Thriller (album)

Thriller was the second Michael Jackson album produced by Quincy Jones.

Jackson reunited with Off the Wall producer Quincy Jones to record his sixth studio album, his second under the Epic label. They worked together on 30 songs, nine of which were included on the album.[16] Thriller was recorded at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California, with a production budget of $750,000 (US$2,274,310.34 in 2022 dollars[17]). The recording commenced on April 14, 1982, at noon with Jackson and Paul McCartney recording "The Girl Is Mine"; it was completed on the final day of mixing, November 8, 1982.[18] Several members of the band Toto were involved in the album's recording and production.[16] Jackson wrote four songs for the record: "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", "The Girl Is Mine", "Beat It" and "Billie Jean".[19] Unlike many artists, Jackson did not write these songs on paper. Instead, he dictated into a sound recorder; when recording he would sing from memory.[20][21]

The relationship between Jackson and Jones became strained during the recording. Jackson spent much of his time rehearsing dance steps alone.[21] When the album was completed, both Jones and Jackson were unhappy with the result and remixed every song, spending a week on each.[21]

"Beat It" features guitar work from Eddie Van Halen.

"Billie Jean" was so personal to Jackson, who struggled with obsessed fans. Jones wanted to shorten the long introduction, but Jackson insisted that it remain because it made him want to dance.[19] The ongoing backlash against disco made it necessary to move in a different musical direction from the disco-heavy Off the Wall.[22] Jones and Jackson were determined to make a rock song that would appeal to all tastes and spent weeks looking for a suitable guitarist for the song "Beat It". Eventually, they found Steve Lukather of Toto to play the rhythm guitar parts and Eddie Van Halen of the rock band Van Halen to play the solo.[19][21]

When Rod Temperton wrote the song "Thriller", he wanted to call it "Starlight" or "Midnight Man", but settled on "Thriller" because he felt the name had merchandising potential.[21] Wanting a notable person to recite the closing lyrics, Jones brought in actor Vincent Price, an acquaintance of Jones' wife; Price completed his part in two takes. Temperton wrote the spoken portion in a taxi on the way to the recording studio. Jones and Temperton said that some recordings were left off the album because they did not have the "edginess" of other album tracks.[19] A cover of "Behind the Mask", originally by the Japanese band Yellow Magic Orchestra, was omitted when the parties could not agree on royalties.[23]

Thriller explores genres including post-disco,[24][25] funk,[25][26] pop,[25] and rock.[25] According to Steve Huey of AllMusic, it refined the strengths of Off the Wall; the dance and rock tracks are more aggressive, while the pop tunes and ballads are softer and more soulful.[27] The album includes the ballads "Human Nature", "The Girl Is Mine" and "The Lady in My Life". The funk tracks "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Something'", and the disco songs "Baby Be Mine" and "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)".[28][26][27][29]

"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" climaxes in an African-inspired chant (often misidentified as Swahili, but actually syllables based on Duala),[30] giving the song an international flavor.[31] "The Girl Is Mine" tells of two friends' fight over a woman, arguing over who loves her more, and concludes with a rap.[21][31] The album's songs have a tempo ranging from 80 beats per minute on "The Girl is Mine", to 138 on "Beat It".[32]

Thriller foreshadows the contradictory themes of Jackson's later works.[33] With Thriller, Jackson began using a motif of paranoia and darker themes including supernatural imagery in the title track.[28] This is evident on the songs "Billie Jean", "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and "Thriller".[26] In "Billie Jean", Jackson sings about an obsessive fan who alleges he fathered her child; in "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" he argues against media gossip.[28][27] For "Billie Jean", Jones had Jackson sing overdubs through a six-foot (180 cm) cardboard tube and brought in jazz saxophonist Tom Scott to play the lyricon, a wind-controlled synthesizer. Bassist Louis Johnson ran through his part on a Yamaha bass guitar. The song opens with a long bass-and-drums introduction.[34] "Thriller" includes sound effects such as creaking doors, thunder, footsteps, wind, and howling dogs.[21]

