Thriller

A brief history

The title track for the album is track four, and the final song on Side A of the original vinyl release. It was Frank Dileo who suggested releasing “Thriller” as the final single from the album. They oddly missed the opportunity to capitalize on Halloween and released it in January in the US (November in the UK). That hasn’t stopped it though from becoming one of the biggest Halloween party hits of all time. It has re-entered the charts for the past 14 out of 15 years since 2006. In 2021 it even became a top 20 hit again on the Billboard charts and a top 20 hit on the UK charts in 2022. When Michael died in 2009, the song became his bestselling track in the US.

The demo version Michael recorded was titled “Starlight.” The demo has since leaked online. Another title for the song that was considered (but never recorded) was “Midnight Man.” The spoken rap was narrated by horror movie legend Vincent Price. Rod Temperton, who wrote the song, wrote the song lyrics within a couple of hours. For the rap it was an even shorter amount of time as he penned the lyrics in a taxi on the way to the studio, the day of recording.

Fun fact

Howls can be heard during the opening of “Thriller.” They were unsuccessful at recording dogs howling, so Michael himself made the sounds.

Music video

The accompanying short film is arguably the most famous music video of all time. It is also considered to be the best in many public polls and publications. Running at 13 minutes, at the time of making it “Thriller” was the longest and most expensive music video of all time. It was directed by John Landis, who wrote it with Michael. Landis had made a name for himself in the horror industry with “An American Werewolf in London.” Epic Records refused to pay for the short film, so Michael funded it himself. He later released a making-of documentary on VHS to pay for it.

The release of the music video helped double sales of “Thriller.” It’s also credited for popularizing the making-of documentary format. It went on to become the best-selling videotape at the time. The dance sequence has become so iconic that along with his famous red leather jacket, it is performed every year around the world. It also became the first music video to be inducted into the National Film Registry.

The video was restored into 4K resolution and made available on streaming services in November 2022, in the lead up to the release of “Thriller 40.”

Fun fact

Vincent Price had to rerecord his rap especially for the music video. On his original recording a synthesizer could still be heard, making it unusable.

Gallery

Alternative single covers

Listen on Spotify

Below is the album as well as the 7″ single version of “Thriller.”