Thriller-2
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show - Micheal Jackson's "THRILLER"
Shrek Thriller Night 2011
"Thriller" is a song recorded by American recording artist Michael Jackson, composed by Rod Temperton, and produced by Quincy Jones. It is the seventh and final single from his sixth studio album of the same name. It was released on November 12, 1983 in most countries and January 23, 1984 in the United States by Epic Records. The song has appeared on multiple greatest hits compilation albums from Jackson, including HIStory (1995), Number Ones (2003), The Essential Michael Jackson (2005), and Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009), and it was remixed to the Immortal album in 2011.
The song's instruments include a baseline and synthesizer. In the song, sound effects such as a creaking door, thunder, feet walking on wooden planks, winds and howling dogs can be heard, and the lyrics contain frightening themes and elements. "Thriller" received positive reviews from critics, though the song was outshone by its music video. "Thriller" became Jackson's seventh top-ten single on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart from the album, while reaching the top of the charts in France and Belgium and the top ten in other countries.
"Thriller" was adapted into a highly successful music video, known independently as Michael Jackson's Thriller. At fourteen minutes the video is substantially longer than the song, which ties together a narrative featuring Jackson and actress Ola Ray in a setting heavily inspired by horror films of the 1950s. In the video's most iconic scene, Jackson leads other actors costumed as zombies in a choreographed dance routine. Though it garnered some criticism for its occult theme and violent imagery, the video was immediately popular and received high critical acclaim, being nominated for six MTV Video Music Awards in 1984 and winning three. In 2009 it was added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, the first music video ever selected.
"Thriller" has been covered by multiple recording artists since its release in 1984, including Henry Mancini (with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra), Ian Brown, Ten Masked Men, and Imogen Heap.
Lyrics[]
Original[]
Michael Jackson:
It's close to midnight
Something evil's lurkin'in the dark
Under the moonlight
You see a sight that almost stops your heart
You try to scream
But terror takes the sound before you make it
You start to freeze
As horror looks you right between the eyes
You're paralyzed
'Cause this is thriller
Thriller night
And no one's gonna save you
From the beast about to strike
You know it's thriller
Thriller night
You're fighting for your life
Inside a killer
Thriller tonight, yeah
You hear the door slam
And realize there's nowhere left to run
You feel the cold hand
And wonder if you'll ever see the sun
You close your eyes
And hope that this is just imagination
But all the while
You hear a creature creepin' up behind
You're outta time
'Cause this is thriller
Thriller night
There ain't no second chance
Against the thing with the forty eyes, girl
Thriller
Thriller night
You're fighting for your life
Inside a killer
Thriller tonight
Night creatures callin'
The dead start to walk in their masquerade
There's no escaping the jaws of the alien this time
(They're open wide)
This is the end of your life
They're out to get you
There's demons closing in on every side
They will possess you
Unless you change that number on your dial
Now is the time
For you and I to cuddle close together, yeah
All through the night
I'll save you from the terror on the screen
I'll make you see
That this is thriller
Thriller night
'Cause I can thrill you more
Than any ghoul would ever dare try
(Thriller)
(Thriller night)
So let me hold you tight
And share a
(Killer, diller, chiller)
(Thriller here tonight)
'Cause this is thriller
Thriller night
Girl, I can thrill you more
Than any ghoul would ever dare try
(Thriller)
(Thriller night)
So let me hold you tight
And share a
(Killer, thriller)
I'm gonna thrill you tonight
Vincent Price:
Darkness falls across the land
The midnight hour is close at hand
Creatures crawl in search of blood
To terrorize y'alls neighborhood
And whosoever shall be found
Without the soul for getting down
Must stand and face the hounds of hell
And rot inside a corpse's shell
Michael Jackson:
I'm gonna thrill you tonight
(Thriller, thriller)
I'm gonna thrill you tonight
(Thriller night, thriller)
I'm gonna thrill you tonight
Ooh, babe, I'm gonna thrill you tonight
Thriller night, babe
Vincent Price:
The foulest stench is in the air
The funk of forty thousand years
And grizzly ghouls from every tomb
Are closing in to seal your doom
And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the thriller!!!
