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Undated “Thriller” Recording Stories

 

Michael Jackson, “News of the World” (September 27, 2009) (archived)

In lost tapes from an interview dating back to the early 1980s, Michael revealed how he was close to pulling the plug on the album - which had cost $750,000 to produce - because it "sucked".

...He said: "Thriller sounded so crap. The mixes sucked. When we listened to the whole album, there were tears... I just cried like a baby.

"I stormed out of the room and said 'we're not releasing this. Call [record company] CBS and tell them they are NOT getting this album. We are NOT releasing this.'"

Michael revealed how he left the studio - West Lake in Los Angeles - and spent some time alone, watching children in a schoolyard.

He said: "I felt terrible. One of the maintenance crew in the studio had a bicycle and so I took it and rode up to the schoolyard. I just watched the children play.

"And when I came back I was ready to rule the world. I went into the studio and I turned them songs out."

After remixing a song a week, Thriller was finally released in November 1982 - and went on to sell more than 70 million copies worldwide turning Jackson into a pop phenomenon.

 

Quincy Jones, producer, “The National” (Abu Dhabi) (September 25, 2013) (archived)

The aim with Thriller was to be Jackson’s “mature” album: “The transition from Off the Wall to Thriller was to say that he has moved from being a youth to man,” Jones said.

Rod Temperton, songwriter, Telegraph (November 25, 2007) (archived)

Quincy said to me, 'You managed to come up with a title for the last album, see what you can do for this album.' I said, 'Oh great,' so I went back to the hotel, wrote two or three hundred titles, and came up with the title 'Midnight Man'. The next morning, I woke up, and I just said this word... Something in my head just said, this is the title. You could visualise it on the top of the Billboard charts. You could see the merchandising for this one word, how it jumped off the page as 'Thriller'.

 

Bruce Swedien, studio engineer, “Musician” magazine (July 1984)

Bruce Swedien, Jones’ engineer of twenty-eight years (and a Grammy award winner for his work on “Thriller”) claims Quincy “listened to a thousand songs or some astronomical number to get the nine songs that eventually were on the album…. I’ve never seen Quincy so into anything. Ever. In all our years, we’ve worked together.”

...As the song selection process progressed, Jackson and JOnes made what Quincy calls "Polaroids" of the songs. "In other words, it's a small mock-up of what the songs will appear like", says Swedien. "At that stage, they try different counter melodies and different vocal registers and make it work for Michael. Quincy does this on everything."

…As the song selection process progressed, Jackson and Jones made what Quincy calls "Polaroids" of the songs. "In other words, it's a small mock-up of what the songs will appear like", says Swedien. "At that stage, they try different counter melodies and different vocal registers and make it work for Michael. Quincy does this on everything."

..."Q is non-mechanical, non-electronic. The greatest thing for him was cassettes because he only had to put one thing in the machine."

...The key to the vocal, says Swedien, lies in the seriousness with which Michael takes his craft. "When we do vocals, we usually start at noon", he says, "During that period, every day—I don't mean just one day a week or something—every day that Michael records vocals, he's at his vocal coach's place at 8:30 in the morning. So when he comes in, he's ready to go." It is not unusual for Michael to cut his lead vocal and backing parts in one day.

“The Daily Telegraph” (November 25, 2007) (archived)

When we started 'Thriller', the first day at Westlake [the studio on Santa Monica Boulevard where the album was recorded], we were all there and Quincy [Jones, the producer] walked in followed by me and Michael and Rod Temperton and some of the other people. Quincy turned to us and he said, 'OK guys, we're here to save the recording industry.' Now that's a pretty big responsibility - but he meant it. And that's why those albums, and especially 'Thriller', sound so incredible. The basic thing is, everybody who was involved gave 150 percent … Quincy's like a director of a movie and I'm like a director of photography, and it's Quincy's job to cast [it]. Quincy can find the people and he gives us the inspiration to do what we do.

...I tried all sorts of things with Michael - for instance, he would sing the main vocal part and we'd double it one time and then I'd ask him to step away from the mic and do it a third time and that really changed the acoustics in the room so it gave Michael's vocals a unique character … We recorded some of those background vocals in the shower stall at Westlake.

