Thrilling Beat it

 

Everyone (now) knows that Eddie Van Halen was indeed the mastermind behind that absolutely classic, and somewhat historical, guitar solo that came and gave a cool edge to the rising superstar that was Michael Jackson at the time Thriller was being recorded. For it is important to remember that Mr. Jackson, back in 1982, was still a young and up-and-coming African-American musician whose talent was already obvious but whose solo stardom was still very much ahead of him. Enter Quincy Jones, who’d already produced the artist’s previous LP, Off the wall, and wanted to top himself — and Jackson — with their sophomore combined effort. Enter Eddie Van Halen…

In 1982, Eddie Van Halen was (already) one of the hottest rock musicians out there, leading his eponymous band to superstardom with a sound that essentially forged 80’s arena rock. The story goes that, when Jones called Van Halen, the guitarist first thought it was a prank. Eventually acknowledging that he was indeed talking to Jackson’s producer, he agreed to come in the studio and record a solo on a song the pair were working on. However, as the rule within Van Halen was not to work outside the band, and because Eddie was perhaps too much of a gutsy artist to think business in such circumstances, he told Jones he would do it off the record and free of charge. Well, save for a case of beer, apparently.

And he very much delivered: the story goes that it only took two takes for the now classic solo to be recorded — and that one of the speakers caught on fire while the piece was being put on tape… And that’s not even the best part: as Van Halen later recalled, he took it upon himself to rework the entire song in progress, tweaking the chord progression to make his solo fit in more seamlessly. Both Jackson and Jones played along: the rework must have been worthy. Again, it didn’t seem like such a big deal to the guitarist at the time, as Jackson was still a youngling in his rock star eyes.

The same couldn’t have been said after the release of the song: by then, Michael Jackson had already become the King of pop, a crown he kept until his death — and arguably beyond… And “Beat it” still forms a key part of that musical legacy, all thanks to an apparent prank call…