Thriller (song)

"Thriller"
Song
B-side	"Things I Do for You" (live) (UK) / "Can't Get Outta the Rain"

"Thriller" is a song by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It is the seventh and final single from his sixth studio album Thriller. It was released on January 23, 1984 by Epic Records. The song has appeared on multiple greatest hits compilation albums from Jackson, including HIStory (1995) and This Is It (2009). It was written by Rod Temperton and produced by Quincy Jones. The song, which has a voice-over rap from actor Vincent Price, had originally been titled "Starlight".

Musically "Thriller" is a dance; the song's instruments include a bassline and synthesizer. In the song, sound effects such as a creaking door, thunder, feet walking on wooden planks, winds and howling dogs can be heard, and the lyrics contain frightening themes and elements. "Thriller" received positive reviews from critics, though the song was outshone by its music video. "Thriller" became Jackson's seventh top-ten single on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart from the album, while reaching the top of the charts in France and Belgium and the top ten in other countries.

"Thriller" was adapted into a highly successful music video, known independently as "Michael Jackson's Thriller". At fourteen minutes the video is substantially longer than the song, which ties together a narrative featuring Jackson and actress Ola Ray in a setting heavily inspired by horror films of the 1950s. In the video's most iconic scene, Jackson leads other actors costumed as zombies in a choreographed dance routine. Though it garnered some criticism for its occult theme and violent imagery, the video was immediately popular and received high critical acclaim, being nominated for six MTV Video Music Awards in 1984 and winning three. In 2009 it was added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, the first music video ever selected.

Background

"Thriller" was written by Rod Temperton and produced by Quincy Jones. "Thriller" was originally titled "Starlight", contrary to other reports of the title "Starlight Love". While the song was titled "Starlight", the song's hook lyrics were "Starlight! Starlight sun...", but after the song was changed to "Thriller" the hook was rewritten to "Thriller! In the night...". Temperton commented,

Originally, when I did my Thriller demo, I called it Starlight. Quincy said to me, 'You managed to come up with a title for the last album, see what you can do for this album.' I said, 'Oh great,' so I went back to the hotel, wrote two or three hundred titles, and came up with the title 'Midnight Man'. The next morning, I woke up, and I just said this word... Something in my head just said, this is the title. You could visualise it on the top of the Billboard charts. You could see the merchandising for this one word, how it jumped off the page as 'Thriller'.

While Temperton was writing "Thriller" he stated that he'd "always envisioned" a "talking section at the end" on the song, but did not really know what "to do with it", until deciding "to have somebody, a famous voice, in the horror genre, to do this vocal." Jones' wife, Peggy Lipton, who knew Vincent Price, suggested Price for the vocal part, which Price agreed to do.

Recording

Quincy Jones co-produced "Thriller".

"Thriller", along with other songs from Thriller, was recorded by Jackson over the course of eight weeks, in 1982. Jackson recorded the song at Westlake Recording Studios on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. Bruce Swedien, the songs engineer, said of the song being recorded,

When we started 'Thriller', the first day at Westlake, we were all there and Quincy [Jones, the producer] walked in followed by me and Michael and Rod Temperton and some of the other people. Quincy turned to us and he said, 'OK guys, we're here to save the recording industry.' Now that's a pretty big responsibility - but he meant it. And that's why those albums, and especially 'Thriller', sound so incredible. The basic thing is, everybody who was involved gave 150 per cent … Quincy's like a director of a movie and I'm like a director of photography, and it's Quincy's job to cast [it]. Quincy can find the people and he gives us the inspiration to do what we do.

Swedien and Jones stated that Vincent Price recorded his introduction and voice-over rap for the song in two takes; Jones, acknowledging that doing a voice-over for a song is "difficult", praised Price and described his recording takes as being "fabulous". Swedien said of Jackson recording the song, that, "I tried all sorts of things with Michael - for instance, he would sing the main vocal part and we'd double it one time and then I'd ask him to step away from the mic and do it a third time and that really changed the acoustics in the room so it gave Michael's vocals a unique character … We recorded some of those background vocals in the shower stall at Westlake."

