Michael Jackson - The Girl Is Mine (Solo Demo)
Minus Paul McCartney and therefore minus the kitschy end dialogue, and with some mega dreamy instrumentation and wonderful ad-libs not heard in the final (and IMO inferior) version. All in CD quality for the first time ever! Yes, Christmas has come exactly 7 weeks early as the official batch of CDQ Thriller demos from the famed early 80’s Thriller sessions have leaked online (thank you to whomever set these timeless gems free). These aren’t the same demos that have been heard on MJ’s Ultimate Collection or even the special edition of Thriller. These are the OH-FEE-SHALL blueprints, son. And if you didn’t enjoy the album version of The Girl Is Mine, then dare I say you might enjoy this.
These tracks were spawned during the beyond legendary Thriller sessions of the early 80’s and have never been heard before in full and in CD quality until now (which is pretty unbelievable). This magical package also includes some songs that were excluded from Thriller (like Carousel, Nite Line, Hot Street and Trouble) which, although they’ve been heard from in some form before, are also available in CDQ for the first time ever. If you’ve been listening to the low-quality demos all this time like I have, then you’ll thank your lucky stars for this momentous leak; for MJ fans, this is big news if you haven’t realized it by now.
Furthermore, I’m a demo freak as I tend to find the early drafts of songs much more fascinating than the finished product; they’re like the raw, creative form of the song before it gets all polished up and, in many cases, over produced in comparision (I’m just talking in general terms here). And if anything, demos are the blueprint for without which the final version would never ever come to fruition. To me, the demos sound like minimalist remixes hailing from an alternate universe. And although Thriller isn’t my personal favourite MJ album (it’s third behind 1. Off The Wall and 2. Dangerous), it doesn’t really get much better than the official demos/blueprints of the biggest selling album of all-time. The holy grail of demos, you could say.
I’ll post more tracks from this treasure trove of wonderfully raw and pure-sounding recording gems as the days go by (due to the limitations of the Tumblr audio posting system). Getting to hear these tracks at all is what the Internet was invented for, I feel. Hell, I’m just so thankful that I have good hearing to experience this (and you should be too). *turning up the volume on my headphones* A good Friday morning to you.
What millions consider as the biggest album of all time, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, will forever remain the very first true music album that I (and many others my age) ever listened to (Sesame Street, Chipmunks, and Smurfs albums obviously do not count, but I still love those too).
I was 4 when, after a trip to Toronto to visit my relatives, I took home a bootleg cassette tape compliments of my uncle. That 90 minute tape contained Off The Wall on Side A and Thriller on Side B (what a combo!). I still have it (it is actually labeled Rod Stewart and Thompson Twins on side A and B respectively, so it wasn’t even a fresh tape). I’ll never forget how scared sh!tless I was after first hearing the legendary laughter of one Vincent Price on the title track; it literally made me run to my parents’ room for comfort (for someone who would ultimately grow up to become a horror geek/gore-hound not to mention an admirer of Vincent Price’s great work, what a baby I was).
At such an early age, this album definitely had a considerable effect on me. For my Grade 1 Halloween Party at school, I showed up dressed as “The King of Pop”, complete with a leather jacket, shades, a white glove (couldn’t find a glittery glove), and the white sock/black shoe faux-pas. I even made up my own dance routine to Beat It (it contained a lot of punching the air, from what I remember). And one day when going to the park with my family, I brought a mini ghetto blaster and walked around EVERYWHERE while playing that thriller tape. Most hilarious is an actual pic of my sis and I, standing at the top of this huge (and busy) climber/play structure, blasting Thriller from the mini-ghetto, while I was seemingly ice-grilling this kid who was staring at me for reasons I never knew (whut! you got a problem with my music, bitch?). No fight ever ensued (if you’re wondering).
So nostalgic wise, it’s clearly the most memorable MJ album for me, although now that I’m all “grown up”, Off The Wall has become my personal favourite MJ recording. Still, it’s because of Thriller that MJ will forever be considered the KING (no matter what bizarre shenanigans he keeps getting himself into). Credit where credit is due, indeed. Bow down to the GOAT.
Mmm…popcorn and horror flicks: MJ approved.
"Astonishment is our natural state of mind." - Paul Harris.
"Style is what an artist uses to fascinate the beholder in order to convey to him his feelings and emotions and thoughts." - Stanley Kubrick.
"Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it." - Bruce Lee.
"If ya ears hurt, you shouldn't listen. That means you artificial and my style'll poison ya brain tissue." - Black Thought
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