The essential Michael Jackson videos

What would a Michael Jackson collection be without the music videos? And vice versa. What would music videos be without Michael? Although an excellent singer, there is now no way that anybody can listen to Michael without images from the videos playing in one’s imagination. There is also now no way that any artist will release a song without a matching video. And while they may not be on the same level as Thriller, chances are it will be a good, watchable short film.

All that is because of Michael’s efforts. Videos had already won acceptance as a promo tool for recordings when Michael came along wanting to have fun with the medium. He had seen this movie American Werewolf in London directed by John Landis and he had this song called Thriller for his new album. Maybe he could do a video with Landis and he could be the werewolf and it would make a nice little film. The result was a short film that helped sell millions of Thriller albums and in the process revolutionized pop music.

Nobody can make another Thriller. But from that time on music videos stopped being a mere gimmick to sell records. It became an integral part of music creation. Videos became not only better, they were films that fans looked forward to. When deserving, they were deeply appreciated with the appropriate awards. And to the delight of the music industry, it was found out that videos could be sold separately from the albums and make a lot of money. Michael’s output remains a huge seller.

The most-prized Michael video collection of the moment is Vision. This is a handsomely packaged three-DVD set that comes with a gorgeous booklet of stills from the video shoots and holograms on the cover. Included are his 35 videos plus the seldom seen Blame It On The Boogie, Enjoy Yourself and Can You Feel It by The Jacksons, plus Say Say Say with Paul McCartney, Why with his nephews 3T and the previously unreleased One More Chance.

Next to this is The Dangerous Tour, which totaled 69 concerts, 20 trucks of equipment watched by 3.5 million people. Available is Live In Bucharest, which first aired over HBO on Oct. 1, 1992. This is the pop idol live at the top of his game as a performing genius. He was truly fantastic. Dangerous, Jam, Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’, Human Nature, Smooth Criminal, I Just Can’t Stop Loving You, She’s Out Of My Life, I Want You Back/ The Love You Save, I’ll Be There, Thriller, Billie Jean, Working Day And Night, Beat It, Will You Be There, Black Or White, Heal The World and Man In The Mirror.

There is also a two-disc edition of the History album on video. Sold separately at P355 per DVD, this is also what I recommend that fans get if budget or space dictate that they can have only one video. Volume one is Video Greatest Hits History. Mastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, this has 10 of Michael’s best. Among those included are long versions of Bad and The Way You Make Me Feel, the controversial Panther video of Black Or White, the star studded Egyptian fantasy of Remember The Time and the not to be missed Thriller.

Volume two is a real gem with never-before-released short films like the spectacular Earth Song, Blood On The Dance Floor, They Don’t Care About Us, Stranger In Moscow, Smooth Criminal, Childhood (The theme from the movie Free Willy) and Beat It. And then there are the dearer treasures: Scream, the most expensive video and the only one ever made featuring Michael and his sister Janet; Michael’s showstopping performance at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards; and most of all, the one I waited for for a long time, Michael’s performance of Billie Jean at the Motown 25, Yesterday, Today and Forever show. That was when he first did the Moonwalk and when I believe, the King of Pop was born.

The History album included Michael’s version of Charlie Chaplin’s Smile, produced and arranged by David Foster. I find it unfortunate that he never made a video of the song. But then he made so many others.

Now if you want something that is just straight forward videos without the sentimental trimmings, there is Number Ones from the Visual Milestones collection. This has all the usual stuff plus some that the other compilations seem   to have missed out on like Dirty Diana and You Rock My World.