The following is adapted from my book, Michael Jackson, Inc.: The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of a Billion-Dollar Empire, on the occasion of Halloween.

As 1983 wore on—and Michael Jackson’s Thriller continued to fly off shelves en route to becoming the bestselling album of all-time—his team decided to take a then-unusual step: creating a third music video from the LP. The title track seemed a good target.

“It’s simple,” Jackson’s longtime manager Frank Dileo told him. “All you’ve got to do is dance, ...