Billie Jean
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
"Billie Jean" is a 1983 hit single from Michael Jackson's Thriller album. A number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100, the song was also the number-one R&B single for nine weeks in the United States and is one of Jackson's most critically acclaimed songs. It was voted best single of the year in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics' poll, and received two Grammy Awards in 1984 in the categories Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best New Rhythm & Blues Song.
"Billie Jean" has been covered and sampled on numerous occasions. One of the earliest samples of "Billie Jean" was in 1983, when Clubhouse mixed Steely Dan's "Do It Again" with "Billie Jean". The subsequent track, "Do it Again/Billie Jean", charted at number 11 in the UK and number 75 on the Hot 100 in America. Detroit musicians Slingshot covered the remix, taking it to number 25 on the R&B singles charts.
Daryl Hall has claimed that Michael Jackson admitted to copying the bassline from "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" song in his song "Billie Jean".
In 1986, reggae artist Shinehead covered the song on his album Rough & Rugged album.
