Michael Jackson's 1979 album 'Off The Wall' received huge critical acclaim and was a commercial success, having sold 10 million copies at the time, but the years between 'Off The Wall' and 'Thriller' were a transitional period for him, which saw him become increasingly independent. It also saw him become deeply unhappy, in particular about what he perceived as the under-performance of 'Off The Wall', which he felt deserved the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. He also felt undervalued by the music industry, and so for his next album he wanted to create a record where "every song was a killer", as he was frustrated by albums that would have "one good song, and the rest were like b-sides ... Why can't every one be like a hit song? Why can't every song be so great that people would want to buy it if you could release it as a single? ... That was my purpose for the next album." He reunited with 'Off The Wall' producer Quincy Jones to record his sixth studio album, and they worked together on 30 songs, nine of which were included on the album. The recordings commenced on 14 April 1982, with Jackson and Paul McCartney recording 'The Girl Is Mine', and it was completed five months later in November 1982. Jackson wrote four songs for the record - 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'', 'The Girl Is Mine', 'Beat It' and 'Billie Jean', with the others being provided by Rod Temperton, James Ingram/Quincy Jones and John Bettis and Steve Procaro of Toto, who also played on the record with his band.
'Billie Jean' was very personal to Jackson, who struggled with obsessed fans, but Jones wanted to shorten the long introduction, but was over-ruled by Jackson, who insisted that it remain because it made him want to dance. The ongoing backlash against disco also made it necessary to move in a different musical direction from the disco-heavy 'Off The Wall', and so Jones and Jackson were determined to make a rock song that would appeal to all tastes, and spent weeks looking for a suitable guitarist for the song 'Beat It', eventually settling on Steve Lukather of Toto to play the rhythm guitar parts and Eddie Van Halen to play the solo. When Rod Temperton wrote the song 'Thriller', he wanted to call it 'Starlight' or 'Midnight Man', and demos of 'Starlight' do exist, but he settled on 'Thriller' because he felt the name had merchandising potential. While it's probably a foregone conclusion that the best tracks were chosen for 'Thriller', of the 30 songs worked on with Jones, there are a number which deserve a hearing, and these include 'Nite Line', 'She's Trouble', 'Can't Get Outta The Rain', and 'Hot Street', all of which have a great 80's dance feel to them, although Jones felt that they just weren't up to the standard of some of the other recordings. 'Scared Of The Moon' is a lovely piano ballad, which might not have fitted in with the rest of the high-energy songs, and another ballad, 'Someone In The Dark', was recorded in 1982 for the film 'E.T.', and so while not strictly a 'Thriller' out-take, it does fit the timeline of these other songs. 'There Must Be More To Life Than This' is known as a duet between Jackson and Freddie Mercury, but here we have Jackson's solo take on the song, with muffled encouragements from Mercury, and lastly we have two co-writes with Paul Anka, which weren't without their own issues.
In 1983 Jackson worked with Anka on demos for the songs 'Love Never Felt So Good' and 'I Never Heard'. The original versions only featured Jackson's vocals, finger snaps and a piano, played by Anka, and in 1984 Anka sent 'Love Never Felt So Good' to Johnny Mathis, who recorded a new version with revised lyrics by Anka and Kathleen Wakefield, and added it to his 1984 album 'A Special Part Of Me'. In 2006 Jackson's demo leaked online, and then during the 2013/2014 recording sessions for the 'Xscape' album it was given a revision as a disco-infused track. The other song fared no better, as 'I Never Heard' was written by Anka and Jackson, and a demo was recorded at Anka's California recording studio, with the intention of adding it as a track on Anka's 1983 duets album 'Walk A Fine Line'. However, later in the 80s, Anka accused Jackson of stealing the tapes, and threatened to take legal action if the recordings were not returned. Jackson's version of the song was reportedly found in a box of tapes with only Jackson's voice and a piano accompaniment, and although he subsequently returned the tapes, Anka insisted that Jackson had made a copy of the recording of 'I Never Heard', and had re-recorded and re-titled the track to 'This Is It', later giving its name to his documentary film. The cover for this post is what would have graced the original release had the title track remained 'Starlight', but when it was renamed 'Thriller' the cover was re-shot to the one we know and love today.
Track listing
01 Nite Line
02 Carousel
03 Got The Hots
04 Scared Of The Moon
05 Can't Get Outta The Rain
06 There Must Be More To Life Than This
07 Hot Street
08 This Is It
09 Somewhere In The Dark
10 She's Trouble
11 Love Never Felt So Good
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