...When Michael liked a groove, he'd call it 'Smelly Jelly'. Also Michael doesn't curse, and when he wants to say a bad word, he'll simply call it 'smelly'.

...[Temperton is] more like a classical composer than a pop composer - when he arrives, nothing is left to chance, and it's the same with his demos... When we were recording, Michael went home, stayed up all night, and memorised every one of [Rod Temperton's] demos, never had a piece of paper in front of him. Can you believe that?

“Goldmine” magazine (April 9, 2010) (archived)

“I do remember worrying about the mastering a lot because when we finished Thriller, it was actually quite long,” says Swedien. “And Michael is a nut about the sound that comes off the disc. And you can’t … the release, the major release medium of the time was the LP. And you can’t have that volume and put it on at that length or you’re going to … the length will control the amount of volume, and what we did was we ended up editing and cutting down the length of time on that first side so that we could put more level on the record.”

More level was exactly what was needed, but Michael was reluctant to change things.

“I’d been to Bernie Grundman’s to master Thriller. And I brought it back to Westlake Studio, and we were all there, including some of the label people to listen to it. And oh, the label people were just salivating over this thing and everything.”

Little did they know what was going on behind the scenes.

“I remember the first side, which had all the prime cuts on it, was 28 minutes,” says Swedien. “And you can’t do that, just can’t be done. You can’t have all that time on a record and still put the level on it to be competitive in the industry. And it was so noticeable … and this shows you how perceptive Michael is. While we were listening and the people from Epic were there and everything, by the time the first side was almost through, Michael snuck out of the studio and went across the hall to the other studio, which was empty at the time. And we didn’t know what was going on.

“So Quincy and I looked at each other, and we also snuck out and went over to the other studio, and there was Michael in the corner sobbing, in tears because the sound was not right. And all I could think to say was, ‘Okay, you guys, Quincy and Michael, I told you so.’ I’d been fighting these edits all along, trying to get them to cut down on the songs. So what happened was that Quincy said, ‘Okay, we’re going to go back in the studio for eight days. We’re going to cut these things down and get some level on this record.’”

“Sound on Sound” (November 2009) (archived)

Sharp‑eyed fans scrutinising Thriller's liner notes quickly spotted the rubric "Recorded and mixed by Bruce Swedien using the Acusonic Recording Process,” and there has been continued speculation that some mysterious studio gizmo had given Jackson's record the edge, despite the engineer formally putting the subject to bed in a lecture in 1984. The Acusonic Recording Process (and the synonymous Quantum Range Recording Process) was not some kind of processing innovation, but rather a name for the manner in which Swedien synchronised multiple 24‑track tape machines to access a practically limitless track count.

However, despite the busting of the 'black box' myth, there are indeed fundamental ways in which the Acusonic approach affected the sound of Thriller, and indeed its predecessor. In the first instance, it allowed Swedien to circumvent one of the deleterious side‑effects of tape‑based multitracking: that repeated playback of the tape during the overdubbing and production process would progressively dull the transients of previous recorded tracks. "If you go back to the recordings I made with Michael, my big worry was that if those tapes got played repeatedly, the transient response would be minimised. I heard many recordings of the day that were very obviously done that way, and there were no transients left on those tapes. So what I would do would be to record the rhythm section on a 24‑track tape, then take that tape and put it away and wouldn't play it again until the final mix. And — holy cow — what a difference that made! It was just incredible.”

By using a SMPTE timecode track on each tape and then sync'ing the master rhythm‑section tape to new reels, any number of 'work tapes' could be generated for the purposes of overdubbing, each furnished with a handful of submixed cue tracks from the master reel. "At the end of the tracking sessions, I could premix each of those tapes down to only a pair of tracks during the final mix, and that would give me a huge number of tracks to use. So, for example, all the background vocals on 'Rock With You' were recorded on a separate 24‑track, and then I premixed them for the final mix.”

