Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

My favourite Michael Jackson single ever, Billie Jean was released in January 1983 and went to number 1 in the UK. it was the second single to be released off the album Thriller (which has become the biggest selling album ever) and is one of Jackson's most popular songs. The song which many reviewers think is about a fan saying that he is the father of her child, Michael has claimed it was more about groupies that used to follow the Jackson 5 around when the band had hit the big time!

The video to the single was a great dance film, with Michael dancing on top of lighting up tiles, a result of a limited budget for the video, the director told Michael which tiles where lit and Michael told him not to worry and when filming, he just danced and hit those tiles! The video they say changed the way MTV used to show music vids, they never showed black artists until this video came out, it helped the single get to number 1 in the various charts in America, helped Thriller to sell bucket loads of copies and helped MTV to become established and become the station that it is today!

Billie Jean is also well known for the dance routine on the Motown 25th anniversary show, where Michael sang the song and showed the audience the Moonwalk for the first time. The show went down in history for that little dance move and whenever Billie Jean was sung, he had to do the Moonwalk! The track of the song, to me sounds quite sparse in production but is so sinister in the words and the way he sings the song, such a powerful performance. Here is the cover to the single and the scan of the vinyl, here as a 7'' red vinyl single from a pack of singles released of all his singles up to Bad.