Thriller [Remaster] - Jackson, Michael (CD 2001)

Flash back to Christmas 1982. My burgeoning interest in music had already been supported by the inheritance of my family's super-large collection of 45's by everyone from Rick James and Stevie Wonder to Rod Stewart and Boz Scaggs. Asked by a family friend what I wanted for Christmas, my wish was for two new singles: Janet Jackson's "Young Love" (her very first single), and "The Girl is Mine", by her brother Michael and Paul McCartney. As you can see, I already had the makings of a huge Jackson fan.

A month or two later, I had just gotten home from yet another day as a second grader when I opened the door and heard Michael's voice booming out of the stereo. My family had finally purchased "Thriller"! I literally ran up the steps to go check out the album cover...and busted my a s s running too fast.

Anyway, "Thriller" was soon hijacked by me and got many spins on my little Fisher-Price baby record player. It, quite frankly, is also a cultural milestone. Of course now everyone wants to hate on Michael Jackson, but what gets lost in the controversy is Michael's (and "Thriller"'s) historical significance to the world of music.

Flash back again to 1982. At the time of "Thriller"'s release on December 1st, Michael Jackson is celebrating the 13th year of a very successful career that began as the lead singer of the Jackson Five. Along with producer Quincy Jones, Michael's first real solo album, 1979's "Off The Wall" was already, at the time, the biggest-selling album in history by a Black artist-with sales over five million copies. At only 24 years of age, Michael was just coming into his prime as a singer, songwriter and performer. He and Quincy set out to make "Thriller" with the goal of universal success, and while "Off The Wall" probably holds up as a more adventurous album, "Thriller" is still a classic worthy of praise.

In retrospect, it's amazing how many different syles of music are represented on "Thriller, and how successful Michael & Quincy were at catering to many successful demographics. Michael & The Jacksons were at the timemainly known for filling up dancefloors, so it's fitting that the album starts off with the percolating "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'". Using a rubbery, vaguely African bassline that bears more than a passing resemblance to Manu Dibango's 1974 pre-disco hit "Soul Makossa", Michael spits out weird lyrcs about unwanted babies, gossips, and being a vegetable (!). However, the lyrics are secondary to the great dance groove, and the unforgettable chanting at the end of the song.

The age of the synthesizer was in full effect, and many of the R&B hits from that era made heavy use of synths. Michael copped to the contemporary R&B audience with songs like "Baby Be Mine" and "PYT (Pretty Young Thing)". While these songs are sort of the throwaway songs of the album, they are both fun to listen to and Michael sings the hell out of them. "Baby Be Mine", in particular, is sung with a boyish exuberance Michael would lose as soon as "Thriller" made him an icon. The summery "PYT" is notable for an all-star cast of background vocalists which includes james Ingram, Shalamar's howard Hewett, and Mike's sisters Janet & LaToya.

"The Girl is Mine" & "Human Nature" were created for the pop/adult contemporary audience. "Human Nature" is a moody, synthesized midtempo jam written by members of Toto, who were riding high in 1982 with eht Grammy-winning success of "Toto IV". The song has long been controversial for it's lyrics, which appear to tell the story of a young man coming out of the closet ("I like living this way/I like loving that way"), something Michael has vehemently denied. Anyway, this song is unquestionably one of the album's highlights. "The Girl is Mine" was intended as a very basic, throwaway pop song, and that's exactly what it is. Corny almost to the point of being unlistenable ("but Paul, I think I told you...I'm a lover not a fighter!"), "The Girl is Mine" is easily the album's least essential track.

"Billie Jean" and "Beat It" were the album's two most important tracks. "Billie Jean" is a dark, mysterious dance jam with lyrics that now appear to have been a true story. Apparently, an obsessed fan insisted that Michael was the father of her children (the two had never met). She appeared at the Jackson family compound several times and finally sent Michael a package containing a letter and a firearm, in which she asked that Michael commit suicide on a particular day. She would then kill herself and the child, and the three could live together in heaven. Michael was so disturbed by this chain of events that he wrote this song, which is probably one of the closest things to a prefect pop song. It's almost impossible to not move your feet to the beat, and Michael sings this song with clenched teeth, sounding angry and frustrated. While fusions of r&b and rock are somewhat commonplace now, they certainly were not in the early 80's. "Beat It" kinda helped kick that door down. Utilizing a guitar solo from Eddie Van Halen (which Eddie performed for FREE) and tough lyrics about backing down from trouble and staying out of a fight, "Beat It" (along with "Billie Jean") broke down several major doors and also served to toughen up MJ's image a bit.

