All Thriller, No Filler
The biggest-selling album of all time began with a potential pool of 700 songs. Seven hundred. Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson methodically whittled down the list. Dozens of songs were recorded, only to then be canned. Billie Jean was on the chopping block at one point, but Jackson loved the bass line too much to let it go. Relentless focus whittled the record down to a mere nine songs. And then… they replaced four of those tracks. A last-minute replacement was Beat It. Jackson & Jones stuffed the final product with hits: Thriller. P.Y.T. Human Nature. The Girl Is Mine. Wanna Be Startin’ Something. All Thriller, no filler. How’d they do it? How do you set aside 98% of an album’s tracks? And — more importantly — what can other bands learn from Jackson’s selection process?
Let’s start by looking at not one, but a pair of outcasts. Despite their differences, they’re the same song deep down. The first version was Slapstick. It’s up-tempo and, even for Jackson, high-pitched. His voice strains to hit the notes in this version, and I assume that’s why it got binned.
A year or so later, Jackson picked the song up again. This time around, its hook changed from “Slapstick” to “Hot Street”. The latter has more adult and contemporary lyrics. This version’s about a man picking up a prostitute! Combined with Billie Jean and Beat It, it’s clear Jackson was toying with some mature themes for Thriller. Hot Street is faster than its predecessor and — this bit’s important — pitched lower. Jackson’s voice scales the chorus’ daring vocal heights with effortless abandon now. The speed increase is interesting: presumably this helped the song seem more ‘danceable.’
Now we’re familiar with the tracks, let’s deep dive into why they might have been rejected. Hot Street was a serious contender, but its rejection can teach us a lot about how to structure our own albums. The next few paragraphs will be structured around individual lessons. While the details are Thriller-specific, the high-level lesson is applicable to all pop records.
Your introduction needs to cleanse the listener’s aural palate
A decade later Michael Jackson took the stand in a copyright infringement deposition. Jackson said of Hot Street, “yes I like [it] but Quincy Jones and Rod Temperton said it wasn’t good enough.” Why would two of the best minds in show business disagree with one of the all time great entertainers? Well, for starters, the song lacks a clear introduction. Hot Street loops the same two chords for 40 seconds before Jackson’s vocal arrives. Compare that to a monster hit like Beat It. Beat It’s opening Synclavier gongs pave way for an up-tempo drum machine beat, and then that guitar riff. You don’t even need to hear the music, I can describe it in a sentence and you know exactly the introduction I mean. Beat It is the fifth song on the album, wedged between Thriller and Billie Jean. The strength of its introduction helps it jump out on CD. On vinyl though, Beat It is Side B’s first song. Its introduction needs to justify the needle lift/record flipping/engine starting. Beat It works extra hard to earn its listener’s attention, and to cleanse the palate of the huge songs around it. Hot Street lacks that same killer/Thriller instinct. Its introduction is pure filler, and it deserved to live on the cutting room floor.
A verse presents an opportunity to subtly shift the song forward
Hot Street was burdened by a lack of forward-movement in other areas. The second verse is a musical carbon copy of the first. While it’s common in pop music to copy and paste a verse, Thriller generally shies away from this approach. The band Toto played on many of its tracks; real musicians, uninterested in making boilerplate pop. Among potential track-mates, Hot Street sticks out as ‘boilerplate’. Compare it to a song like Baby Be Mine. That track’s a straight-forward R’n’B slow-jam, but it alters its second verse. The second time around, Jackson adds new harmonies, “I guess it’s still, you thrill me, baby be mine.” It’s not much of a difference, but it shakes things up enough to keep your ears interested. It also, neatly, fills in some dead-space between the main melody’s lines. Hot Street lacks any similar tricks, and lags with dead air. Quincy Jones was right to bin it; repetitive verses slow an album down.
