MICHAL JACKSON - THRILLER

THRILLER

MICHAEL JACKSON

SONGWRITER: ROD TEMPERTON

COUNTRY: U.S.A.

ALBUM: thriller

LABEL: epic records

GENRE: pop

YEAR: 1982

Thriller is the sixth studio album by American singer Michael Jackson, released on November 30, 1982, in the United States by Epic Records and internationally by CBS Records. The follow-up to Jackson's successful previous studio album, Off the Wall, it explores genres similar to those of its predecessor, including pop, post-disco, rock and funk. Recording sessions for the album took place from April to November 1982 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, with a production budget of $750,000. Quincy Jones produced the album, and Jackson wrote four of its nine songs.

In just over a year, Thriller became—and currently remains—the world's best-selling album, with estimated sales of 66 million copies. Representatives for Sony and Jackson's estate say that Thriller has sold 105 million copies globally. It is the best-selling album in the United States and the first album to be certified 33× multi-platinum, having shipped 33 million album-equivalent units. The album won a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards in 1984, including Album of the Year. Seven singles were released from the album—"The Girl Is Mine", "Billie Jean", "Beat It", "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", "Human Nature", "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)", and "Thriller"—all of which reached the top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Thriller also enabled Jackson to break down racial barriers in pop music, via his appearances on MTV and meeting with President Ronald Reagan at the White House. The album was one of the first to use music videos as successful promotional tools, and the videos for the songs "Thriller", "Billie Jean", and "Beat It" all received regular rotation on MTV.

[Michael Jackson:]

It's close to midnight and 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

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, girl

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 call

And 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

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 could ever dare try

Thriller, thriller night

So let me hold you tight and share a killer, thriller, chiller

Thriller here tonight

'Cause this is thriller, thriller night

Girl, I can thrill you more than any ghoul could 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'all's neighborhood

And whomsoever 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...

[Vincent Price:]

The foulest stench is in the air

The funk of forty thousand years

And grisly 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

[Into maniacal laugh, in deep echo].