Liner Notes · No. 028
"Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson: the B-side
Quick hall pass: a song from 1983 became the biggest song in the world in 2026. Before that it survived a cowboy's bullets and an American Idol controversy. Here's the B-side.
On this record
TRACK 1 · The cameo
A saloon, a biopic and a 2026 No. 1
Marty McFly moonwalked it in 1885, a 2026 biopic recreated Motown 25, and the song hit No. 1 worldwide 43 years after release.
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The saloon: Back to the Future Part III, 1990. Marty McFly is stuck in 1885, Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen is shooting at his feet, and Marty does the obvious thing: hums "Billie Jean" and moonwalks across the Palace Saloon. A song from 1983, a dance from 1983, in 1885. The space-time continuum filed a complaint.
The remake: Michael, the Lionsgate biopic directed by Antoine Fuqua, opened April 24, 2026. Jaafar Jackson, Michael's nephew, recreates the 1983 Motown 25 "Billie Jean": the glove, the black jacket, and a moonwalk of his own, worked out with choreographers Rich + Tone. When a preview clip dropped, fans complained, but not about him. They hated the editing and the cutaways to the audience. Nobody came to watch the crowd.
The comeback: In May 2026, "Billie Jean" hit No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200. Three weeks earlier it was sitting at No. 65. Per Luminate, it pulled 51.5 million global streams in a single week, and it climbed back into the Hot 100's top 20. A 43-year-old song beating everything on the radio. Your kids are streaming your middle school dance and calling it new.
That climb to No. 1 set a record. Guess how long it took.
Pop quiz: when "Billie Jean" hit No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 in May 2026, how many weeks had it been on the chart?
No Googling. The answer is longer than your last diet.
That's Side A. Flip the tape.
Side B is where it gets weird:
- Billie Jean live: the moonwalk's TV debut for about 50 million viewers, the Victory Tour, and the 1993 Super Bowl.
- Covers that go places: Chris Cornell slows it down, American Idol borrows it, The Civil Wars go country and Luciano goes reggae.
- Where the story is now: the billion-dollar biopic, a possible sequel, and a video with more than two billion views.
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▶ SIDE B
TRACK 2 · The live one
Motown 25, the Victory Tour and the Super Bowl
The first TV moonwalk in 1983, then a showcase that kept growing, past eight minutes by 1993, on every tour through 2001.
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1983, the night of the moonwalk: Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever was taped on March 25, 1983, at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, and NBC aired it on May 16. Jackson did "Billie Jean" solo, lip-syncing to the record, in a black sequined jacket, a fedora and one rhinestone glove. Then he slid backward across the stage. It was the first time he did the moonwalk on TV. Estimates put the audience at about 47 to 50 million, and the performance earned an Emmy nomination. Every kid in America spent the next week wearing out their socks on the kitchen floor.
1984, the Victory Tour: Back on the road with his brothers, "Billie Jean" ran about six minutes and ended with a spotlight dance. By the second leg he'd added more moves and stretched it to about seven. Nobody asked for it shorter.
1993, the Super Bowl: By the Dangerous era, "Billie Jean" had grown into a showcase, often running over eight minutes on the 1993 leg, and it was part of his Super Bowl halftime show that year. Eight minutes of one song, and the football crowd stayed in their seats. Try that with a kicker.
2001, the last stop: By most accounts, the song stayed in his live shows on every tour from 1984 through his 30th Anniversary concerts at Madison Square Garden in 2001.
TRACK 3 · Cover watch
Grunge, country and reggae
Chris Cornell drained the funk, The Civil Wars went country, Easy Star All-Stars went reggae. Play them, then vote.
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- 2007 · Chris Cornell. A drastically slowed, dark acoustic version on his solo album Carry On. The funk got drained out and something haunted got poured in.
- 2008 · David Cook (American Idol). Sang it on Idol in an arrangement Cornell called "literally a note-for-note take" on his own. Reality TV, discovering the cover version of a cover version.
- 2011 · The Civil Wars. Slowed down, country harmonies, John Paul White on old-fashioned blues guitar. It showed up on their iTunes Unplugged live release and on a UK Record Store Day 45 in April 2012. Almost unrecognizable at the start, which is the point.
- 2012 · Easy Star All-Stars feat. Luciano. A reggae version on Thrillah, their track-by-track reggae remake of the whole Thriller album, released August 28, 2012. The bass line was always halfway to Kingston anyway.
▶ WATCH THE CONTENDERS
Battle of the versions: which "Billie Jean" wins?
Cast your vote. Results in the next issue. Choose carefully: we're judging you.
TRACK 4 · Where are they now
Where the story is now
Michael Jackson died in 2009 and bassist Louis Johnson in 2015. The biopic passed $1 billion, and the video sits around 2.3 billion views.
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In memory: Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009, at 50. Louis "Thunder Thumbs" Johnson, who played that bass line, died in May 2015 at 60. With the Brothers Johnson, he helped make slap bass a sound every funk record wanted.
The biopic: Michael became the first biopic to pass $1 billion worldwide, overtaking Bohemian Rhapsody. Lionsgate's Adam Fogelson said the studio hopes to start a sequel in late 2026 or early 2027. Not officially announced. Hollywood "hoping" to make more of a billion-dollar movie. Bold strategy.
The views: The official video passed a billion YouTube views in June 2021, and analytics sites now put it around 2.3 billion. For a video whose biggest special effect was an electrician with a switch.
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