Michael Jackson's "Thriller" Was Almost Called...

Two alternate titles nearly adorned Halloween's most iconic song—and the bestselling album in history—amid the topsy-turvy creation of "Thriller."

The following is adapted from my book, Michael Jackson, Inc.: The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of a Billion-Dollar Empire, on the occasion of Halloween.

In the summer of 1982, Michael Jackson summoned Quincy Jones to the Westlake Recording Studio in Los Angeles to record the album that would become Thriller. But it was known by a different name at first: Starlight.

Veteran songwriter Rod Temperton initially gave that name to the title track (with a chorus of “STAR-light! Starlight sun…”) It probably would have stuck, had Jones not challenged him to come up with something better.

Temperton went home and brainstormed hundreds of names, which brought him to Thriller’s second almost-title.