Thriller Novel - Suspense & Mystery for Night Reading

There will never be another artist like Michael Jackson. He had everything. The sex appeal, the voice, the experience, the connections- Michael Jackson epitomized everything about a pop artist. Despite his recent history and the jokes that go hand in hand (which haven’t been funny for years), Michael Jackson proves on his albums that no matter what he does, he has something great that everyone will remember him for. Thriller stands out as one of the best albums in his career, showcasing some of his most legendary songs ever.The success of Thriller is flat out scary. The album skyrocketed to the top of the charts and stayed there for 80 weeks, one of only 3 albums to reach that level. Today, it stands as the second highest selling album in the United States and according to some sources, the highest selling album ever in the world. Seven of the nine songs on Thriller became singles, and three of them are among Jackson’s greatest hits. Thriller shows Michael Jackson branching off into a large amount of genres, including rock, R&B, funk, and just straight up 80s synth pop. Despite all the different areas of music, Jackson almost subconsciously inputs his undeniable catchiness and appeal. He took a larger songwriting and production role on this album, allowing him to really play to his strengths. He shows an obvious influence from artists like James Brown, George Clinton, and Stevie Wonder, but he also pulls in some even bigger star power. He called on Paul McCartney, immortally famous Beatles member, to do a duet with him. They “collaborated” and produced The Girl is Mine, the first single off of ThrillerJackson actually wrote all of The Girl is Mine, not allowing McCartney in any of the writing. McCartney simply adds his voice and more importantly, his name to the song. Unfortunately, even with the talents of two of the greatest pop artists of all time, The Girl is Mine fails to impress. The song is a slow, dreamy love song, allowing the vocal talent to stand out. However, the poppy hooks fail to catch the attention of the listener and the music itself pails in comparison to most of the album. Regardless, The Girl is Mine found instant success, maybe due to the star power in the song. It peaked at #2 in the pop singles chart. However, The Girl is Mine was only the beginning of the success for Thriller. Jackson then released Billie Jean, a much more uptempo and overall better song than his previous effort. Jackson also wrote Billie Jean entirely, and proves his undeniable songwriting talent on the song. It grooves a simple drum beat and a fantastic, jumpy bassline. Melodically, a synth chord progression outlines the verse, but more and more instruments add in to the climatic chorus. The chorus features extremely catchy vocal harmonies and a superb funky guitar line. That line later expands into an instrumental bridge, and the guitar stands out as a certain highlight of the song. Billie Jean shot to #1 in both the Black Singles and Pop Singles charts.Thriller contains two more extremely important tracks, the first being the title track. Known more for its dance moves and music video, Thriller is about as epic as a pop song gets. The song draws from Tower of Power horn licks and Funkadelic pop sensibility. The huge brass statement that leads the song into its main groove simply states that Thriller plans to go beyond the normal limits of a pop song. The song outlines the story of a cheesy horror film, which the video conveys perfectly. Immediately following Thriller is Beat It, which also brings in some extreme extra star power. Jackson called on Eddie Van Halen to play guitar on this song. The song draws heavily from the hair metal wave taking the rock nation by storm. The song actually peaked at #14 on the rock charts as well as #1 once again on the Pop Singles and Black Singles charts. Van Halen’s guitar playing is just as lackluster as McCartney’s appearance, but at least Van Halen isn’t as legendary as McCartney. He bursts out his typical fret-burning solo that somehow never impresses me. However, it’s a common misconception that fast guitar playing equals good guitar playing, so fans ate the song up. The riffing plays fairly stereotypical, but this isn’t on a Van Halen album, it’s on a Michael Jackson album, and Jackson lets his audience know that. His poppy vocal harmonies and lyrics make this song for what it is.Overall, Thriller is composed much like a sandwich. The bread covers the top and bottom, the less interesting part of the sandwich. On Thriller, tracks 1-3 make a good first impression but after hearing the entire album, they just do not live up to the middle of the album, or the meat of the album. The three huge singles, Thriller, Beat It, and Billie Jean all stand out even today as some of the greatest pop singles of all time. Finally, the last half of the album feels much like the beginning. Human Nature and The Lady in My Life are both good tracks, featuring some great bass and Jackson’s more sensitive side, but still never live up to the catchiness and fun of the middle of the album. However, as the entire album is listenable all the way through and each track has at least its moments, Thriller stands as one of