"Beat It" is a song written and performed by American
recording artist Michael Jackson and co-produced by Quincy
Jones for the singer's sixth solo album,
Thriller(1982). Eddie Van Halen was drafted to add the
song's distinctive overdriven guitar solo. Following the
successful chart performances of the
Thrillersingles "The Girl Is Mine" and "Billie Jean",
"Beat It" was released on February 14, 1983 as the album's
third single. The song was promoted with a short film that
featured Jackson bringing two gangs together through the power
of dance.
A commercial success, "Beat It" was awarded two Grammy
Awards and two American Music Awards and was inducted into the
Music Video Producers Hall of Fame. "Beat It" (along with the
song's music video) propelled
Thrillerinto becoming the best-selling album of all
time. The single was certified platinum in 1989. Rolling Stone
magazine placed "Beat It" in the 337th spot on its list of The
500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
In the decades since its release, "Beat It" has been
covered, parodied, and sampled by numerous artists including
Fergie, Weird Al Yankovic, and Fall Out Boy. The song was also
featured in the National Highway Safety Commission's anti-drunk
driving campaign.
"Beat It" was written by Michael Jackson for his
Thrilleralbum. Co-producer Quincy Jones had wanted to
include a rock 'n' roll song, though Jackson reportedly had
never previously shown an interest in the genre. Jackson later
said of "Beat It", "I wanted to write a song, 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 kids to really enjoy it—the
school kids as well as the college kids." Upon hearing the
first recorded vocals, Jones stated that it was exactly what he
was looking for. Rock guitarist Eddie Van Halen, lead guitarist
of hard rock band Van Halen, was then requested to add a guitar
solo.
When initially contacted by Jones, Van Halen thought he was
receiving a prank call. Having established that the call was
genuine, Van Halen recorded his guitar solo free of any charge.
"I did it as a favor", the musician later said. "I was a
complete fool, according to the rest of the band, our manager
and everyone else. I was not used. I knew what I was doing - I
don't do something unless I want to do it." Van Halen recorded
his contribution following Jones and Jackson arriving at the
guitarist's house with a "skeleton version" of the song. Fellow
guitarist Steve Lukather recalled, "Initially, we rocked it out
as Eddie had played a good solo—but Quincy thought it was too
tough. So I had to reduce the distorted guitar sound and that
is what was released." The song was among the last four
completed for
Thriller; the others were "Human Nature", "P.Y.T.
(Pretty Young Thing)" and "The Lady in My Life".
On the record, right before Van Halen's guitar solo begins,
a noise is heard that sounds like somebody knocking at a door.
It is reported that the knock was a person walking into Van
Halen's recording studio. Another story has claimed that the
sound was simply the musician knocking on his own guitar. The
lyrics of "Beat It" are about defeat and courage, and have been
described as a "sad commentary on human nature". The line
"don't be a macho man" is said to express Jackson's dislike of
violence, whilst also referencing the childhood abuse he faced
at the hands of his father Joseph. The song is played in the
key of Eb minor at a moderately fast tempo of 132 beats per
minute. In the song, Jackson's vocal range is B3 to D5.
The uncredited guitarist who whipped out the fluttering,
squealing solo on this ode to macho cowardice was Eddie Van
Halen. The aerodynamic metal flight pumped crossover fuel that
would boost the success of "Thriller" — a gimmick Jackson would
flog later with spots from Slash and Carlos Santana. Without
the Van Halen precedent, there might have been no collaboration
of Run-DMC and Aerosmith on the 1986 rap/rock version of "Walk
This Way".
"Beat It" was released on February 14, 1983, following the
successful chart performances of "The Girl Is Mine" and "Billie
Jean". Frank Dileo, the vice president of Epic Records,
convinced Jackson to release "Beat It" whilst "Billie Jean" was
heading towards number one. Dileo, who would later become the
singer's manager, predicted that both singles would remain in
the Top 10 at the same time. "Billie Jean" remained atop the
Hot 100 for seven weeks, before being toppled by "Come On
Eileen". The Dexys Midnight Runners' song stayed at number one
for a single week, before Jackson reclaimed the position with
"Beat It".
