28. Thriller by Michael Jackson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi_XLOBDo_Y&list=PL135553AD7F1D0ABF
This album was released on November 30, 1982--just in time for all our junior year high school Halloween parties.
My sister bought this album in December of 1982, but I commandeered it away from her using my authority as the school dance DJ--a position I shared with HondoJoe but ultimately gave up in 1984 when I determined that I no longer wished to go to any school dances. During the school dances, my favorite thing to do was play "Pretty Young Thing" and turn up the volume to full blast on the two big grunts in the bridge. I played this album a lot in my basement during the two times that I fell in love during my senior year. And I played it a lot after I was rejected by both girls during my senior year. It was a form of self-torture, what with my memories of slow dancing with the girls to the Paul McCartney duo "The Girl Is Mine." (Paul, I think I told you, I'm a lover not a fighter.)
Of course, my favorite memory of this album comes from the general uproar experienced by the entire Marsh Valley religious community when the drill team performed a scary-makeup-and-hair-with-super-tight-pants routine to "Thriller" during the half-time show of a high school basketball game. I remember thinking to myself as the girls marched out onto the basketball court and before the first note of the song was even played that this dance was going to be the topic of the next homily I would hear from the Arimo church pulpit, and that I could look forward to watching our seminary teachers go into apoplectic fits on Monday as they tried in vain to decry the sexual nature of the performance without making all the boys spend the entire class thinking about how sexy the girls really were. I was not wrong in either prediction.
What about the B-sides? Did Michael release any other Thriller-era songs not on the album? Well, MCA wanted to use those single sales to drive sales of past albums from Michael (Off the Wall) or The Jacksons (Triumph). For "The Girl is Mine," which was the first single released because it featured a duet with The Walrus, and they wanted all of The Beatles fans to rush out and snap up the singles, MCA decided to rehash stuff Michael did for "The Wiz" movie. Michael and producer Quincy Jones changed the lyric "Can't get outta the game" from "The Wiz" to "Can't get outta the rain" and slapped in on the b-side.
Can't Get Outta the Rain
You'd think that with Thriller being such a popular album that the record company would want to milk a little more out of Michael's fans by issuing some kind of re-release of it that featured some new songs that were somehow related to the original album. And you'd be right. The 2001 re-release featured two additional songs. The first is "Someone in the Dark," which is from the audiobook and soundtrack combo recording to the 1982 film "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial."
Someone in the Dark
This audiobook/soundtrack was originally released by MCA two weeks before Thriller was released, but because this pissed off some folks at Epic Records that thought it might cut into the Thriller album sales, they got it pulled off the shelves and released it later after Thriller came out, which was a really stupid move on Epic's part when you think about it because the soundtrack mostly featured music by John Williams, and this song "Someone in the Dark" is about the least danceable song Michael ever produced, so there was no way anything off the audio book/soundtrack was going to be played in dance clubs or on American Top 40. Still, it got Michael a Grammy in 1983 for Best Recording for Children. (Insert your favorite Norm McDonald Michael-Jackson joke here.) So I'm sure a few folks at MCA threw a party when that trophy got handed out. But it was probably a much smaller party than the one at Epic Records when "Thriller" won the Grammy for Album of the Year and Michael won a bunch of other Grammy's for the songs "Billie Jean," "Beat It," and "Thriller." The best part of the audiobook is when Michael narrates the scene in which E.T. dies. I've cued it up in the video below for your listening pleasure, because apparently in 1982 nothing was more pleasurable to listen to than Michael Jackson talking over movie dialogue.
The other Thriller wannabe song on the 2001 re-release was "Carousel," a song that had been recorded for Thriller but got replaced with "Human Nature."
Carousel
What probably kept the song from inclusion in the original album release was when Quincy sat down and thought about everything he really knew about Michael as he read these lyrics.
She's from a worldOf popcorn and candyPony rides for a dimeLittle children laughingI'm from a worldOf disappointments and confusionsBut I want her to be mine
(Insert your second-favorite Norm McDonald Michael-Jackson joke here.)
Another Thriller era wannabe song is featured on yet another re-release in 2008 of "Thriller 25." This this song was only on the Thriller 25 albums sold in Japan.
Got the Hots
Michael also recorded some other songs that were in contention for inclusion on Thriller, but they got nixed by Michael or Quincy because...well...they just weren't as good as the nine songs that made it. But they definitely have a Thriller vibe on them, versus the more disco sounds of Off the Wall era songs.
Hot Street
There was an earlier version of "Hot Street" called "Slapstick" which was inspired by Michael's love of The Three Stooges.
I think Quincy did some deep thinking once again, but this time about whether or not they were going to get a top-ten hit out of any song with lyrics like this.Slapstick
Give me some Slapstick (turnin' me on)Bring out the magic (your number one)I want some Slapstick (makin' me high)Because the Slapstick love, will make you smile,(Everytime, He He, He He)
But I don't know if Quincy made the right move. I mean, everyone knows that the sophisticated women of the 80s got super turned on by watching grown men hitting each other over the head with pots and pans, slapping each other's faces, tearing out each other's hair, yanking each others' ears and noses, and poking each other's eyes out with their fingers. And Michael really showed how tuned in he was to what women liked in the '80s by recording these next two songs that I'm pretty sure are (a) about a woman that's a dominatrix and (b) another woman that calls him up every night to have phone sex. (Because sometimes a fantasy is all you need.)
