Today Is...Thriller Album Released

I was never a massive Michael Jackson fan but his songs were part of my teenage years, especially the Thriller Album which came out today in 1982 and especially the title Song which those of us of a certain age remember the musical show 'The Tube' and occasionally they would show a late night version to show videos that couldn't be shown in polite tea-time company.
Thriller was one such recipient and i remember a girls night of alcohol stolen from parents drinks cabinet and cheese and onion crisps while we watched the full, 15 minute depiction of Zombies dancing around to a very catchy tune but then the whole album was great with amazing songs like Human Nature, Pretty Young Thing, Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’, Billie Jean and Beat It as well as Thriller.
Admittedly, 1982/83 was the Michael Jackson high water mark and to anyone under 30 he was the weird and creepy guy who paid off the family of one of the children he was accused of sexually abusing and dangled his own child over a balcony but there was much more to him than that. He gave us the moonwalk, hung around with a chimpanzee called Bubbles and was a walking advert for not having plastic surgery.
He did make zombies cool again but for many of us him being a suspected child abuser always trumped his music which means that this is what he became because as hard as it is, sometimes the crimes are just so bad that it is practically impossible to separate the man from the music.
He undoubtedly was talented and this album was amazing and is linked to so many of my memories in the early 80s but his freakish appearance and the accusations of child abuse overshadow his music and so serious were the claims, that it is probably the right outcome.