CONJURING ‘THRILLER’
How Rod Temperton penned Michael Jackson’s famous song
I F you get the creeps every time you hear the “rap” about grizzly ghouls and bloodthirsty creatures at the end of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” then just remember these images were conjured up by a mild-mannered English guy, speeding through Los Angeles traffic in a cab.
In the new book “The Invisible Man,” by author Jed Pitman (out Sept. 1), the reclusive but gifted songwriter Rod Temperton (responsible for Vincent Price’s famous verses, among many others) is finally getting his due. Few pop fans know anything about him, but he was behind some huge hits, and had a massive part in Jackson’s post-Motown solo career. He was credited as songwriter on three songs from Jackson’s debut “Off the Wall” (1979) and three from the biggest-selling album of all time, “Thriller” (1982).
During his research, Pitman found that Temperton was usually meticulous about his work.
“He had all the parts in his head,” Pitman told The Post. “He knew exactly what he wanted.”
But recording the iconic “Thriller” monologue was unusually slapdash.
Working with Quincy Jones, Temperton initially suggested Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (of the TV show “Fright Night,” originally), to record the spooky spoken-word part. But Jones suggested Price, who was a friend of his wife’s.
On the day of recording, Temperton was running late and had to write en route.
“It was just so easy to visualize Vincent saying this stuff . . . The words were just falling out of me,” Temperton says in the book. After getting to the studio, he noticed Price’s limo was already there and so ordered his cab to go around the back. He copied his verses, put them on a music stand, Price nailed them in just two takes, and music would never be the same. Temperton’s journey to working with Jones, Price and Jackson was a long, unlikely one. He was born in the nondescript seaside town of Cleethorpes in the north of England in 1949. After playing in prog-rock bands in the early 1970s, he hooked up with Johnnie Wilder Jr. of the group Heatwave, and masterminded their late ’70s disco-funk hits “Boogie Nights” and “The Groove Line.” Jones spotted Temperton’s potential and invited him to write songs for Jackson, helping launch the singer into the stratosphere. But Temperton kept himself firmly out of the spotlight. “He didn’t want to be part of the Michael Jackson circus,” says Pitman. “I remember he said working with him was quite strange, although Rod got on pretty well with Bubbles the chimpanzee and Michael’s boa constrictor, Muscles!”
Temperton’s work made him very wealthy, and he had houses in the UK, Beverly Hills, Calif., the South of France, Switzerland and Fiji.
“If the rumors are to be believed, he owned an entire island in Fiji,” says Pitman.
His reclusion was such that when his death was announced in 2016 (he was 66), the funeral had already happened. His publisher said he died after a short battle with cancer.
The nickname “The Invisible Man” is well-earned, and it’s undoubtedly how Temperton wanted it.
“There was no doubt that he was a genius,” says Pitman. “And true geniuses do what they do without the need for fanfare.”