After all these years, I should confess. You know, I never did get this title. Does something called “Thriller” sound so terrifying? I really am not quite sure what Michael Jackson’s lyrics are trying to depict happening. Maybe someone can enlighten me? Do others feel the same? - Jinx
It’s about horror movies and movie monsters. Not too complicated.
Ok…then, maybe I never watched enough horror films to get it. I think the only good part is Vincent Price’s ending. - Jinx
“Thriller” is an old word meaning “horror.” It’s fallen out of usage in the last few decades, for some reason.
The title of the song is a double entendre. Jackson is singing to a date as they watch a horror (thriller) movie, describing the action on the screen, and he closes with:
So, it’s a thriller because it’s a horror movie, and it’s a thriller because they’re together and it’s exciting; two meanings, one word.
Considering that one of the people in question is Michael Jackson, I’m not sure that there actually are two meanings here.
Hey, this is back when he was semi-normal.
Semi being the operative word. The jacket he wears in the music video looks like it was kept from when he did Captain EO. Great song and video, though.
Great song and video?
It’s the best freakin video of all freakin time.
And it’s also a Playboy playmate as his girlfriend.
That deserves an honorable mention.
The video was super cool for its time. Lots of money, great effects and a nice little story line.
The song itself is pop fluffery at its finest and lasts about as long as cotton candy.
Note: The video came from before Captain Eo. And I think the girl became a playmate because of the video.
Ola Ray was a Playmate in 1980 and appeared in the video three years later.
Big deal. In his Say, Say, Say video with Paul McCartney, we saw MJ hitting on his sister LaToya.
Ewww.
Just… keep it in the closet.
Clearly a work of fiction.
What I always wondered:
Why is that zombies can dance so well when normally they can barely walk?
Cuz MJ had the funk. And even Ninjas can’t defeat funk.
Normally, there isn’t any music.
Hm. Maybe I didn’t enunciate…
I meant PlayBOY .
There, that should clear up any confusion.
See, there you go. If the folks in movies like “Dawn of the Dead” had just put on a little Michael Jackson, the zombies would have lost interest in consuming the living. And if they’d put on Michael’s “Beat It,” the zombies would have killed each other in knife fights.
Yeah, but it turned Eddie Van Halen into a zombie.