It was the early 80s and, thanks to a friend's parents, I had a red-labeled cassette tape with "Michael Jackson - Thriller" scribbled on the front. The tape had been dumped from the vinyl in a practice that seemed mostly legal at the time.

I listened to this tape on my "portable" cassette player in the car. I listened to it in my dark bathroom flicking the lights on and off creating a strobe light effect. I listened to it in my room before going to sleep. I don't think there was ever a time when I would have said that Michael Jackson was my favorite singer. He was the King of Pop. It was sort of a moral obligation to enjoy his music.

Last week, I found the CD version of this album that I had not listened to since before puberty. I slid it into the CD player. As it spun, so did my world. Let me explain. Here's the track listing for the album:

1. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
2. "Baby Be Mine"
3. "The Girl Is Mine"
4. "Thriller"
5. "Beat It"
6. "Billie Jean"
7. "Human Nature"
8. "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)"
9. "The Lady in My Life"

It took me a few moments to realize why it felt like every truth I knew was being flipped over beat by beat. The person that had recorded my well-worn tape had started with the B side.

Now, in hindsight it makes complete sense to start the album with a track titled "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" but I would argue my mixed-up sequence was superior.

My version of the album started with "Beat It" and ended with "Thriller." Thus, book-ending it with the two strongest songs. This solidified a very strong concept for me listening to it so young. Start off strong and end big.

Did I eat my dessert from my elementary school sack lunch first? No. I started off with the tasty fruit or Caprisun and ended with the overproduced, mind-blowing candy bar.

Now where would I be if I had listened to it in the actual order? I'd have grown up eating my 3 Musketeers half-way through my PB&J sandwich. That would have lead to a very anti-climatic ending and thorough disappointment. Which would have, in turn, carried throughout the rest of the school day. I would have gotten lower marks on all my papers, possibly held back a grade, and eventually doomed to a life of TV dinners and domestic beer.

I'd like to thank his Pop-iness for his track listing, but I think I'll stick with my bootlegged, dessert-last, superior Thriller song sequence. Even if it means I have to provide my own manual strobe lighting.