Song · Michael Jackson
“Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'” by Michael Jackson
From the album Thriller (1982)
“Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'” by Michael Jackson appears on 4 radio countdowns from 3 stations between 2018 and 2025. It was first released in 1982 on the album Thriller. Its best result is #208 on The Best Opening Tracks of All Time. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #4,645 indie & aaa song of all time.
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Video from YouTube (michaeljacksonVEVO). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
Thriller doesn't ease in: it kicks the door open with "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", a song Michael Jackson wrote himself and co-produced with Quincy Jones, which Epic put out as the album's fourth single in May 1983. The groove picks up where Off the Wall left off, only knottier, a pile-up of interlocking rhythms: Louis Johnson's bass, Paulinho da Costa's percussion, Greg Phillinganes on Rhodes and synth, even foot stomps, with Jerry Hey, Gary Grant, Larry Williams and Bill Reichenbach punching out the horn parts. Bruce Swedien recorded and mixed it.
The words bristle at strangers who trade in rumours just to stir up a fight, and Jackson sings them with nervy, finger-jabbing urgency. It gave him four top-10 hits in a row from Thriller, went to number one in Canada and the Netherlands, and earned a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Song, all without a video.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 390 | The Current | The Current's 893 Essential Songs | 892 |
| 2023 | 433 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s | 850 |
| 2024 | 208 | KEXP | The Best Opening Tracks of All Time | 738 |
| 2025 | 329 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs | 800 |
Also listed as: Wanna Be Startin' Something; Wanna Be Starting Something.
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