Line #58 ReferencedBy/MichaelJackson


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5	[[quoteright:197:[[VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies1 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hd_thriller_zombie.png]]]]
6	[[caption-width-right:197:[-[[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope "Any resemblance between Dancing Zombie and persons living or dead is purely coincidental."]]-]]]
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9	A list of references to Music/MichaelJackson done by creative works. For a specific example common enough to garner its own trope, see MichaelJacksonsThrillerParody.
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13	[[folder:Advertising]]
14	* An anti-drunk driving PublicServiceAnnouncement from TheEighties has ''Beat It'' as the background music while the party-goers are piling into the car. It cuts off suddenly as the driver, who is drunk and insists "What's a few beers?", turns the ignition.
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17	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
18	* The special features for ''Anime/FinalFantasyTheSpiritsWithin'' feature a ShotForShotRemake of the "Thriller" dance using the film's cast, namely Dr. Aki Ross as Michael, and including some of the alien Phantoms as background dancers.
19	* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' has referenced the King of Pop a couple of times.
20	** Muhammad Avdol from ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]'' has three pet chickens named Music/{{Lionel\|Richie}}, Music/{{Prince}}, and Michael. Similarly, in the [[DubNameChange dub]] of ''Stardust Crusaders'', one of the guardians of DIO's mansion, Kenny G, had his name changed to [[Music/{{Thriller}} Billie Jean]].
21	** Illuso, a member of La Squadra di Esecuzione from ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Golden Wind]]'', has a [[FightingSpirit Stand]] called [[Music/{{Bad}} Man in the Mirror]] (the English localization renames it "Mirror Man" after songs by Music/CaptainBeefheart, Music/TalkTalk, and Music/TheHumanLeague).
22	** Enrico Pucci, the BigBad of ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]]'', mentions a Michael Jackson concert while talking to [[GreaterScopeVillain DIO]].
23	* The last three episodes of ''Anime/NerimaDaikonBrothers'' have "Yukel Hakushon", an antagonist who's very much an exaggerated parody of MJ who had plastic surgery to the point where his face looks like a Picasso painting, dresses in a Peter Pan costume, and ends his sentences with "Ow!" much like MJ did in his songs. And if that wasn't enough, Hakushon's goal was to take the titular trio's daikon farm and turn it into "Nerima-Land".
24	* Jango from ''Manga/OnePiece'' is a CaptainErsatz of Jackson. When he walks, it looks like he's moon-walking forwards. In the German dub, he was even named "Jacko".
25	* ''Anime/SailorMoon S'': In Episode 24, Usagi tricks Rei by thinking that Michael Jackson was in the area so she can steal Chibi-usa from her.
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28	[[folder:Asian Animation]]
29	* An episode of the third season of ''Animation/HappyHeroes''' features a robot man dressed as Michael Jackson and doing the moonwalk in one scene as a FunnyBackgroundEvent.
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32	[[folder:Fan Works]]
33	* In ''Anime/PrettyCure''-based fanfics in Fanfic/TheKedaboryVerse, [[Anime/SuitePrettyCure Ellen (Cure Beat)]]'s online username is "beatitjustbeatit".
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36	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
37	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOBatmanMovie'': Tying into the CentralTheme of Batman becoming a better person, "Man in the Mirror" is referenced several times throughout the film, from Batman borrowing a quote from the song, to covers of the song being played during Commissioner Gordon's retirement party and the epilogue, to Phyllis quoting the song herself near the end.
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40	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
41	* Chris Tucker does an impersonation of Michael Jackson in ''Film/RushHour''. The two later became friends, and Tucker [[PromotedFanboy appeared in the music video for "You Rock My World"]].
42	* In ''Film/IfYouCouldSayItInWords'', Lucy refers to Nelson as Sadie's new boy. Sadie tells her not to call him a boy, because it makes her feel like Michael Jackson.
43	* ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'':
44	** ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'': At Cafe '80s, an 80s nostalgia-theme cafe in 2015, Michael Jackson is portrayed as a ''Series/MaxHeadroom''-esque AI waiter. Later, in 1985-A, when Marty [=McFly=] finds that his home in this timeline belongs to another family, the daughter has a ''Thriller'' poster in her bedroom, [[InSpiteOfANail meaning that Michael Jackson's stardom is one of the only things which stayed the same]].
45	** ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'': In 1885, when Marty first faces Buford Tannen, he enrages him by calling him "Mad Dog", which prompts Buford to force Marty into BulletDancing. After some shock, Marty starts [[MoonwalkDance moonwalking]], singing part of "Billie Jean" under his breath, which confuses everybody around him.
46	* ''Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld'': Matthew Patel, displays Michael Jackson-esque moves from ''Thriller Night''..
47	* ''Film/ThreeKings'': As Said is [[ColdBloodedTorture torturing Troy]], he asks Troy, "What is the problem with Michael Jackson?" - specifically, he's asking about Jackson's skin disorder. Said is ''very'' anti-American, suggesting that Jackson "wants to be white" because he lives in an "evil, sick fucking country".
