40 Years of ‘Thriller’
This week in 1982, Michael Jackson released his sixth album and what would become his magnus opus, Thriller. At this point, the then-24-year-old had been in the industry for 13 years and had already achieved superstar status.
As a member of The Jackson 5 (later known as The Jacksons), MJ became the youngest person to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 at just 11 years old. The group would place their first four singles at No. 1 on the chart, which was a record at the time.
As a solo artist, MJ would continue to achieve major success, earning his first No. 1 hit at just 14 years old and becoming the third-youngest solo act to achieve this feat. Just weeks shy of his 21st birthday, he would release Thriller‘s predecessor, Off the Wall (1979), which added two more No. 1 hits to his resume and would go on to sell over 20 million copies worldwide. It was by far his biggest album yet, but believe it or not, the King of Pop was disappointed in its performance and thought it should’ve been even bigger. He was particularly upset that the album won only one Grammy — for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, which was awarded to “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough.” He was also upset that trash-ass Rolling Stone declined to do a cover story on him. He is quoted as saying, “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.”
This is the origin story of Thriller. A very popular artist knew he could’ve been even bigger and set out to prove it. And boy, did he.
The King of Pop got into the studio determined to make an album full of hits. Of course, this doesn’t sound unusual, right? Isn’t that what most (if not all) artists at least attempt to do? Probably. However, Michael Jackson is not everybody and the world was about to find out.
With Quincy Jones by his side, MJ got to work, recording a total of 30 songs for the project. Only nine of those songs would make the cut, including four written by the singer: “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” “The Girl Is Mine” (with Paul McCartney), “Beat It” and “Billie Jean.” James Ingram and Quincy Jones co-wrote “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” while Steve Porcaro and John Bettis co-wrote “Human Nature.” The three remaining songs — “Baby Me Mine,” “The Lady in My Life” and the title track — were written by Rod Temperton. The entire album was produced by Jones, with MJ co-producing all the songs he wrote.
Thriller offers so many different moods and sounds while maintaining cohesiveness. In fact, so many of the songs do that on their own. What genres do “Thriller” and “Billie Jean” belong to? And despite the uniqueness of these songs, they maintain a simplicity that draws the listener in immediately. The only sonic overlap between Thriller and its predecessor can be found on “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” which has very strong disco leanings. Beyond that, the albums are decidedly different.
The contrast between Off the Wall and Thriller is at its starkest on “Beat It.” We take it for granted now, but the idea of an R&B artist deciding to put a hard rock song on his album is about as left-field as it gets.
While the songs were amazing, we cannot discuss the legend of Thriller without discussing its music videos. Recording artists had been making music videos for years at that point, but it wasn’t quite standard practice — in fact, only three of Thriller‘s seven singles have videos. However, those three videos would end up revolutionizing the art of using visuals to support a story told via music. They would also demonstrate just how effective a music video can be as a marketing vehicle.
With the “Billie Jean” video, MJ depicted a story based on real-life paternity allegations he and his brothers had faced over the years. MTV initially refused to play the now-iconic video, telling Walter Yetnikoff — head of MJ’s label at the time, CBS Records — that Black music didn’t fit in on the network. In response to this, Yetnikoff threatened to pull all of his artists’ videos and go public with their reason for refusing to play the video. This one move would prove crucial to the success of Thriller, and by extension, the success of every Black artist thereafter.
MTV folded and began playing “Billie Jean” regularly. This exposure is said to have helped boost album sales by about 10 million.
The following single, “Beat It,” would also get the video treatment. The video, which featured real gang members, is credited with pioneering the pinball dance formation. Crazy, right? So many of the standard practices of popular music can be traced back to Michael Jackson, and in particular, the Thriller era.
“Billie Jean” and “Beat It” would both top the Billboard Hot 100 and become two of the best-selling singles of all time, selling 14 and 11 million copies worldwide, respectively.
By the end of 1983, Thriller sales were tapering out, which is completely normal for a year-old album. However, Michael Jackson is said to have been fixated on sales — which should come as no surprise if we think back to the album’s origin story — and wanted to revive the album. Mind you, by the end of that year, the album was already the best-selling album of all time.
To boost album sales, MJ’s manager at the time, Frank DiLeo, suggested releasing the album’s title track as a single and making a video for it. The label is said to have dismissed the song and initially refused to fund the filming of a video, but eventually contributed $100,000 to the production. To cover the bulk of the production costs, MJ made an agreement with MTV and Showtime that would have them funding the production in exchange for a behind-the-scenes documentary — the now-iconic Making Michael Jackson’s Thriller. MTV and Showtime bought exclusive rights to the documentary for $250,000 and $300,000, respectively. Home video company Vestron Video paid another $500,000 for VHS and Betamax marketing rights, while the rest of the cost was covered by MJ himself. Making Michael Jackson’s Thriller is credited with pioneering the making-of documentary format.
When “Thriller” finally premiered, it was a huge hit, as was the accompanying documentary, which would become the best-selling VHS of all time. The video, which was a 13-minute short film directed by John Landis (best known for directing An American Werewolf in London), was so popular that MTV’s viewership would increase tenfold every time it aired. The video also achieved what it was meant to: Thriller sold a million copies a week in the month after its release, and eventually doubled the album’s already historic sales.
Thriller holds the distinction of being the first album to log at least seven singles in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. In addition to its commercial and chart success, the album is possibly the most decorated of all time, winning countless awards, including eight Grammy Awards in 1984. Seven of those went to MJ, while the eighth went to Bruce Swedien for his engineering work. Michael did win an eighth Grammy that night, but it was for his narration on the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial audiobook. Eight wins in one night remains a record.
With over 70 million copies sold, Thriller is most certainly a commercial juggernaut unlike anything we have ever seen. However, its legacy is about way more than that. It’s about innovation, fearlessness, ambition, and all the great things that can be achieved when those three things come together in a very intentional way. With Thriller, Michael Jackson embarked on a journey to rule the world, and he did just that.
Favorite track: “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)”
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