Did Denny Jaeger get his credit in Beat It?

[GlenXoseph]

The synth sound at the beginning of Beat It was actually replayed from Denny Jaeger's demo a year before then.

According to "MJ: The Genius of Michael Jackson" by Steve Knopper, Jaeger contacted MJ, and he not only got credit, but also got to work in Bad album. https://books.google.ca/books?id=60p5DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA108&dq=denny+jaeger+beat+it&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=denny%20jaeger%20beat%20it&f=false

Turned out he did work on "Smooth Criminal" and "Dirty Diana", and the mysterious intro of "Dirty Diana" was created by him. I saw him name in the 2001 edition BAD album.

But did he get his credit in Beat It? Does his name appear in any editions of Thriller album? I checked the images online of both Thriller and Thriller25. The images I found of Thriller did not contain his name, but maybe that's because it was the initial version, it was printed and released before he even talked to MJ's team. In images I found of Thriller25 did not even contain the information of the old songs, only those remixes.

So has anyone seen his Denny Jaeger's credit in any editions of Thriller??

 

[Electro]

The synth sound at the beginning of Beat It was actually replayed from Denny Jaeger's demo a year before then.

According to "MJ: The Genius of Michael Jackson" by Steve Knopper, Jaeger contacted MJ, and he not only got credit, but also got to work in Bad album. https://books.google.ca/books?id=60p5DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA108&dq=denny+jaeger+beat+it&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=denny%20jaeger%20beat%20it&f=false

Turned out he did work on "Smooth Criminal" and "Dirty Diana", and the mysterious intro of "Dirty Diana" was created by him. I saw him name in the 2001 edition BAD album.

But did he get his credit in Beat It? Does his name appear in any editions of Thriller album? I checked the images online of both Thriller and Thriller25. The images I found of Thriller did not contain his name, but maybe that's because it was the initial version, it was printed and released before he even talked to MJ's team. In images I found of Thriller25 did not even contain the information of the old songs, only those remixes.

So has anyone seen his Denny Jaeger's credit in any editions of Thriller??

The "Denny Jaeger - The Incredible Sounds Of Synclavier II" album was a sound library release (stock music). There we're tons of these in the 70s and 80s, to demonstrate what a certain new synthesizer could do, or with music that TV and radio could use for jingles etc.
Other than a one-off fee to the record label that released the library, it was not necessary to later pay royalties or give credits. So I doubt that Denny ever got credit for Beat It.

 

[GlenXoseph]

Well the sound itself came with the synthesizer, so of course they can use it however they want. But the melody of the intro was indeed composed by Denny Jaeger, I don't think you can just reuse it like that, can you?

Check out the book link, at the very bottom of page 108, you can see the author Steve Knopper claimed that he "eventually received not only an album credit", I'm just curious are there any evidence supporting that.

 

[Electro]

Well the sound itself came with the synthesizer, so of course they can use it however they want. But the melody of the intro was indeed composed by Denny Jaeger, I don't think you can just reuse it like that, can you?

If this was released as a stock music album, then it's as I wrote.
It sure looks like one of those released back then.

Check out the book link, at the very bottom of page 108, you can see the author Steve Knopper claimed that he "eventually received not only an album credit", I'm just curious are there any evidence supporting that.

Knopper writes: "Jeager contacted Jackson's people and eventually received album credit".
I'm not claiming to know that this didn't happen, but as you said, where is that credit?
I can't see it on any of my Thriller pressings as well.

The story about Jaeger contacting Michael's people must be based one something Denny Jaeger said. Maybe decades later that's how Denny likes to remember it or he meant that he got paid, but said he got credit instead. Or he or Knopper mixed it up with getting credit on the Bad album.

