@throwblacktv: Michael Jackson’s record label told him Thriller had already peaked and refused to fund the video. He made it anyway. The Thriller music video was directed by John Landis and released on December 2, 1983. It was filmed at the Palace Theatre in downtown Los Angeles and the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles. The budget was $900,000, roughly ten times the cost of the average music video at the time. Ola Ray played Michael’s girlfriend after Jennifer Beals turned the role down. Before the MTV premiere, a private screening was held at the Crest Theater in Westwood, Los Angeles on November 14, 1983. Diana Ross, Warren Beatty, Prince, and Eddie Murphy were all in attendance. After it ended Eddie Murphy demanded they play it again. They did. It was the first music video inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2009, recognized as culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant. Album sales doubled after it aired. #MichaelJackson #Thriller #BlackMusic #losangeles #kingofpop

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Saturday 27 June 2026 01:38:39 GMT