Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'

At Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, the rhythm section locked in during April 1982 to create a track that would open Michael Jackson's sixth studio album. The song bursts with percussion and a horn section that hits like a slap, driven by Louis Johnson on bass and David Williams on guitar. Jackson wrote the lyrics alone, channeling frustration over media rumors into lines like "You're a vegetable, you're a vegetable" while co-producing with Quincy Jones.

The track draws heavily from Cameroonian rhythms, specifically adapting the vocal hook from Manu Dibango's 1972 hit "Soul Makossa." This chant became one of the most recognizable elements in pop history, layered with backing vocals from Julia Waters, Maxine Waters, Oren Waters, James Ingram, Bunny Hull, and Becky Lopez. Jerry Hey handled the horn arrangements, adding a bright counterpoint to the dense call-and-response texture.

Released as the fourth single from Thriller in May 1983, the song reached number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 8 on the UK Singles Chart. While the radio edit trimmed the album version down to 4:21, the 12-inch extended mix kept the full energy at 6:30. No official music video was produced, yet the song remained a staple of Jackson's live performances across every tour from the Victory Tour in 1984 through the HIStory World Tour in 1997. [edit]