Michael Jackson Michael Jackson/Thriller Alternate Demo Sessions Vol.1

This is the first installment of a series of articles that examines how the monster album Thriller was made, chronologically lining up Michael Jackson’s demos, alternate versions, and unreleased songs. Off The Wall was a huge hit, peaking at number 4 on the Billboard 200, winning awards and selling millions of copies. But after missing out on the Grammy for Album of the Year, Michael felt he needed to make a bigger impact in the pop mainstream. But first he needed to complete one more Jacksons album. Triumph, released in 1980, featured three hit singles (“Lovely One,” “This Place Hotel,” and “Can You Feel It”), and its title “Triumph” hinted at Michael’s further solo success. One of the songs on Thriller was already written during the making of Off The Wall: the opening track of Thriller, “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin'”. It was written and recorded in November 1978. It was originally written as a song for his sister La Toya, in response to reports about his relationship with his other sisters, but it was never released at the time. Michael recorded it for “Off the Wall,” but the album was already scheduled for release, so it was not included. As a result, the song was not completed by 1978. This is the recording (1978 Demo). And the Jacksons’ “Triumph.” An outtake from that is the unreleased song “We Love You.” It was written by Michael Jackson, and the vocals are his alone, and it has an atmosphere that could be applied to a solo work rather than a Jacksons work, but it was not considered for inclusion on “Thriller.” And the fourth track on “Triumph,” “Everybody,” written by Michael and Tito, has an English commentary, but it is a session recording. You can feel the influence of the lyrics and sound of “Get Down On The Floor” from “Off The Wall.” And an extended version of “Wondering Who” with unreleased vocals by Michael Jackson, and #2 is a fan-made song. The first single from Thriller was “The Girl Is Mine” with Paul McCartney, but Paul and Michael collaborated on a song more than a year before that was produced. That song was “Say Say Say” released on August 5, 1983. It was Paul’s last number one as a group and as a solo artist, his biggest hit as a solo artist, and it was also number two on the R&B chart. In fact, it was Michael’s number one mega-hit of all time. So “Say Say Say” was not an outtake from Thriller. Michael wrote most of the lyrics for the song in April 1981 and gave them to Paul the next day. Recording began in May 1981 at AIR Studios in London. At the time, Paul was recording his second solo album after the breakup of Wings, “Tug Of War,” which was released in 1982. During the recording, Michael stayed at Paul and his wife Linda’s house (they first met when Michael was invited to Paul’s birthday party in 1978. Paul also wrote a song for Michael called “Girlfriend,” in which he sings about telling his current boyfriend that he’s his girlfriend, and it competed with “Sunset Driver” for inclusion, and was finally included in “Off The Wall.” Michael had even talked about naming the album “Girlfriend.” It was later included in Wings’ “London Town.”) One night at the dining table, Paul brought a booklet with all the songs he had publishing rights to. “This is how I make a lot of money.” “Every time someone records these songs, I get paid. And every time someone plays these songs on the radio or live.” Those words of Paul led Michael to buy ATV Music Publishing in 1985. “Say Say Say” was included in Paul’s album “Pipes Of Peace” released in 1983. Michael does some ad-libs in it, but mainly sings the hook. Paul is the one who starts the song. However, the 2015 Remix has the same sound, but Michael sings the opening, Paul sings a lot of parts, and Michael also plays some voice percussion, making it a more Michael-oriented version. George Martin, famous for his work with The Beatles, produced “Say Say Say.” He said of his experience with Michael, “He comes into the studio, and he has an aura about him. There’s no question about that. He’s not a musician in the way that Paul is, but he knows what he wants from music, and he has very strong ideas.” Michael also talked about this experience in his autobiography, Moonwalk. He revealed that the collaboration boosted his confidence because producer Quincy Jones wasn’t there to correct his mistakes. Michael wrote that he and McCartney worked on an equal footing, and “Paul never supported me in that studio.” The demo of “Say Say Say” sounds like it was taken with a tape recorder, but you can enjoy the sound of Paul and Michael singing earnestly, searching for a comfortable spot for each other. The album also includes a long alternate version of “Say Say Say,” including the 2015 Remix. Michael reunites with producer Quincy Jones and songwriter Rod Temperton to begin work on the sequel to Off The Wall, a record that