[maniacal laughter]
Shrek version[]
Donkey: It's after midnight
And something grumpy's a-headed up the block
It's such a big fright
That your heart is gonna stop from all the shock
You close your eyes
And hope that smell's
just your imagination
You hold your breath
and wait for it to pass
Shrek: Don't be an ass.
Puss In Boots:
Darkness falls across the land
The midnight hour is close at hand
Creatures crawl in search of blood
To terrorize your neighborhood
And whosoever shall be found
Without the soul for getting down
Must stand and face the hounds of hell
And rot inside a corpse's shell
And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the thriller!
Donkey: You're trapped in thriller
Here tonight
Your brain may say it's wrong, but...
Chorus: In your heart you know it's right
Donkey:To love the thriller
Gingerbread man: Woo hoo
Donkey: You can't fight
You'll dance all through the night
Nothing but... thriller... thriller
Thriller
Through the night
It will thrill you more
Than any ogre'd ever dare try
Pinocchio: Thriller
And though you might
Try runnin' for your life
You're stuck in... thriller
Puss in Boots: Chiller
Captain Hook: Killer
Donkey: What delight
(...)
Puss in Boots: MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! [hisses]
Background[]
"Thriller" was written by Rod Temperton, and produced by Quincy Jones. It was originally titled "Starlight", contrary to other reports of the title "Starlight Love". While the song was titled "Starlight", the song's hook lyrics were "Starlight! Starlight sun...", but after the song was changed to "Thriller" the hook was rewritten to "Thriller! In the night...". Temperton commented,
| “ | Originally, when I did my Thriller demo, I called it Starlight. Quincy said to me, 'You managed to come up with a title for the last album, see what you can do for this album.' I said, 'Oh great,' so I went back to the hotel, wrote two or three hundred titles, and came up with the title 'Midnight Man'. The next morning, I woke up, and I just said this word... Something in my head just said, this is the title. You could visualise it on the top of the Billboard charts. You could see the merchandising for this one word, how it jumped off the page as 'Thriller'. | ” |
While Temperton was writing "Thriller" he stated that he'd "always envisioned" a "talking section at the end" on the song, but did not really know what "to do with it", until deciding "to have somebody, a famous voice, in the horror genre, to do this vocal." Jones' then-wife, Peggy Lipton, who knew Vincent Price, suggested Price for the vocal part, which Price agreed to do.
Recording[]
"Thriller", along with other songs from Thriller, was recorded by Jackson over the course of eight weeks, in 1982. Jackson recorded the song at Westlake Recording Studios on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. Bruce Swedien, the song's engineer, said of the song being recorded,
| “ | When we started 'Thriller', the first day at Westlake, we were all there and Quincy [Jones, the producer] walked in followed by me and Michael and Rod Temperton and some of the other people. Quincy turned to us and he said, 'OK guys, we're here to save the recording industry.' Now that's a pretty big responsibility – but he meant it. And that's why those albums, and especially 'Thriller', sound so incredible. The basic thing is, everybody who was involved gave 150 percent … Quincy's like a director of a movie and I'm like a director of photography, and it's Quincy's job to cast [it]. Quincy can find the people and he gives us the inspiration to do what we do. | ” |
Swedien and Jones stated that Vincent Price recorded his introduction and voice-over rap for the song in two takes; Jones, acknowledging that doing a voice-over for a song is "difficult", praised Price and described his recording takes as being "fabulous". Swedien said of Jackson recording the song, that, "I tried all sorts of things with Michael – for instance, he would sing the main vocal part and we'd double it one time and then I'd ask him to step away from the mic and do it a third time and that really changed the acoustics in the room so it gave Michael's vocals a unique character … We recorded some of those background vocals in the shower stall at Westlake."
