It was originally called Starlight … and 12 other things you didn’t know about Michael Jackson’s Thriller
Rod Temperton, who died this week, wrote the song but here are a few more thrilling nuggets about Thriller
SONGWRITER Rod Temperton, who died this week, wasn’t the best known name in pop but he delivered one of the biggest hits of all time when he wrote Thriller.
But the name of the genius who penned the title track isn’t the only fascinating fact you didn’t know about Michael Jackson’s classic album.
The song Thriller was originally called Starlight
The album was almost called Midnight Man.
Rod Temperton revealed: “Originally, when I did my Thriller demo, I called it Starlight. Quincy (Jones) said to me, 'You managed to come up with a title for the last album, see what you can do for this album.' 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 visualize 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.”
Vincent Price was paid less than £800 for that famous voiceover
The horror legend was contacted by the wife of producer Quincy Jones and he agreed to lend his dulcet tones – and sinister laugh – to the single. He did it in two takes but, when the album and track went big, he became frustrated by his tiny fee and said that Jackson stopped taking his calls.
A whole verse of Vincent’s spooky rap was cut
He recorded the lines: "The demons squeal in sheer delight / It's you they spy, so plump, so right / For though the groove is hard to beat / Yet still you stand with frozen feet / You try to run, you try to scream / But no more sun you'll ever see / For evil reaches from the crypt / To crush you in its icy grip."
Billie Jean is about a real life stalker
Jacko told Quincy Jones the track was based on a girl who climbed over his wall one morning and accused him of being the father of one of her twins.
Bonkers.
Quincy Jones worried that people would think Billie Jean was about the tennis player.
He wanted Michael to change the title to Not My Lover in case Billie Jean King thought it was about her.
Fred Astaire could have been in the Thriller video
The twinkle-toed legend attended a rehearsal of the iconic video. He was a fan of Jacko’s dancing and the pop star even taught him to Moonwalk.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses weren’t happy
Michael was a devout Jehovah’s Witness but when the organisation found out her was making a werewolf video, they threatened to excommunicate him.
In fact he wanted to have the film destroyed but he was persuaded to run it with a disclaimer which read: “Due to my strong personal beliefs, I wish to stress that this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult.”
The zombies’ clothes in the video were from the Salvation Army
Why waste the cash on rags?
The single stayed in the UK charts for 52 weeks, despite peaking at number 10.
In the wake of Jacko’s death, in 2009, it became his most downloaded track with sales of 167,000 copies in the US alone.
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Jacko’s jacket sold for £1.4million
The red leather jacket Michael wore in the video, which was designed by Deborah Nadoolman, was sold at auction in 2011.
Michael's girlfriend in the Thriller video was a Playboy Playmate.
Ola Ray later hinted that she and Michael had a fling while shooting the video.
Jacko got his sisters involved
Janet and LaToya sang backing vocals on P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing).
Thriller is the best-selling album of all time
The sixth studio album from Jacko stayed in the charts for 122 weeks – nearly two and a half years – and sold over 65million copies worldwide.