Maps of Music

Thriller (1982)

Where the lyrics of Thriller take you, and where it was really made.

Thriller became the best-selling album of all time, with sales estimated at over 70 million copies worldwide.

Key places

Recording at Westlake Recording Studios (1982)

Recording site Westlake Recording Studios — The album was recorded from April to November 1982 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, with Quincy Jones as producer. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Thriller: sixth studio album by American singer Michael Jackson
• Released November 30, 1982 by Epic Records
• Jackson's second album on Epic, produced by Quincy Jones
• Paul McCartney is the first credited guest artist on a Jackson album
• Recorded April to November 1982 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, with a budget of US$750,000

Background

• Follows Off the Wall (1979), which was well received by critics and was also a commercial success
• Jackson felt underrated by the entertainment industry after the 1980 Grammy Awards
• The years between Off the Wall and Thriller were a period of change as Jackson asserted more independence
• Disco's decline made a change of musical direction necessary
• The album blended pop, post-disco and R&B, with darker themes such as paranoia

Recording

• Jackson and Quincy Jones worked on about 30 songs, and nine were kept for the final album
• Jackson wrote four songs: Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', The Girl Is Mine, Beat It and Billie Jean
• Jackson did not write these songs on paper; he recorded his ideas on a cassette recorder and sang them from memory
• Members of the band Toto took part as session musicians
• Jones and Jackson spent weeks looking for a guitarist for Beat It, and chose Eddie Van Halen

Cover

• The cover photo by Dick Zimmerman shows Jackson in a white suit
• A tiger cub on Jackson's leg in the fold-out sleeve was kept away from his face, according to Zimmerman

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Career

• Born August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana; eighth of ten children in the Jackson family.
• Debuted at age six as lead singer of the Jackson 5; the group signed with Motown in 1968 and had early number-one hits such as "I Want You Back".
• Moved to Epic Records in 1975 as the Jacksons, and began a solo career with Off the Wall (1979).
• Thriller (1982) became the best-selling album of all time, with an estimated 70 million copies sold.
• Bad (1987) was the first album to produce five US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles.
• Known as the "King of Pop"; credited with transforming music videos and popularizing the moonwalk.
• Died June 25, 2009 from a propofol overdose; a posthumous catalog continued to sell strongly.

Philanthropy

• Founded the Heal the World Foundation in 1992.
• Estimated to have donated over $500 million to charities over his life.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone: gave the album four stars, and Christopher Connelly called it a vigorous LP
• Melody Maker: Paolo Hewitt wrote that the album was not a good LP and that only two tracks deserved mention
• Robert Christgau: rated the album A shortly before its release, and called Beat It the best track

Reappraisal

• AllMusic: Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album five stars
• Slant Magazine: gave the album five stars and named Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' the best track

Records

• The album won eight Grammy Awards in 1984, including Album of the Year
• Jackson won eight American Music Awards the same year
• Thriller was ranked 20th on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in 2003
• Thriller was the best-selling album in the world in 1983 and in the United States for two consecutive years
• Certified 34 times platinum by the RIAA in 2021
• Sales estimated at about 70 million copies worldwide

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Vincent Price recorded his spoken part for the title track in only three takes.
• Rod Temperton wrote the final section of the title track in a taxi on the way to the studio.
• The success of Thriller made Jackson an international pop-cultural icon and put him at the top of pop music.
• Quincy Jones and Jackson were unhappy with the first mixes, so each song was remixed and took about a week per track.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Maps of Ages ↗ (mapsofages.com)

Privacy · Contact