"Thriller" is a song by the American singer Michael Jackson. It was released by Epic Records in November 1983 in the UK and on January 23, 1984 in the U.S., as the seventh and final single from his sixth studio album, Thriller.[3]
"Thriller" is a funk song in the key of C# minor featuring a repeating synthesizer bassline and lyrics and sound effects evoking horror films. It ends with a spoken-word sequence performed by the horror actor Vincent Price. It was produced by Quincy Jones and written by Rod Temperton, who wanted to write a theatrical song to suit Jackson's love of film.
Jackson decided to release "Thriller" as a single after Thriller left the top of the Billboard 200 chart. The "Thriller" music video, directed by John Landis, has Jackson dancing with a horde of zombies. It has been named the greatest music video of all time by various publications and readers' polls, and doubled sales of Thriller, helping it become the best-selling album in history.
It was the album's seventh top-ten single on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching number four. It reached number one in Belgium, France and Spain, and the top ten in many other countries. In the week of Jackson's death in 2009, it was Jackson's bestselling track in the US, with sales of 167,000 copies on the Billboard Hot Digital Tracks chart. It entered the Billboard Hot Digital Singles Chart at number two, and remained in the charts' top ten for three consecutive weeks. "Thriller" is certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America. It appears on several of Jackson's greatest-hits albums and has been covered by numerous artists. The song has returned to the Billboard Hot 100 chart multiple times due to its popularity around Halloween.
Jackson's song "Thriller", released as a single in 1984; Nelson George wrote that it uses cinematic sound effects, horror film motifs, and vocal trickery to convey a sense of danger.[4]
"Thriller" is a disco-funk song written in the key of C-sharp minor[5] The introduction features sound effects such as a creaking door, thunder, feet walking on wooden planks, winds and howling wolves.[6]
Writing
Horror actor Vincent Price provided the spoken-word sequence at the end of "Thriller".
"Thriller" was written by the English songwriter Rod Temperton, who had previously written "Rock with You" and "Off the Wall" for Jackson's 1979 album Off the Wall.[7] Temperton wanted to write something theatrical to suit Jackson's love of film.[8] He improvised with bass and drum patterns until he developed the bassline that runs through the song, then wrote a chord progression that built to a climax.[8] He recalled: "I wanted it to build and build – a bit like stretching an elastic band throughout the tune to heighten suspense."[8]
Temperton's first version was titled "Starlight", with the chorus lyric: "Give me some starlight / Starlight sun".[9] The production team, led by Quincy Jones, felt the song should be the title track, but that "Starlight" was not a strong album title. Instead, they wanted something "mysterious" to match Jackson's "evolving persona".[8] Temperton considered several titles, including "Midnight Man", which Jones felt was "going in the right direction". Finally, he conceived "Thriller", but worried that it was "a crap word to sing ... It sounded terrible! However, we got Michael to spit it into the microphone a few times and it worked."[8]
With the title decided, Temperton wrote lyrics within "a couple of hours".[8] He envisioned a spoken-word sequence for the ending, but did not know what form it should take. It was decided to have a famous voice from the horror genre perform it, and Jones' then-wife, Peggy Lipton, suggested her friend Vincent Price.[6] Temperton composed the words for Price's part in a taxi on the way to the studio on the day of recording.[6]
Recording
Quincy Jones produced "Thriller".