The album's closer, "The Lady in My Life" is a slow jam that would probably have been better suited at the time to someone like Teddy Pendergrass or Luther Vandross or even Mike's big brother Jermaine. Michael has never done a song this romantic before or since, and he pulls it off well, particularly when he starts begging at the end.

"Thriller" obviously has a lot of hype to live up to, and it's worth owning not only because of it's accomplishments (which I'll get to later), but also because it's GOOD. Not many artists could pull off such a variety of styles (funk, post-disco, rock, easy listening, ballads) back then and make it all sound cohesive (hell, most artists can't do it NOW), and Michael remains one of soul music's best vocalists. He was at the height of his vocal and songwriting powers, and he and Quincy Jones had such good chemistry, it makes you wonder what might have happened had their business relationship not imploded after "Bad"'s success five years later. Not only that, but the album, after 20+ years, doesn't sound dated! Most (if not all) of these songs could probably still be hits today if they were released (and Michael didn't have such a cruddy public image).

Anyway, I've discussed the musical significance of 'Thriller". How about the historical significance? "Thriller" is the biggest selling non-compilation album in American history, at 26 million copies sold. No other album is even close and this is a record that will probably be unmatched. "Thriller" also won a record seven American Music Awards, eight Grammy Awards, headed the Billboard Album charts for a record 37 weeks, and spun off a record seven top ten singles. In addition, Michael completely eradicated the color line at MTV, which was then in it's infancy. The video for "Billie Jean" was the first video by a black artist to be played in heavy rotation, and the subsequent videos for "Beat It" and "Thriller" made Michael a video pioneer. All this for a 9-song album that runs about 40 minutes.

"Thriller" found a home in 26 million American households for a reason-it is a well-constructed, well-performed, state-of-the-art pop album that turned this unsuspecting six year old into a full-on music junkie. Michael, you're a freak but dammit, you made some damn good music.

*There is now a special ediion version of this album, which not only features long-winded interviews with Quincy Jones and songwriter Rod Temperton (who wrote "Thriller"'s title track as well as co-writing "PYT"), but also features the original demo version of "Billie Jean" (which sounds awfully close to the finished version), an unreleased second verse of Vincent Price's rap at the end of "Thriller", and "Carousel", which was left off the album in favor of "Human Nature" (it's a throwaway midtempo tune which Mike sings the hell out of...they made the right call replacing it). It also features the heartbreaking ballad "Someone in the Dark", which skates on the edge of schmaltz, but is sort of an adult version of Michael's cheesy childhood hit "Ben". This song was supposed to appear on a storybook version of the hit movie "E.T." which Michael narrated, but Epic Records (Mike's label) sued MCA Records (the label "The E.T. Storybook" came out on), and the album was recalled after a scant few copies were sold. Ah well, Michael won a Grammy for it anyway.

This is my contribution to the lovely and talented Lambchops' "Where It All Began" write-off, where we were SUPPOSED to write about the first album we ever owned. OK, let's get technical here, "Thriller" was NOT the first album I owned. However, the prior three ("Destiny", "Off The Wall" and "Innervisions") I've reviewed already. Make sure you check out the entries from the other participants.

aerocat
age6racer
Atchesonate
beckytcy
bigd99999
cntaur5
cr01
darkofnight
dbbum
DrDevience
DrFaustus
ekleptic
emptywishes
eplovejoy
ez013182
foxy_shy
freak369
Fuche_bu
Guildenstern
HipyX
insomniac1587
jeff_wilder78
Joubert
KCFoxy
Kieli
kristinaFH
lemon_lime
MattA75
mfunk75
Mike.Holmes
netnut746
PacManY2J
paulyoungotti
plorentz
pmills1210p
ogomom
Psychovant
ptparatroopa
Quasar
RedDiva
roheblius
sfarmer76
sparkless
speeddemon531 (THAT'S ME!!)standells
SurgRN91
telynor
thegeniusx
thevoid99
trust12345
vanwarp
voxpoptart
waynio
youngchinq

(that's a lot of freakin' people)

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Key tracks: "Billie Jean", "Beat It", "Human Nature"

Great Music to Play While:

Putting on your bright-red 'Thriller" jacket and trying to do the moonwalk.