She's Trouble
Nite Line
Michael wrote one song for Thriller called "Spice of Life" but then shelved it. The song got recorded and released later by Manhattan Transfer. If you listen to the song, you can hear how it sounds a little like "Baby Be Mine."
Spice of Life
There is one other #1 Michael Jackson/Paul McCartney song that was recorded before the release of Thriller that was released in 1983 on Paul McCartney's album Pipes of Peace, and it charted at the same time that "P.Y.T. Pretty Young Thing" and "Thriller" were on the charts. And that song is, of course, "Say, Say, Say."
I could go on and on and on about this album for ages and ages and ages. There's just so much interesting trivia about it--like how "Billie Jean" was knocked out of the #1 position on the charts by Dexie's Midnight Runners' song "Come on Eileen" only for that song to be replaced at #1 a week later by "Beat It." But I'm not going to do that. Instead, I'd just like to close this entry on my Top 60 list by saying that radio stations that cut off the end of "Thriller" before Vincent Price performs his dramatic lines should not be allowed to broadcast a single song ever again. Their entire staff should be sent into exile on an uninhabited island off the coast of Antartica, the broadcasting studio should be demolished, and their radio towers should then be burned to the ground to ensure that they can never repeat such a vile musical atrocity. And after the staff loose all their limbs to frostbite and eat each other one-by-one as they slowly die of starvation, they should be judged and found to be without the soul for getting down. Then they should stand and face the hounds of hell and rot inside a corpses shell until they transform into grisly ghouls that are forced for eternity to roam the underworld in uncomfortable super-tight pants that reek of the funk of forty thousand years! Yes, that should be their ultimate fate, for no mere mortal can resist the evil of The Thriller!
Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! AAH-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Nardo
#28: Michael Jackson—Thriller. What else can I say about “Thriller,” except: “Mamaseemamasaymoomahmoosaw, mamaseemamasaymoomahmoosaw, mamaseemamasaymoomahmoosaw, mamaseemamasaymoomahmoosaw?”
ReplyDeleteWhen you said you would be doing this list, I KNEW this album would be on it. (Actually, I’m a little surprised it isn’t higher on your list.) An incredible percentage of my memories of this album are from you DJ-ing dances down in the high school cafeteria. In fact, if it weren’t for this album, the fact that you played records at dances might have totally slipped my failing memory. (Well, that and your Doug Armstrong story.)
It does make me wonder, though—how the heck did you get that gig in the first place? How in the heck did you become the high school dance DJ? Looking back, it’s a bit baffling. (But then, I’m easily baffled these days.) Was it because you were super cool? Was it because you were widely known for your great taste in music? Was it because you won the Mz. Marsh Valley pageant? Was it because of your connection to Quarterflash bassist Richie Gooch? How exactly did that gig come about?
Whatever the case, it’s too bad you didn’t continue on with the dj-ing. I think lots of discerning music lovers would enjoy listening to some spins from DJ Nardo.
Occasionally I feel bad because I’m so far behind in making comments on your posts, but sometimes there are legitimate reasons. Such as, with this album, having to wade through a myriad of b-sides and non-album cuts. Sometimes this is very worthwhile, like when some awesome new Men At Work songs are discovered. But, in this case, there is a good reason why all of these songs were not on “Thriller.” It’s because they are not as good as any of the songs on “Thriller.” (Okay, so “Got the Hots” is almost there, but not quite.) The one saving grace of listening to all of these non-album cuts was the joy of hearing E.T. at the end of “Someone In the Dark.” If Michael had made as many duets with E.T. as he did with Paul McCartney, I think the world would be a better place.
The reason I was the high school dance DJ is really quite simple. I volunteered to be on some kind of high school activities committee because--and I cannot emphasize the importance of this reason enough--being on that committee GOT ME OUT OF MATH CLASS. And everyone else on the committee wanted to actually dance at the dances. But I, on the other hand, did not want to dance at the dances. I just wanted to play music and watch people dance (and make them laugh when I played Weird Al songs). So when the question was asked, "Who wants to be the DJ and sit in the corner of the lunchroom and play the records?" my hand shot up.
ReplyDeleteFeel unbaffled now?
Nardo
No, I'm always at some stage of bafflement. (And, I'm guessing that there was more to this school activities committee than just getting out of math class. I'm guessing being around some of the cute girls involved in the committee might have influenced your desire to avoid math.)
DeleteAllow me to elaborate. I did not desire to avoid the study of math. I actually like solving math and geometry problems. Always have. Always will. What I didn't like was MATH CLASS. That is because I have a very low tolerance for boredom. I simply don't like being bored. Never have. Never will. And since the MATH CLASS was taught by someone with the long-sanding nickname of CAPTAIN BOREDOM, any excuse to get out of MATH CLASS was a good one (1). I do not remember if there were any cute girls on the committee (0 Memories). I do remember Bryant Armstrong was on the committee (1 Bryant). He had previously been on DJ duty, but he quickly realized the DJ work severely reduced his opportunities to slow dance with the many cute girls in his social circle (>50), which included all the cheerleaders, pep clubbers, and MarVal chicks. The girls in my social circle included (A) all the girls in pep band and (B) all the girls in Sunday School class in the Arimo ward. And none (0) of those girls liked me. (A+B=0) And that's how I managed to swipe the one (1) DJ gig in all of Marsh Valley.
DeleteNardo (A+B=0=1 DJ)