Classic Pop Icons

We celebrate Halloween on Classic Pop Icons by selecting Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” as Song of the Week. “Thriller” was released on single in January 1984 as the seventh and final single from the album of the same name, which had been released 14 months before.

Supernatural themes are usually reserved for novelty songs, but despite the horror sound effects and Vincent Price narration, “Thriller” is elevated above novelty status by the quality of the composition and the performances of all concerned. It’s strengths are the hugely catchy melody, the funky bass line, the great horn work, and one of Jackson’s best pop vocals, delivered at a time when he could do no wrong.

“Thriller” was produced by Quincy Jones, who had previously worked with Michael Jackson on the movie “Wiz” and the album “Off The Wall.” In an interview with the Archive of American Television in 2002, Quincy Jones said:

The Vincent Price narration was recorded in two takes and came about because Quincy Jones’ wife, Peggy Lipton, knew the actor. When the song and video later become monster hits, Price would reportedly complain about the relatively modest one-off fee that he had received for his work.

By the time “Thriller” was released on single in January 1984, the album that shared its name had already sold around 20 million copies and attracted the kind of plaudits that the ambitious Jackson craved. One month later, Jackson picked up a record breaking eight Grammy Awards for the album, including album of the year which he had been disappointed to miss out on with “Off The Wall” several years before. By the end of 1984, Jackson had also won eight American Music Awards and three MTV Video Music Awards. The album spent a total of 80 consecutive weeks in the Top Ten of the Billboard album chart, including 37 weeks at number one.

Such was Michael Jackson’s popularity in this period that Billboard Magazine devoted an entire issue to the star. This was a real lovefest, with friends and business associates queuing up to sing Jackson’s praises and promote their own involvement in his success. With hindsight, the issue makes for sobering reading as no one seemed to be in any doubt that Jackson’s star was set to rise further and that the future would be bright. In reality, although the remainder of the decade was kind to Jackson and there were some real artistic and commercial highs, he never shone quite as brightly again after the “Thriller” period.

“Thriller” – The Video

The decision to release “Thriller” on single with a video was prompted by the desire to give the “Thriller” album a promotional boost after its four month spell at the top of the Billboard album chart came to an end in June 1983. The decision was a good one, with sales of the album doubling in the months after the video was released.

John Landis directed the video for “Thriller,” but this was no ordinary video. The director, fresh from the success of the movie “An American Werewolf in London,” proposed a 14-minute short, but initially met with resistance because of budgetary constraints. This was resolved when producer George Folsey Jr came up with the idea of also shooting a “Making of Michael Jackson’s Thriller” film to accompany the video. The rights to show the 45-minute film were sold to MTV and Showtime for a combined $500,000 and this was used to finance the extended music video.

The 14-minute “Thriller” video debuted on MTV on December 2, 1983 and it became a worldwide sensation and arguably the most popular music video of all time. The “Making of Michael Jackson’s Thriller” film aired six times on Showtime in February, 1984 and the home video had sold one million copies within a few months.

The iconic red leather jacket worn by Jackson in the video sold at auction earlier this year for $1.8 million.

In December 2009, “Thriller” was the first ever music video to be selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

Authorship

“Thriller” was written by Rod Temperton. In 2007, he told the Daily Telegraph newspaper that he had originally titled the song “Starlight”:

Recording date/location

“Thriller” was recorded over an eight-week period in 1982 at Westlake Recording Studios on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, California.

Musicians

The following musicians appeared on “Thriller”:

• Michael Jackson – lead and background vocals
• Vincent Price – narration
• Greg Phillinganes, Rod Temperton and Brian Banks – synthesisers
• Anthony Marinelli – synthesiser programming
• David Williams – guitar
• Jerry Hey, Gary Grant – trumpets, flugelhorns
• Larry Williams – saxophone, flute
• Bill Reichenbach – trombone.

Temperton was responsible for the vocal, rhythm and synthesiser arrangements, and Jerry Hey arranged the horns.

The sound effects were by Bruce Cannon and Bruce Swedien. Swedien also engineered the sessions.

Greg Phillinganes would go on to be the musical director for Jackson’s “Bad” and “Dangerous” tours, and also has this function on the new Cirque du Soleil’s “Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour.”

Chart performance

“Thriller” peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, which was impressive given the millions who already owned the song on the album.

The single was also a top five hit around the world, including number ones in Spain, France and Belgium. It reached number 10 in the UK.

There will be a new Song of the Week on November 7.

A 25th anniversary edition of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was released in 2008, featuring the original album remastered, bonus tracks, and a DVD containing the three videos from the album. The “Thriller” music video is also on the excellent three-DVD box set “Michael Jackson – Vision.”

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Michael Jackson – Thriller 25th Anniversary Edition (CD/DVD)	Buy Now	Buy Now	Buy Now
Michael Jackson – Vision (3 DVDs)	Buy Now	Buy Now	Buy Now