![](https://entertainment.time.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2011/07/07_top10michaeljacksonsongs.jpg?w=350&h=350&crop=1)
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.
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