While transient definition is clearly a hallmark of these records, Acusonic's practically limitless track count was also crucial, because it allowed Swedien the freedom to indulge his passion for stereo recording, an enthusiasm reaching back to his days with Bill Putnam in Chicago. What this meant was that a large proportion of the overdubs on Michael Jackson's albums were actually recorded in stereo, thereby improving the sense of width, realism, and emotional immediacy. As he comments in his new book, In The Studio With Michael Jackson: "These true stereo images add much to the depth and clarity of the final production. I have a feeling that this one facet of my production technique contributes more to the overall sonic character of my work than any other single factor.”

...While the Acusonic Recording Process clearly played an important role in delivering Thriller's unique wide‑screen, percussive sound, it's clear from speaking to Bruce Swedien that there's more to the recipe than fresh tape. Credit must also go to his own personal collection of classic mics, which he ferries around to all his recording sessions. (See the 'Bruce Swedien's Microphones' box for more details.) "All of my mics I bought new, and all of the really important ones are sequential serial numbers. No‑one else has ever used them, so they're all in really good condition. That's part of the secret.”

Given Swedien's repeated emphasis on maximising pickup of transients through mic selection and careful use of the recording medium, it makes sense that he has trenchant views on the use of compression. "I'm not a big fan of compression or limiting at all — I can't emphasise that enough. On many of the recordings that you hear today, all the excitement and all the colour is gone because they're so over‑compressed. I never did that. I would never have a compressor or limiter on the [master] bus, for instance. I want all that transient information there. And no compression or limiting on any drums or percussion. That's one of the biggest mistakes that I hear, I think, in modern pop recording. The stuff is so compressed they've limited the living doo‑doo out of the sound.”

That's not to say that he leaves the dynamics of the performance completely untouched, but is much more inclined to achieve the required dynamic control through to‑tape fader rides while overdubbing and automation while mixing. "I'm a nutcase about details in the mix, so I'll use automation to a degree, but only very subtle compression. I have a pair of the new variety of [Universal Audio] LA2As that I just love, so I will use those, but it'll only just be tickling the meter, at the most one or two decibels. I don't like what happens to the sound when you compress any further, and that's very important to me.”

Wife Bea Swedien’s autobiography, “My Life as a Studio Wife: A Lifetime of Love and Music with Bruce Swedien” (August 11, 2025)

[Bruce:] “We really did some very unique things with the Chi-Lites. That’s where I began experimenting with moving the singers in closer and away from the microphone when we overdubbed the harmonies. That technique greatly affected the sound of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. I got that sound in my ear. It started with the Chi-Lites in Chicago.”

…

[After “The Wiz”] project, Jones’ 1978 solo release Sounds… and Stuff Like That (featuring Vandross, Chaka Khan and Herbie Hancock), Swedien developed a system of multitrack multiplexing that utilized double stereo microphone recordings, designed exclusively for his work with Jones. This method would later be known as the Acusonic Recording Process, a clever combination of “accurate” and “sonic” coined by Jones and Michael Jackson. Swedien explained further at a 1984 NARAS luncheon: “The ‘accurate’ part of it referred to the accuracy of the true stereophonic sound imagery; the ‘sonic’ part of it referred to the fact that it is sound that we are trying to characterize.”

The Process is the practice of recording into two or more multitrack tape machines so that you could have a nearly unlimited number of tracks. This allowed Swedien to get a “more genuine stereophonic image” instead of a stereo sound simulated by monophonic manipulation, not to mention preventing the master tracks from being played too much during the overdubbing process. In the end, the song’s sound was not only crystal clear, but exuded a sphere of sound rather than a wall of sound, giving the listener a virtually live experience.

Bea Swedien, wife of studio engineer Bruce Swedien, “My Life as a Studio Wife: A Lifetime of Love and Music with Bruce Swedien” (August 11, 2025)

[Bea Swedien]: Bruce later talked about it with writer Marsha Vdovin in an interview for Bill Putnam, Jr.’s recording equipment company Universal Audio:

[Bruce Swedien]: “The guys from Epic thought they were taking Thriller home with them, the release. But we took it back. . . . Throughout [the] recording, I’d been telling everyone in the studio, ‘There’s just too much time per side on the album.’ At that point in time, we were doing LPs, of course. Because of the groove width and spacing and so on, that controls the quality. Or, the amount of low end material that can fit greatly affects the quality of sound we can carve onto it. CDs are so simple, there’s nothing to it. But back when we were making LPs, that was a whole other thing.

