Music television, fashion and pop culture were all radically redefined in the course of one 13-minute video by Michael Jackson. Which was just as he intended – Jackson, a musical prodigy from the time he was able to walk, and surrounded by musician siblings, overshadowed them all from the his earliest public debut at age 11. His music was unlike anything else out during those times – raw and emotional, sometimes dark, as reviewers noted, but always earnest. And brought home by his tremendous showmanship – the moonwalk, the fashion, the bold use of new mediums, whose potential only he could see in full.

On this day, December 1, in 1982, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” premiered on MTV, a 13-minute long tour de force, which cost Jackson $800,000 to make and was run along with Disney’s Fantasia movie to qualify for an Academy Award nomination.

Jackson wanted his video to be unlike anything else ever made, and in large part his succeeded. “Thriller” was made by the filmmaker from the American Werewolf in London, starring Jackson and his co-star Ola Ray, a former Playboy model, with a rap cameo by the master of horror Vincent Price. With cinematic quality and superb special effects that saw Jackson transform into a werewolf-like creature himself, the video was indisputably judged to be greatest of all time.