Michael Jackson’s Thriller Video Was Re-imagined in India – Then Japan Remade The Remake – Then A Remix – An Uncanny Cascade of Undead Events

First there was the Thriller Video by Michael Jackson. You know it. You love it. It was a big hit on MTV when it first came out in 1984.

The dance routine in the original video is sublime and the most famous part of the video. Countless recreations have occurred in professional stage shows, school performances, Rocky Horror Picture Show local cast pre-shows, and so on.

A movie director in India decided to make a knock-off tribute called “Goli Maar” the next year. It was part of a movie called Donga

There are a number of crude uploads to YouTube, None of them are in great shape. The audio quality is always crap. The song does not appear to be available for digital download on Amazon. I wish the original recording would resurface so we can get a proper remaster. I consider it a cult-classic.

This versions is not too bad but they over saturated the colors.

Then a dance group in Japan remade the video (but not the song) in 2009.

Wait there’s more! Somebody did a remix/mashup in 2015. Somehow the video quality is best in this version.

Have a happy Halloween and do share this little story with your favorite wacky Halloween lover.

“Go Go Mario” by Hiroko Taniyama as Princess Peach

I can’t think of a better track to celebrate National Video Game Day. The story behind this track is pretty interesting.

It’s hard to track down the original recording of this song because it’s been redone a number of times and the original was released only in Japan.

In 1986, a Japanese talk show called All Night Nippon held a contest that asked fans to mail-in their own lyrics written to the tune of the Super Mario theme song. A winner was selected and singer Hiroko Taniyama is thought to have recorded the vocals but the performance was credited to Princess Peach, a character in the game.

The single was then produced and released on 7inch vinyl and cassette. The original title was “Mario No Daibouken: or “Mario’s Big Adventure”.

courtesy of discogs

The single made it to the top 40 in Japan and was re-recorded in other languages as well but it never quite made it to the English-speaking world.