 

[mj_frenzy]

The synth sound at the beginning of Beat It was actually replayed from Denny Jaeger's demo a year before then.
[video]https://youtu.be/jN51w46nqIc[/video]

According to "MJ: The Genius of Michael Jackson" by Steve Knopper, Jaeger contacted MJ, and he not only got credit, but also got to work in Bad album. https://books.google.ca/books?id=60p5DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA108&dq=denny+jaeger+beat+it&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=denny%20jaeger%20beat%20it&f=false

Turned out he did work on "Smooth Criminal" and "Dirty Diana", and the mysterious intro of "Dirty Diana" was created by him. I saw him name in the 2001 edition BAD album.

But did he get his credit in Beat It? Does his name appear in any editions of Thriller album? I checked the images online of both Thriller and Thriller25. The images I found of Thriller did not contain his name, but maybe that's because it was the initial version, it was printed and released before he even talked to MJ's team. In images I found of Thriller25 did not even contain the information of the old songs, only those remixes.

So has anyone seen his Denny Jaeger's credit in any editions of Thriller??

Denny Jaeger did not get that Synclavier credit on any edition of the ‘Thriller’ album.

Instead, Tom Bähler got that Synclavier credit.

Tom Bähler was the guy who discovered that Synclavier sound (which had already been composed by Denny Jaeger), and he then suggested to the 'Thriller' album's team that they should use it on the ‘Beat It’ intro.

The fact that Denny Jaeger did not get a credit (on the ‘Thriller’ album) for his Synclavier composition is hardly surprising, given Quincy Jones’ revelation that Michael Jackson stole a lot of stuff and ideas for his studio albums.

In a similar case, few years earlier Greg Phillinganes did not get a writing credit for his bridge composition on the ‘Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough’ song (actually they relegated him to simply an arranger, when he should have been credited as a writer for that bridge, considering how crucial that bridge is to the song’s structure).

 

[Electro]

Tom Bähler was the guy who discovered that Synclavier sound (which had already been composed by Denny Jaeger), and he then suggested to the 'Thriller' album's team that they should use it on the ‘Beat It’ intro.

Is that again just you imagining how it went down, or is there any source for that?

The fact that Denny Jaeger did not get a credit (on the ‘Thriller’ album) for his Synclavier composition is hardly surprising, given Quincy Jones’ revelation that Michael Jackson stole a lot of stuff and ideas for his studio albums.

Uh, your favourite topic once again.
How would that be solely on Michael, if Quincy Jones was producing this album?
And what's the use of crediting another guy instead, if it was just about stealing stuff?
Tendentiously jumping to conclusions as always.

In a similar case, few years earlier Greg Phillinganes did not get a writing credit for his bridge composition on the ‘Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough’ song (actually they relegated him to simply an arranger, when he should have been credited as a writer for that bridge, considering how crucial that bridge is to the song’s structure).

The arranger credit was fully sufficient.

Musical arranger job description:
The primary role of a music arranger is to arrange a piece of music based on the needs or requirements of a performer, a group of performers, a conductor, producer or music director. The arranger makes sure that every aspect of a music piece is well harmonized, from the instruments down to the tempo.
https://www.liveabout.com/the-music-arranger-2456200

 

[GlenXoseph]

If this was released as a stock music album, then it's as I wrote.
It sure looks like one of those released back then.



Knopper writes: "Jeager contacted Jackson's people and eventually received album credit".
I'm not claiming to know that this didn't happen, but as you said, where is that credit?
I can't see it on any of my Thriller pressings as well.

The story about Jaeger contacting Michael's people must be based one something Denny Jaeger said. Maybe decades later that's how Denny likes to remember it or he meant that he got paid, but said he got credit instead. Or he or Knopper mixed it up with getting credit on the Bad album.

I'm totally not surprised if he didn't get credit in Thriller at all. I'm just saying that an album has different editions, they can be released and printed in different years, they might be slightly different in different countries, or even different when it's a vinyl instead of CD or cassette.

I'm simply asking if anyone has seen a version of Thriller with his name on it.

In fact, the original 1986 Bad did not contain Jaeger's name either, I found his name in the 2001 edition only.