“Beat It” is a song by American singer Michael Jackson from his sixth studio album, Thriller. It was released on February 14, 1983 as the album’s third single. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, staying there for three weeks. It received the 1984 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. It has been cited as one of the most successful, recognized, awarded and celebrated songs.
About Beat It in brief
\”Beat It\” is a song by American singer Michael Jackson from his sixth studio album, Thriller. It was released on February 14, 1983 as the album’s third single. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, staying there for three weeks. The single, along with its music video, helped propel Thriller into becoming the best-selling album of all time. It received the 1984 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, as well as two American Music Awards. Rolling Stone ranked it number 344 on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In the song, Jackson’s vocal range is B♭3 to D♭5. It is played in the key of E ♭ minor at a moderately fast tempo of 138 beats per minute. The intro is taken note for note from a demo LP released in 1981 by Denny Jaeger Creative Services, Inc and sold by New England Digital, makers of the Synclavier. The drums were played by Toto co-founder Jeff Porcaro. Eddie Van Halen was asked to add a guitar solo, but thought he was receiving a prank call. He recorded his guitar solo free of charge and said he did it as a favor to the musician, according to the rest of the band. The lyrics have been described as a “sad commentary on human nature” The line “Don’t be a macho man” is said to express Jackson’s dislike of violence, whilst also referring to the abuse he faced at the hands of his father Joseph Joseph Jackson.
It has been cited as one of the most successful, recognized, awarded and celebrated songs in the history of popular music; both the song and video had a large impact on pop culture. It is certified 5x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. It was inducted into the Music Video Producers Hall of Fame. The music video helped establish Jackson as an international pop icon, and its video came from the Jackson family experiencing gang activity in Gary, Indiana. The song was also ranked number 81 on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of all Time. Jackson said of the song: “I wanted to write a song, the type of song that I would buy if I were to buy a rock song… That is how I approached it and I wanted the children to really enjoy it—the school children as well and the college students. I don’t want to do something I was not used to doing unless I want to. I was a complete fool, according to everyone else, and I knew what I was doing was not what I wanted to do. I’m not a fool. That’s how I feel about this song. I love this song.” The song is played with seven distinct synthesizer notes played on thesynclavier digital synthesizer, with Tom Bahler credited for the Syn clavier performance on the song. The guitar solo was recorded on a Hartley–Thompson amplifier borrowed from guitarist Allan Holdsworth.
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This page is based on the article Beat It published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 10, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