Composition

"Thriller" is a dance song. Set in the key of C♯ minor, its instrumentation consists of synthesizer, guitar, trumpet, flugelhorn, saxophone, flute and trombone. The song has a moderate tempo of 120 beats per minute. The lyrics and sound effects on "Thriller" pertain to frightful elements and themes. Throughout the song, sound effects such as a creaking door, thunder, feet walking on wooden planks, winds and howling dogs can be heard. Bruce Cannon, a sound effects editor for "Thriller", said that, "Things like the lightning may have come from old Hollywood movies - we'll never know which movies - but the best sound-effects editors do go out in the desert and find a coyote, so I have a feeling that was a real howl." The backing track, especially the bassline, has certain similarities to the 1981 number-one R&B hit "Give It to Me Baby" by Rick James.

Critical reception

"Thriller" received positive reviews from contemporary music critics. Ashley Lasimone, of AOL's Spinner.com noted that "Thriller" "became a signature for Jackson" and described "the groove of its bassline, paired with Michael's killer vocals and sleek moves" as having had "produced a frighteningly great single." Jon Pareles, of The New York Times, noted that Thrillers tracks, "Billie Jean", "Beat It", "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and "the movie in the song 'Thriller'", were the songs, unlike the "fluff" "P.Y.T.", that were "the hits that made Thriller a world-beater; along with Mr. Jackson's stage and video presence, listeners must have identified with his willingness to admit terror."

Ann Powers, of the Los Angeles Times, described "Thriller" as being a song that was "adequately groovy" with a "funked-out beat" with lyrics that are "seemingly lifted from some little kid's 'scary storybook'". After Jackson's death, AOL's Radio Blog released a list, entitled "10 Best Michael Jackson Songs", which placed "Thriller" at number-one on the list. In 2009 Melissa Cabrera, of AOL Radio Blogs, listed "Thriller" as being the fourth best song on their "Top 100 '80s Songs" list. Eliot Glazer, AOL's Radio Blogs, placed "Thriller" at number-one on a list entitled "Top 1984 Songs". "Thriller" was also listed at number-two on the "10 Best Halloween Songs" and "10 Best Party Songs" lists by AOLs Radio Blog.

Chart performance

Prior to "Thriller"'s official air-play release, in 1983, it charted and peaked at number-one on Billboard Dance Music/Club Play Singles Chart. Released on January 23, 1984, "Thriller" became Jackson's seventh, and last Billboard Hot 100 top-ten single from his Thriller album. In "Thriller"'s second week release, on the issue date February 11, 1984, the song charted at number-20 on the Billboard Hot 100. After three weeks of release, on the issue date February 18, 1984, "Thriller" entered the top-ten chart, placing at number-seven, moving up 13 positions on the chart from its previous week. The following week, on the issue date March 3, 1984, "Thriller" charted within the top-five, placing at number-four, the song's peak position. The song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on December 4, 1989, for shipping 500,000 units across the United States—the requirement for a gold single after 1989. On December 4, 1989, the song was also certified platinum by the RIAA for shipping 1 million units across the United States; the requirement for a platinum single after 1989.

On the issue date February 25, 1984, "Thriller" charted within the top-twenty on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart at number nineteen. The following week, the song placed at number-five. On the issue date of March 10, 1984, "Thriller" charted at number-three, where it peaked on the chart. "Thriller" charted, and peaked, at number 24 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Chart. "Thriller" debuted on the UK Singles Chart on November 19, 1983 at number 24, and the following week charted—and peaked, at number ten on November 26, 1983; the song appeared on the chart for a total of 25 weeks. Beginning on February 5, 1984, "Thriller" peaked on the French Singles Chart at number-one; the song topped the chart for four consecutive weeks. "Thriller" also topped the Belgian VRT Top 30 Chart for two weeks in January 1984.

Following Jackson's death, his music experienced a surge in popularity. In the week of Jackson's death, "Thriller" was Thriller's and Jackson's best-selling track in the US, with sales of 167,000 copies on the Billboard Hot Digital Singles Chart. On the issue date July 11, 2009, "Thriller" charted and peaked on the Billboard Hot Digital Singles Chart, at number-two; the song remained in the charts' top-ten for three consecutive weeks. In the United Kingdom, the week Jackson died "Thriller" charted at number-23, and the following week, on the issue date July 11, 2009, the song peaked at number-12 on the UK Single Chart. On the issue date July 12, 2009, "Thriller" peaked at number-two on the Italian Singles Chart. "Thriller" peaked at number-three on the Australian ARIA Chart and Swiss Singles Chart and topped the Spanish Singles Charts for one week on the issue date July 12, 2009. The song also placed within the top-ten on the German Singles Chart, Norwegian Singles Chart and Irish Singles Chart, charting at number-nine, seven and eight respectively. "Thriller" also peaked at number-25 on the Danish Singles Chart on the issue date July 10, 2009. In the third week of July "Thriller" peaked at number-11 on the Finnish Singles Chart.

