Jackson Guitar Serial Number 27
Sibyl Piccuillo
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NECK-THRU-BODY PRODUCT DATING
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Following the successful Thriller singles "The Girl Is Mine" and "Billie Jean", "Beat It" was released on February 14, 1983, as the album's third single. It peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, staying there for three weeks.[6] It also charted at number one on the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart.[7] Billboard ranked the song No. 5 for 1983.[8] It is certified 8 platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). With over 11 million copies sold worldwide, it is one of the best-selling singles of all time. "Beat It" was a number one hit in Europe, reaching number one in Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands.[7]
"Beat It" received the 1984 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, as well as two American Music Awards. It was inducted into the Music Video Producers Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone ranked "Beat It" number 337 on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004, and at number 185 in its 2021 update of the list. The magazine also named it the 81st greatest guitar song of all time.[11] It was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.[12]
Jackson first worked on a demo version of the song with musicians at his home studio. The drum part was programmed on a drum machine, and the bass line was a combination of electric bass guitar and Bell Labs Digital Synthesizer Synergy keyboard. This hybrid bass style was retained for the main recording session.[13]
Upon hearing the first recorded vocals, Jones stated that it was exactly what he was looking for.[10] The song begins with seven distinct synthesizer notes played on the Synclavier digital synthesizer, with Tom Bahler credited for the Synclavier performance on the song. The intro is taken note for note from a demo LP released the year before, called "The Incredible Sounds of Synclavier II" first published in 1981 by Denny Jaeger Creative Services, Inc., and sold by New England Digital, makers of the Synclavier.[17] The drums were played by Toto co-founder Jeff Porcaro.[18] Steve Porcaro and Steve Lukather, also Toto members, participate with synthesizers, and guitar and bass guitar respectively.
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.[28]
The engineers were shocked during the recording of Van Halen's solo to discover that the sound of his guitar had caused the monitor speaker in the control room to catch fire, causing one to exclaim, "This must be really good!"[29]
"Beat It" was released in early 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" while "Billie Jean" was heading towards number one. DiLeo, who later became Jackson's manager, correctly predicted that both singles would remain in the top 10 at the same time.[6] "Billie Jean" remained atop the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks, before being toppled by "Come On Eileen", which stayed at No. 1 for a single week, before Jackson reclaimed the position with "Beat It".[6][32]
In a Rolling Stone review, 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".[33] AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine states that the song is both "tough" and "scared".[34] Robert Christgau claimed that the song has Eddie Van Halen "wielding his might in the service of antimacho".[35] Slant Magazine observed that the song was an "uncharacteristic dalliance with the rock idiom".[36] The track also won praise from Jackson biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli, who stated that the song was "rambunctious".[22]
"Beat It" has been recognized with several awards. At the 1984 Grammy Awards, the song earned Jackson two of record-eight awards: Record of the Year and Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. The track won the Billboard Music Award for favorite dance/disco 12" LP in 1983.[7][37] The single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), 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 RIAA, based on the revised sales level of one million units for platinum singles.[38] The total number of digital sales in the US, as of August 2022, stands at 8,000,000.[39]
Jackson performed "Beat It" live with his brothers during The Jacksons' Victory Tour. On July 13, 1984, the brothers were joined on stage by Eddie Van Halen, who played the guitar in his solo spot. The song became one of Jackson's signature songs; he performed it on all of his world tours: Bad, Dangerous and HIStory.[58] The October 1, 1992 Dangerous Tour performance, including "Beat It", was included in the Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection box set. The DVD was later repackaged as Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour.[58] 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.[59]
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.[10] The song is said to be a "pioneer" in black rock music and is considered one of the cornerstones of the Thriller album.[10] Eddie Van Halen has been praised for adding "the greatest guitar solo", helping "Beat It" become one of the best-selling singles of all time.[10]
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.[59] Over 700,000 people in 60 countries cast their votes.[59] Voters from the UK placed "Billie Jean" at No. 1, ahead of "Thriller", with a further five of the top ten being solo recordings by Jackson.[59] Rolling Stone placed "Beat It" at number 337 on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004,[65] and at number 185 in its 2021 update of the list.[66] The song was featured in the films Back to the Future Part II, Zoolander and Undercover Brother.[59] When re-released, as part of the Visionary campaign in 2006, "Beat It" charted at No. 15 in the UK.[59]
"Beat It 2008" received generally unfavorable reviews from music critics. Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone claimed that the song was a "contender for the year's most pointless musical moment".[135] AllMusic criticized Fergie for "parroting the lyrics of "Beat It" back to a recorded Jackson".[136] Blender's Kelefa Sanneh also noted that the Black Eyed Peas singer traded lines with Jackson. "Why?", she queried.[137] 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 Incorporated interpretation of the tune".[138] Tom Ewing of Pitchfork observed that Fergie's "nervous reverence is a waste of time".[139]
American rock band Fall Out Boy covered "Beat It". The studio version was digitally released on March 25, 2008, by Island Records as the only single from the band's first live album, Live in Phoenix (2008). The guitar solo is played by John Mayer. In the United States, the song peaked at No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached No. 21 on the defunct-Billboard Pop 100 chart, also charting internationally. The band has since regularly incorporated it in their set list at their shows.
In early 2008, it was announced that Fall Out Boy were to cover "Beat It" for their Live in Phoenix album.[144] The band had previously performed the song at venues such as Coors Amphitheatre and festivals such as the Carling Weekend in Leeds.[145][146] Bassist Pete Wentz, who has claimed to have an obsession with Jackson, stated that prior to recording the song, he would only watch Moonwalker.[147] It was also announced that John Mayer was to add the guitar solo previously played by Eddie Van Halen.[148]
The band's lead singer/guitarist 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."[149] Bassist Pete Wentz added that the band had not originally intended for the song to be released as a single either.[149] "'Beat It' seemed like a song that would be cool and that we could do our own take on," he said.[147] 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.[149]
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