That shit is funky!

That solo? Wasn't that Eddie Van Halen?

FunkMistress said:

Yes...FM!

It's incredible!

I always loved the rhythm guitar on that song. I think it was Steve Lukather. It almost enables me to forgive him for 'Africa' by Toto

EVH didn't get paid for it, and Vincent Price didn't get paid for his voiceover as well

Rowdy said:

There's nothing to forgive, because that song is great.

Everything about "Beat It" is excellent.

The making of "Beat It."

http://www.youtube.com/wa...bPTdaDPMK4

carlcranshaw said:

that is BRILLIANT!!!

mynameisnotsusan said:

If i remember right, EVH didn't want paying. He did it for the sole purpose of making music!!!

MrVortex said:

Wrong...EVH to this day mentions that MJ owes him bigtime for that solo.His story was that MJ's people called several times and were hung up on for weeks until EVH finally believed that it was really MJ that wanted him to solo on his track.He went in..listened to it once...ripped 2 takes on the solo and left after about 30 minutes total. He didn't expect much of it to make the track but they used almost all of it...and he never heard from them again.

Rowdy said:

whats wrong with africa????

carlcranshaw said:

Xavier23 said:

I hear it, and feel the icy hand of middle age upon my shoulder

panther514 said:

Well that could very well be true but I have to question EVH's retelling of events.

For, why if EVH was so up in arms over not getting paid did he play with MJ on the Victory tour in 1984? Thats near two years after the track was recorded.

panther514 said:

Wrong. Eddie Van Halen said that Michael "owes" him big time. Which is another way of saying that his guitar solo was a great contribution to the success of Beat It. EVH has NEVER said that Michael owed him any money. In fact, in every interview that I have read, Eddie said that he did NOT ask for any money and didn't WANT any money He said that he did it for the music and because he wanted to. He also said he did it because Quincy asked him to do it. Btw, Eddie's solo for Beat It was chosen as the "BEST GUITAR SOLO" for any song, in one of those guitar magazines(I can't remember the name of the magazine, at the moment) years ago. I love Eddie's solo and I also love Stevie Stevens solo on "Dirty Diana" and ANYTHING that Slash has done with Michael or anyone else.

I heard that Mike wanted Eddie Van Halen to make a cameo appearance in the video,playing his guitar solo,but Eddie refused.He didn't think the song would become a big hit

I like the song and I like Eddie and all, but I can't listen to that solo now and not hate it. It's just produced like shit and it sounds like he spent two takes worth of effort on it.

guitar solo in beat it is one of the most passionate guitar works ever.
it's briliant.

Anybody like Jennifer Batten?

The solo is awesome and all but the riff is just as important to it's success, it's so catchy. So it was Lukather? Man that guys just got a huge amount of credit from me.

I just listened a bunch of times and have to admit it's much better than I remember. Was this done in 1982? Wiki says MJ was tracking Billie Jean next door. '82 was still a great time for Van Halen - 'Hang 'em High' from the same year is one of the smokin-est VH tracks imo.

SoulAlive said:

He did appear in the video!!
I don't know why but afterwards it seems they cut Eddie's part out of the clip.
Some years ago I wanted 2 show a friend Eddie was in the clip,when they showed it on mTV,but he wasn't in it anymore!!

Its good, but those buzz saw solo's are two a penny in 80's AOR/rock music. Infact, i feel the guitar sounds a bit muffled and not turned up enough really. The final mix could of been heavier.