Thriller — 1982

Background

Thriller was released in 1982 as the follow-up to Michael Jackson's hugely successful Off the Wall, produced once again by Quincy Jones, with Jackson determined to make the biggest-selling album of all time — a goal reportedly stated outright during the making of the record. The sessions brought together an unusually eclectic group of collaborators, including Eddie Van Halen contributing an uncredited guitar solo and Vincent Price delivering a spoken-word monologue on the title track.

Sound

'Billie Jean' is built around one of the most instantly recognisable basslines in pop history, paired with a lyric about a paternity claim that Jackson always maintained was fictional; 'Beat It' brought a harder rock edge to Jackson's pop sound, helped by Van Halen's solo and Jones' insistence that the crossover between rock and R&B audiences was worth pursuing directly. The title track's extended music video, directed by John Landis and built around an elaborate horror-movie narrative and choreographed dance sequence, became as culturally significant as the song itself.

Scope

'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'' opens the album with a dense, percussive groove; 'Human Nature', co-written by Toto's Steve Porcaro, offered one of the record's more delicate, atmospheric moments; 'P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)' closed out the album's run of singles with a lighter, funk-inflected touch. Few albums before or since have generated as many hit singles from a single tracklist, with seven of the album's nine songs eventually released commercially.

Legacy

Thriller became, and remains, the best-selling album of all time worldwide, a commercial achievement that transformed Jackson into arguably the biggest pop star on the planet and helped establish MTV as a cultural force through the constant rotation of its videos. Its blend of pop, rock, funk and R&B, combined with meticulous production and an unprecedented run of singles, set a commercial and creative benchmark that the music industry has measured blockbuster pop albums against ever since.