Music video

Main article: Michael Jackson's Thriller

Jackson dancing with the living-dead in the music video for "Thriller".

The music video, directed by John Landis, was filmed in various locations in New York and Los Angeles. Contrary to reports of $800,000 to $1 million dollar production budgets, Landis stated that the music video was made on a $500,000 dollar budget. Jackson said of making the music video, in an interview that aired on December 11, 1999, for MTV's 100 Greatest Videos Ever Made:

My idea was to make this short film with conversation ... in the beginning - I like having a beginning and a middle and an ending, which would follow a story. I'm very much involved in complete making and creating of the piece. It has to be, you know, my soul. Usually, you know, it's an interpretation of the music. [...] It was a delicate thing to work on because I remember my original approach was, 'How do you make zombies and monsters dance without it being comical?' So I said, 'We have to do just the right kind of movement so it doesn't become something that you laugh at.' But it just has to take it to another level. So I got in a room with [choreographer] Michael Peters, and he and I together kind of imagined how these zombies move by making faces in the mirror. I used to come to rehearsal sometimes with monster makeup on, and I loved doing that. So he and I collaborated and we both choreographed the piece and I thought it should start like that kind of thing and go into this jazzy kind of step, you know. Kind of gruesome things like that, not too much ballet or whatever.

Following the release of the music video, a 45 minute documentary was release that provided candid glimpses behind the scenes of the music videos production. Entitled Making Michael Jackson's Thriller, it, like the music video, was shown heavily on MTV for a time and was the top-selling home-video release of all time at one point, with over nine million copies sold. MTV paid $250,000 for the exclusive rights to show the documentary; Showtime paid $300,000 for pay-cable rights; and Vestron Video reportedly paid an additional $500,000 to market the cassette, in "a profit participation."

Concept

Set is the late 1950s, the video opens with a person named Michael. Michael and his unnamed date (Ola Ray) run out of a mist in a dark wooded area. They walk off into the forest, and Michael asks her if she would like to go steady, she accepts and he gives her a ring. He warns her, however, that he is "different". A full moon appears, and Michael begins convulsing in agony, transforming into a werewolf. His date runs away in terror, but the werewolf catches up to her, knocking her down and begins lunging at her with his claws. The scene then cuts to a modern-day movie theater where Michael and his date, along with a repulsed audience, are actually watching the scene unfold in a movie called Thriller. Michael's date leaves the theater as Michael hands his popcorn to a stranger, catches up to her, and assures her that "It's only a movie". Some debate follows as to whether or not she was scared by the movie: she denies it, but Michael disagrees. They then walk down a foggy road as Michael teases her by singing the verses of "Thriller". They pass a nearby graveyard, in which zombies begin to rise out of their caskets as Vincent Price performs his soliloquy. The zombies corner Michael and his date threateningly, and suddenly, Michael becomes a zombie himself. The zombies then break into an elaborate song and dance number, followed by the main chorus of "Thriller" (during which Michael was reverted back to human form), frightening his date to the point where she runs for cover. Michael (who was somehow turned back into a zombie) and his fellow corpses back the frightened girl into the corner of a nearby abandoned house. Michael then reaches for his date's throat as she lets out a bloodcurdling scream, only to awake and realize it was all a dream. Michael then offers to take her home, and she happily obliges. As they walk out of the house, Michael eerily looks at the camera, thus revealing his yellow werewolf eyes, as Price offers one last haunting laugh.

