Grammy nominations were announced for 1979. Although Off the Wall had been one of the most popular records of
the year, it received only one nomination: Best R&B Vocal Performance. I remember where I was when I got the
news. I felt ignored by my peers and it hurt. People told me later that it surprised the industry too.
I was disappointed and then I got excited thinking about the album to come. I said to myself, "Wait until next time" -
they won't be able to ignore the next album. I watched the ceremony on television and it was nice to win my
category, but I was still upset by what I perceived as the rejection of my peers. I just kept thinking, "Next time, next time." In many ways an artist is his work. It's difficult to separate the two. I think I can be brutally objective about my work as I create it, and if something doesn't work, I can feel it, but when I turn in a finished album - or song - you
can be sure that I've given it every ounce of energy and God-given talent that I have. Off the Wall was well received
by my fans and I think that's why the Grammy nominations hurt. That experience lit a fire in my soul. All I could
think of was the next album and what I would do with it. I wanted it to be truly great.
38
Chapter Five
The Moonwalk
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Off the Wall was released in August 1979, the same month I turned twenty-one and took control of my own affairs,
and it was definitely one of the major landmarks of my life. It meant a great deal to me, because its eventual success
proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that a former "child star" could mature into a recording artist with contemporary appeal. Off the Wall also went a step beyond the dance grooves we had cooked up. When we started the project,
Quincy and I talked about how important it was to capture passion and strong feelings in a recorded performance. I
still think that's what we achieved on the ballad "She's Out of My Life," and to a lesser extent on "Rock with You."
Looking back, I can view the whole tapestry and see how Off the Wall prepared me for the work we would do on the
album that became Thriller. Quincy, Rod Temperton, and many of the musicians who played on Off the Wall would
help me realize a dream that I had had for a long time. Off the Wall had sold almost six million copies in this country,
but I wanted to make an album that would be even bigger. Ever since I was a little boy, I had dreamed of creating the
biggest-selling record of all time. I remember going swimming as a child and making a wish before I jumped into the
pool. Remember, I grew up knowing the industry, understanding goals, and being told what was and was not
possible. I wanted to do something special. I'd stretch my arms out, as if I were sending my thoughts right up into
space. I'd make my wish, then I'd dive into the water. I'd say to myself, "This is my dream. This is my wish," every time before I'd dive into the water.
I believe in wishes and in a person's ability to make a wish come true. I really do. Whenever I saw a sunset, I would
quietly make my secret wish right before the sun tucked under the western horizon and disappeared. It would seem
as if the sun had taken my wish with it. I'd make it right before that last speck of light vanished. And a wish is more
than a wish, it's a goal. It's something your conscious and subconscious can help make reality.
I remember being in the studio once with Quincy and Rod Temperton while we were working on Thriller . I was
playing a pinball machine and one of them asked me, "If this album doesn't do as well as Off the Wall , will you be
disappointed?"
I remember feeling upset - hurt that the question was even raised. I told them Thriller had to do better than Off the
Wall . I admitted that I wanted this album to be the biggest-selling album of all time.
They started laughing. It was a seemingly unrealistic thing to want.
There were times during the Thriller project when I would get emotional or upset because I couldn't get the people
working with me to see what I was. That still happens to me sometimes. Often people just don't see what I see. They
have too much doubt. You can't do your best when you're doubting yourself. If you don't believe in yourself, who
will? Just doing as well as you did last time is not good enough. I think of it as the "Try to get what you can"
mentality. It doesn't require you to stretch, to grow. I don't believe in that.
I believe we are powerful, but we don't use our minds to full capacity. Your mind is powerful enough to help you
attain whatever you want. I knew what we could do with that record. We had a great team there, a lot of talent and
good ideas, and I knew we could do anything. The success of Thriller transformed many of my dreams into reality. It
did become the biggest-selling album of all time, and that fact appeared on the cover of The Guinness Book of World
Records.
Making the Thriller album was very hard work, but it's true that you only get out of something what you put into it.
I'm a perfectionist: I'll work until I drop. And I worked so hard on that album. It helped that Quincy showed great
confidence in what we were doing during those sessions. I guess I had proved myself to him during our work on Off
the Wall . He listened to what I had to say and helped me accomplish what I had hoped to on that album, but he
showed even more faith in me during the making of Thriller . He realized I had the confidence and experience I
needed to make that record and at times he wasn't in the studio with us for that reason. I'm really very self-confident
when it comes to my work. When I take on a project, I believe in it 100 percent. I really put my soul into it. I'd die
for it. That's how I am.
39
Quincy is brilliant at balancing out an album, creating the right mix of up-tempo numbers and slow ones. We started
out working with Rod Temperton on songs for the Thriller album, which was originally called Starlight . I was
writing songs myself while Quincy was listening to other people's songs, hoping to find just the right ones for the
album. He's good at knowing what I'll like and what will work for me. We both share the same philosophy about
making albums; we don't believe in B-sides or album songs. Every song should be able to stand on its own as a
single, and we always push for this.
I had finished some songs of my own, but I didn't give them to Quincy until I saw what had come in from other
writers. The first song I had was "Startin' Something," which I had written when we were doing Off the Wall but had never given to Quincy for that album. Sometimes I have a song I've written that I really like and I just can't bring
myself to present it. While we were making Thriller , I even held on to "Beat It" for a long time before I played it for Quincy. He kept telling me that we needed a great rock song for the album. He'd say, "Come on, where is it? I know
you got it." I like my songs but initially I'm shy about playing them for people, because I'm afraid they won't like
them and that's a painful experience.
He finally convinced me to let him hear what I had. I brought out "Beat It" and played it for him and he went crazy. I felt on top of the world.
When we were about to start work on Thriller , I called Paul McCartney in London and this time I did say, "Let's get
together and write some hits." Our collaboration produced "Say Say Say" and "The Girl Is Mine."
Quincy and I eventually chose "The Girl Is Mine" as the obvious first single from Thriller . We really didn't have much choice. When you have two strong names like that together on a song, it has to come out first or it gets played
to death and overexposed. We had to get it out of the way.
When I approached Paul, I wanted to repay the favor he had done me in contributing "Girlfriend" to Off the Wall . I wrote "The Girl Is Mine," which I knew would be right for his voice and mine working together, and we also did