Along with the rest of the album, "Thriller" was recorded over eight weeks in 1982.[10] It was recorded at Westlake Recording Studios on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, California.[6] The engineer Bruce Swedien had Jackson record his vocals in different approaches, doubling takes and recording at different distances from the microphone. Some background vocals were recorded in the Westlake shower stall.[6]
To record the wolf howls, Swedien set up tape recorders up around his Great Dane in a barn overnight, but the dog never howled. Instead, Jackson recorded the howls himself.[13] For the creaking doors, Swedien rented doors designed for sound effects from the Universal Studios Lot and recorded the hinges.[13] Price recorded his part in two takes; Jones, acknowledging that doing a voice-over for a song is difficult, praised Price and described his takes as "fabulous".[6]
Release
The album Thriller was released in November 1982 on Epic Records and spent months at the top of the Billboard 200.[14] "Thriller" was not initially planned for release as a single, as Epic saw it as a novelty song.[15] The Epic executive Walter Yetnikoff asked: "Who wants a single about monsters?"[14]
By mid-1983, sales of the album had begun to decline. Jackson, who was "obsessive" about his sales figures,[14] urged Yetnikoff and another Epic executive, Larry Stessel, to help conceive a plan to return the album to the top of the charts. Jackson's manager Frank DiLeo suggested releasing "Thriller", backed by a new music video.[14][16] It was the final single from the album, released in January 1984.[15]
Alternative versions of "Thriller", including the "Starlight" demo, were released on the anniversary reissue Thriller 40 (2022).[17]
The music video for "Thriller" references numerous horror films,[14] and stars Jackson performing a dance routine with a horde of the undead.[14] It was directed by the horror director John Landis and written by Landis and Jackson. Jackson contacted Landis after seeing his film An American Werewolf in London. The pair conceived a 13-minute short film with a budget much larger than previous music videos. Jackson's record company refused to finance it, believing Thriller had peaked, so a making-of documentary, Making Michael Jackson's Thriller, was produced to receive financing from television networks.[14]
Michael Jackson's Thriller premiered on MTV on December 2, 1983.[18] It was launched to great anticipation and played regularly on MTV.[18] It doubled sales of Thriller, and the documentary sold over a million copies, becoming the bestselling videotape at the time.[14] It is credited for transforming music videos into a serious art form, breaking down racial barriers in popular entertainment, and popularizing the making-of documentary format.[19]
Many elements have had a lasting impact on popular culture, such as the zombie dance and Jackson's red jacket, designed by Landis' wife Deborah Nadoolman.[19] Fans worldwide re-enact its zombie dance and it remains popular on YouTube. The Library of Congress described it as "the most famous music video of all time". In 2009, it became the first music video inducted into the National Film Registry as "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant.[14]
Chart performance
"Thriller" entered the Billboard Hot 100 charts at number 20.[20] It reached number seven the following week,[21] number five the next, and peaked the next week at number four, where it stayed for two weeks.[22][23] It finished as the #78 single on Billboard's Hot 100 for the 1984.[24]
"Thriller" charted at number 19 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart.[25] On March 10, 1984, it reached its peak at number 3.[26] "Thriller" debuted on the UK Singles Chart on November 19, 1983, at number 24, and the following week peaked at number ten; it appeared on the chart for 52 weeks.[27] Beginning on February 5, 1984, "Thriller" peaked on the French Singles Chart at number one and topped the chart for four consecutive weeks.[28] "Thriller" also topped the Belgian VRT Top 30 Chart for two weeks in January 1984.[29]
Following Jackson's death in 2009, his music surged in popularity.[30] In the week of his death, "Thriller" was Jackson's best-selling track in the US, with sales of 167,000 copies on the Billboard Hot Digital Singles Chart.[30] On July 11, 2009, "Thriller" charted on the Billboard Hot Digital Singles Chart at number two (its peak), and the song remained in the charts' top ten for three consecutive weeks.[31] In the United Kingdom, the song charted at number 23 the week of Jackson's death.[32] The following week, the song reached its peak at number 12 on the UK Single Chart.[27] On July 12, 2009, "Thriller" peaked at number two on the Italian Singles Chart[33] and was later certified gold by the Federation of the Italian Music Industry.[34] "Thriller" reached at number three on the Australian ARIA Chart and Swiss Singles Chart and topped the Spanish Singles Charts for one week.[35] The song also placed within the top ten on the German Singles Chart, Norwegian Singles Chart and Irish Singles Chart, at number nine, number seven and number eight respectively.[35] "Thriller" also landed at number 25 on the Danish Singles Chart.[36] In the third week of July "Thriller" peaked at number 11 in Finland.[37]
"Thriller" has returned to the Billboard Hot 100 chart multiple times due to its popularity around Halloween. It re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 in October 2013 at number 42,[38] number 31 in November 2018,[39] and number 19 in November 2021, its highest placement since 1984.[40] This gave Jackson at least one top-20 hit across seven consecutive decades from 1969 on the Billboard Hot 100.[40]
"Thriller" was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America on December 4, 1989, for sales of over one million physical units in the U.S.[41][42] As of August 2016, the song had sold 4,024,398 copies in the US.[43] By August 2022, it had sold a further 10 million download copies in the US.[44][45]
Ashley Lasimone, of AOL's Spinner.com, noted that it "became a signature for Jackson" and described "the groove of its bassline, paired with Michael's killer vocals and sleek moves" as having "produced a frighteningly great single."[47] Jon Pareles of The New York Times noted that "'Billie Jean', 'Beat It', 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' ' and "the movie in the song 'Thriller'", were the songs, unlike the "fluff" "P.Y.T.", that were "the hits that made Thriller a world-beater; along with Mr. Jackson's stage and video presence, listeners must have identified with his willingness to admit terror."[48] Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times described "Thriller" as "adequately groovy" with a "funked-out beat" and lyrics "seemingly lifted from some little kid's 'scary storybook'".[49][50]
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