| Thriller
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| Album Information
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Thriller is a 1982 album by American singer Michael Jackson. It spawned hit songs such as "Thriller", "Beat It", "Billie Jean", "Human Nature" and "P.Y.T.". In 1983 Jackson made a short film around the song "Thriller", in which he transforms into a werewolf and a zombie, dancing along with zombies. This short film wasn't the first music video ever, but sure popularized it as a phenomenon for all pop songs released ever since. First released in theaters, it quickly was broadcast on MTV for many years. Both the album and the music video to Thriller have been referenced several times in The Simpsons.
References to Thriller in The Simpsons
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Season
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Episode number
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Episode name
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Reference
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3
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36
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"Stark Raving Dad"
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When Homer Simpson says he never heard about Michael Jackson Leon Kompowsky (who thinks he's Michael Jackson) lists several things which made him famous, among them Thriller and Beat It. However, Homer still has no clue, so Leon sings and dances Billie Jean for him. Later in the episode Bart tries to show Leon what "Jackson really looks like" by showing him the album cover of "Thriller".
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4
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64
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"Treehouse of Horror III"
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Bart raises the dead through a magic spell, while wearing the album sleeve of Thriller on his head. Just like in the music video the zombies rise from the cemetery.
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7
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132
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"Bart Sells His Soul"
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Bart tells Milhouse a soul is just something made up to scare kids, "like the bogey man or Michael Jackson". This could be a reference to Jackson's real-life persona or his scary image in the music video of "Thriller".
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22
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468
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"Treehouse of Horror XXI"
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David Silverman is listed in the credits of this Halloween episode as "David "Thriller" Man".
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27
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578
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"Halloween of Horror"
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An instrumental version of "Thriller" can be heard at the block party Marge and Bart pull up to .
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References to Thriller in The Simpsons Arcade Games
References to Thriller in The Simpsons Comics
| Picture
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Comic Book
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Comic Book title
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Reference
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| Picture
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Bart Simpson 60
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Zombie Moves!
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Michael Jackson is inspired by teenage Homer and Barney's zombie dance moves for Thriller. Decades later, when Homer watches a memorial show about Jackson on TV he wonders where the pop star got his inspiration from?
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Special guest voices
External links
