*Thirty-seven years ago today, Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” began a three week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart. It was the third single from his record-shattering, Quincy Jones-produced album “Thriller.”
Michael reportedly told Jones that he wanted to include a rock song on the album, in the vein of The Knack’s “My Sharona.”
Michael cut a vocal demo of “Beat It” in the key of E â™Â minor for Quincy to evaluate. MJ said of the track: “I wanted to write the type of song that I would buy if I were to buy a rock song… That is how I approached it and I wanted the children to really enjoy it—the school children as well as the college students.”
After hearing the first recorded vocals, Jones reportedly stated that it “was exactly what he was looking for.”
Listen below:
Michael Jackson – Beat It (Original Home Demo Vocal)
The seven ominous bells at the beginning of “Beat It” are played on the Synclavier digital synthesizer by Tom Bahler. He lifts it note for note from a Synclavier demo LP released the year before, called “The Incredible Sounds of Synclavier II.”
Listen below, at the 6:41 mark.
The Incredible Sounds of Synclavier II
Quincy Jones apparently loved him some Toto…
Because he recruited the band’s co-founder Jeff Porcaro to play drums on “Beat It,” and the band’s guitarist Steve Lukather to play lead guitar and bass. Below, beginning at the 3:50 mark, Lukather talks about being dispatched by Jones to “save” a recording session, and being told by Quincy to make Eddie’s rock guitar palatable for R&B radio .
Steve Lukather on Recording Beat It with Michael Jackson & Eddie Van Halen (at the 3:50 mark)
As Lukather mentioned above, Eddie Van Halen wasn’t feeling the original track that would support his guitar solo, so he made a few chord changes. Below, he tells CNN about getting the call from Quincy Jones about the solo, recording it despite his own band’s rule that no one takes outside gigs, and having the engineer rearrange the song without Michael’s knowledge to better fit his solo. He also confirms recording the solo free of charge, “as a favor.”
Eddie Van Halen shares his memories of working with Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson & Eddie Van Halen “Beat It” live 1984
If you’ve ever wondered what that knocking noise is right before Van Halen’s solo, it’s not someone banging on the recording studio door, as some rumors have suggested. The sound comes from Jackson banging a beat on a drum case, as Lukather explains in his interview above. Long story short, they were in the process of recording the song on multiple tracks. The track given to Eddie as a reference for his solo didn’t have drums recorded, only Michael filling in with a temporary beat on the drum case.
Lukather explained, “Eddie’s solo, Michael’s lead vocal and Michael hitting two and four on the drum case and the SMPTE code were on the master reel. To cut the slave tape, they transferred that. And then they needed to recut the track. …There was no drum machines. There was no click track on it at all. Just Michael, ‘Bap! Bap! Bap!,” which is still on the record.”
“Beat It” was released on February 14, 1983, as the third single from “Thriller,” following the successful chart performances of first single “The Girl Is Mine” and second single “Billie Jean.” Epic Records vice president Frank DiLeo convinced Jackson to release “Beat It” while “Billie Jean” was heading towards number one, believing that both singles would end up in the Top 10 at the same time.
He was right. Billie Jean” remained atop the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks, before being replaced by “Come On Eileen”, which stayed at No. 1 for a single week, before Jackson reclaimed the position with “Beat It” on April 30, 1983.
CBS refused to finance the video for “Beat It,” so Michael paid $150,000 out of his own pocket to get it done. It was shot around March 9, 1983, mostly on Los Angeles’ Skid Row—mainly on locations on East 5th St. Jackson famously included around 80 real gang members from rival Los Angeles street gangs Crips and Bloods, both to add authenticity and make peace for filming in on their turf. The visual also featured 18 professional dancers and four breakdancers.Besides Jackson, Vincent Paterson and the video’s choreographer Michael Peters, the cast included Michael DeLorenzo, Stoney Jackson, Tracii Guns, Tony Fields, Peter Tramm, Rick Stone, and Cheryl Song.
Below, Michael talks about the video with Tom Joyner in an on-set interview in 1983:
Another behind-the-scenes video below, includes an interview with its writer and director, Bob Giraldi:
“Beat It” Performers:
Michael Jackson – lead vocals, background vocals, drum case beater
Paul Jackson Jr. – rhythm guitar
Steve Lukather – lead guitar, bass guitar
Eddie Van Halen – guitar solo
Steve Porcaro – synthesizer, synthesizer programming
Greg Phillinganes – Rhodes, synthesizer
Bill Wolfer – keyboards
Tom Bahler – Synclavier
Jeff Porcaro – drums
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