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On this day in 1983, the Michael Jackson single “Beat It” debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #78 (February 26)

Asked about “Beat It” in Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Songs issue, Michael Jackson said:
I wanted to write the type of rock song that I would go out and buy. 
But also something totally different from the rock music I was hearing on Top 40 radio."

And when producer Quincy Jones made contact with Eddie Van Halen to ask him to do a solo on the track, Eddie thought he was getting pranked!

After establishing that the call was legit, Eddie used a Hartley–Thompson amplifier borrowed from guitarist Allan Holdsworth and recorded his guitar solo; free of charge, with his name low-key buried in the inner sleeve credits. 

“I did it as a favor", he said, telling Q Magazine: “Everybody (from Van Halen) was out of town and I figured, 'who's gonna know if I play on this kid's record?' I didn't want nothing. 
Maybe Michael will give me dance lessons someday."

Fellow guitar legend Steve Lukather (who played on the track with his Toto bandmates Steve and Jeff Porcaro) 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."

According to Quincy Jones, "I said, 'I'm not going to tell you what to play, the reason you're here is because of what you do play…' So that's what he did. 
He played his ass off."

The result was one of the most celebrated solos in modern rock…

According to Rod Temperton, who wrote the title track to “Thriller”, a mystery blaze broke out in the control room as Eddie van Halen played his guitar solo. 
“Eddie was playing and the monitor speakers literally caught on fire," recalled Temperton to Q magazine. 
“The speaker caught fire and were all thinking, like, 'This must be really good, this solo!' 
The technicians had to race into the control room with fire extinguishers and put it out."

The song went all the way to #1 in the US, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Belgium, #2 in Australia, France, Germany, Ireland and Switzerland, and #3 in the UK.

“Beat It” won 1983 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Rock Vocal Performance.

Rolling Stone ranked “Beat It" #185 on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2021.

#beatit, #MichaelJackson, #eddievanhalen, #quincyjones, #thriller, #stevelukather, #jeffporcaro, #grammywinner, #grammyawardwinner, #80smusic, #dailyrockhistory, #thisdayinmusic, #onthisday

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