“So I got the master disc back from Bernie Grundman’s, and we’re in the control room at Westlake. Michael, Quincy, Rod Temperton, and I were all listening intensely. When we were almost halfway through, we noticed that Michael had snuck out of the control room, and went across the hall to Studio B. I went over there to check on him. Michael’s in the corner, sobbing… just sobbing his heart out. Because, well, the sound quality wasn’t very good. There was way too much material on the record—it was way, way over time. In those days of the LP, the quality and the low end that you could get out of a record was directly influenced by the length of the music. Now, the guys from Epic thought they were taking Thriller home with them, the release. But we took it back. Quincy said, ‘No, you’re not getting this record right now. It isn’t done.’ Then he sent the guys from Epic home. Ooooh man, were they pissed! So Quincy did some fast editing. He cut time everywhere that he could, so that we could get the sides down to where I could get some real level on the master. Then we gave it back to them. You know, I don’t think that many people know that story.”

 

Bill Wolfer, keyboardist, “Invincible” magazine (November 2014) (mirror) (archived mirror)

Once, when we were recording the demos for Thriller in Encino, we took a break. Michael had this big ornate bird cage in the studio with a big cockatoo in it. He grabbed some bird seed, and went outside on the front steps, where I had gone to have a cigarette. He raised his hand to the sky with the bird seed in his open palm, and stood there like a statue. I thought he had lost his mind, what’s he doing? After just a few minutes, this enormous wild blue jay came swooping out of a tree on the other side of the yard, landed on his hand, and ate the seed. He really was like a Disney character in some ways.

...I’m very proud to have been a small part of [the “Thriller” album]. And my favorite songs on that album are the ones I played on–not because of my involvement, but to me, those are the three songs that really belong to Michael, it’s the beginning of finding his own voice as a writer and arranger, the start of what later became his independence from Quincy. Quincy Jones is THE producer of my time, but Michael was developing his ideas so fully that it made sense for him to produce himself.

 

Steve Lukather, guitarist, “The Many Lives of Q” documentary (2008)

“We’d do a track and of course you come back and they put it on the big speakers and it sounds all big and huge. Then Quincy would say, ‘put it on the radio,’ because he wanted to see if it had the same vibe.”

“CNN Newsroom” (June 26, 2009) (archived)

Tony Harris (“CNN Newsroom”): Steve Lukather is a longtime professional musician who has played for a number of artists, including Michael Jackson. You can hear him playing guitar on Michael Jackson's highly successful "Thriller" album. Highly successful—talk about understatements.

...Steve Lukather: It was a great honor to work with Michael and Quincy on what is to be a legendary record.

...HARRIS: How did you come to meet Michael, and how is it that you and Steve Porcaro came to work on "Thriller"?

LUKATHER: Well, actually, I had worked on Quincy Jones's "The Dude" record, which was an album of the year. And then our record was album of the year, the next record, "Toto IV," and then "Thriller," Quincy asked us to come in.

Actually, Michael called me on the phone, and I didn't believe it was really him, so I gave him a bunch of grief because he woke me up in the morning. It was kind of funny, and then I found out it was really him.

Quincy's office called and said, "No, that was really Michael," because I kept hanging up on him. But, you know, ,he was really a nice guy to work with, a total pro. And like I said, it was a great honor to be a part of something so huge. You know?

HARRIS: Hey, Steve, what tracks did you play on?

LUKATHER: I played on "Beat It." I played all the rhythm guitar parts and the bass. And Eddie did the solo. And Jeff Porcaro did the drums and Michael sang.

And then I played on "Human Nature," which Steve Porcaro wrote, played all the keyboards on. And I played guitar on that. And I did the duet with Paul McCartney as well.

HARRIS: Yes, "The Girl is Mine."

LUKATHER: Yes.

HARRIS: Yes. What do you remember about Michael working in those sessions?