The anti-gang-violence "Beat It" became an homage to West Side Story and was Jackson's first successful rock cross-over piece.[27][35] Jackson later said of "Beat It", "the point is no one has to be the tough guy, you can walk away from a fight and still be a man. You don't have to die to prove you're a man".[31] "Human Nature", co-written by Steve Porcaro of the band Toto,[36] is moody and introspective, as conveyed in lyrics such as, "Looking out, across the morning, the City's heart begins to beat, reaching out, I touch her shoulder, I'm dreaming of the street".[31]

By the late 1970s, Jackson's abilities as a vocalist were well regarded; AllMusic described him as a "blindingly gifted vocalist".[10] Rolling Stone critic Stephen Holden likened his vocals to the "breathless, dreamy stutter" of Stevie Wonder, and wrote that "Jackson's feathery-timbred tenor is extraordinarily beautiful. It slides smoothly into a startling falsetto that's used very daringly."[9] With the release of Thriller, Jackson could sing low—down to a basso low C—but he preferred to sing higher because pop tenors have more range to create style.[37] Rolling Stone critic Christopher Connelly wrote that Jackson was now singing in a "fully adult voice" that was "tinged by sadness".[28]

"P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)", credited to James Ingram and Quincy Jones, and "The Lady in My Life" by Rod Temperton, gave the album a stronger R&B direction; the latter song was described as "the closest Jackson has come to crooning a sexy, soulful ballad after his Motown years" by J. Randy Taraborrelli.[31] Jackson had already adopted a "vocal hiccup" (first used in 1973 on "It's Too Late to Change the Time"[38]), which he continued to implement in Thriller. The purpose of the hiccup—somewhat like a gulping for air or gasping—is to evoke emotion, be it excitement, sadness, or fear.[39]

The cover for Thriller features Jackson in a white suit that belonged to photographer Dick Zimmerman. The gatefold sleeve reveals a tiger cub at Jackson's leg, which, according to Zimmerman, Jackson kept away from his face, fearing he would be scratched.[40] Another picture from the shoot, with Jackson embracing the cub, was used for the 2001 special edition of Thriller.[41]

Seven singles were released from Thriller. The first, "The Girl Is Mine", was criticized as a poor choice; critics predicted that the album would disappoint and suggested that Jackson was bowing to a white audience.[31] "The Girl Is Mine" topped the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart, reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number 1 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart.[62]

"Billie Jean" was released on January 2, 1983.[63] It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it remained for seven weeks. It also topped the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart within three weeks, and it remained at number 1 for nine weeks. Billboard ranked it as the No. 2 song for 1983.[64] It topped the charts in 9 countries and reached the top 10 in many others. "Billie Jean" was one of the best-selling singles of 1983, helping Thriller become the best-selling album of all time. It also became Jackson's best-selling solo single. "Billie Jean" was described as a pioneer of "sleek, post-soul pop music" and also the beginning of a more paranoid lyrical style for Jackson, a trademark of his later music.[34]

The third single, "Beat It",[65] also reached number one on the Black Singles chart.[63] Billboard ranked it number five for 1983. "Beat It" reached number one in Spain and the Netherlands.[63] "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" was Jackson's fourth consecutive top-ten single from Thriller on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 5.[66] "Human Nature" reached number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 2 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.[66] "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" charted at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.[66]

"Thriller", the final single, was released on November 2, 1983.[67] It was not initially planned for release, as Epic saw it as a novelty song;[68] according to executive Walter Yetnikoff, "Who wants a single about monsters?"[69] By mid-1983, when sales of Thriller began to decline, Jackson convinced Epic to release "Thriller", backed by a new music video.[69][70] It reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and number three on the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart.[66]