"Billie Jean" and "Beat It" occupied Top 5 positions at the
same time, a feat matched by very few artists. The single
remained at the top of the Hot 100 for a total of three weeks.
The song also charted at number one on the US R&B singles
chart and number 14 on the
BillboardTop Tracks chart in the US. "Beat It" also
claimed the top spot in Spain and The Netherlands, reached
number three in the UK, the Top 20 in Austria, Norway, Italy,
Sweden and Switzerland, numbers 31 in Denmark and number 47 in
France.
In a
Rolling Stonereview, Christopher Connelly describes
"Beat It" as the best song on
Thriller, adding that it "ain't no disco AOR track". He
notes of the "nifty dance song", "Jackson's voice soars all
over the melody, Eddie Van Halen checks in with a blistering
guitar solo, you could build a convention center on the
backbeat". Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine states that the
song is both "tough" and "scared". Robert Christgau claimed
that the song, in which Eddie Van Halen "wends his night in the
service of antimacho", is the "triumph and the thriller". Slant
Magazine observed that the song was an "uncharacteristic
dalliance with the rock idiom".
Stylusexpressed amazement that Van Halen performed a
rock guitar solo on a R&B record. The track also won praise
from Jackson biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli, who stated that
the song was "rambunctious".
"Beat It" has been recognized with several awards. At the
1984 Grammy Awards the song earned Jackson two of a record
eight awards; Record of the Year and Best Rock Vocal
Performance. The track won the Billboard Music Award for
favorite dance/disco 12" LP in 1983. The single was certified
gold, a few months after its release, for shipments of at least
one million units. In 1989, the standard format single was
re-certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of
America, based on the revised sales level of one million units
for platinum singles. The total number of digital sales in the
US, as of March 2009, stands at 668,000.
The short film for "Beat It", directed by Bob Giraldi and
choreographed by Michael Peters, helped establish Jackson as an
international pop icon. The film was Jackson's first treatment
of black youth and the streets. Both "Beat It" and
Thrillerare notable for their "mass choreography" of
synchronized dancers, a Jackson trademark. The video included
around 80 genuine gang members—to add authenticity to the
production—and 18 professional dancers. Inspired by the
Broadway musical
West Side Story, the video cost Jackson $150,000 to
create after CBS refused to finance it. The video's featured
choreography opened up many job opportunities for dancers in
the US.
The music video opens with the news of a fight circulating
at a diner. This scene repeats itself at a pool hall, where
gang members arrive via foot, forklift, and out of sewers. The
camera cuts to a scene of Jackson lying on a bed, contemplating
the senseless violence. The singer leaves the room upon hearing
the commotion caused by the rival gangs. Donning a red leather
J. Parks brand jacket, Jackson dances his way through the diner
and pool hall, towards the fight. Arriving at the scene,where a
knife fight is taking place between the two gang leaders, the
singer breaks up the fight and launches into a dance routine.
The video ends with the gang members joining him in the dance,
agreeing that violence is not the solution to their
problems.
The video received recognition through numerous awards. The
American Music Awards named the short film their Favorite
Pop/Rock Video and their Favorite Soul Video. The Black Gold
Awards honored Jackson with the Best Video Performance award.
The
BillboardVideo Awards recognised the video with 7
awards; Best Overall Video Clip, Best Performance by a Male
Artist, Best Use of Video to Enhance a Song, Best Use of Video
to Enhance an Artist's Image, Best Choreography, Best Overall
Video and Best Dance/Disco 12". The short film was ranked by
Rolling Stoneas the number one video, in both their
critic's and reader's poll. The video was later inducted into
the Music Video Producer's Hall of Fame.