LUKATHER: Just, you know, he was very specific, he was very focused on the work. He knew what he wanted. And if he liked something, you could tell right away. If he was iffy about it, he would let you know. But he was very pleasant.

There was always a ton of people around, so it was kind of daunting, really. But once we got into the work and people kind of disappeared, and it was just Quincy, Michael and myself, or whoever, if we were cutting a track, just the musicians itself, it was really great.

And it was a total—you know, Quincy is always an ultimate class act. And Bruce Wadine (ph), the engineer. I mean, it was just people I felt very comfortable with because we worked together before.

HARRIS: So, Steve, apart from the tracks you worked on, on "Thriller," is there a signature Michael Jackson song for you?

LUKATHER: Oh, jeez. I mean, you know, that whole record is full of them.

HARRIS: Right.

HARRIS: Right.

LUKATHER: You know what I mean? And also, "Off the Wall" was a great record, too.

HARRIS: There you go.

LUKATHER: It was the album to be on if you were, like, a session guy at that time. You know what I mean?

And we were asked because I guess we liked what he did. So I never thought this day would come. I mean, he's my age. So, it's kind of weird. You get just kind of creeped out. You know, the harsh reality of life.

HARRIS: Tell me about it.

LUKATHER: I mean, I didn't really know the guy as a personal friend, per se, just as a working situation. He was very pleasant and a very nice guy.

 

Matt Forger, sound engineer

MJ data bank: How and when did you meet Michael Jackson ? What was the first Michael Jackson related project you worked on ?

Matt Forger: I met Michael when the recording of the Thriller album began. I had been working with Quincy Jones, Bruce Swedien and Rod Temperton on a few album projects and his was the next project on Quincy's schedule.

 

MJ data bank: Can you tell us more about the technical aspect of the Thriller sessions: what was the equipment used by Bruce Swedien and the team? We heard there were some 16-track machines plugged to each other to get even more tracks available? Matt Forger: The THRILLER project was typical of the day in that it was recorded on 24 track analog tape. That may have been the only thing ordinary about it.   I worked with Bruce to develop a system using many (up to 12) 24 track 2" analog tapes to provide the number of tracks required in creating the vision of Michael and Quincy. There were two 24 track machines in the control room and the tapes were 'multiplexed' in a fashion that allowed many tracks to be recorded while monitoring the elements already on tape. The system worked by recording the rhythm section of a song on a master 24 track Master tape and generating work tapes that would contain cue mixes and with many empty tracks allowing ample tracks for the layering of sounds.

 

MJ data bank: Bruce Swedien used the Acusonic Recording Process. He also used a Harrison recording console. This kind of equipment eventually became studio recording references. Can you tell us more about that ?

 

Matt Forger: Bruce's Acusonic Recording Process is as much about his philosophy of sound, as it was technology. As he explains it, he has always believed in  maintaining the integrity of the stereo image of the sound source from the initial recording through the final mix. This is why the many tapes and number of tracks became an integral part of the Thriller production.

The Harrison console that was used at Westlake Studios was typical of the mixing boards of the era. It was however modified by the technical staff of the studio to provide the superior sonic character that has become the benchmark of modern album production. Bruce has always favored a certain type of sonic signature and it was the studios desire to ensure that he had the best quality of equipment to do the job.

 

MJ data bank: Thriller in the making: you witnessed how the album was created, and the songs selected: in your opinion, what kind of material could have make it on the album? What was the global approach of Quincy, Bruce and Michael that finally had them selecting some songs instead of other ones?

 

Matt Forger: The song selection was an evolution. It began with Quincy and Rod Temperton reviewing countless tapes and submissions. Quincy would go through a process called 'Polaroids' where he would 'snapshot' the best songs to get a feel for the key, tempo, how Michael's voice would react to the song, that type of thing. Then, we would come back work on the best and as the character of the album was being built, additional songs were considered and added. Quincy was looking to cover many sides of Michael's talent and wanted to make sure that his versatility was displayed.

The one thing that was of highest importance was the strength of the songs. Only the best made it on the album. After all, the entire process of recording an album is dependent on the strength of the material. If you don't have the best songs, you don't have the foundation to build great production on. We all were very aware of that.