Jackson’s greatest efforts, giving him an eternal legacy in pop music.Just like the sticker states on the front of the CD, Thriller is still the world's best selling CD, And yes the Eagles did pass "Thriller" in the U.S. as far album sales go in America with "Their Greatest Hits", The music on "Thriller" sounds fresh as if it was made today and not 40 years ago, My favorite songs on here are all of the hit singles "Thriller", "Beat it", (Both number 1 hits) "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing), "Wanna be startin' somethin'", "Human Nature", And of course "Billie Jean", The one song I didn't like as much and the weakest song on the album "The Girl is mine" (Ft. Paul McCartney), Thriller is very much a must own for any Michael Jackson fan or fans of good music in general, This CD is nearly flawless with the album produced by Legendary producer Quincy Jones, Thanks Amazon!Awesome cdSo fun to have something from my teen years :)I gave 4 stars because the record came with a bend in it. You can see it waving around as it spins. I haven't gotten any bent records from other places.The cd was perfectly fine but the case was cracked slightlyPerfect products and good sellerI LOVE the king of popO vinil veio cheio de defeitos de prensagem, impossível a reprodução, péssimo, tive que devolver...If you need to read the reviews to decide if you will purchase the world's top selling album of all-time then I do worry for the human race.Michael Jackson's Thriller is a must-have. The recording quality is top-notch and it is track after track of hits that are well sung and orchestrated.Just buy it.What more can be said ----- one really good song, 'Thriller', made even more special by the performance of Jackson in the video by John Landis which has become an icon. Also on the DVD are 'Billy Jean' and 'Beat It'.Separate CD with ten of his well known songs, plus a further six versions of songs with accompaniment by well known singers, not something that particularly grabbed me to be honest.The case is a bit fiddly and easily broken due to the foldout design holding both the DVD and CD separately. Best find a more robust case for storage.I had always liked Michael Jackson when I was a kid in the 90s, occasionally playing HIStory in the living room or watching a live performance on TV. I played a Michael Jackson song on my Talkgirl as I played in the garden. But I didn't really get into him until I was 16, and going through some unusual and tough times. I don't remember how it started - maybe I had seen "Bad" on TV - but I went through a Michael Jackson phase at 16, playing HIStory, watching his music videos, watching documentaries. I never believed a bad word about Michael, and vocally supported him. I sent texts to radio stations asking them to please play anything by Michael Jackson, although I really had a preference for the 80s. I think his music, and possibly also Michael himself and his unusual, difficult life, comforted me. There is something very soothing about Michael Jackson, his music calms you, inspires you... and then there is Michael himself. Mysterious, strange, misunderstood... naive, innocent, kind, good.I considered buying his CDs when I was 16, but never did. My Michael Jackson phase ended by 17, although I didn't stop being a fan, admiring and supporting him. Now, I have finally bought Thriller and Bad together. While I prefer Bad's sound personally (very 80s, very fun), Thriller is an amazing album. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', Billie Jean, Beat It, Thriller, Human Nature, P.Y.T (Pretty Young Thing) and Baby Be Mine are brilliant songs. The Lady In My Life, Someone in the Dark and Carousel are also enjoyable. I find this album particularly soothing and the perfect MJ album when feeling happy, but calm. Songs like Human Nature are also quite therapeutic.You don't get the new versions of songs like Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008 with Akon, or P.Y.T 2008 with Will.i.am. Those are on Thriller 25, but in my opinion, not worth the extra pounds. I'm also not into music like Akon's Will.i.am's, Kanye West's or Fergie's, so I'm not missing much there. This CD is more than good enough. (But don't take it from me, listen for yourself on Spotify.)You probably already have an idea whether you'd like this album or not. MJ's songs are legendary. But if you're a new fan, and thinking of giving the full album a try, do it! This is music as it should be. The world lost something great in MJ. But his albums will be selling for another 30 years.Thriller is in my opinion 'the' Michael Jackson album and the short film music videos for them set the standard for future videos. As with most albums or ground breaking music, an anniversary edition (cash cow edition) becomes the standard and this is what this album kinda is for me. The re-recordings sucked, the mastering didn't sound overly improved and the DVD shorts again could have done with some touch ups, although the Motown 25 version of Billie Jean was a good addition. The single extra voice over session from Vincent Price was nice to hear but it would have been good if they dropped the re-recordings in favour of the demos, instrumentals and voice over sessions from the deluxe edition.