Detailed Analysis: A Critical Review of Michael Jackson's Thriller

This essay provides a critical review of Michael Jackson's iconic song 'Thriller,' analyzing its disco-funk genre innovation, vocal quality, sound effects, and overall impact on the audience. It discusses the song's critical acclaim, inherent themes of fright and pop, and its influence on Jackson's career. The analysis delves into the song's lyrics, sound effects like creaking doors and howling dogs, and the use of instruments such as the keyboard, bass, and drum machine. Furthermore, the review explores the song's music video, the symbolism within, and the effects of the sound on the audience's perception, ultimately concluding that 'Thriller' is a masterpiece due to its dark themes, perfect sound effects, fascinating lyrics, and appealing disco-funk nature.

Running head: REVIEW OF MUSIC
Review of Music
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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The purpose of the following paper is to make a critical review of the piece of the music.
The critical analysis of the songs is a very interesting thing since it brings out the important
elements within the piece of music. The listeners can still feel that chill in their veins when they
listen to the beats of this song. The baseline of the song is the E baseline. The groovy funk of the
music has been recorded repeatedly as well. A great many number of the sounds are being
played in this song to attract the attention of the listeners in the best manner. The piece of the
music that has been chosen in this paper is a famous one. It belongs to the pop genre and it has
been presented by Michael Jackson. The name of the song is Thriller from the music album of
the same name (Bruhm 267). The genre of rock had not been practice in the global music
industry. The song was released in the year 1982 on 30th November. As the background of this
song, it must be mentioned that this music album was published after around 3 years of his last
publication of his music album Off the Wall. The music album of Thriller came as a result of the
determination from the fact that he wanted to be the greatest star in the global music industry.
The various categories that will be discussed throughout the paper are the invention of the disco-
funk genre through this song, the quality of vocals by the singer, the various sound effects and
the impact of the song on the minds of the audience.
This section will deal with the critical acclaim of the song and the rise of Michael
Jackson. The song ‘Thriller’ is believed to be the one of the most favorite songs of the critical
experts. As per the experts, it os one of the biggest hits during that time since the extraordinary
display of pop-music has been evident in this song (Wiley 101). This song of Michael Jackson
could be rated as the biggest chartbusters for years in the 90s. The vocals of the song are quite
enthralling and Jackson has put up a great performance of the song in his public concerts as well.

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The song almost became the signature song for Jackson and people could recognize Jackson as
the biggest blooming star in the industry (Bruhm 267).
The various inherent elements and themes have been discussed within this section. This
song is considered as one of the best since the components of fright and pop beats have been felt
all throughout. The presentation of the song in the concerts and the music video is eccentric and
it has brought out the passion and stamina of Jackson in the best ways. This is why this song is
considered as one of the best songs of all time. The element of terror has been present in the song
all through (Manning 156). The song has been termed as ‘groovy’ by some sources as well. The
beats of the song were quite out of the box as per that time. The lyrics were too terrifying as well.
The popularity of Michael Jackson began to rise through this song and the song had sold more
than a million copies and topped the chartbusters as well (Mercer 67). I would also like to state
that the best technology had been used in this song by focusing mainly on the drum machine.
This technology has been implemented in the music so the clear sound of the drum can be heard.
This is why I believe that this song is quite based on the funk beats and it has captivated the
audience for over decades now. There are some main themes of the song that could be discussed
within this paper. The main protagonists of this song are Michael and the young woman. The
difficult situation analyzes when the two of them were travelling by a car and the car had run out
of gas in a deserted area (Corona 725). Their aim would be to get out of that place in a safe way.
The failure of the engine in the deserted place worked as the catalyst in the situation that
signified that both the characters were in a great danger (Campbell 423).
The lyrics of the song will be very important to be analyzed. The lyrics of the song have
some Biblical interpretations. The lyrics of this song have exposed the beast and the ending times
of this earth. This theme has been portrayed in the best manner by Michael Jackson. The lyrics of