MJ data bank: First final Master Recording: Quincy Jones said it was "awful". What is your comment on that first version that remains unreleased? Matt Forger: It was the fact that the potential of the project was not fully realized. We all knew the songs were great. But the pressure of the deadline and the time crunch to finish put tremendous stress on the process. When you are fatigued by the long hours of work you may not be 100% on top of your game, and that's what was what was needed. So we took a break on the weekend came in fresh on Monday and finished mixing the album. MJ data bank: How would you describe the sound of Thriller?

Matt Forger: The sound of the THRILLER album is one of layered richness, texture and depth. It has clarity and presence, and is filled with warmth and emotion.

Working with Michael is always a pleasure and a challenge. (...)

His standard of professionalism has always been of the highest level

 

MJ data bank: How is it working with Michael Jackson, as compared to other artists? What are his guidelines, how does the chemistry works when he wants something and work with you in the studio ?

Matt Forger: Working with Michael is always a pleasure and a challenge. He is a perfectionist and demands the best. But you would expect nothing less from him. His standard of professionalism has always been of the highest level. Michael always searches for the newest most exciting sounds and qualities in recording, and yet always has patience and understands the time consuming process of exploring developing new sounds. I have had the opportunity to work with Michael in a variety of situations and have worked hard to find or develop new technologies to address the creative ideas he wishes to pursue.

The rule of the studio has always been to make the technology follow the creative direction of the music.

After having so much experience working with him, it becomes second nature to intuitively go where the music leads, or follow Michael's ideas to where the music takes him.

 

MJ data bank: What is the difference between working on a studio project and a live or staged one?

 

Matt Forger: When you are on a stage performing live nothing can be too big. The dynamics are huge, sound, lighting, props, and special effects all contribute to the experience. While in the studio, you are working with just the music and lyrics but trying to achieve the same results. Everything must fit into a smaller package, so the challenge is greater and the manipulation is a lot more delicate in the studio. You have to carefully control the emotional flow of energy.

 

 

 

 

MJ data bank: What do you think makes Thriller the album it is today?

 

Matt Forger: Simple, great songs, great performances, great production.

 

 

 

 

 

MJ data bank: You worked on the Thriller 2001 Special Edition set. Some original bonus tracks were taken off the final track listing and replaced with interviews. Do you now why?

 

 

 

Matt Forger: Actually no, while they are interesting to hear and offer insight to the process, they don’t stand up to repeated listening like a good song does.

 

 

 

 

MJ data bank: What was your input in these 2001 SE sets and the Ultimate Collection released in 2004?

 

Matt Forger: I worked researching the songs that the producers felt would best reflect the nature of each project. In each case there was a different goal. In the Special Edition sets we looked for songs that filled in the process of what was going on behind the scenes for a particular album. A little insight of how an album comes together.

 

 

 

In the Ultimate Collection there was a desire to show the evolution of the career and how the songs changed with the times and Michael grew as an artist and as a songwriter.

 

 

 

 

    

 

MJ data bank: Your final thoughts on Thriller...

 

Matt Forger: Thriller was released at a time when the music industry was in a slump, not unlike the times we're in now. The quality of the album inspired many people, in the music industry and individuals as well.

The energy and emotion of Michael’s performances were astounding. People were revitalized in believing that music could achieve great results. This was proven by the projects that followed, "We Are The World" as an example. There was a note of optimism in the world and people felt good about themselves and the world around them.

 

It was the music that accomplished this. What a powerful medium it is. If only now we could find the same energy, the same emotion, the same desire to make the world a better place. As Michael asks in "Man In The Mirror", you have to look at changing yourself, if you want to see a change in the world.

How true!

