Beat It

Eddie Van Halen, lead guitarist of the hard rock band Van Halen, recorded the guitar solo that "Beat It" by Michael Jackson became known for. When Quincy Jones first contacted him, Van Halen assumed it was a prank call. Once convinced the call was genuine, he used a rented Marshall amplifier alongside his Frankenstrat guitar and an Echoplex, and recorded two takes of the solo free of charge. "I did it as a favor," he later said. He also helped rearrange the song, suggesting the solo sit over the verse section rather than the chorus, which he felt worked better.

That change created problems. The edits interfered with the SMPTE timecode on the multitrack reel, so Toto members Steve Lukather and Jeff Porcaro had to re-cut the basic tracks around Jackson's lead vocal and the solo, with engineer Humberto Gatica. Jones thought Lukather's initial distorted guitar sound was too tough, so it was reduced before release. Tito Jackson, Michael's older brother, had originally contributed a guitar solo, but it was scrapped when Van Halen was brought in.

The song appeared on Thriller (1982) and was released as its third single on February 21, 1983. It spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Hot Black Singles chart. It won Record of the Year and Best Male Rock Vocal Performance at the 1984 Grammy Awards. Van Halen later described working with Jackson as one of the fondest memories of his career.