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the song are as goes ‘darkness falling on the land’. This line portrays the Doomsday which is the
ultimate destiny of all the human beings on earth. The Beast is always ready to mark the people
with the number 666. The portrayal of the demonic creature of the song and the background
lyrics are the realities of negative side of the human beings. The lyrics of the song suggest the
things that will take place on the final day of this earth.
The kinds of sound effects that have been used in this song have been discussed in this
song. Some creepy sound effects have been used in this song like the creaking of the doors, the
sound of the thunder, the sound of the feet walking on the wooden planks, the howl of the dogs
and the wind have been utilized properly in this song (Corona 725). The fact of lightning has
been taken up from the movies of Hollywood of the old times. However, the sound of the howl
has been regarded as the best sound effect when the two characters of the song go out in the
desert and they come face to face with a coyote (Sian and Dion 462). Lots of work has been put
into the proper practice so that it could capture the attention of the audience in the best ways.
Many instruments have been played and I think this is the unique selling point for the song. All
the instruments have contributed to the overall success of the song. Various instruments have
been used here like the keyboard, bass, drum machine, guitar and horns. The cacophony of these
sounds has made this song a fantastic one indeed. The uses of crescendos and diminuendos have
been noticed in this song as well. This is why I feel that this song has created a frightful
ambience when the listeners go on to listen to this song in the dark rooms. The powerful vocals
of Michael have been the most useful thing to give the song a strange feeling and he goes back to
the original style of the song with the constant beats. I feel this is the actual beauty of the song
indeed.

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The use of symbols has been highlighted in this paragraph. These sound effects are
generally the classic symbols of the horror genre that arouses a sense of fear among the minds
and hearts of the audience (Fast 281). The song has been presented through a fantastic music
video as well. In this video, the audience gets to see the two Michaels. The first Michael is the
well-educated student and the second Michael is the zombie type and it turns into the werewolf
as well. This makes the background of the song more frightful as well (Mauch 334). The young
girl gets terrified and she screams out in utter horror. The choice of the words in the song has
been exquisite because the lyrics have made the atmosphere more eerie as well. The dual side of
Michael has pointed out that he is kind of a schizophrenic person. The song is a very intriguing
one since this has portrayed the horror within the minds of the listeners to succeed the purpose of
the song. The audience has really enjoyed the song because of its sound effects and the eerie
atmosphere it has created in the minds of the people.
The impacts of the sound effects on the minds of the audience are described. The
breathing noises of Michael himself have some clear significance. These breathing noises make
the things clear that the atmosphere will be created more eerie to stay there for a longer time
indeed. The song creates a boundary between the real life and fiction as the frightening part of
the song is the fruit of imagination (Johansson 261). The wide range of instrumentation has been
used in this song to keep the attention of the listeners. The 1 bar is being kept repeated all over
and the consistently changing things are very much appropriate to keep the rhythms moving. The
main vocals that have been used in this song are generally very quick. This is why the song
sounds to be much aggressive and attacking. The groovy feeling makes the spine chilling
atmosphere within the audience. The forceful sound of the song is a major thing indeed. The

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sounds of the hand clapping have been the major things of the song because sounds have been
forcefully included to create that eerie feeling.
As per the above discussion, it can be concluded that the Thriller song by Michael
Jackson has been regarded as a masterpiece and it is quite appropriate as well. The dark themes
of the song have been applied to the song with the perfect sound effects. The lyrics of the song
are quite fascinating since they have been much exemplary in nature. The disco-funk nature of
the song has been much appealing to the new and young generation. This is why this song has
captured the minds of the youth in a great manner. The sound effects and the creepy music have
made the song quite eerie to listen.

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References
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Fast, Susan. "Michael Jackson's Queer Musical Belongings." Popular Music and Society 35.2
(2012): 281-300.
Jefferson, Margo. On Michael Jackson. Granta Books, 2018.
Johansson, Mats. "Michael Jackson and the expressive power of voice-produced sound." Popular
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Manning, Harriet J. Michael Jackson and the blackface mask. Routledge, 2016.
Mauch, Matthias, et al. "The evolution of popular music: USA 1960–2010." Royal Society open
science 2.5 (2015): 150081.
Mercer, Kobena. Welcome to the jungle: New positions in black cultural studies. Routledge,
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Sian Lee, Chei, and Dion Hoe-Lian Goh. "“Gone too soon”: did Twitter grieve for Michael
Jackson?." Online Information Review37.3 (2013): 462-478.

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Wiley, Christopher. "Putting the Music Back into Michael Jackson Studies." Michael Jackson.
Routledge, 2017. 101-116.