#12 Michael Jackson, 'Thriller' (1982)
Previously #20
As far as am I’m concerned, this is the #1 record. At least, this is my #1 record. The follow up to ‘Off The Wall’ saw Michael Jackson reunited with producer, Quincy Jones. That album had been an incredible success, having sold 10 million copies, but Jackson was disappointed that it never won Album Of The Year at the Grammys. In 1980, when Rolling Stone refused to put him on the cover of their magazine, he 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.” His goal was to top ‘Off The Wall’ and create an album where every song was killer. Jackson had grown incredibly lonely during this time. His lifelong successes had alienated him. About that period he 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.”
Recording started with the first featured vocalist on a Jackson record, none other than ex-Beatle, Paul McCartney , who had written the song ‘Girlfriend’ for Jackson on ‘Off The Wall.’ The schmaltzy duet, ‘The Girl Is Mine,’ was the lead single from the album. ‘Thriller’ opens with ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,’ a post-disco funk track which acts as a bridge between his last record and this one. It features the famous Swahili chant “Ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa,” which would later be used by Rihanna, Kanye West and other artists. ‘Thriller’ follows and believe it or not, despite this becoming one of his signature songs, this was the seventh and final single to be released from the record. Yes, 7 singles out of 9 songs, all of which were Top 10 hits. This album holds the record for most Top 10 singles from one release. Marrying his love of film with music, the song is a horror-inspired funk-pop song with the 13-minute short film that would become a ground-breaking phenomenon. The video, which would become the watermark for the music video, shattered racial barriers at MTV. Along with ‘Billie Jean’ (my all-time favourite song, bar none) and ‘Beat It,’ these videos were the first by a Black artist to be played on high rotation. Or any rotation, to be honest. Looking to crossover to all markets, Jackson invited Eddie Van Halen to play the guitar solo on ‘Beat It’ to appeal to the Rock fans. Steve Lukather, from Toto, would play the rhythm guitar, while he and his bandmates played on ‘Human Nature,’ a song written by Toto’s Steve Porcaro. It was MJ’s performance of ‘Billie Jean’ at the Motown 25th anniversary that really shot this record into the stratosphere, beyond his or anyone else’s expectations, thanks to his introduction of the Moonwalk. Following the performance the album went on to sell a staggering one million copies A WEEK. ‘Thriller’ spent 37 weeks at #1 and to date has sold 66 million copies worldwide (to put in context, that would mean that roughly every single person in France owns a copy, by 2021’s population count). So did he achieve his goal? Is evry song killer? You bet. Even the non-singles, ‘Baby Be Mine’ and ‘The Lady In My Life’ could have easily been singles by other artists. ‘Thriller’ made MJ the biggest artist in the world for a very long time. He dominated for at least the next 10 years. I’ve seen at least 1,000 artists live in my time (probably more) and MJ was the best I’ve ever seen. His music had a major impact on my life, fuelling the flames of my music passion. And it all started right here with this very album. I’ve listened to it countless times in my life, and it was a joy to listen to it twice more for this challenge.
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