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1!!YMMV tropes for the Michael Jackson album.
2See ''YMMV/MichaelJacksonsThriller'' for entries regarding the title track's music video.
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4* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Several executives at Creator/EpicRecords thought ''Thriller'' would bomb. It goes without saying that the album's unprecedented success proved them wrong.
5* CriticalDissonance: While the album as a whole is universally beloved, [[http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/thriller-19830128 some]] [[http://www.allmusic.com/album/thriller-mw0000056882 reviewers]] do take issue with the title track, feeling it's campy and causes MoodWhiplash compared to the rest of the album. Listeners still find it a classic, particularly due to the video it spawned.
6* EvenBetterSequel: Jackson's previous album, ''Music/OffTheWall'', was already the best-selling album by a black/Afro-American artist ever, but ''Thriller'' grew out to be the best-selling music album of all time. While fans and critics have been split over which one is better quality-wise up to and especially nowadays, ''Thriller'' was certainly a major improvement in terms of album sales.
7* NarmCharm: The title track is a campy post-disco song celebrating Jackson's love of '50s B-movies. It's cheesy and has goofy lyrics, but it's also one of his best-regarded songs.
8* RefrainFromAssuming: "Billie Jean" is not actually titled "The Kid Is Not My Son".
9* SampledUp: The famed "Mama-say, mama-sa, ma-ma-ko-ssa" of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" led to a lawsuit by Cameroonian musician Manu Dibango, who recognized his own [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0CeFX6E2yI "Soul Makossa"]] [[https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1542 (Michael admitted that the hook originated from it, and settled out of court)]]. And depending on your audience, that chant is only a part of Music/{{Rihanna}}'s "Don't Stop the Music" (Dibango sued again, but was dismissed).
10* SpiritualSuccessor: The first two tracks of ''Thriller'', "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and "Baby Be Mine", sound much like songs that wouldn't fall out of tone on ''Music/OffTheWall'', as does a couple ''Thriller'' outtakes, "Got the Hots" and "Sunset Driver" (in fact, Jackson meant for the latter song to be recorded for and included on ''Off the Wall'').
11* [[SuspiciouslySimilarSong Suspiciously Similar Riff]]:
12** According to Music/{{Daryl Hall|AndJohnOates}}, Jackson apparently admitted to lifting the bass line of "Billie Jean" from Hall's "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)". Hall wasn't bothered, telling Jackson he himself had lifted it from somewhere else. Jon Anderson of Music/{{Yes}} also felt "Billie Jean" was inspired by a track he recorded with Music/{{Vangelis}} called "State of Independence", but considered it an example of "cross-pollination in music" and wasn't bothered either: “they took the riff and made it funky.” In the same year as ''Thriller''[='s=] release, Music/QuincyJones produced a Music/DonnaSummer cover of "State of Independence" (with Jackson on backing vocals) that was a hit too, so Anderson's assessment about cross-pollination seems accurate.
13** The iconic synth intro to “Beat It” sounds exactly like the Synclavier’s demo tape’s riff showcasing the gong tone. The composer of that demo tape would ultimately be credited in the liner notes of ''Music/{{Bad}}''.
14* ToughActToFollow: ''Thriller'' was and still is the best-selling musical album in history, even if many other albums have more plays on streaming services than it nowadays. How could anyone surpass it in commercial terms? Even Jackson himself, who had an ambition in doing so with ''Music/{{Bad}}'', couldn't.
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16!!From the Boris Karloff series
17* CompleteMonster: "The Incredible Doktor Markesan": [[EvilUncle Uncle Konrad Markesan]] is a [[MadScientist scientist]] whose own genius allowed him to return from the dead using a formula derived from the mold found in graves. In rage at his former colleagues at Penrose University [[DisproportionateRetribution disbelieving his theories]], Markesan revives them after their deaths, spending each night [[ColdBloodedTorture torturing and tormenting the three]], forcing them to relive their "crimes" against him as they suffer in pain from being revived while [[FateWorseThanDeath begging him to be allowed to die]]. When Markesan's nephew Fred and his wife Molly surprise him, Markesan allows them to stay, but plots to dispose of them as well. Capturing Fred at the end, Markesan plans to murder him and it is only after he is killed for good that Fred discovers Markesan has already murdered Molly and transformed her into one of his undead slaves.

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