Michael Jackson and Ola Ray are attacked by dancing zombies in this scene from the 'Thriller' video.
Over three decades after Michael Jackson recorded it, “Thriller” has become a staple at Halloween parties. One of his best-loved hits, it was also considered as one of the signature songs of the King of Pop.
In a recent analysis of over 600,000 Halloween themed playlists streamed at parties in the Philippines, the title track of Jackson’s 1982 multi-platinum album is not surprisingly the top choice.
Written by Rod Temperton of the ’70s disco group Heatwave (“Boogie Nights”) and produced by Quincy Jones, “Thriller” is the fourth track off Jackson’s 6th studio album, now regarded as the world’s best-selling long playing recording of all time, certified 29 times platinum in the US with over 65 million copies sold worldwide.
Originally titled “Starlight”, the almost 6-minute dance tune contains elements of funk and disco and opens with the sounds of a creaking door, feet walking on wooden floors, winds, thunder and howling dogs.
Jackson then sets the tone for the rest of song with the openining verse, “It’s close to midnight and something’s evil lurking in the dark/Under the moonlight you see a sight that almost stops your heart/You try to scream but terror takes the sound before you make it/You start to freeze as horror looks you right between the eyes/You’re paralyzed.”
But that’s not all, Temperton was quoted in his interviews that he had always envisioned the instrumental towards the end to have “a talking section”. Upon the suggestion of actress Peggy Lipton (“The Mod Squad”) then the wife of Quincy Jones, actor Vincent Price was approached for the part, and he immediately agreed.
An actor largely identified with horror films of the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s, Price was often tapped for voiceover work in horror-related projects including Alice Cooper’s 1975 album, “Welcome to my Nightmare”; “Vincent”, Tim Burton’s six-minute short film about a boy who imagined himself to be Vincent Prince; and the Hanna-Barbera, cartoon series “Scooby Doo” where he played a character called Vincent Van Ghoul.
Capped by his trademark maniacal laugh, his memorable voice at the tail-end of “Thriller” also revived his film career and in 1990, he was cast by Tim Burton in his last memorable role in “Edward Scissorhands”. Price also appeared in the 13-minute music video for “Thriller” directed by John Landis (“An American Werewolf in London”), then considered a groundbreaking short film.
The video shows Jackson and actress Ola Ray as a dating couple watching a horror film called “Thriller” starring Price.
Ray is too scared to finish the film (which also features Jackson as a werewolf) and walks out of the theater. Jackson follows for a while, and it looks like the two have ended their brief lover’s quarrel. As they are walking near a cemetery, zombies start to rise from their graves.
Now surrounded by zombies, Ray is horrified to see Jackson turn into a zombie himself. But instead of immediately attacking her, the zombies proceed to dance—cementing the song’s enduring reputation as a Halloween party favorite. Since the “Thriller” video was uploaded to Jackson’s VEVO channel in 2009, it has attracted over 200 million views. Two years earlier, a video of the inmates of the Cebu Provincial and Rehabilitation Center doing the zombie dance went viral and to date has earned over 54 million views in the premier video-sharing site.
Aside from “Thriller”, other horror tunes that appeared in Spotify’s “Spooktacular” Halloween playlist include Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s re-recording of “Monster Mash”, a song covered by Vincent Price himself, Stevie Wonder’s “Supersitition”, Radiohead’s “Creep”, Ray Parker, Jr.’s “Ghostbusters”, Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London”, Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear The Reaper” and Richard O’ Brien’s “The Time Warp” from the cult favorite film “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”, and “Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell, a childhood friend of Jackson who incidentally was also featured in the song’s chorus.
Michael Jackson and Ola Ray are attacked by dancing zombies in this scene from the 'Thriller' video.
Over three decades after Michael Jackson recorded it, “Thriller” has become a staple at Halloween parties. One of his best-loved hits, it was also considered as one of the signature songs of the King of Pop.
In a recent analysis of over 600,000 Halloween themed playlists streamed at parties in the Philippines, the title track of Jackson’s 1982 multi-platinum album not surprisingly emerged as the top choice.
Written by Rod Temperton of the ’70s disco group Heatwave (“Boogie Nights”) and produced by Quincy Jones, “Thriller” is the fourth track off Jackson’s 6th studio album, now regarded as the world’s best-selling long playing recording of all time, certified 29 times platinum in the US with over 65 million copies sold worldwide.
Originally titled “Starlight”, the almost 6-minute
