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 42.
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Post by woolebull on Nov 28, 2013 7:48:17 GMT -5
Yes this is one of the biggest mysteries of Michael Jackson's Thriller, why was the song released in January 1984, instead of around Halloween. I've always wondered that. It still reached #4. If this song is released in the fall, it's a sure #1 hit. Just this year, the song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 42. There's been tons of speculation about why MJ and/ or Epic didn't release it, but maybe it happened because of another artist or record company. "Say, Say , Say" was released in October of 1983. Maybe they held off "Thriller" in October to give McCartney/Jackson and the single (which appeared on McCartney's "Pipes Of Peace" album)the boost it needed. McCartney had just paid the favor to Jackson less than a year before, and his duet helped to kick off the "Thriller" craze. Perhaps Epic or Columbia didn't want two massive songs going against each other. All speculation, but it would seem that one of the songs that would be hurt the most with an October '83 release of Thriller would be another MJ song, one that would be one of the biggest of his and Paul's solo career. |
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Post by mga707 on Nov 28, 2013 11:28:59 GMT -5
I think that the main reason "Thriller" wasn't released earlier as a single is that the (for the time) lavish, big-budget John Landis video was not completed in time for a pre-Halloween release, and both MJ and CBS probably didn't want to release the record as a single without the accompanying video.
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Post by pgfromwp on Nov 28, 2013 14:06:36 GMT -5
I recall this being posted on another thread, but ... on 11/22/75, Pete Wingfield's "Eighteen With a Bullet" charted at #18 for that week only. Chart manipulation?
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Post by rayshae3 on Nov 28, 2013 15:06:47 GMT -5
I recall this being posted on another thread, but ... on 11/22/75, Pete Wingfield's "Eighteen With a Bullet" charted at #18 for that week only. Chart manipulation? Should have been “Eighteen with a Star”!!! Bullets only came to BB Hot 100 in 1983. Or maybe it was in CashBox. The song also climbed to #18 just for that week (11/22/75) in CB. |
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Post by adam31 on Nov 29, 2013 4:00:52 GMT -5
I think that the main reason "Thriller" wasn't released earlier as a single is that the (for the time) lavish, big-budget John Landis video was not completed in time for a pre-Halloween release, and both MJ and CBS probably didn't want to release the record as a single without the accompanying video. Does anyone else remember back in the day that the Thriller video was hardly seen? I was dying for a glimpse of the video ( I was 12), but couldn't find it anywhere! I didn't have MTV so I don't know if it was aired much there. It was like some big secret. |
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Post by bestmusicexpert on Nov 29, 2013 9:24:50 GMT -5
I think that the main reason "Thriller" wasn't released earlier as a single is that the (for the time) lavish, big-budget John Landis video was not completed in time for a pre-Halloween release, and both MJ and CBS probably didn't want to release the record as a single without the accompanying video. Does anyone else remember back in the day that the Thriller video was hardly seen? I was dying for a glimpse of the video ( I was 12), but couldn't find it anywhere! I didn't have MTV so I don't know if it was aired much there. It was like some big secret. It was on MTV just about constantly. I even remember a short version airing, kinda like Smooth Criminal had... |
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Post by mga707 on Nov 29, 2013 15:22:02 GMT -5
Does anyone else remember back in the day that the Thriller video was hardly seen? I was dying for a glimpse of the video ( I was 12), but couldn't find it anywhere! I didn't have MTV so I don't know if it was aired much there. It was like some big secret. It was on MTV just about constantly. I even remember a short version airing, kinda like Smooth Criminal had... MTV may have had exclusive rights to it for a certain length of time, which would explain why adam31 didn't get to see it. Agree that MTV hyped it for all it was worth. |
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