Special Feature: 32 facts about Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'

Music history was made on November 30th 1982 when Michael Jacksons sixth studio album Thriller was released which would go on to become a huge success in the music industry and establish Jackson as the King of PopOn its 32nd anniversary here are 32 interesting things that you may or may not know about one of Michael Jacksons most famous works1 The titular song Thriller was not written by Michael Jackson but by British songwriter and musician Rod Temperton2 Rod Temperton originally wanted the songs title to be Starlight or Midnight Man but eventually settled on Thriller as felt the name had marketing potential3 Michael Jackson wrote four songs out of the nine featured in Thriller namely Wanna Be Startin Somethin The Girl Is Mine Beat It and Billie Jean4 Instead of writing the songs on paper Michael Jackson preferred to dictate them into a sound recorded and would sing from memory while recording themClockwise from top Michael Jacksons transformation from man to beast in the opening sequence of the music video Thriller Directed by An American Werewolf in London director John Landis the same special effects wizards who worked on the 1981 film were used for this video Pics courtesy YouTube5 Michael Jackson and producer Quincy Jones who collaborated with the singer on his 1979 album Off The Wall worked together on 30 songs out of which 9 were eventually released on the final record6 Michael Jacksons iconic red jacket that he donned in the Thriller music video was actually designed by the videos director John Landis wife Deborah Nadoolman a film and theatre costume designer7 The music video for Thriller was shot in 4 days8 The Thriller music video was selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in December 2009 This makes it the first ever music video to be selectedLeft Michael Jackson in full zombie mode and A cateyes sporting Michael Jackson grins at the camera as the music video for Thriller draws to a close Pics courtesyYouTube9 Michael Jackson did his famous moonwalk for the first time while performing Billie Jean in the 1983 TV special Motown 25 Yesterday Today Forever10 The Guinness World Records listed Thriller as the most successful music video of all time in 200611 The music video for Thriller was shot on a budget of USD 500000 an extravagant sum for 198312 Michael Jackson was able to break down racial barriers in pop music with Thriler via appearances on MTV He also with then President of the United States Ronald Reagan at the White House13 Michael Jackson felt his previous album Off the Wall had underperformed and was apparently upset about being devalued in the music industry due to his race After being turned down by a major magazine after he requested them to do a cover page on him he decided to create an album that would make him the undisputed king of music Thriller went on the do just that and made Michael Jackson the household name that he aspired to beMichael Jacksons iconic jacket from the Thriller music video PicAFP14 The music videos for Thriller Billie Jean and Beat It received regular rotation of MTV which was a relatively new TV channel at the time as it was launched in 1981 two years before the release of Thriller to become a popular medium for music15 Beat It was inspired from the determination of Michael Jackson and producer Quincy Jones to create a rock song in response to the ongoing backlash against disco music The found a suitable guitarist in Eddie Van Halen the lead guitarist of the famous rock band Van Halen His distinctive riff is one of the most recognizable traits of the song16 Quincy Jones made Michael Jackson sing vocal overdubs through a sixfootlong cardboard tube for Billie Jean Jazz saxophonist Tom Scott was brought in to play the lyricon a rare windcontrolled analog synthesizerStills from Michael Jacksons Billie Jean music video The innovative set with glowing tiles made the video popular among fansPic courtesyYouTube17 In 1984 Thriller won a recordbreaking eight Grammy Awards in 1984 including for Album of the Year18 Seven singles from Thriller were released from the album all of which reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 10019 Michael Jacksons Thriller becamemdashand currently remainsmdashthe bestselling album of all time with sales of 65 million copies worldwide according to various sources20 Rolling Stone magazine ranked Thriller number 20 on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list in 200321 The National Association of Recording Merchandisers list Thriller at number three in its Definitive 200 albums of all time22 Michael Jacksons collaboration with legendary Beatles singer Sir Paul McCartney for the duet The Girl is Mine is credited with helping promote racial equality in the United States23 Legendary yesteryear Hollywood actor Vincent Price famous for his performances in several classic horror films performed the spoken word rap in the final part of Thriller the song 24 With Thriller Michael Jackson transformed the medium of music video into an art form and promotional tool through the use of complex story lines dance routines special effects and cameo appearances by well known personalities25 Michael Jackson decided to cast 80 genuine gang members for his music video Beat It in order to give some authenticity to the production 26 The Beat It video is noted for opening up many job opportunities for dancers in the US also featured 18 professional dancers and four breakdancersMichael Jacksons firstever moonwalk on the TV special Motown 25 Yesterday Today Forever 1983 Pic courtesy YouTube27 Both the music videos for Beat It and Thriller are notable for their mass choreography of synchronized dancers a Michael Jackson trademark28 The Billie Jean song was promoted with a short film that broke down MTVs racial barrier as the first video by a black artist to be aired in heavy rotation29 According to some sources Michael Jackson got the inspiration for the song Billie Jean after a female fan alleged that Jackson or one of his brothers had fathered one of her children The singer however refuted this and stated that the song is based on a few groupies that he encountered during performances30 According to John Branca Michael Jacksons attorney the singer achieved the highest royalty rate in the music industry to that point for Thriller approximately 2 for each album sold31 Wanna Be Startin Something the first track from the album Thriller featured a Africaninspired chant during the songs closing moments which gave the song an international flavour32 Thriller continued to set additional records after Michael Jacksons death in 2009 100000 copies were sold making the album rank number 2 on the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart Songs from Thriller also helped Jackson become the first artist to sell more than one million song downloads in a week