'Thriller' First Music Video Added to US National Film Archive

by Blaine Metzgar | December 31, 2009 at 07:39 am

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Michael Jackson's 1983 music video for the hit single off his album of the same name, Thriller, has been awarded the honor of being added to the U.S. National Film Archive. The 14-minute, John Landis-directed music video stands as the first music video to be included in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

Of the induction, Steve Leggett, the coordinator of the National Film Registry, explains the rationale for the choice saying, "because of the way the recording industry is evolving and changing, we thought it would be good to go back to the development of an earlier seismic shift, which was the development of the music video."

Twenty-five films were selected for induction, the full list is below.

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

The Exiles (1961)

Heroes All (1920)

Hot Dogs for Gauguin (1972)

The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)

Jezebel (1938)

The Jungle (1967)

The Lead Shoes (1949)

Little Nemo (1911)

Mabel’s Blunder (1914)

The Mark of Zorro (1940)

Mrs. Miniver (1942)

The Muppet Movie (1979)

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Pillow Talk (1959)

Precious Images (1986)

Quasi at the Quackadero (1975)

The Red Book (1994)

The Revenge of Pancho Villa (1930-36)

Scratch and Crow (1995)

Stark Love (1927)

The Story of G.I. Joe (1945)

A Study in Reds (1932)

Thriller (1983)

Under Western Stars (1938)