purposefully meets every mainstream musical standard. Their first sessions began in the fall of ’81. “Who Do You Know,” a song that was first written during the Triumph period in ’80. A year later, in the fall of ’81, during the Thriller sessions (though the song “Thriller” hadn’t been written yet, we’ll refer to it this way for convenience), the song continued to be written at Hayvenhurst until February ’82, but was ultimately discarded. It was later reworked by Michael during the sessions for The Jacksons’ Victory and considered for inclusion, but ultimately only contributed three other songs: “State of Shock,” “Be Not Always,” and “The Hurt.” “The Toy” was written solely by Michael and recorded in ’81. Even after it was decided that it would not be included on Thriller, Michael continued to work on the song, which became “I Am Your Joy” and was then refined over the years to appear on the album Michael (2010) under the title “Best Of Joy”. “The Toy” has some different lyrics from those songs. It was originally requested by Quincy Jones for the soundtrack of the movie of the same name, directed by Richard Pryor. When asked about this in an interview in 1984, Michael said that the idea and the whole song was scrapped so that the two could focus on Thriller, and that he felt the song was just as strong, if not stronger, than the songs on the album. “What A Lovely Way To Go” was originally “What A Lonely Way To Go”, written before “Off The Wall”. It was recorded during the Off The Wall sessions in 1978 but was scrapped. It was later revisited in the Thriller sessions in the fall of ’81, with the title changed to “What a Lovely Way to Go,” and recorded, which is the demo included here. Then in early ’10, it was remixed by Mark Ronson and considered for inclusion on Michael under the title “Lovely Way,” and a snippet of the remix is ​​included here. Not only Michael’s own compositions were recorded, but also songs provided by Michael. “She’s Trouble” was written by Bill Livesey, Sue Shifrin, and Terry Britten, and recorded in the fall of ’81 with Michael’s vocals. The song was eventually scrapped, and later provided for Scott Baio’s album The Boys Are Out Tonight and Musical Youth’s album Different Style. In 2009, an early demo of unfinished lyrics and tweets was leaked, and both that version and the demo for Thriller 40 are included here. “Got the Hots” is thought to have been composed primarily by Rod Temperton. Credited to Michael and Quincy, this was also recorded in the fall of ’81, and the version is included on Thriller 25 and other albums. Cedar Garrett later changed the title to “Baby’s Got It Bad” and included it on her album Kiss of Life. After a string of rejected songs from Thriller, the fall ’81 sessions saw the recording of Michael’s most representative song, a demo composed by Michael. “Billie Jean” (1981 demo included on Thriller Special Edition and other albums). It features Michael improvising while mumbling the lyrics, and the iconic drums are not yet present, instead using a Linn LM-1 drum machine as a guide. According to Michael’s biographer J. Randy Tavaorelli, “Billie Jean” was inspired by a letter Michael received in ’81 from a woman who claimed he was the father of her twins. Michael had never met the woman, and was used to receiving such letters, so he ignored them. However, she continued to send him letters saying she loved him and wanted to be with him, some of which disturbed Michael to the point that he had nightmares about her. Eventually, Michael received a package envelope containing a photo of the fan, a gun, and a letter instructing him to kill himself at a specific time. The fan wanted her to kill herself after she killed “their” baby so that they could be together in the afterlife. To her dismay, Michael framed the photo and hung it on the dining room table of his home. Michael later found out that the fan had been committed to a mental hospital. However, according to Michael himself, “Billie Jean” was not inspired by anyone he was personally involved with, but rather by his brothers. “There is no real Billie Jean. The girl in the song is a composite of people that my brothers have been bothered by over the years. I never understood why they were saying these girls were carrying children when it wasn’t true.” From Moonwalk by Michael, 1988. 1978 1.Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ (1978 Demo) 5:42 1980 Triumph Era 2.We Love You (Demo) 3:31 3.Everybody (Demo) 8:03 4.Wonderring Who (Extended Version) 9:43 5.Wonderring Who (Extended Version #2) 7:19 1981 April to May 6.Say Say Say (2015 Remix) 3:47 7.Say Say Say (Demo) 4:17 8.Say Say Say (Alternate Version) 6:56 1981 9.Who Do You Know (Demo) 5:23 10.The Toy (Demo) 3:05 1981 Fall 11.What A Lovely Way To Go (Demo) 3:55 12.Lovely Way (snippet) 0:12 13.She’s Trouble (Leaked Demo) 3:46 14.She’s Trouble (Demo) 4:13 15. Got The Hots (Demo) 4:25 16. Billie Jean (1981 Demo) 2:20