48	* ''Film/WeirdTheAlYankovicStory'', a mock {{biopic}} about Music/WeirdAlYankovic that makes fun of the prevalence of ArtisticLicenseHistory in the genre, depicts "Beat It" as an unauthorized parody of the [[BlatantLies 100% totally original]] Yankovic song "Eat It", resulting in the film's version of Al bitterly resenting Jackson after [[ParodyDisplacement people start thinking that "Beat It" is the original version]].
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51	[[folder:Literature]]
52	* ''Literature/LikeNoOtherBoy'': When Wade bought Cheryl a drink, he did a Michael Jackson moonwalk imitation, which made Cheryl roar with laughter.
53	* ''Literature/YouLookDifferentInRealLife'': ''Five at Six'' has a scene of Felix dancing in the kitchen to "Thriller." Justine thinks it's the only scene in the documentary that looks set up. Later, she dreams that Felix goes on tour playing keyboards with Michael Jackson in heaven.
54	* ''Literature/DogsDontTalk'':
55	** Elizabeth says of the markings around [[BigFriendlyDog Rosie]]'s eyes, "I wish I could have liner like that." Ben says, "You could do what Michael Jackson did and tattoo it on your eyelids."
56	** In precalc, Ben hears Johnny in the autism classroom down the hall, singing "Billie Jean." Ben's math teacher starts bopping to it until she realizes the class is staring at her.
57	* ''Literature/EveryShinyThing'': At the Halloween assembly, the dance elective kids do the "Thriller" dance.
58	* In ''Literature/TwelveDays'', one of the objects in Hannibal's MemoryPalace is a poster of Michael Jackson.
59	* In ''Literature/BeautifulMusicForUglyChildren'', Gabe and Pete watch a Michael Jackson retrospective on Creator/VH1. Pete starts moonwalking and Gabe does the circle slide before their mom tells them to quiet down.
60	* In ''Literature/WhatHappenedToLaniGarver'', Claire compares Marcus's hairstyle to Michael Jackson's.
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63	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
64	* ''Series/{{Glee}}'' has covered several Jackson songs throughout its run. In Season 3, they even devoted an entire episode to his songs, simply titled "Michael".
65	* In the ''Series/FamilyTies'' episode "Lady Sings the Blues," Alex and Mallory suggest that Elyse learn to play some modern songs before she sings at a nightclub. When Elyse asks how one of those songs goes, Mallory starts dancing and singing "Beat It." That night, when the audience turns out to be totally uninterested in Elyse's folk songs, she plays a few bars of "Beat It" on her acoustic guitar before fleeing the stage.
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68	[[folder:Music]]
69	* Music/{{Aqua}}: The original version of "Back to the 80's" features the line "and Michael Jackson's skin was black" as one of the many bygone elements of the titular decade. Following Jackson's death a month later, the song was modified to change the line to "and Creator/{{Arn\|oldSchwarzenegger}}ie told us [[Film/TheTerminator I'll be back]]" out of respect.
70	* Music/{{Genesis\|Band}}:
71	** Jackson is one of many '80s pop culture icons parodied in the music video for "Music/LandOfConfusion", appearing in a crowd of other celebrities, all of whom sing along to the song in a riff on "We Are the World".
72	** The ending of the music video for [[Music/WeCantDance "I Can't Dance"]] parodies the infamous ending of the music video for Jackson's "Black or White", having Music/PhilCollins imitate the panther sequence in front of a white background.
73	* Music/{{Minutemen}}: "Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing" names Jackson in its title; as the name implies, it was written with the intent of having Jackson sing it.
74	* Music/NewOrder: Following the first wave of child molestation claims, the band altered the second verse of [[Music/SubstanceNewOrderAlbum "True Faith"]] to "When I was a very small boy, Michael Jackson played with me; Now that we've grown up together, he's playing with my willy" when performing it at the 1993 Reading Festival.
75	* Music/WeirdAlYankovic's songs "[[Music/WeirdAlYankovicIn3D Eat It]]", "[[Music/EvenWorse Fat]]" and "[[FoodSongsAreFunny Snack All Night]]" parody "Music/BeatIt", "Music/{{Bad}}" and "[[Music/DangerousAlbum Black or White]]", respectively. Yankovic only ever performed "Snack All Night" on-stage at Jackson's request, who felt that putting it out as a studio recording would undermine "Black or White"'s anti-racism message. The music video for "Fat" reuses the "Badder" set from ''Film/{{Moonwalker}}'', since Jackson was a big enough fan of Yankovic to [[ParodyAssistance loan it to him]]; Yankovic returned the favor by cameoing in the music video for "Liberian Girl".
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78	[[folder:Video Games]]
79	* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': At the Margarita area, two goons from the Factio Pugni suggest playing "Smooth Criminal" at their next meeting to perform in high note.
80	* ''VideoGame/BattleArenaToshinden 3'': Kayin Amoh and his foil Ten Count. One is a weathered young man whose life as a bounty hunter has given him nothing but grief and knowing the bitter and sick after-taste of violence, while the other is a fairly insane sharp dressed hitman who delights in his career like a superstar and uses an undercover name based off of one of his methods to delightfully kill people. Both of them are respectively based off of ''Beat It'' and ''Smooth Criminal'', even right down to the wardrobe and their clashing character themes.