On July 4, 1984, Jackson performed "Beat It" live with his
brothers during The Jacksons' Victory Tour. The brothers were
joined on stage by Eddie Van Halen, who played the guitar in
his solo spot. The song became a signature song of Jackson; the
singer performed it on all of his world tours; Bad, Dangerous
and HIStory. The October 1, 1992 Dangerous Tour performance of
"Beat It" was included on the DVD of the singer's
Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collectionbox set. The DVD
was later repackaged as
Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour. Jackson also
performed the song on the
Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special, a concert
celebrating the musician's thirtieth year as a solo performer.
The performance featured Slash as the song's guest
guitarist.
A highlight of Jackson's solo concert tour performances of
the song is that would he would begin the song on a
cherrypicker, (in a similar fashion as he did with Earth Song
during the HIStory Tour.) "Beat It" is a song, along with Wanna
Be Startin' Somethin' and "Billie Jean", that Jackson had
performed in all of his concert tours: Victory Tour, Bad World
Tour, Dangerous World Tour, and the HIStory World Tour. The
song also would've been performed on This Is It but the concert
series was cancelled due to Jackson's sudden death.
Visionary Single
DVD Side:
from the album
Thriller 25
For
Thriller 25, Black Eyed Peas singer will.i.am remixed
"Beat It". Entitled "Beat It 2008", the song featured
additional vocals by will.i.am's fellow Black Eyed Peas member,
Fergie. Upon its release in 2008, the song reached number 26 in
Switzerland, the Top 50 in Sweden and number 65 in Austria.
Following the reworking as
Moby's Sub Mix, released on the Jam single in 1992 (and
rereleased as part of the Visionary campaign), this was the
second remixed version of "Beat It" to get an official
release.
"Beat It 2008" received generally unfavorable reviews from
music critics. Rob Sheffield of
Rolling Stoneclaimed that the song was a "contender for
the year's most pointless musical moment". About.com's Bill
Lamb stated that Fergie's "sonically flattened" version of
"Beat It" was "embarrassing". Allmusic criticized Fergie for
"parroting the lyrics of 'Beat It' back to a recorded Jackson".
Blender's Kelefa Sanneh also noted that the Black Eyed
Peas singer traded lines with Jackson. "Why?", she queried.
Todd Gilchrist was thankful that the remix retained Eddie Van
Halen's "incendiary guitar solo", but added that the song
"holds the dubious honor of making Jackson seem masculine for
once, and only in the context of Fergie's tough-by-way-of-
Kids Incorporatedinterpretation of the tune". Tom Ewing
of Pitchfork Media observed that Fergie's "nervous reverence is
a waste of time".
One of the earliest samples of "Beat It" was "Weird Al"
Yankovic's 1984 parody song, "Eat It". Yankovic recorded the
song with Jackson's permission. "The only reason he let me is
that he has a sense of humour", Yankovic later said. "It is
heartening to find somebody that popular, talented and
powerful, who can really take a joke". He added, "Certainly
there's a lot of major stars in the pop culture scene today,
but people like Michael Jackson don't come around that often".
The song won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording and was
certified gold in 1989. The song's music video mocked the "Beat
It" short film scene-for-scene, with Yankovic mimicking
Jackson's dance moves in a clumsy fashion. Jackson received
royalties from Yankovic due to the strong similarities.
A remix of "2 Bad", featured on Jackson's
Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mixalbum,
contains a sample of "Beat It" as well as a rap by John Forté
and guitar solo by Wyclef Jean. Alvin and the Chipmunks
performed the song during an episode of their TV series. In the
episode, the Chipmunks and the Chipettes face off against
bullies at an ice rink. Heavy metal band Metallica performed a
minute cover the song at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2003 and
again during the 2009 Sonisphere Festival. In 2004, Señor
Coconut and His Orchestra released a Latin influenced cover of
"Beat It". Italian metal band Raintime covered the song on
their 2007 album Flies & Lies.
