If you’re a rock and roll fan, you’re probably also a fan of guitar-great Eddie Van Halen of the rock group Van Halen. Maybe you’ve also heard of another guy who sold a few records: Michael Jackson. These two members of music royalty actually had paths that crossed, and all because Jackson needed a guitarist for his hit song “Beat It” from his Thriller album. But how did all of this come to be? The narrator of the popular website Rock N’ Roll True Stories goes into detail in a YouTube video about exactly what transpired between the two stars.
As it turns out, Van Halen helped Jackson cross over to brand new audiences with “Beat It,” a song with a catchy beat and an epic guitar solo. The first guitarist Quincy Jones, the producer of the “Thriller” album, approached was The Who’s guitarist, Pete Townshend. Although Townshend declined, he recommended a guitarist he admired: his friend Eddie Van Halen. Eddie agreed to do the guitar solo and did it free of charge. He said in an interview with Piers Morgan that it only took him about 20 minutes, but that mainly, he was a bit naive about the possibility of the album’s success.
In Van Halen’s words, he asked “who’s going to listen to this black kid’s song,” so he didn’t even worry about payment, nor was he credited on the album cover. In the process, though, Van Halen rearranged Jackson’s composition of the song and he even managed to set an amp on fire. When he was playing the solo, sound engineers in the studio said that during the session where Eddie was playing, a speaker caught on fire, prompting an engineer to say, “This must really be good.” Eddie had rearranged the track while Jackson was out, but when Jackson returned, he liked it and was totally fine with it.
YouTube
Watch the video below to hear this amazing story about two legends.
