Continuing our series (click to view all in the series), we’re ranking the music videos of artists or bands that were created during the height of the MTV music video era. Today we’re focusing on the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, who started performing with some of his brothers when he was around six years old as part of the Jackson 5. It soon became clear that Michael was a star in his own right, and he started producing his own solo albums just a few short years later. The album that would really start to turn him into the King of Pop was his fifth in 1979, Off The Wall. Of course, things weren’t always sunshine and roses for Jackson, who faced many trials and tribulations throughout his life and career before he passed away in 2009.
But let’s not dwell on the negative — today we’re here to celebrate the contribution he made to the music video industry, particularly in the ‘80s. Below please find our ranking of the top 10 Michael Jackson ‘80s music videos.
10. Dirty Diana (1988)
This video is definitely one of the simpler of Michael’s videos. Indeed, there were some other kinda wacky ones from the ’80s that have more going on (we’re looking at you, Speed Demon and Liberian Girl), but they’re just a little too weird for our tastes to include them in this list. In this video, there are shots of Michael performing on a stage mixed with shots of a woman walking around, though you never see her face. This Diana is so Dirty we can’t see her face!
9. The Way You Make Me Feel (1987)
To be honest, this video is a little cringey these days, as it’s basically about a girl trying to get away from a guy who won’t leave her alone, and keeps doing crotch thrusts at her when he sings about keeping her “satisfied.” Yup. In this video, a hot girl is constantly fending off the advances of Michael, only to be constantly blocked from leaving by other guys. Of course, in the end of the video, all of these antics have apparently been charming as she runs into his embrace. Okay then.
8. Man in the Mirror (1987)
This video is basically a clip video (and 99% of the clips don’t have Michael in them). The clips start out very violent and sad, with shots of starving children in Africa, the Ku Klux Klan, Nazis, JFK and his brother being killed, all sorts of sad, bad things. About halfway through, things start looking up — the starving kids are given food, we see Gandhi and Mother Theresa, Farm Aid, Live Aid, Save the Whales… Basically, the world has looked in the mirror and decided to make a change. It’s a nice message that unfortunately is still very relevant today.
7. Leave Me Alone (1989)
To be honest, we’d never seen this music video before, and boy were we missing out! So, Michael was clearly feeling very negative toward the press during this time, as this video is very obviously about him wanting all of them to leave him alone. But, it’s done in an interesting way, with a sort of stop-motion animated style where Michael is going through a kind of amusement park built upon his own body. In the end, he’s able to break free of the amusement park that’s on top of him, similar to the scene in Gulliver’s Travels.
6. Billie Jean (1983)
One of the first videos by a Black artist to be aired regularly by MTV, “Billie Jean” features Michael walking around a dilapidated area, being followed by a photographer who repeatedly tries to get pictures of him. But, in every picture, he disappears — and, everywhere he goes, everything he touches lights up. The photographer is likely representing paparazzi constantly trailing Michael, and I guess the light thing is that everything he touched at the time was “lit,” even though that wasn’t really a term back then.
5. Say Say Say (1983)
In this music video, Michael and Paul McCartney play traveling medicine show conmen who are striving to sell a miracle potion to some locals. They have Michael take the potion and then arm wrestle and “beat” a big, burly dude who is secretly in on the act as well, enticing everyone to start buying the potion. The video then follows them giving money to an orphanage, and performing a show in another town. It’s a fun concept and video, and also features cameos from Linda McCartney and LaToya Jackson.
4. Beat It (1983)
When watching this music video, you get a very West Side Story vibe, even though director Bob Giraldi claims that was not his inspiration (he has said he drew inspiration from growing up in New Jersey). The video basically features two rival gangs meeting up for some kind of battle, only to have Michael come in and calm the situation by, you know, dancing. The power of dance — it saves everyone!
3. Bad (1987)
Did you know that the full-length video for “Bad” is around 18 minutes long?! Yeah, it’s basically a short film with a song in the middle of it. Directed by Martin Scorsese, Michael plays a young man coming back to his hometown after being away at a fancy boarding school. His old friends (one of which is played by Wesley Snipes) think he has changed, and say he’s no longer “bad.” The video then transforms into Michael in his signature black outfit, dancing with his cadre of background dancers, basically proving that he could be bad if he wanted to be, but that it would lead to, um, bad places. He eventually calls a truce with his old friends, and they part ways.
2. Smooth Criminal (1988)
As you can see, Michael’s videos became very cinematic throughout the ’80s, and are honestly some of the more iconic music videos of all time. This video for “Smooth Criminal” is no exception — it’s got a 1930s gangster feel, with Michael in a white suit and fedora. The basic gist of the video is that Michael shows up to this underground bar place that is full of the criminal element, and basically shows his dominance by dancing and such. It ends on a pretty violent note — as the police surround the place, Michael takes out a Tommy gun and starts shooting everywhere, eventually escaping into the night.
1. Thriller (1983)
Was there really any doubt that this video would be at the top? At around 13 minutes long, it’s not the longest video on this list, but it’s definitely up there. Arguably Michael’s most iconic video, it’s hard to believe that “Thriller” hasn’t been remastered in 4K for Michael’s YouTube channel. Still, even without the 4K, its mix of horror, special effects, dancing, and story is pretty awesome. If you haven’t seen this video, what have you been doing with your life? It has inspired “Thriller” dances around the world, and even the movie 13 Going on 30 featured the cast performing the dance. The video is a perfect representation of the song, and we’d argue this is one of the best music videos of all time.
- The “Thriller” video was directed by John Landis, who also co-wrote it with Michael. Landis has directed quite a few movies, including Trading Places, The Blues Brothers, Coming to America, and An American Werewolf in London.
- The anti-gravity lean first performed in the “Smooth Criminal” video was done using cables and a harness. Jackson’s team then patented a method for doing it live in concerts by creating specially designed shoes that hooked into pegs on the floor. Even with the pegs, though, good core strength was still necessary to perform the lean.
- The “Bad” music video was partially filmed in the Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets subway station in Brooklyn, New York. In 2009, Letitia James tried to get the station renamed in Michael’s honor, but was denied.
- For the “Beat It” music video, Michael had to actually put up his own money to film it after CBS refused to finance it. The video features about 80 actual gang members of the Crips and Bloods of Los Angeles alongside professional dancers.
- During the filming of the “Say Say Say” music video, the McCartneys were staying at the Sycamore Valley Ranch. Michael visited them, and loved the place so much that he eventually bought it and turned it into his Neverland Ranch.
- The “Thriller” video was directed by John Landis, who also co-wrote it with Michael. Landis has directed quite a few movies, including Trading Places, The Blues Brothers, Coming to America, and An American Werewolf in London.
- The anti-gravity lean first performed in the “Smooth Criminal” video was done using cables and a harness. Jackson’s team then patented a method for doing it live in concerts by creating specially designed shoes that hooked into pegs on the floor. Even with the pegs, though, good core strength was still necessary to perform the lean.
- The “Bad” music video was partially filmed in the Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets subway station in Brooklyn, New York. In 2009, Letitia James tried to get the station renamed in Michael’s honor, but was denied.
- For the “Beat It” music video, Michael had to actually put up his own money to film it after CBS refused to finance it. The video features about 80 actual gang members of the Crips and Bloods of Los Angeles alongside professional dancers.
- During the filming of the “Say Say Say” music video, the McCartneys were staying at the Sycamore Valley Ranch. Michael visited them, and loved the place so much that he eventually bought it and turned it into his Neverland Ranch.
