Brooke Shields and Emmanuel Lewis accompanied Michael Jackson to the Grammys at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on February 28, 1984. Watched by over 51 million people, MJ went home with eight of the 12 awards for which he was nominated (and seven-year-old me was absolutely fixated with his shiny blue and gold jacket).

Released 38 years ago today, Michael Jackson’s Thriller has sold 33 million copies in the U.S. — second behind the Eagles’ greatest hits, which has slowly but steadily sold 38 million — and a confirmed 66 million worldwide, topping AC/DC’s Back in Black and Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell by at least 16 million copies each.

Pink Floyd’s The Wall was also released on this day in 1979, eventually selling over 30 million worldwide. But whereas Pink Floyd’s rock opera was, in comparison, your dad’s favorite album, Thriller became almost indisputably the defining pop album of my generation. Not surprisingly both masterpieces hold up against anything released before or since.

But it was his brief acceptance speech for Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist at the American Music Awards a few weeks earlier that was perhaps the first indication something about Michael was a little bit… off.

God rest his soul.