The "Billie Jean" music video debuted on March 10, 1983, on MTV.[71] It brought MTV—until then a fairly new and unknown music channel—to mainstream attention. It was one of the first videos by a black artist to be aired regularly by the channel, as the network's executives felt black music was not "rock" enough.[72] Directed by Steve Barron, the video shows a photographer who follows Jackson. The paparazzo never catches him, and when photographed Jackson fails to materialize on the developed picture. He dances to Billie Jean's hotel room and as he walks along a sidewalk, each tile lights up at his touch.[72][73]

The "Beat It" music video had its premiere on MTV during primetime on March 31, 1983.[74] To add authenticity to the production but also to foster peace between them, Jackson had the idea to cast members of rival Los Angeles street gangs the Crips and the Bloods,[75] and included around 80 genuine gang members.[76] Its plot is Jackson bringing two gangsters together through the power of music and dance. It is also notable for its "mass choreography" of synchronized dancers, which would become the hallmark of Jackson's music videos.[77]

The "Thriller" music video premiered on MTV on December 2, 1983.[78] In the video, Jackson and his girlfriend (played by Ola Ray) are confronted by zombies while walking home from a movie theater; Jackson becomes a zombie and performs a dance routine with a horde of the undead.[69] It was named the greatest video of all time by MTV in 1999[79] and by VH1[80] and Time in 2001.[81] In 2009, it became the first music video to be selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.[82] The Library described it as "the most famous music video of all time".[83]

Jackson (center) with US President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan at the White House in 1984

Following the release of Thriller, Jackson's immediate success led to him having a standing of cultural significance that was not attained by a Black-American before him in the history of the entertainment industry.[99] Blender described Jackson as the "late 20th century's preeminent pop icon", while The New York Times gave the opinion that he was a "musical phenomenon" and that "in the world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson and there is everybody else".[34][100] Richard Corliss of Time hailed Thriller as "the greatest pop album of all time".[101] Jackson changed the way the industry functioned: both as an artistic persona and as a financial, profitable entity. His attorney John Branca observed that Jackson achieved the highest royalty rate in the music industry to that point: approximately $2 (US$5.63 in 2022 dollars[17]) for each album sold.

As a result, Jackson earned record-breaking profits from compact disc sales and from the sale of copies of the documentary, The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller, produced by Jackson and John Landis. Funded by MTV, the film sold over 350,000 copies in its first few months. In a market then driven by singles, Thriller raised the significance of albums, yet its multiple hit singles changed preconceived notions as to the number of successful singles that could be taken from an individual album.[27] The era saw the arrival of novelties like the Michael Jackson doll, that appeared in stores in May 1984 at a price of $12 (US$34 in 2022 dollars[17]).[37] Thriller retains a position in American culture; biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli explains, "At some point, Thriller stopped selling like a leisure item—like a magazine, a toy, tickets to a hit movie—and started selling like a household staple".[102]

Thriller was released at around the peak of the album era, which had positioned full-length records ahead of singles as the dominant form of recorded-music consumption and artistic expression in the industry. The success of Thriller's singles, however, marked a brief resurgence in the sales of the format.[103] At the time of the album's release, a press statement from Gil Friesen, the then President of A&M Records, read that, "The whole industry has a stake in this success".[37] Time magazine speculated that "the fallout from Thriller has given the [music] business its best years since the heady days of 1978, when it had an estimated total domestic revenue of $4.1 billion".[37] Time summed up Thriller's impact as a "restoration of confidence" for an industry bordering on "the ruins of punk and the chic regions of synthesizer pop". The publication described Jackson's influence at that point as, "Star of records, radio, rock video. A one-man rescue team for the music business. A songwriter who sets the beat for a decade. A dancer with the fanciest feet on the street. A singer who cuts across all boundaries of taste and style and color too".[37]