Reception

Leah Greenblatt, of Entertainment Weekly, commented on the music video, "Every aspect of the 14-minute horror musical, directed with creepy-comical zest by John Landis, is beyond iconic, from Michael's red leather ensemble to the immortal (no pun) herky-jerky zombie dance and bwah-ha-ha Vincent Price narration." Despite the music video being met with universal praise, it also faced criticism due to its content. In 1984, the National Coalition on Television Violence (NCTV) classified more than half of 200 MTV music videos surveyed as "too violent", "Thriller" was listed as one of the videos on the list, Jackson's duet with Sir Paul McCartney, "Say, Say, Say" was also included. The Los Angeles Times quoted Dr. Thomas Radecki, chairman of the NCTV, as saying, "It's not hard to imagine young viewers after seeing 'Thriller' saying, 'Gee, if Michael Jackson can terrorize his girlfriend, why can't I do it too?' The music video was nominated for six awards at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards, winning three out of six of the nominations. "Thriller" won Viewers Choice, Best Overall Performance and Best Choreography—but lost Best Concept Video, Best Male Video and Video Of The Year. The music video was listed as the "Greatest Video" on VH1's "VH1: 100 Greatest Videos" in 2001. MTV listed the music video as being the "Greatest Music Video Ever Made" on their list, "MTV: 100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made" in 1999.

Live performances

Jackson performed "Thriller" on all three of his solo world concert tours. Despite Jackson performing multiple songs from his Thriller album, "Thriller" was not included on The Jacksons setlist during their Victory Tour in 1984. Jackson performed "Thriller" during his first world tour as a solo artist, entitled the Bad World Tour, lasted sixteen months, from 1987 to 1989, for a total of 123 shows. "Thriller" was also performed during Jackson's second world tour, entitled the Dangerous Tour, which was attended by an estimated 3.5 million people. The Dangerous tour began in 1992, and was to be throughout 1993, but, after 69 shows, was cancelled early in 1993 due to health related concerns for Jackson and stress from child molestation accusations made against him. Jackson performed "Thriller" for all of Jackson's 82 shows during his third, and final, world concert series, entitled HIStory World Tour, from 1996 to 1997.

Jackson had planned to perform "Thriller" during his 50-show concert series, which would have been his fourth concert tour, entitled This Is It from 2009 to 2010. For Jackson's performance of the song, he had planned for the stage that he was to perform on, to be set up with a background that looked like a "graveyard" (which was a brief setting in the music video) with 3-D effects. According to a setlist that was released in March 2009, "Thriller" was to close-out the 16-song show, although, the film Michael Jackson's This Is It, which documents the concert series, lists 18 songs and "Man In The Mirror" as the closing song for the planned shows.

Cover versions

"Thriller" has been covered by multiple recording artists since its release in 1984. In 2007, Ian Brown covered "Thriller". Amos Barshad and Nick Catucci, of NYMag.com, commented that "before you dismiss" the song, if you "give it a listen" Brown’s "louche, drugged-out reinvention is actually pretty great." "Thriller" was also covered by Ben Gibbard, lead singer of Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service in 2008. In October 2009, Imogen Heap covered "Thriller" for BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge. Ashley Lasimone, of AOL's Spinner.com, noted that "the attitude and beat of Jackson's original version is replaced with soft vocals and some hauntingly pretty piano" and described the cover as being a "mesmerizing transformation".

"Thriller"'s music video, particularly the songs dance routine in the video, have been referenced in television series and films. The dance routine was mimicked in the films Donga (1985), Coming to America (1988), The Malibu Beach Vampires (1991), Dead & Breakfast (2004), 13 Going on 30 (2004), Bo! in the USA (2006), I Am Zombie Man (2007) and Si j'étais toi (2007) and in an episode of television show, Alvin & the Chipmunks. The song is briefly featured in film Doogal (2006) and the songs lyrics were sung by the characters in a episode, entitled "Soultaker" on the television series Mystery Science Theater 3000. On April 12, 2010 the Italian Alternative rock band The LoveCrave released his version on his MySpace page and the song featured the second album of the band Soul Saliva.

Legacy

Following the success of the "Thriller" video, a Hollywood production company reportedly began serious work on trying to turn Jackson's song "Billie Jean", which is also featured on Jackson's Thriller album, into a feature film; to date no plans have ever been completed. Vinny Marino of ABC News commented that "Thrillers" music video being selected as the 'Greatest Video of All Time" was a "no-brainer" and remarked that, "Michael Jackson's "Thriller" continues to be considered the greatest video ever by just about everyone." Gil Kaufman of MTV described the "Thriller" video as being "iconic" and felt that it was one of Jackson's "most enduring legacies". Kaufman also noted that the music video was the "mini-movie that revolutionized music videos" and "cemented Jackson's status as one of the most ambitious, innovative pop stars of all time". Steve Peake, of About.com, listed "Thriller" as being Jackson's eighth best song of the 1980s. Patrick Kevin Day and Todd Martens, of The Los Angeles Times commented that,

"Thriller's" phenomenal success led to a breaking down of traditional racial barriers on FM radio at the time. New York's WPLJ, a "white" station, played Jackson's "Beat It" because of Eddie Van Halen's appearance on it. The song caused a wave of protests from some listeners who didn't want "black" music on their station. MTV also had a reputation for favoring white performers at the time, and its heavy rotation of Jackson videos helped alleviate the criticism.

