Thriller is the sixth studio album by the American singer Michael Jackson. It was released on November 29, 1982, through Epic Records. It was produced by Quincy Jones, who produced Jackson's previous album, Off the Wall (1979). Recording took place from April to November 1982 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California, with a budget of $750,000 (). With an ongoing backlash against disco, Jackson transitioned his sound, with Thriller primarily featuring post-disco and synth-pop among various influences ranging from funk to rock, while its themes include paranoia, romance, and social consciousness. Paul McCartney appears as the first credited featured artist on a Jackson album.
Thriller was Jackson's first number-one album on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart and was at number one for a record 37 non-consecutive weeks. The singles "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart, while "The Girl Is Mine", "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', "Human Nature", "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)", and "Thriller" were Top 10 hits, setting a record for the most Top 10 hits from one album. Sales of Thriller surged after Jackson debuted his signature moonwalk dance in Motown 25 and the "Thriller" music video premiered on MTV, and by early 1984 it had become the best-selling album of all time, with sales of over 30 million copies.
Thriller was praised by critics and soon attracted greater acclaim. It won a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year for "Beat It", and earned Jackson a record-breaking eight American Music Awards. It was the best-selling album of 1983 worldwide, and in 1984 it became the first album to be the best-selling in the United States for two years. It had an enormous impact on the music industry; in particular, the several music videos from the album are credited with transforming music videos into a serious art form.
Thriller remains the best-selling album of all time, having sold an estimated 70 million copies worldwide, and is certified 34× platinum in the US, making it the second best-selling album in the US. It is often recognized as a landmark in American culture; the success gave Jackson an unprecedented level of cultural significance for a black American, breaking racial barriers in popular music and causing an intense fan frenzy dubbed "Michaelmania". It is frequently recognized as one of the greatest and most influential albums. In 2008, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and added to the National Recording Registry of "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant recordings" by the Library of Congress.
Background
Jackson's previous album Off the Wall (1979) received critical acclaim and was a commercial success, having sold 7 million copies at the time. The years between Off the Wall and Thriller were a transitional period for Jackson, a time of increased independence. The period saw him become deeply unhappy; Jackson said, "Even at home, I'm lonely. I sit in my room sometimes and cry. It's so hard to make friends ... I sometimes walk around the neighborhood at night, just hoping to find someone to talk to. But I just end up coming home."
When Jackson turned 21 in August 1979, he hired John Branca as his manager. Jackson told Branca that he wanted to be the biggest and wealthiest star in showbusiness. He was upset about what he perceived as the underperformance of Off the Wall, feeling it had deserved the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. He also felt undervalued by the music industry; in 1980, when Rolling Stone declined to run a cover story on him, Jackson responded: "I've been told over and over that black people on the cover of magazines doesn't sell copies ... Just wait. Some day those magazines are going to be begging me for an interview. Maybe I'll give them one, and maybe I won't."
For his next album, Jackson wanted to create an album where "every song was a killer". He was frustrated by albums that would have "one good song, and the rest were like B-sides ... Why can't every one be like a hit song? Why can't every song be so great that people would want to buy it if you could release it as a single? ... That was my purpose for the next album."
Production and composition Recording
Jackson reunited with Off the Wall producer Quincy Jones to record his sixth studio album, his second under the Epic label. They collaborated on 30 songs, nine of which were featured on the album. Thriller was recorded at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California, with a production budget of $750,000. The first official recording took place on April 14, 1982, at noon with Jackson and Paul McCartney recording "The Girl Is Mine". After Jones completed Donna Summer's self-titled album, the rest of the album was completed between August and November 8, 1982.
Several members of the band Toto were involved in the album's recording and production. Jackson wrote four songs for the record: "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", "The Girl Is Mine", "Beat It" and "Billie Jean". 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.
The relationship between Jackson and Jones became strained during the recording. Jackson spent much of his time rehearsing dance steps alone. When the album was completed, both Jones and Jackson were unhappy with the result and remixed every song, spending a week on each.
"Billie Jean" was 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. The ongoing backlash against disco made it necessary to move in a different musical direction from the disco-heavy Off the Wall. 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.
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. 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. A cover of "Behind the Mask", originally by the Japanese band Yellow Magic Orchestra, was omitted when the parties could not agree on royalties.
Music and lyrics Thriller is primarily a pop album in the styles of post-disco and synth-pop. Its songs explore various genres including funk, rock, adult contemporary, easy listening, hard rock, R&B, and soul. According to Steve Huey of AllMusic, Thriller 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. 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' Somethin'", and the disco songs "Baby Be Mine" and "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)".
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" climaxes in an African-inspired chant (often misidentified as Swahili, but actually syllables based on Duala), giving the song an international flavor. "The Girl Is Mine" tells of two friends' fight over a woman, arguing over who loves her more, and concludes with a rap. The album's songs have a tempo ranging from 80 beats per minute on "The Girl is Mine", to 138 on "Beat It".
Thriller foreshadows the contradictory themes of Jackson's later works. With Thriller, Jackson began using a motif of paranoia and darker themes including supernatural imagery in the title track. This is evident on the songs "Billie Jean", "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and "Thriller". 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. 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. "Thriller" includes sound effects such as creaking doors, thunder, footsteps, wind, and howling dogs.
The anti-gang-violence "Beat It" became an homage to West Side Story and was Jackson's first successful rock cross-over piece. 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". "Human Nature", co-written by Steve Porcaro of the band Toto, 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".
By the late 1970s, Jackson's abilities as a vocalist were well regarded; AllMusic described him as a "blindingly gifted vocalist". 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." 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. Rolling Stone critic Christopher Connelly wrote that Jackson was now singing in a "fully adult voice" that was "tinged by sadness".
"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. Jackson had already adopted a "vocal hiccup" (first used in 1973 on "It's Too Late to Change the Time"), 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.
Cover The cover for Thriller features Jackson in a zip up shirt and 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. Another picture from the shoot, with Jackson embracing the cub, was used for the 2001 special edition of Thriller.
Release and commercial reception Thriller was released on November 29, 1982, through Epic Records and internationally by CBS Records. Originally, the label planned to issue the album in time for a Christmas release, before pushing it into the following January to allow Jones and Jackson more time to complete the tracks. However, copies of Thriller were leaked to radio stations early, and the label decided to rush-release the album on November 29.
It reached number one on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart on February 26, 1983. Thriller sold one million copies worldwide per week at its peak. Thriller was the best-selling album in the United States in 1983 and 1984, making it the first album to be the best-selling for two years. It also spent a record 37 weeks at number one on the Billboard 200, from February 26, 1983, to April 14, 1984, and has remained on the chart for 715 nonconsecutive weeks (and counting).