Well, if Quincy Jones, Eddie Van Halen & Vincent Price (among others) weren't involved...

yeah

What if the members of Toto never formed a group?

Never heard of them

Thriller the album or thriller the song? The album probably would have still been one of the biggest albums of all time, although maybe not #1.

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The song, on the other hand, probably would not have reached the heights it did without the music video. I, along with millions of others, sat glued to the TV the night it debuted. It was a theatrical music experience that people talked about for a long time thereafter. I was only a child at the time, but I still remember it. Here we are 40-years later and it's still widely regarded as one of the, if not the, greatest music videos of all time.

Cross reference the personnel of Toto with the credits for Thriller then have a listen to the commercial hits Hold The Line, Rosanna and Africa to start. Enjoy!

The video premiere was a huge thing. I remember trying to stay up to watch it, but I fell asleep. 🤣 I was only 6.

The album would still be memorable consider the status in the Billboards and the top best-selling. The music videos are only the cherry on top. But, without them, it'd still be a classic album.

It was the first video to be treated like a movie. John Landis directed it and iirc, the budget was over $1 million, which was insane for the time.

No. It still would have been huge but Mike‘s videos became not only a staple in his career but became an art form he would use to expand on his music. Like I said Thriller still would have been huge and have lots of praise. Thriller itself was very much ahead of its time and didn’t sound like anything else at that time. The songs themselves are legendary and with that amazing Quincy Jones touch. But the music videos brought the album to a new level that hadn’t even existed prior and influenced pop culture overall.