Composition[]
"Thriller" is considered a funk disco song. Set in the key of C Modern Dorian, its instrumentation consists of synthesizer, guitar, trumpet, flugelhorn, saxophone, flute and trombone. The song has a moderate tempo of 118 beats per minute. The lyrics and sound effects on "Thriller" pertain to frightful elements and themes. Throughout the song, sound effects such as a creaking door, thunder, feet walking on wooden planks, winds and howling dogs can be heard. Bruce Cannon, a sound effects editor for "Thriller", said that, "Things like the lightning may have come from old Hollywood movies – we'll never know which movies – but the best sound-effects editors do go out in the desert and find a coyote, so I have a feeling that was a real howl." The backing track, especially the bassline, has certain similarities to the 1981 number-one R&B hit "Give It to Me Baby" by Rick James.
Critical reception[]
"Thriller" received positive reviews from contemporary music critics. Ashley Lasimone, of AOL's Spinner.com noted that "Thriller" "became a signature for Jackson" and described "the groove of its bassline, paired with Michael's killer vocals and sleek moves" as having had "produced a frighteningly great single." Jon Pareles, of The New York Times, noted that Thrillers tracks, "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."
Ann Powers, of the Los Angeles Times, described "Thriller" as being a song that was "adequately groovy" with a "funked-out beat" with lyrics that are "seemingly lifted from some little kid's 'scary storybook'". After Jackson's death, AOL's Radio Blog released a list, titled "10 Best Michael Jackson Songs", which placed "Thriller" at number one. In 2009 Melissa Cabrera, of AOL Radio Blogs, listed "Thriller" as being the fourth best song on their "Top 100 '80s Songs" list. Eliot Glazer, AOL's Radio Blogs, placed "Thriller" at number one on a list titled "Top 1984 Songs". "Thriller" was also listed at number two on the "10 Best Halloween Songs" and "10 Best Party Songs" lists by AOLs Radio Blog.
Chart performance[]
Prior to "Thriller"'s official airplay release, it charted and peaked at number one on Billboard's Dance Music/Club Play Singles Chart in 1983. Released on January 23, 1984, "Thriller" became Jackson's seventh and last Billboard Hot 100 top-ten single from his Thriller album. In "Thriller"'s second week of release, Billboard issue date February 11, 1984, the song charted at number 20 on the Hot 100. The song entered the top ten the following week at number seven. One week later, it reached number four, what would become its peak position. The song 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. (the requirement for gold and platinum singles was lowered after 1989). It has also a further 3,160,000 copies in digital downloads by October 2012 in the US.
For the issue date February 25, 1984, "Thriller" charted at number 19 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart. The following week, the song placed at number five. On March 10, 1984, it charted at number 3, where it peaked. "Thriller" peaked at number 24 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Chart. "Thriller" debuted on the UK Singles Chart on November 19, 1983 at number 24, and the following week charted at number ten, where it peaked; the song appeared on the chart for 25 weeks. Beginning on February 5, 1984, "Thriller" peaked on the French Singles Chart at number one and topped the chart for four consecutive weeks. "Thriller" also topped the Belgian VRT Top 30 Chart for two weeks in January 1984.
Following Jackson's death in 2009, his music experienced a surge in popularity. In the week of Jackson's death, "Thriller" was his best-selling track in the US, with sales of 167,000 copies on the Billboard Hot Digital Singles Chart. 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. In the United Kingdom, the song charted at number 23 the week of Jackson's death. The following week, the song reached its peak at number 12 on the UK Single Chart. On July 12, 2009, "Thriller" peaked at number two on the Italian Singles Chart and was later certified gold by the Federation of the Italian Music Industry. "Thriller" reached at number three on the Australian ARIA Chart and Swiss Singles Chart and topped the Spanish Singles Charts for one week. 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. "Thriller" also landed at number 25 on the Danish Singles Chart. In the third week of July, "Thriller" peaked at number 11 in Finland.
Music video[]
The title card for the Thriller music video.
