Mikey J.

The first recording I ever bought that was by just one artist (not various artists like the K-Tel records or NOW records of today) was the following:

I bought it on cassette in early 1983. I remember listening to the first track, "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin" while I looked out the window of my bedroom. After 5 or 6 minutes, I was like, "Damn, this is a long song". Pretty much every track on it is solid. When I bought it, there had only been 2 hits off of it so far, "The Girl is Mine" with Paul McCartney and "Billie Jean". So I heard "Beat It", "Thriller", "Startin' Somethin", "Human Nature", and "P.Y.T." well before they were ever played on the radio. I thought it was pretty cool to hear hit songs before they were actually hits. My mom bought my brother, Brian, the recording on record album at the end of '83.

Some people don't care to admit that they ever liked Michael Jackson, but I was a fan of his for pretty much all of the 80's. And I still like to listen to those songs from time to time. I prefer to remember him as he was back then.