There's that so-often told story of something being "the last" or "the last-moment substitute" that makes history and does well.
And so is that story of "Human Nature," the fifth single release from Michael Jackson's memorable 1982 album Thriller. But how did "Human Nature" even make its way to Jackson's album in the first place? This is the story.
"Human Nature" was co-written by Steve Porcaro of the group Toto and John Bettis, who wrote a number of hits in the 1970s and early 1980s for the Carpenters as well as the Pointer Sisters' big 1981 No. 2 hit "Slow Hand." But "Human Nature" was not really a "finished" project. Porcaro put down the song in a sketchy form on a cassette tape, not much in lyrics, most likely thinking producer Quincy Jones, the superstar behind Jackson's success for 1979's Off The Wall would even give the song a second look, but might give him an opinion to what he thinks which direction the song might go in.
So after completing the sketchy recording, Porcaro reportedly handed the tape over to Toto pianist-singer and leader David Paich to hand to Jones with two songs that Paich had put together for Jones and Jackson to listen to for approval.
Jones and Jackson were already in the process of recording Thriller while Porcaro and Paich and the rest of Toto were enjoying monster success with the album that would win the Grammy for Album of the Year, Toto IV. So Jones received the demos from Paich ... and stunningly rejected both of Paich's songs! Then he heard the sketchy melody and words to "Human Nature."
Something clicked. In the notes of the re-released Thriller 25 in 2008, Jones said, "All of a sudden, at the end, there was all this silence, there was: 'Why, why, dah dah da-dum dah dah, why, why.' Just a dummy lyric and a very skeletal thing—I get goosebumps talking about it. I said, 'This is where we wanna go, because it's got such a wonderful flavor.'"
So he had Porcaro and Bettis pursue the song further. A couple of weeks later, Porcaro brought Jones the finished version of "Human Nature," for which he would play the synthesizers and keyboards as a session musician. And in a last-second judgment, Jones substituted a song that was already set to be placed on the album, "Carousel," for "Human Nature."
"Human Nature" provided a perfect balance for Thriller as a slower song alongside "The Lady In My Life" and "The Girl Is Mine" against the funky dance songs like "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)," "Wanna Be Startin' Something," the title track and "Billie Jean" along with the fire of the Eddie Van Halen guitar-driven "Beat It."
But only one album in the history of popular music had ever seen more than four releases from it hit the Top 40 -- that was the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, which featured four No. 1 hits, three by the Bee Gees and the other by Yvonne Elliman, while the other Top 40 hits came from the Trammps, K.C. & The Sunshine Band and Tavares.
Never in the history of music had one album generated five Top 40 hits by one artist. Fleetwood Mac scored four Top 10 hits from its landmark 1977 Rumours with "Go Your Own Way," "Dreams," "Don't Stop" and "You Make Lovin' Fun." And Jackson did it with four Top 10 hits from Off The Wall with "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," "Rock With You," the title track and "She's Out Of My Life." The Grease soundtrack in 1978 generated four Top 10 hits as well, two being duets by the stars, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, along with a solo single by Newton-John and Frankie Valli's No. 1 title track.
So as the wintertime release of Thriller turned into the spring of '83, then the summer of '83, and the first four songs were all Top 10 hits -- "The Girl Is Mine," a duet with the great Paul McCartney, "Billie Jean," "Beat It" and "Wanna Be Startin' Something" -- the executives of CBS/Epic Records made a big decision. Thriller was huge and selling a trough full of albums each day through the summer of '83. They didn't want this party to end at four Top 40 hits knowing there was more hit potential from the album.
So on Tuesday, July 5, 1983, "Human Nature," the last-moment substitution for the album that originally came to its producer as a sketchy demo, was released after the power of the dance-happy "Wanna Be Startin' Something." This brooding moody ballad that had Jackson's vocals on full display about life in the city and his relationship with it, made its Hot 100 debut on July 23, 1983 and a week later, debuted at No. 35 in the Top 40.
And it kept climbing until Labor Day weekend. It was on that weekend it leaped from No. 13 to No. 10, making it the record fifth Top 40 hit from the album. A couple of weeks later, it would peak at No. 7. But even then the CBS/Sony execs didn't want the party to end. Soon after that, "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" was released and hit No. 10. And in the winter of 1984, the title track hit No. 4.
That would be seven Top 40 releases and seven Top 10 hits from Thriller. The seal was broken -- you could release more than four songs from an album if the album ... and the popularity ... were right and the right time.
But while Thriller was finished selling albums on an insane pace daily, another CBS album was being released in the late spring of 1984. It was Bruce Springsteen's Born In The U.S.A. and the company, too, made the landmark decision to go beyond four Top 10 hits from the amazingly great album after it became a smash. "Glory Days" did the trick with a Top 10 hit in the summer of 1985, followed by Top 10 followups "I'm Goin' Down" and "My Hometown," matching Jackson's seven Top 10 hits from Thriller.
Still, as they say, you always remember your "first." And in the case of Thriller, the record label took a chance on that sketchy, brooding, beautiful song "Human Nature" and it broke the glass ceiling for Top 10 hits from one album.
Yet another reason why Thriller will be judged as the greatest album of all-time if not one of the greatest.
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