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Michael Jackson · S4 E3
Beat It
Rock music, Eddie Van Halen, and a wall that came down
Westlake Recording Studios, 1982. Quincy Jones picks up the phone and calls the greatest rock guitarist on the planet to ask a favor.
Beat It, Michael Jackson (1983). Real members of Los Angeles street gangs stand alongside professional dancers choreographed by Michael Peters. Michael walks straight into a knife fight and turns it into a dance.
Beat It, Michael Jackson (1983)
Steve Lukather of Toto plays all the rhythm guitar, laying down a hard rock foundation that sounds nothing like anything else on Thriller. The synth intro and drum machine set up a pop expectation before distorted guitars crash in and tear it apart. When Van Halen's solo arrives, the energy of the entire song shifts, and for thirty seconds a pop album becomes a rock concert.
Sources
Eddie Van Halen interview, CNN 2012
Thriller liner notes, Epic Records 1982
Steve Lukather session credits
The Rock Problem
Quincy Jones tells Michael they need a rock song. Not a rock-influenced pop song, a real rock track that will get played on AOR radio stations that have never touched a Michael Jackson record.
“"I did it as a favor. I listened to the song once and just started playing. The whole thing was done in about twenty minutes."”
— Eddie Van Halen (on recording the Beat It guitar solo)
TAP TO REVEAL: What did Eddie Van Halen do to Beat It that nobody expected?
P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing), Michael Jackson
Co-written by James Ingram and Quincy Jones, this is the track where Thriller lets its guard down and just has fun. The vocal arrangement stacks harmonies from Michael's sisters Janet and La Toya, and the groove is pure sunshine. After the intensity of Billie Jean and the rock aggression of Beat It, this song proves Thriller can do absolutely anything.
Who played all the rhythm guitar parts on Beat It (not the famous solo)?
Two number-one singles and a rock-pop crossover nobody thought possible. But Thriller has a secret weapon: a six-minute song with a chant from Cameroon that Michael held back for three years because he knew exactly when to play it.
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