'Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough'

This was the first song Jackson had full creative control over as a singer and songwriter, and it proved he was more than just a sweet kid. (His mother, a Jehovah’s Witness, was reportedly shocked at the sexual entendre in the title.) “Don’t Stop” came out squarely at the end of the disco era, and yet it’s so filled with energy and instruments — trumpet, flugelhorn, electric piano — that it doesn’t sound the least bit dated. No self-respecting wedding DJ goes anywhere without it.
'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'

It’s hard to write a better album opener than this one from Thriller, which not only kicks up the energy but lays out Jackson’s ambitious musical agenda — from the disco beat to the rock timbre of the vocals to the closing refrain of “mama-se, mama-sa, mama-coo-sa,” cribbed from “Soul Makossa,” a hit by Cameroonian saxophonist Manu Dibango.

























