'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.
'We Are the World'

Parts of this benefit single have aged poorly — specifically, the Quincy Jones fanfare that opens the thing and the Cyndi Lauper shrieking-dolphin interlude. But the song itself, written by Jackson and Lionel Richie, is a wonder, flexible enough to accommodate the vocal styles of everyone from Kenny Rogers to Bob Dylan. And at the 2:40 mark, when Jackson sings the bridge in a classic “‘scuse me, genius coming through” moment, he proves that his style tops them all.

