In December 2009, the music video for "Thriller" was selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, "Thriller" is the first music video to ever be inducted. The Registry explained, "because of the way the recording industry is evolving and changing, we thought it would be good to go back to the development of an earlier seismic shift, which was the development of the music video" and described the music video as being "the most famous music video of all time". The co-ordinator of the National Film Preservation Board, who decides upon candidates for inclusion in the National Film Registry, Steve Legett, noted that the music video was considered for induction for years, but was chosen mainly due to Jackson's death that year. In a poll conducted by Myspace in 2010, which asked over one thousand users on their site to name the most influential music video of all time from a list of twenty videos selected by music and entertainment critics, Michael Jackson's Thriller was voted the most influential video.

Charts

Chart (1983/1984)	Peak position
Belgian VRT Top 30	1
French Singles Chart	1
Irish Singles Chart	4
UK Singles Chart	10
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	4
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs	3
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	24
U.S. Billboard Dance Music/Club Play Singles	1
Chart (2009)	Peak position
Australian ARIA Charts	3
Belgium 30 Back Catalogue Singles Chart (Wallonia)	2
Belgium 30 Back Catalogue Singles Chart (Flemish)	3
Danish Singles Chart	25
Denmark Singles Top 40	25
Finnish Singles Chart	11
French Digital Singles Chart	3
German Singles Chart	9
Norwegian Singles Chart	7
Irish Singles Chart	8
Italian Singles Chart	2
Japan Singles Top 100	41
New Zealand Singles Chart	12
Spanish Singles Charts	1
Swedish Singles Chart	10
Swiss Singles Chart	3
UK Singles Chart	12
U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Songs	2

Track listing

• 7" Single:'

1. Thriller - 4:37
2. Things I Do For You (Live) - 3:31

• 7' Single:

1. Thriller - 5:57
2. Thriller (Instrumental) - 5:57

• 12" Maxi:

1. Thriller (Long Version) - 5:57
2. Thriller (Remixed Short Version) - 4:05
3. Things I Do For You (Live) - 3:31

• CD-Single:

1. Thriller (Single Edit) - 4:08
2. Can't Get Outta The Rain (Album Version) - 4:09

• DualDisc-Single:

1. Thriller - 4:09
2. Thriller (Album Version) - 5:58

Remixes

• Album version: 5:58
• 2003 edit: 5:11
• Single Edit: 4:37
• Remixed Short Version: 4:09

Personnel

• Written and composed by Rod Temperton
• Produced by Quincy Jones
• Michael Jackson: Solo and background vocals
  • Featuring: Rap by Vincent Price
• Greg Phillinganes, Rod Temperton and Brian Banks: Synthesizers
• Anthony Marinelli: Synthesizer programming
• David Williams: Guitar
• Jerry Hey: Trumpet, flügelhorn
• Gary Grant: Trumpet, flügelhorn

• Larry Williams: Saxophone, flute
• Bill Reichenbach: Trombone
• Vocal, rhythm and synthesizer arrangement by Rod Temperton
• Horn arrangement by Jerry Hey
• Effects by Bruce Cannon and Bruce Swedien

See also

• "Michael Jackson's Thriller"
• List of most expensive music videos
• Thriller (viral video)
• Thrill the World

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

• Brooks, Darren (2002). Michael Jackson: An Exceptional Journey. Chrome Dreams. ISBN 1842401785.
• George, Nelson (2004). Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection booklet. Sony BMG.
• Grant, Adrian (2009). Michael Jackson: The Visual Documentary. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9781849382618.
• Taraborrelli, J. Randy (2004). The Magic and the Madness. Terra Alta, WV: Headline. ISBN 0330420054.
• Halstead, Craig (2003). Michael Jackson The Solo Years. On-Line Ltd. ISBN 978-0755200917.

External links

• Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video at Youtube.com