In early 2008 it was announced that pop punk band Fall Out
Boy were to cover "Beat It" for their
Live in Phoenixalbum. The band had previously performed
the song at venues such as Coors Amphitheatre and festivals
such as the Carling Weekend in Leeds. Bassist Pete Wentz, who
has claimed to have an obsession with Jackson, stated that
prior to recording the song, he would only watch
Moonwalker. It was also announced that John Mayer was to
add the guitar solo previously played by Eddie Van Halen.
Patrick Stump stated that the band had not planned to cover
the song. "Basically, I just started playing the riff in
sound-check one day, and then we all started playing it, and
then we started playing it live, and then we figured we'd
record it and put it out with our live DVD." Pete Wentz added
that the band had not originally intended for the song to be
released as a single either. "'Beat It' seemed like a song that
would be cool and that we could do our own take on", he said.
Having spent time deciding on a guitarist for the song, Wentz
eventually called John Mayer to add the guitar solo. "We were
trying to think about who is a contemporary guitar guy who's
going to go down as a legend", Wentz later noted.
Upon its digital release as a single in April 2008, Fall Out
Boy's cover of "Beat It" became a mainstay on iTunes' Top 10
chart. The song charted at number 13 in Australia and 14 in New
Zealand. The cover reached number 75 in Austria and peaked at
98 in the Netherlands.
The Timesclaimed that the cover was "pointless".
The music video for Fall Out Boy's "Beat It" was directed by
Shane Drake, and was made in homage to Jackson. "I think when
you're doing a Michael Jackson cover, there's this expectation
that you're going to do one of his videos verbatim", Stump
said. "What we decided to do was kind of inspired by Michael
Jackson and the mythology of him. There are specific images
that are reference points for us, but at any given point, it's
not any of his videos. It's kind of all of his videos, all at
once, but on a Fall Out Boy budget, so it's not quite as
fancy". The costumes for the video were similar to the
originals. "My costume is this take on one of the guys from
Michael Jackson's original 'Beat It' video, like, the guy who
plays the rival dancer", Wentz said during the filming of the
video. The music video featured numerous cameos, including a
karate class/dance session being taught by Tony Hale, and
Donald Faison dressed up like Michael Jackson. The short film
later received a MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Rock
Video.
Michael Jackson's "Beat It" has been cited as one of the
most successful, recognized, awarded and celebrated songs in
the history of pop music; both the song and video had a large
impact on pop culture. The song is said to be a "pioneer" in
black rock music, and is considered one of the cornerstones of
the
Thrilleralbum. Eddie Van Halen has been praised for
adding "the greatest guitar solo", aiding "Beat It" into
becoming one of the biggest selling singles of all time.
Shortly after its release, "Beat It" was included in the
National Highway Safety Commission's anti-drunk driving
campaign, "Drinking and Driving Can Kill a Friendship". The
song was also included on the accompanying album. Jackson
collected an award from President Ronald Reagan at the White
House, in recognition for his support of the campaign. Reagan
stated that Jackson was "proof of what a person can accomplish
through a lifestyle free of alcohol or drug abuse. People young
and old respect that. And if Americans follow his example, then
we can face up to the problem of drinking and driving, and we
can, in Michael's words, 'Beat It'."
Frequently listed in greatest song polling lists, "Beat It"
was ranked as the world's fourth favorite song in a 2005 poll
conducted by Sony Ericsson. Over 700,000 people in 60 different
countries cast their votes. Voters from the UK placed "Billie
Jean" at number one, ahead of "Thriller", with a further five
of the top ten being solo recordings by Jackson. Rolling Stone
magazine placed "Beat It" in the 337th spot on its list of the
500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song was featured in the
films
Back to the Future II,
Zoolanderand
Undercover Brother. When re-released, as part of the
Visionarycampaign in 2006, "Beat It" charted at number
15 in the UK.
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