The music video, directed by John Landis, was filmed in various locations in New York and Los Angeles. The music video was first broadcast on television on December 2, 1983. Contrary to reports of $800,000 to $1 million dollar production budgets, Landis stated that the music video was made for $500,000. Jackson said of making the music video, in an interview that aired on December 11, 1999, for MTV's 100 Greatest Videos Ever Made:
| “ | My idea was to make this short film with conversation ... I like having a beginning and a middle and an ending, which would follow a story. I'm very much involved in complete making and creating of the piece. It has to be, you know, my soul. Usually, you know, it's an interpretation of the music. [...] It was a delicate thing to work on because I remember my original approach was, 'How do you make zombies and monsters dance without it being comical?' So I said, 'We have to do just the right kind of movement so it doesn't become something that you laugh at.' But it just has to take it to another level. So I got in a room with [choreographer] Michael Peters, and he and I together kind of imagined how these zombies move by making faces in the mirror. I used to come to rehearsal sometimes with monster makeup on, and I loved doing that. So he and I collaborated and we both choreographed the piece and I thought it should start like that kind of thing and go into this jazzy kind of step, you know. Kind of gruesome things like that, not too much ballet or whatever. | ” |
The music video of the song also included on the video albums: Video Greatest Hits - HIStory, HIStory on Film, Volume II, Number Ones, on the bonus DVD of Thriller 25 and Michael Jackson's Vision.
Following the release of the music video, a 45 minute documentary was released that provided candid glimpses behind the scenes of the music video's production. Entitled Making Michael Jackson's Thriller, it, like the music video, was shown heavily on MTV for a time and was the top-selling home-video release of all time at one point, with over nine million copies sold. MTV paid $250,000 for the exclusive rights to show the documentary; Showtime paid $300,000 for pay-cable rights; and Vestron Video reportedly paid $500,000 to market the cassette, in a profit participation agreement.
Concept[]
On a night set in the 1950s, the video opens with a person named Michael driving in his car. Michael and his unnamed date (Ola Ray) run out of gas near a dark wooded area. They walk off into the forest, and Michael asks her if she would be his "Girl"/(Girlfriend), she accepts and he gives her a ring. He warns her, however, that he is "different" than other guys. A full moon appears, and Michael begins convulsing in agony, transforming into a werecat. His date runs away in terror, but the werecat catches up to her, knocking her down and begins lunging at her with his claws. The scene then cuts to a modern-day movie theater where Michael and his date, along with a repulsed audience, are actually watching the scene unfold in a movie called Thriller. Michael's date leaves the theater as Michael hands his popcorn to a stranger, catches up to her, and assures her that "It's only a movie". Some debate follows as to whether or not she was scared by the movie: she denies it, but Michael disagrees. They then walk down a foggy road as Michael teases her by singing the verses of "Thriller". They pass a nearby graveyard, in which zombies begin to rise out of their caskets as Vincent Price performs his soliloquy. The zombies corner Michael and his date threateningly, and suddenly, Michael becomes a zombie himself. The zombies then break into an elaborate song and dance number, followed by the main chorus of "Thriller" (during which Michael was reverted to human form), frightening his date to the point where she runs for cover. Michael (who was somehow turned back into a zombie) and his fellow corpses back the frightened girl into the corner of a nearby abandoned house. Michael then reaches for his date's throat as she lets out a bloodcurdling scream, only to awake and realize it was all a dream. Michael then offers to take her home, and she happily obliges. As they walk out of the house, Michael eerily looks at the camera, thus revealing his yellow werecat eyes from the opening scene, as Price offers one last haunting laugh.
Reception[]
Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly commented on the music video, "Every aspect of the 14-minute horror musical, directed with creepy-comical zest by John Landis, is beyond iconic, from Michael's red leather ensemble to the immortal (no pun) herky-jerky zombie dance and bwah-ha-ha Vincent Price narration. Though the video was met with widespread praise, it was also criticized for its content. In 1984, the National Coalition on Television Violence (NCTV) classified more than half of 200 MTV music videos surveyed as "too violent". Both "Thriller" and Jackson's duet with Paul McCartney, "Say, Say, Say" made the list. The Los Angeles Times quoted Dr. Thomas Radecki, chairman of the NCTV, as saying, "It's not hard to imagine young viewers after seeing 'Thriller' saying, 'Gee, if Michael Jackson can terrorize his girlfriend, why can't I do it too?' The music video was nominated for six awards at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards, winning three out of six of the nominations. "Thriller" won Viewers Choice, Best Overall Performance and Best Choreography—but lost Best Concept Video, Best Male Video and Video Of The Year.
