Michael Jackson’s Estate, along with Sony Music, are announcing the bonus tracks for “Thriller 40” one at a time between now and its November release. Today they kick started their announcement with the original demo of “Behind the Mask.”

“Behind the Mask” was a song originally released by the Yellow Magic Orchestra. In the early 1980s Quincy Jones introduced the song to Michael. The singer then contributed more lyrics and added an accompanying melody. “Behind the Mask” was planned to be on “Thriller” but it was dropped due to a royalties dispute with Yellow Magic Orchestra’s management. A remix of Michael’s version was released on the 2010 posthumous album “Michael.” Several artists recorded Michael’s version and released it before his was made public. The most famous rendition came from British rock star Eric Clapton. His single hit number 15 on the UK charts in 1987.

Michael’s 2010 version included a new saxophone solo and crowd noise (taken from the 1992 Dangerous Tour). The single was released for radio only and as a limited 7″ vinyl for Record Store Day.

Michael heard the Yellow Magic Orchestra recording and got the go-ahead from YMO to write and record the song with lyrics. For the 1st time, hear MJ’s demo played along with demos of Billie Jean and Beat It at a listening session with Q. https://t.co/X9oMHFhYsv pic.twitter.com/ayDgWd5t2n

— Michael Jackson (@michaeljackson) September 8, 2022

Update September 9th: The track will be listed on the album as “Behind The Mask (Mike’s Mix (Demo))” and will be track 14.