 

Brian Banks, synthesisers, Telegraph (November 25, 2007) (archived) (mirror) (archived mirror)

You gotta remember the time and place. The record business was in the dumps right then. I remember one night, when they were looking at a bunch of proofs, large blow-ups of the [eventual image for the vinyl] centrefold, spread out on the console, and I was just there in the background doing my thing while Quincy was talking. 'Off the Wall', I think it sold something like eight million records, and I remember Quincy saying - I'm paraphrasing here - 'the record business is not what it was a couple of years ago, and if we get six million out of ['Thriller'], I'm gonna declare that a success.' And what'd they do, 53 million or something? It was in that context that it did 53 million…

“The Daily Telegraph” (November 25, 2007) (archived)

[Michael] was definitely the star, he didn't interact a whole lot with us. I mean, he was around a bit, he did interact a bit … he would usually be practising his dance steps if he was in the studio, in the corner. When he got to singing, nobody was around - it was just him and Bruce Swedien and Quincy.

...It was late in the evening one night when we were working, and Quincy came to us. We all knew how Thriller was going, they were trying to get Vincent Price, they were doing all this stuff, but he wanted this huge chord sequence - he said, 'There's this sound that I've got in my head, there's this underground, this new artist, that nobody's ever really heard of but he's great, he's hot, he's got this great song.' And he pulled out the album and it was Prince, '1999'. And you know the opening sound on that? Duh-da da, Dur-duh-duh? Well that was the sound - that big, bitey chord sound at the opening of '1999' - he wanted that, but bigger, for Thriller.

 

Greg Phillinganes, keyboardist, Atlanta Magazine interview

Atlanta Magazine: In the early 1980s, when you were in the studio with producer Quincy Jones and Michael creating “Thriller,” were you aware the material had the potential to have the kind of cultural impact it ended up making?

Greg Phillinganes: No. You can’t ever know that. It’s just impossible. And yet, maybe Steve Jobs knew he was going to revolutionize the world when he created the iPhone. You can’t go into a studio to create music thinking that you’re going to change the world. Having thoughts like that can actually get in the way of the creative process. All you can hope is that if you create something that gets you excited, a whole lot of other people will feel the same way. Quincy and Michael just wanted the best songs possible for the album. That was the goal when we went in, and it ended up becoming the game-changing event it was.

"Sonics with Guitarist" magazine (November/December 1993)

How did it feel when you were making that record, did you have any idea then that it would be so huge?

"No... well, you don't. In the studio with Quincy (Jones, producer) it's pretty straightforward. You play the parts, it goes to tape, it's done. I think there were a lot of factors that helped "Thriller" sell like it did. It was the right time for the record and. of course, the video was great. Hundreds of song were submitted for "Thriller", but Quincy kept saying to Michael that he wanted some different songs. Very near the end of production, Michael went off and wrote "Billie Jean" and "Beat It".

What is it that makes their relationship so successful?

“Quincy is brilliant. He has great musical awareness, but it's more than that. He is easy going, he understands Michael's personality, and he knows how to work with people. I think there's a lot of trust on both sides.”

“Jet” magazine (December 24-31, 2007)

Greg Phillinganes, a veteran arranger, keyboard player and a key musician on Thriller and many other Jackson projects, says Jackson’s artistic development was in “full bloom” in the making of the project. “He was at the height of it,” he says. “It was a brilliant time…”

 

Artie Wayne, co-writer of the song “Little Christmas Tree”, personal blog post (June 25, 2009) (archived)

The last time I was in touch with him was when he was about to do the “Thriller” album. He was holding onto one of my songs for over a year, and even made a few suggestions to improve the bridge, but in the end he didn’t record it. I was still grateful for the opportunity.

 

Desmond Child, producer/songwriter, "And The Writer Is...with Ross Golan" Podcast (June 12, 2017)

Somebody told me a beautiful story about Quincy Jones, 'cause they were—a kind of a fly on the wall when they were making "Thriller". It was somebody that was in the room a lot. And he said that Michael would do a take, and just give it his all, and then Quincy would say, "Oh, my God, that was the best singing I had ever heard! That's incredible! Come in here!" He says, "What?". "No, no, no, you got to come in here! I've got to give you a hug for how you just sang that." So, he would come in and get his hug, and that was such a—he understood the vulnerabilities and securities of that artist so well, that he just showered him with love and compliments, and I hear that he's that way with everybody.

