Michael Jackson Beat It Multitrack

The most famous story surrounding "Beat It" is the guitar solo. Quincy Jones needed a rock edge to cross Jackson over to MTV (which was notoriously resistant to Black artists). Jackson wrote the song on a synthesizer, but Jones knew it needed a real rock star.

Enter Eddie Van Halen. The multitrack confirms the legend: Eddie showed up, did one take, and left. However, hearing the isolated guitar stem tells a different story about tone. michael jackson beat it multitrack

Before we dissect the song, we need to understand the artifact. The original master tapes of Thriller were recorded on analog 24-track tape. Each instrument was assigned to a specific channel. When you listen to the Michael Jackson Beat It multitrack (often found in bootleg form or used for Rock Band video games), you are hearing these isolated channels. The most famous story surrounding "Beat It" is

You get the "grunt track" without the drums. You get the synth bass without the vocals. You get Eddie Van Halen’s fingers squeaking on the fretboard without the distortion hiding the noise. Enter Eddie Van Halen

These stems reveal the architecture of a song designed to rule every radio format in 1983.

The Michael Jackson Beat It multitrack famously highlights the marriage of the synthetic and the organic.