Althouse: "The next morning, I woke up, and I just said this word. Something in my head just said, this is the title."

October 6, 2016

"The next morning, I woke up, and I just said this word. Something in my head just said, this is the title."

"You could visualize it on the top of the Billboard charts. You could see the merchandising for this one word, how it jumped off the page as 'Thriller.'"

Said Rod Temperton — who has died at the age of 68 — about the song he wrote, the song that was once "Starlight":

6 comments:

CJinPA said...: It's amazing the people you learn about only when they die. He was in Heat Wave and wrote their biggest hits, including my high school prom theme song, "Always and Forever." He looked like a British banker but played keyboard for funk band. Amazing career.; 10/6/16, 8:51 AM
David said...: Starlight? They can thank their lucky stars for Quincy Jones.; 10/6/16, 10:03 AM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/6/16, 11:56 AM
Yancey Ward said...: He also wrote the title track to the Jackson album that preceded Thriller, Off the Wall.; 10/6/16, 12:39 PM
bwebster said...: Still one of the best music videos ever.; 10/6/16, 12:53 PM
Yancey Ward said...: I was just reading his Wikibio- I didn't know he also wrote Rock With You, and was a keyboard player with Heatwave and wrote their big hit Boogie Nights, from which Paul Thomas Anderson took as the title for his movie about the porn business of the 70s and early 80s.; 10/6/16, 1:16 PM