81	* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'': After obtaining Dr. Faust, a Devil Arm in the shape of a hat, Dante puts it on his head and imitates Jackson's dance moves, complete with pyrotechnics.
82	* ''VideoGame/KirattoPriChan'' has its CaptainErsatz of The King of Pop in the form of "Michael Kurokawa", who looks very much like how MJ did in the 80's and even has his dance moves and mannerisms.
83	* ''VideoGame/LaMulana'': The "Dancer" you have to scan in the Temple of Moonlight uses one of Jackson's poses.
84	* ''VideoGame/PapaLouieArcade'': One of Papa Louie's two Halloween outfits is based on Jackson's "Thriller" one, as clarified in an animated GIF that Flipline published for Halloween 2020 wherein he performs a MichaelJacksonsThrillerParody with several other characters who dress as zombies for Halloween.
85	* In the original release of ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'', there was a type of zombie known as the "Dancing Zombie", whose appearance was remarkably similar to Jackson's outfit in the "Thriller" music video, with his almanac entry lampshading the reference via OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope. Later versions of the game changed his design to that of a generic disco guy, which would become the basis of the "Disco Zombie" prominently featured in later entries of the franchise.
86	* ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'' and ''VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness'' both feature Miror B., an antagonist who has excellent dancing skills, a glove on his left hand, and an afro in the shape of a Poké Ball (also the same colours as a standard Poké Ball -- red and white), who loves using Ludicolo. Ludicolo itself is a reference to Jackson, but Miror B. takes this to 721.
87	* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'': Sonic's shoes were based on the boots that Jackson wore in the music video for "Music/{{Bad}}", albeit with the black coloration replaced with a Santa Claus-inspired red and white palette.
88	* The ''VideoGame/WheresMyWater'' crossover with ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'' features a famous singer named Jackson Sheep, who is named after and based on Michael Jackson.
89	* ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza 0}}'', which takes place in the 1980s, has a sidequest where the player character, Kazuma Kiryu, can help "Miracle Johnson," the American superstar in a hat and CoolShades who is prone to spinning and going "oooh!" film his latest music video involving dancing zombies.
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92	[[folder:Web Animation]]
93	* ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'': In "Disco Bear's Halloween Smoochie", Disco Bear dresses up in Jackson's "Thriller" outfit at the beginning of the fittingly named "Thrillah" option.
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97	* ''Webcomic/HarkAVagrant'': A fisherman tells off a mermaid for trying to entice him to drown with her "silly music" she does a bit of research and [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=119 asks him if he likes Michael Jackson.]]
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100	[[folder:Web Videos]]
101	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPd0tAXDlyI "Why Michael Jackson is the worst band ever......"]] by Magik Mike.
102	* One episode of ''WebVideo/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory'' involves Jackson, both as a kid during his Jackson 5 days and as an adult, rap battling against Music/ElvisPresley.
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105	[[folder:Western Animation]]
106	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstoneKids'' VerySpecialEpisode "Just Say No" features a [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed celebrity expy]] of Jackson named "Michael Jackstone", who performs the titular anti-drug cover of "Beat It".
107	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
108	** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E1StarkRavingDad Stark Raving Dad]]" has Homer meet a mental patient who thinks he's Michael Jackson. He just so happens to be played by the King of Pop himself.
109	** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E4BartSellsHisSoul Bart Sells His Soul]]", aired two years after the first round of child molestation claims, Bart lists Jackson as one of many things that parents make up to scare children.
110	** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E13TheJoyOfSect The Joy Of Sect]]", when [[ChurchOfHappyology the Movementarians]] start taking hold of Springfieldians, [[StartMyOwn Mr. Burns tries to start his own religion]] [[AGodAmI with himself as god]], with a presentation that parodies the music video for "[=HIStory=]". It doesn't go well, with Burns catching on fire before falling off the balcony.
111	* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': "[[Recap/SouthParkS8E6TheJeffersons The Jeffersons]]" revolves around Jackson and his family moving to the titular town, disguising themselves as the eponymous family to avoid public scrutiny. The episode was made a year after the second round of child molestation accusations against Jackson and parodies them by depicting the town being disturbed by his {{manchild}} behavior and his status as a rich Black man, attempting to throw him in jail as a result. Jackson himself is additionally riffed on as neglectful of his son, naïve to the point of accidentally killing Kenny, and rotting alive due to years of plastic surgery.
112	* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In "Mirror Gem", Steven briefly emulates Michael Jackson's {{moonwalk\|Dance}}s and even throws in a "Hee-hee!" as a bit.
113	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow'' features {{Cover Version}}s of "Bad", "Thriller", and "Beat It" in "King Mario of Cramalot", "Count Koopula", and "The Unzappables", respectively, all during plot-important scenes relevant to the songs' lyrics.
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Context ReferencedBy / MichaelJackson