Michael Jackson - "Thriller"

This week, I was in charge of putting a Halloween playlist together for my son's Kindergarten Halloween party. And what was the obvious first choice? Thriller, of course!

It really has become the official song of Halloween. And honestly, I'm okay with that. It's a perfect melding of really catchy pop song, creepy fun and horror royalty. And honestly, every time I hear that breakdown before Vincent Price's epic monologue, I smile. It's so, so good.
I also went back and revisited the iconic 1983 video that was made for the song. Directed by John Landis, incredible special effects by none other than Rick Baker, and co-staring a former Playboy model in Ola Ray, Thriller took the music video and turned it on its ear. It was one of the first videos to turn the standard song-length video format into a full 15 minute feature. And the quality is still amazing by today's standards!

When this video was originally released in 1983, my aunt had an early VHS deck and she recorded the "The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller" documentary. I can't tell you how many times we watched it! It was woven into the fabric of Halloween memories growing up and trick-or-treating as a kid.

My son, who is now 5, got his first taste of Thriller this week. He absolutely loves the song. I may wait another year before the creepy zombie video is shown, but the song has now been passed on to the the next generation of Halloween memories. And I couldn't be happier!!

Darkness falls across the land

The midnight hour is close at hand

Creatures crawl in search of blood

To terrorize y’all’s neighborhood

And whosoever shall be found

Without the soul for getting down

Must stand and face the hounds of hell

And rot inside a corpse’s shell

The foulest stench is in the air

The funk of forty thousand years

And grizzly ghouls from every tomb

Are closing in to seal your doom

And though you fight to stay alive

Your body starts to shiver

For no mere mortal can resist

The evil of the thriller...