When Thriller and "Billie Jean" were searching to reach their market demographic, MTV and cable TV had a smaller market share than the much larger reach of broadcast television stations in the United States. A national broadcast TV audience on ABC, NBC and CBS affiliate stations, as well as major independent TV stations, was desired by CBS/Epic Records to promote Thriller. The national broadcast TV premiere of the Thriller album's first video, "Billie Jean", was during the week of Halloween in October 1984 and was the idea of Video Concert Hall executive producers Charles Henderson and Jerry Crowe.[105][106] Video Concert Hall, the first nationwide music video TV network, taped the one-hour special in Hollywood and Atlanta, where the TV studios of Video Concert Hall were located.[107][108][109][110] The Thriller TV special was hosted by Thriller video co-star Vincent Price, distributed by Henderson-Crowe Syndications, Inc. and aired in the top 20 TV markets and much of the United States, including TV stations WNEW (New York), WFLD (Chicago), KTTV (Los Angeles), WPLG (Miami), WQTV (Boston) and WXIA (Atlanta), for a total of 150 TV stations.[105][106]

Thriller had a pioneering impact on black-music genres and crossover. According to ethnomusicologist Miles White, the album completely defined the "sound of post-disco contemporary R&B" and "updated the crossover aesthetic that had been the holy grail of black popular music since Louis Jordan in the 1940s". Noting its unprecedented dominance of mainstream pop music by an African-American artist, White goes on to write that "the record's song selection and sound aesthetics played to soul and pop sensibilities alike, appealing to a broad audience and selling across lines of race, gender, class and generation", while demonstrating Jackson's emergence from Motown as "the king of pop-soul crossover".[111] Entertainment Weekly writer Simon Vozick-Levinson has considered it "the greatest pop-soul album",[112] Included in their list of The 40 Most Groundbreaking Albums of All Time, Rolling Stone wrote, "It's hard to imagine the present-day musical landscape without Thriller, which changed the game both sonically and marketwise. The album's nervy, outsized blend of pop, rock and soul would send seismic waves throughout radio, inviting both marquee crossovers (like Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo on "Beat It") and sneakier attempts at genre-meshing. The album's splashy, cinematic videos — from the John Landis-directed short film that promoted "Thriller" to the West Side Story homage accompanying "Beat It" — legitimized the still-nascent form and forced MTV to incorporate black artists into its playlists. Its promotional strategy, which led to seven of its nine tracks being released as singles, raised the bar for what, exactly, constituted a "hit-laden" LP. Beyond breaking ground, it broke records, showing just how far pop could reach: the biggest selling album of all time, the first album to win eight Grammys in a single night and the first album to stay in the Top 10 charts for a year."[113]

Epic Records also reflected on the importance of the album: "More than just an album, Thriller has remained a global cultural multi-media phenomenon for both the 20th and the 21st centuries, smashing musical barriers and changing the frontiers of pop forever. The music on Thriller is so dynamic and singular that it defied any definition of rock, pop or soul that had gone before."[114]

From the moment Thriller was released, it set the standard for the music industry: artists, record labels, producers, marketers and even choreographers. The music video was ahead of its time and it is considered a monumental one—not only in Jackson's career, but also in the history of pop music. Epic Records' approach to creating a song and video that would appeal to the mass market ended up influencing the way that professionals now market and release their songs.[115] John Landis' production of a mini-movie, rather than the usual short music video, would raise the bar for other directors and producers.[116]

Thriller's music videos and singles—including the Paul McCartney duet "The Girl Is Mine"—are credited with helping promote racial equality in the United States.

Before the success of Thriller, many felt Jackson had struggled to get MTV airtime due to being black.[34] CBS Records president Walter Yetnikoff told MTV: "I'm not going to give you any more videos and I'm going to go public and fucking tell them about the fact you don't want to play music by a black guy."[34] Yetnikoff persuaded MTV to begin airing "Billie Jean" and "Beat It", which led to a long partnership and helped other black artists to gain mainstream recognition.[117] MTV denies claims of racism in their broadcasting.[118]

The popularity of Jackson's videos, such as "Beat It" and "Billie Jean", helped popularize MTV, and its focus shifted towards pop and R&B.[117][119] Jackson transformed the medium of music video into an artform and promotional tool through the use of complex storylines, dance routines, special effects, and celebrity cameos.[27]

