Michael Jackson Thriller Specal Edition (2001)

Special Edition released in 2001. It includes interviews with Quincy Jones (the producer) and Rod Temperton, as well as a 1981 home demo of Billie Jean, providing a rare glimpse of Michael's creative process.

In this demo track, you can hear that Michael has the basic melody but he has not figured out the lyrics yet. He would just ad lib some of the lyrics, and a lot of it don't make sense. The demo is also remarkably close to the final version, a testament to Michael's vision and proving that Michael has a large role in the process of creating the song, and that Quincy Jones was merely the facilitator for the process.

Two rare tracks included in this package are Someone In The Dark and Carousel. The former was found on the E.T. children's album, but there were very limited copies available because the song was at the centre of a dispute between Michael's Sony label and the soundtrack label. In the end, Sony managed to prevent the song from being released. The song even includes E.T. saying "Thank yeeew". Quite a nice tune. Carousel is only 1:30 long, but it had a pleasant tune nonetheless.

We also learn that the song Thriller was originally called "Starlight", thank goodness it was changed. Starlight just doesn't have the same impact as Thriller. Also, we get to listen to the second verse of Vincent Price's rap on the track, that didn't make it to the final cut. Pretty amazing stuff.