 

Leon Ndugu Chancler, drummer, “Musician” magazine (July 1984)

The belief that “Thriller” had to be bigger and better than “Off the Wall” permeated its recording sessions. “It was everybody’s goal to sell ten million records again”, recalls drummer Leon Ndugu Chancler. “Everybody came in ready to give it up.”

“Rhythm” magazine (July 2010)

[Quincy] was just trying to make an album that was a little stronger than 'Off the Wall'", explains Ndugu to describe the producer's approach to "Thriller". "'Off the Wall' had sold 10 million, so he was just trying to go for a few more million than that. He had this whole concept of all the songs being strong on their own."

Despite Quincy Jones' prominence, Ndugu firmly believes that the album could not have been the classic it was without all the individuals involved pooling their gifts.

"It was a total team effort", he says, "it was Michael Jackson, the super talent and songwriter, Quincy Jones, the visionary producer that approached making that record from a different perspective, Bruce Swedien, the sound master, that brought all of that technology to fruition where that record was a marriage of creativity and technology, and the combination of the quality of musicians and the songs, all together made for a super project. No one entity alone made that project, it was the strengths of all those people involved collectively."

For the "Thriller" sessions, Ndugu played a Yamaha Custom kit made from sacaranda wood and Paiste 602 cymbals. He quickly found that Bruce Swedien liked to keep the sounds of each part of the kit as isolated as possible while still allowing Ndugu to play the set as a whole.

"Bruce Swedien had this pad that fits over the front of the bass drum, then the mic goes through and is zipped into it. He also had a lead screen that he put on the snare drum mic stand that blocked leakage from the hi-hat to the snare drum mic.

"We recorded the drums on a 16-track analogue tape machine, only the drums", explains Ndugu, as analogue tape was generally considered to capture the warmth and fatness of the drums better than digital. "You'd have two tracks of bass drum, two tracks of snare drum, and all of that, so you could get different EQs on each one.

"Each night, I went in and did one song, although on one day I did two songs. I did 'P.Y.T.' and 'Baby Be Mine', and then one session, I did 'Billie Jean', and one session, I did 'Thriller'. At the time we did that album, they had all three studios going, because Michael was also working on the 'E.T. Storybook' album. They were doing horns and synthesizers in another studio and I was doing my drum overdubs in another studio."

Looking back on what made the sound on that album so significant, Ndugu says, "I think it is one of the more superior sounds I have ever heard and the reason I think that is because that was the first time and one of the only times I've heard live drums and drum machines playing exactly the same thing in sync without using Pro Tools and giving each one a personality of their own. What you're hearing is a drum machine and live drums playing together all through the album."

Throughout the process, Ndugu was impressed by Michael's dedication and passion. "I walked in one night and he was recording a vocal in the dark in the studio", he remembers. "I didn't know he was out there, because I couldn't see him until he said, 'Let me do that part again.' It sounded fantastic, but what I learned from that was he was totally into the music in that he already knew all his lyrics, he didn't have to read and he didn't have to see. He was going on his spirit feel and it sounded great."

 

Walter Yetnikoff, CBS/Columbia Records president, Telegraph (November 25, 2007) (archived) (mirror) (archived mirror)

I used to get calls from Michael in the middle of the night. 'Walter, the record is not Number 1 [anymore]' - and this is 'Thriller' - 'What are we going to do?' I said, 'We're going to go to sleep and deal with it tomorrow.'

 

User “Bizzvanwa”, keyboardist, “The Root” (June 25, 2009) (archived)

Right before Thriller was released, Michael came into the club where I was playing (the Rose Tattoo) and listened to me play and my partner sing for a few hours. During our break, he went to the piano onstage and debuted some of the tunes from Thriller for the small audience. I didn't have a mic (I play, but barely sing.) So you couldn't hear Michael's vocals much, but

he was a good keyboard player. I was surprised about that. I was half of a duo in LA. I accompanied a fine singer named Beverly Wright (sister of Gary Wright, who wrote and recorded Dream Weaver.) I didn't ask him for an autograph or anything…just left him

alone. It's something I'll always remember. Anyone could buy a ticket to a Michael Jackson concert if they had the money.

But not everyone was lucky enough to get to entertain him — bizzvanwa.