When the 14-minute-long "Thriller" video aired, MTV ran it twice an hour to meet demand.[120] The video marked an increase in scale for music videos and has been routinely named the best music video ever.[27] The video is credited for transforming music videos into a serious artform, breaking down racial barriers in popular entertainment, and popularizing the making-of documentary format.[121] Many elements have had a lasting impact on popular culture such as the zombie dance and Jackson's red jacket designed by Landis's wife Deborah Nadoolman.[121]

Author, music critic and journalist Nelson George wrote in 2004, "It's difficult to hear the songs from Thriller and disengage them from the videos. For most of us the images define the songs. In fact it could be argued that Michael is the first artist of the MTV age to have an entire album so intimately connected in the public imagination with its imagery".[122] Short films like Thriller largely remained unique to Jackson, while the group dance sequence in "Beat It" has been frequently imitated.[19] The choreography in Thriller has become a part of global pop culture, replicated everywhere from Bollywood to prisons in the Philippines.[123][124]

Jackson's success as a black artist was unprecedented. Time wrote in 1984: "Jackson is the biggest thing since the Beatles. He is the hottest single phenomenon since Elvis Presley. He just may be the most popular black singer ever."[37] According to The Washington Post, Thriller paved the way for other African-American artists to achieve mainstream recognition, such as Prince.[125] Christgau credited "The Girl Is Mine" for giving radio exposure to the idea of interracial love.[85]

Thriller has continued to receive critical acclaim. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that it had something to interest everyone. He believed it showcased harder funk and hard rock while remaining "undeniably fun", and wrote that "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", was "the freshest funk on the album [but] the most claustrophobic, scariest track Jackson ever recorded." Erlewine felt it was an improvement on Jackson's previous album, although he was critical of the title track, describing it as "ridiculous" and "sucked out the momentum" of the record.[26] In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Jon Pareles wrote that Jackson had "doubled his ambitions and multiplied his audience ... Thriller had extra musical help in becoming the best-selling non compilation album of all time: Jackson's dancing feet and dazzling stage presence, amplified by the newfound promotional reach of music video and the Reagan era's embrace of glossy celebrity. But especially in the album's seven hit singles (out of nine songs), the music stands on its own."[90] Culture critic Nelson George wrote that Jackson "has educated R. Kelly, Usher, Justin Timberlake and countless others with Thriller as a textbook".[126]

In 1992, Thriller was awarded the Special Billboard Award to commemorate its 10th anniversary.[127] In 2000, it was voted number 64 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums. It was also ranked number 2 in the Soul/R&B – All Time Top 50 albums. The book states; it is the finest example of perfect disco pop, and a record that should be prescribed to musical snobs and manic depressives.[128] At the 2002 Billboard Music Awards, as a sign of the album's longevity, Thriller was awarded a second Special Billboard Award as a recognition for spending more weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 than any other album in history.[129] In 2003, it was ranked at number 20 on the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, maintaining the ranking in a 2012 revised list — it's the highest ranked pop album on both lists.[130] In a 2020 updated list by Rolling Stone, Thriller was ranked number 12.[131] It was ranked by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM), in conjunction with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, at number three on its list of the Definitive 200 Albums of All Time.[132][133] "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" were both included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.[134] In 2006, Time included Thriller in its list of the All-TIME 100 Albums.[135] In 2008, 25 years after its release, the record was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and, a few weeks later, was among 25 recordings preserved by the Library of Congress to the National Recording Registry as "culturally significant".[136][137] In 2009, music critics for MTV Base and VH1 both listed Thriller as the best album released since 1981.[138] Thriller, along with other critic favorites, were then polled by the public. 40,000 people found Thriller to be the Best Album of all time by MTV Generation, gaining a third of all votes.[138][139] Thriller was ranked third on the Greatest of All Time Billboard 200 Albums.[140] Billboard also ranked the album fourth on its list of All 92 Diamond-Certified Albums Ranked from Worst to Best: Critic's Take.[141] In 2018, The Independent named Thriller the "most inspiring album of all time".[142]