“Thriller” by Michael Jackson
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Putting the lone criticism behind us: the decade-defining album deserved more exciting packaging.
No, the cotton-blurred bust portrait of a prostrate Michael Jackson will never draw the exegetes to the scene like a “Sgt. Pepper”. On the other hand: The casual hedonism that Jackson demonstrates on the cover of “Thriller” and that continues in the music sums up the zeitgeist quite adequately. In the face of dying forests and retrofitting, “Thriller” offers escapism at the highest imaginable level. For the dance on the edge of the abyss, however, producer Quincy Jones has now opted for electronic, at times almost metallic beats.
The gentle warmth of “Off The Wall” is gone, instead Vincent Price’s creepy voice rumbles through the title track. In this way, the approach of the previous album is perfected on the one hand, but at the same time systematically expanded: the dominance of soul and R&B disappears, rock and pop finally join them on an equal footing. Nowhere is that more apparent than in Eddie Van Halen’s raspy guitar solo on Michael Jackson’s first true rock song, Beat It, and of course, the doomed duet with Paul McCartney, The Girl Is Mine.
With “Thriller” Jackson actually becomes the first star of international pop music to finally break down all racial barriers. His phrasing and the use of his head voice testify to an unprecedented technical mastery, while majestic horns and effectively chugging synths, futuristic voice distortions and other studio tricks are fused hit after hit.
Seven out of nine “Thriller” songs became Top 10 hits
But not only “Beat It”, “Thriller” or “Billie Jean” are flawless pop pieces: From the pumping opening track “Wanna Be Startin’ Something” to the dreamy and intricately conceived “Human Nature” to the final ballad “The Lady In My Life” one searches in vain for filler material or even failures. The fact that seven of these nine songs are top ten hits is just a symptom: “Thriller” is possibly the only actually perfect album in the history of pop.
An article from the RS archive
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