The Crossover

Eddie Van Halen's Beat It Solo

Eddie Van Halen · 1983

Goat Score

“Quincy called. Eddie said yes for free. The biggest pop song of the year now had a guitar solo from the biggest rock guitarist alive.”

Quincy Jones made the call. Eddie did it for free, in one take, on a hunch. The crossover that pre-dated Run-DMC × Aerosmith by three years and quietly proved that radio formats were a marketing fiction. Beat It is the song that made Thriller the best-selling album of all time, and the solo is the reason.

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Eddie Van Halen's Beat It Solo · Eddie Van Halen

75 — Strong