Make your chorus sound and feel different from the verses
I assume the version we have leaked of Hot Street would make Jackson unhappy. It’s unfinished, and doesn’t fit his perfectionist tendencies. Regardless of its completeness, the chorus and verse still share a lot in common. Chords, tempo, instrumentation, drum beat. The main thing that changes is the addition of a four-on-the-floor cowbell. The cowbell may be a magical instrument, but it’s not enough to save a chorus. Compare that to the opening of Thriller’s chorus, “‘cause this is thriller, thriller night.” Thriller’s chorus erupts. Jones adds brass stabs, a wall of harmonies, and a new synth (doo-deet-deet-do-deee-dooo-deee-doooo). They‘re small touches, but they make a big impact. Hot Street leaves all the heavy-lifting of its chorus to Michael’s vocal (maybe because Quincy Jones didn’t like the song). Great vocals can’t save a misfiring chorus. And if there’s a song with a misfiring chorus on your record, it really oughta be binned.
Low track count = low risk of filler
Many argue that Thriller actually has filler tracks. Some contend that The Girl Is Mine is a misfire (though it hit #2, sold 1.3 million copies, and was co-written by a Beatle). Others claim The Lady In My Life is a weak way to close out a muscular pop record. Whatever the argument though, it’s unarguable that 7 out of 9 songs on the record were hits. The majority of the album was good enough that someone would buy an individual slice of it.
Jackson lost this knack over the years. But he did himself no favours, thanks to an ever-growing track count. Bad bloated out to 11 songs. Dangerous to 14. HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I… Disc 2… had 15 new songs of varying quality. It then expanded out to a remix album, Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix. Invincible blossomed out to a jam-packed CD of 16 tracks. Safe to say, Jackson’s enviable ratio of hits to duds did not continue. After Thriller’s success, Jackson must have believed he could will a hit into existence. Perhaps he gained so much industry clout that no-one could say “no” to him any more. While recording Thriller, Quincy Jones could still say “no”, and The King Of Pop would listen. The important thing to remember is that more tracks don’t always equal more value for money. Each time you skip 2000 Watts (“what!”) on Invincible, remind yourself of the power of quality control.
To get a better Sound, cut out everything you can
Michael Jackson listened to the first test pressing of Thriller and burst into tears. They weren’t tears of joy. The team realised “we hadn’t achieved the sonic statement that we’d all wanted to make.” The album was so long that the physical vinyl grooves played too close together. This meant that the bass didn’t have the impact the team expected it to. To sum it up: “the more music on [an LP], the less sonic quality you have.” They spent a day on each side, jettisoning everything they could. 8 bars here. An intro halved there. Bridges disappeared or got cut down. Whatever was unnecessary, got cut out, dropped to the studio floor. The next pressing was all Thriller, and finally, no filler. Everyone in the world can agree that Thriller is a benchmark record for audio clarity and punch. On every format, it pumps sound at you. In the digital age, we’re not bound by these constraints, but it’s still worth considering. It’s a great idea to make a pop song as short as it possibly can be.
The unparalleled success of Thriller was more than just great track selection. It was a right-time-right-place album that saved pop music. It filled a post-Disco void. It kicked the MTV-era into high gear. It was the tipping point where a former child-star entered the big leagues of Elvis and The Beatles. Billie Jean introduced the world to The Moonwalk at Motown 25. Beat It married the hard rock of Van Halen with pop, set to the dances of West Side Story. In a myriad of ways, it’s so unique that its success is unlikely to be replicated ever again.
But what can be replicated are today’s lessons:
- Your introduction needs to cleanse the listener’s aural palate
- A verse presents an opportunity to subtly shift the song forward
- Make your chorus sound and feel different from the verses
- Low track count = low risk of filler
- To get a better Sound, cut out everything you can
I personally recorded 17 songs for Anxious Heart. Over a period of a few months, I binned 6 songs, and finished the album with 11 overall. That’s 2 more than Thriller. Looking at my stream counts on Spotify, I think the album would have been stronger if I’d binned We Wanna Be Like You and You Think You’re A Rebel? They would have made great B-sides, or rarities, just like Hot Street. I wish I had someone like Quincy Jones to help cut things out! In his absence, hopefully this post can help you with your own album. That’s the whole idea of the ‘How To Make An Album’ series. This is the second post, with many more to come. I’ll be spreading the word on Twitter.