The music video was listed as the "Greatest Video" on VH1's "VH1: 100 Greatest Videos" in 2001. MTV listed the music video as being the "Greatest Music Video Ever Made" on their list, "MTV: 100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made" in 1999. In July 2011, the music video was named one of "The 30 All-TIME Best Music Videos" by TIME magazine.
Live performances[]
Jackson performed "Thriller" on all three of his solo world concert tours. From the Dangerous Tour onwards, half the song was always performed by a masked backup dancer as Jackson prepared for his next song as part of a stage illusion. Despite Jackson performing multiple songs from his Thriller album, "Thriller" was not included on The Jacksons set list during their Victory Tour in 1984, as he wasn't satisfied with the way the song sounded live. Jackson performed "Thriller" during his first world tour as a solo artist, the Bad world tour, lasting sixteen months, from 1987 to 1989, for a total of 123 shows. During the Bad tour, in both legs, the jacket had flashing lights in the middle of the song and at the end. An impersonator was only used for the introduction of the song; a masked dancer emerges from the costume tent at the side of the stage, and goes back in hiding while Jackson himself, also masked at first, swings down from a rope on the other side of the stage before taking off his mask. "Thriller" was also performed during Jackson's second world tour, the Dangerous Tour, where stage illusions were used to transition between "Thriller" and "Billie Jean". In the middle of "Thriller", Jackson secretly switched places with a masked backup dancer who finishes the song appearing as Jackson prepares for "Billie Jean". When the song ends, Jackson appears fully dressed on the upper floor as "Billie Jean" begins. Jackson performed "Thriller" for all of his 82 shows during his third, and final, world tour, the HIStory World Tour. Once again, a masked dancer posing as Jackson was used as a stage illusion, this time to transition between "Thriller" and "Beat It". As with the Dangerous tour, Jackson switches with the background dancer in the middle of the song. At the end of "Thriller", the masked dancer is taken by the zombie dancers into a coffin where it appears he is impaled with spikes and burned. Jackson would appear at the side of the stage in a cherry-picker, starting off "Beat It". Jackson had planned to perform "Thriller" during his 50-show concert series, which would have been his fourth concert tour, entitled This Is It from 2009 to 2010. For Jackson's performance of the song, he had planned for the stage that he was to perform on to be set up with a background that looked like a "graveyard" (which was a brief setting in the music video) with 3-D effects. According to a setlist that was released in March 2009, "Thriller" was to close out the 16-song show, although the film Michael Jackson's This Is It, which documents the concert series, lists 18 songs and "Man In The Mirror" as the closing song for the planned shows.
Cover versions[]
- 1980s
- In 1984, Lenny Henry recorded a parody titled "Thinner" that was shown at the premiere of The Lenny Henry Show, the video lasts exactly 5 minutes and at the end of a scene that has not parody the original video, where Michael (Lenny) wakes up screaming and it is revealed that it was all a dream, his mother wakes up screaming and quiet, then she looks at the camera and his eyes are yellow, like the final scene of the original video.
- In 1989, American composer Henry Mancini and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra recorded an orchestra version of the song.
- 2000s
- In 2000, British death metal band Ten Masked Men covered the song on their album Return of the Ten Masked Men.
- In 2001, American-born Australian singer Joe Dolce covered the song on a complication album, Andrew Denton's Musical Challenge.
- In 2003, Scottish rock band Aereogramme recorded "Thriller" for their Livers & Lungs EP.
- In 2003, German a cappella group Maybebop covered the song for their album Heiße Luft.
