Thriller

1983

Michael Jackson

The artist who performed this one needs absolutely no introduction what so ever. Michael Jackson conspired ('Conspired' seems to be the perfect word to use RE: to creation of this song...MWA-hahahahah ;) ) with Songwriter Rod Temperton, well known producer Quincy Jones, and Epic Records to create this mid-80s classic that, by the way, was not written specifically as a Halloween song. It's actually considered a Funk/Disco record, and charted on the Dance charts well before it charted on The Hot 100...but I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Also...Thriller wasn't even originally called 'Thriller...the original name was 'Starlight'.

The now iconic title came about when producer Quincy Jones approached Temperton during the writing process and told him he needed a title for the album that the song was going to be included on...after all, he'd come up with a name for the last album...

So Temperton did what all of us would have probably done in a similar situation (I mean, powerful, influential Music Industry moguls are always consulting me for advice, lol). He sat down with several sheets of paper, wrote down a few dozen possibilities, spoke them out loud to see how they sounded, got frustrated, said a couple of choice phrases, and decided to sleep on it. Sleeping On It can be a good thing, because the next morning he woke up with a single word on his mind. He said, in fact, that he could see this word at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. And the Album became Thriller...and the song he was composing became the title track (And the lyrics had to be changed a bit, a task he apparently did a pretty decent job with.)

Know the eerie spoken rap at the end of the song (And that eerie, evil laugh)? That's none other than the legendary horror movie mega-star Vincent Price, who was friends with Quincy Jones and his wife. Temperton wanted a scary spoken rap at the end of the song, and wanted a 'Famous Voice' to record it, so Quicy Jones probably said something like 'How About Vincent Price.' Far as we know, Jones asked the Horror legend if he'd do it while both of 'em were pigging out on burgers at a back-yard cook-out .

Recording a voice-over for a song is said to be one of the most difficult things to do in the recording industry...but Price got it in only two takes, and was described as being Uber professional (Not surprising, given his vast experience in the entertainment industry.

Another interesting little factoid about that...one that The Horror Guru himself confirmed on an appearance on The Tonight Show, back when it was still Johnny Carson's gig. Quincy Jones gave Price the choice of either a cut of the album's profits, or a flat $20,000 to do the rap. He chose the flat Twenty Gs...a decision that cost him several million dollars, a fact that Carson reminded him of. Price simply, and good naturedly, noted 'How Well I Know!'

Know how Michael Jacksons voice has an even more unique...downright eerie...quality in 'Thriller'? That was because he was recorded as many as three different times on each section of the song, using different tricks each time.

It was recorded, along with the rest of the album's tracks, over the course of eight weeks at Westlake Recording Studios in L.A. and released as a single on January 23, 1984. Thriller debuted on the Hot 100 at # 20 a week later, entering the Top 10 a week after that and peaked at #4 on the third of March. Of course, before it was even officially released, it grabbed the top spot on the Billboard Dance/Club Play chart, and it's been certified Platinum several times over. And also before ti was released as a single it became...

...A music video. No...Make that <<<A Music Video!!!>>>, starring The King Of Pop as well as former Playboy Model Ola Ray. 

 

The Video became an epic legend in and of itself, and at 13 minutes and change long, is actually about eight to ten minutes longer than the song, depending on which version you're listening to. The video for Thriller was actually a short film with a plot and viable story-line, and was conceived of well before Thriller was released as a single. That conception came about for a very simple reason...the sales of the album were beginning to bottom out, a situation that The King of Pop was not happy with. To the point of calling his manager and asking him 'What are we gonna do about it?

They did something that had never been done before...Made a video that'd actually be a mini-movie, and get a movie director, and a well known one at that, to direct it. John Landis directed, and he was contacted personally by Michael Jackson. Now this was unheard of thirty years ago...movie directors did not direct music videos....but Jackson told Landis his concept fot the video, and Landis became more intrigued the longer he listened, and finally said the magic words that caused Video Magic to happen...'I'll Do It'.

One of the hardest parts of making the video was the choreography...to quote Michael Jackson 'How do you make a zombie dance without it coming off as comedy???' So he worked with the dancers and choreographer Michael Peters and worked it out, creating the now legendary Zombie Dance scene.

The principal photography for the video was all done in October 1983, in various LA locations. The Zombie Dance scene? That was done at Union Pacific Avenue and South Calzona Street in East L.A. The theater?...The Palace Theater in Downtown L.A. and the house in the final scene was at 1345 Carrol Ave in L.A.'s Angeleno Heights neighborhood.

Michael Jackson's Thriller was released on December 2, 1983, becoming MTV's first World Premiere video as well as an instant runaway hit. It also did exactly what Jackson hoped it would do by breathing new life into sales of 'the album...and doing it just as the Christmas shopping season kicked in at that.

MTV snagged the broadcast rights for the video (To the tune of 250 Grand), Showtime the pay-TV rights (they paid 300 Gs) and Vestron Music put down a cool half million to market the VCR tape. We had just gotten Cable when this came out, and I remember the video being in constant rotation on MTV (Remember when they used to actually play videos???) and the documentary airing a couple of times a day. It's still as impressive to watch today as it was then, BTW. 

 

The video pretty much cleaned house at the first MTV Video Music Awards, on September 14^th of '84, bringing home The Moon Man for Best Overall Performance In A Video, Best Choreography, and Viewer;'s Choice. It also snagged a Grammy in '84 for best Long Form Video. Oh...and in 2009 it became the first music video to be added to The Library of Congress.

Of course if you listen to the lyrics, you realize that the song's actually about one of the oldest tricks in the book...a guy trying to talk his girl into watching a horror movie with him in order to inspire her to cuddle closer to him for protection...but the video took it in a slightly different direction that made it into the classic that it is.

And the song? This is another one that The Oldies Stations pull out of mothballs during October every year .(Part of me refuses, BTW, to acknowledge that a song released eight years after I graduated from high school can be considered an 'Oldie ;) ) Unlike several of Michael Jackson's hits, such as 'Billie Jean' or 'Beat It' you seldom hear 'Thriller' except at Halloween. And for being a song not written with the Spookiest of Holidays in mind, the song and the video are just about perfect for it!

So Enjoy...Thriller by Michael Jackson

And (YA knew I'd include this!) The Video...Michael Jackson's Thriller

A couple of little factoids about Thriller. When you see the video, note the Disclaimer at the beginning stating that the video was not about The Occult. Michael Jackson was a Jehovah's Witness when the video was released and he added the disclaimer to appease his fellow Witnesses. Unfortunately it didn't work, and the video created a lot of controversy among that group a fact that bothered Jackson right up to his death, and was one of severla fctors that lead to him cutting ties with the church some time later.. 
 

That jacket that Jackson was wearing in the video? It was sold at auction not too long ago for 1.8 million. 
 

Quincy Jones absolutely refused to release the master tapes of the song to John Landis so he could edit it for the video. So Landis and Jackson did what any enterprising pair of Entertainment IndustryA-listers would have done...they swiped a scene straight out of pretty much every comedy ever made. 

The two of them went to the recording studio at the severely 0-Dark-Hundred hour of 3AM or so, and walked right in. The guard, of course, recognized Michael Jackson, assumed that he had legitimate business there, shot the bull with him for a second, and let him in. Jackson and Landis found the masters, loaded them in a suitcase, and walked out with them...again, right past the guard. Then they drove cross town to Landis's base of operations, quickly duped the tapes, took them back, and repeated the process. No one was the wiser for years, long after any hard feelings could have resulted (And, me thinks, after the California Penal Code's Statute of Limitations on Breaking and Entering had expired!)