Thriller: A Song By Song Review Of Michael Jackson’s 1982 Breakthrough Album

Track 1: “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” – So much greatness stuffed into one song. I love that such an over the top song opens the album, it definitely sets the mood in the perfect way.

Track 2: “Baby Be Mine” – Not as remarkable as some of the other classics on this album but still a really great song with an outstanding performance from MJ (as usual.)

Track 3: “The Girl Is Mine” – Paul McCartney joins Michael Jackson on this silly love song (that Michael wrote.) Yes, it’s silly but it’s still a nice little tune and I like the playful interaction between these two music legends.

Track 4: “Thriller” – This brilliant song was written by Rod Temperton (who also wrote the only two non singles on the album, “Baby Be Mine” & “The Lady In My Life”) but it was Michael Jackson’s incredible performance that makes the song so memorable. That and the amazing music video of course.

Track 5: “Beat It” – A great rock crossover that gained Michael a lot of new fans. The inclusion of a great rock guitar solo by Eddie Van Halen was a really great idea (which I’m assuming was Michael Jackson’s since he wrote this song.)

Track 6: “Billie Jean” – One of the greatest pop songs of all time and Michael has sole songwriting credit on it. Don’t forget that MJ wasn’t only an amazing singer & dancer, he was also an excellent songwriter.

Track 7: “Human Nature” – One of the really great “lesser known” (by Thriller standards) Michael Jackson classics. This song and “P.Y.T.” are the Thriller tracks I seem to enjoy the most these days.

Track 8: “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” – There are so many things I love about this song. The incredible energy in Michael’s voice. The “robot” & “chipmunk” voices. The irresistible urge to dance that it gives me. A great song.

Track 9: “The Lady In My Life” – This is probably the most forgettable song on the album but it still has some really nice moments. Particularly once it gets going after a somewhat lethargic beginning.