- In 2004, English electronic music group The Prodigy sampled "Thriller" on their The Way It Is.
- In 2007, Ian Brown covered "Thriller". Amos Barshad and Nick Catucci, of NYMag.com, commented that "before you dismiss" the song, if you "give it a listen", Brown’s "louche, drugged-out reinvention is actually pretty great."
- In 2008, German group Wise Guys recorded an a cappella version of the song as "Schiller" for their tenth album Frei!. The stage choreography based on Michael Jackson's music video and member Ferenc also recites a part of Friedrich Schiller's Die Bürgschaft.
- In 2008, "Thriller" was also covered by Ben Gibbard, lead singer of Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service.
- In 2008, industrial metal band Gothminister covered Jackson's song for their album Happiness in Darkness.
- In 2008, a remix of The Pussycat Dolls' song "When I Grow Up", entitled the "Darkchild Remix" and featuring rappers Diddy, Lil Wayne and Fatman Scoop, contains elements of "Thriller" heavily sampled throughout the remix, most noticeably in the song's introduction.
- In October 2009, Imogen Heap covered "Thriller" for BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge. It was later used for BBC's end montage to its UEFA Euro 2012 football tournament coverage.
- 2010s
- In 2011, Patrick Stump covered the song in an a cappella mash-up tribute along with several other Michael Jackson songs over pre-recorded backing vocals.
- In 2013, Nu Dimension covered the song during the gala show X Factor Indonesia.
Appearances in other media[]
- Michael Jackson's Thriller music video, particularly the songs dance routine in the video, have been referenced in television series and films including Donga (1985), Coming to America (1988), The Malibu Beach Vampires (1991), Dead & Breakfast (2004), 13 Going on 30 (2004), Bo! in the USA (2006), I Am Zombie Man (2007) and Si j'étais toi (2007), the A.N.T. Farm episode "infuANTces", and an episode of television show, Alvin & the Chipmunks. The song is briefly featured in the film Doogal (2006) and the songs lyrics were sung by the characters in an episode, entitled "Soultaker" on the television series Mystery Science Theater 3000. The zombie gorillas did a similar dance routine in the video for "Clint Eastwood" by Gorillaz. Rihanna did the dance routine in her video "Disturbia".
- A prison in Cebu, Philippines became famous after releasing a YouTube video where its inmates reenacted and performed the "Thriller" dance.
- In 1997, South Park had an episode, "Pinkeye", which parodies the song and the video.
- The Chemical Brothers said in a January 2002 interview that if their song "My Elastic Eye" is played on large speakers, the bass would resemble "Thriller". Scottish band Tigerstyle released a bhangra remix of "Thriller" to which dance act Signature danced to it in their semi-final performance in the second series of Britain's Got Talent in May 2008.
- In 2011, the cast of American musical TV series Glee performed "Thriller" as a mash up with "Heads Will Roll" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs in episode "The Sue Sylvester Shuffle".
- Pop singer Britney Spears made a reference to "Thriller" in her music video for "I Wanna Go" (2011). In the ending of her video actor Guillermo Díaz leads Spears out of the room. He then turns to the camera with glowing red eyes and his laugh is heard, similar to Vincent Price.
- Thriller Night, a 6-minute short film parody of "Thriller", directed by Gary Trousdale and featuring the characters of the Shrek film series. It was released on September 13, 2011, as a bonus feature on the Scared Shrekless DVD.
- The video was also spoofed on YouTube web series Annoying Orange by the titular character, in the episode "Chiller".
- PopCap's game Plants vs Zombies features a Michael Jackson zombie, in which he stops and zombies pop out of the ground and they do the dance moves to "Thriller". The zombie's sprite was later replaced with a disco zombie at the request of Jackson's estate.
- The song, "Wolf-i-fied!" from Littlest Pet Shop episode "Door Jammed" is presented in such a way as to have been influenced heavily by Michael Jackson's Thriller; the song even starts out with a similar rap to Vincent Price's.
Personnel[]
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Music Videos[]
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