History Music / BeatIt

"Beat It" is the third single from Music/MichaelJackson's sixth studio-album, ''Music/{{Thriller}}''. Produced by Jackson and frequent colloborator, Music/QuincyJones, the song is renowned for its mixture of {{Pop}} and {{Rock}}, with its now iconic main guitar riff and the inclusion of a guitar solo from legendary guitarist, Eddie Van Halen of Music/VanHalen.

The song and video have received a litany of awards and remains on several publication' lists for the best songs of all time, including ''Magazine/RollingStone'' magazine.

Released in 1983, the song was met with universal acclaim and quickly rose to number one on several music charts on ''Billboard''. Much like with the previous single, "Music/Billie Jean", this early success was only built on with the release of the song's music video on Creator/{{MTV}} in a primetime premiere on March 31, 1983. The video sees two rival street gangs preparing to have an all out gang war when they are interrupted by Jackson, who through the power of music is able to get both gangs to reconcile their differences. While the lowkey video for "Billie Jean" made Jackson an icon in the United States, it's this video that launched him into the international stardom that he would only go on to expand upon for the rest of his career.

Released in 1983, the song was met with universal acclaim and quickly rose to number one on several music charts on ''Billboard''. Much like with the previous single, "Billie Jean", this early success was only built on with the release of the song's music video on Creator/{{MTV}} in a primetime premiere on March 31, 1983. The video sees two rival street gangs preparing to have an all out gang war when they are interrupted by Jackson, who through the power of music is able to get both gangs to reconcile their differences. While the lowkey video for "Billie Jean" made Jackson an icon in the United States, it's this video that launched him into the international stardom that he would only go on to expand upon for the rest of his career.

''No one wants to be defeated''\\

--> ''You wanna stay alive, better do what you can''\\
''So beat it, just beat it''\\
''You have to show them that you're really not scared''\\

''Showin' how funky strong is your fight''\\
''It doesn't matter who's wrong or right''

* RedHotMasculinity: Played with. The song discusses the issue that violence is often not worth it, but because guys "don't want to be a boy, [they] want to be a man," they refuse to back down from a fight. However, the more sensible thing to do ''is'' to back down or "beat it." In other words, fighting isn't the manly thing to do; knowing when to backdown or solve the issue without violence is. In the video, the gangs wear primarily black or white. Michael, who intervenes and shows the gangs that violence isn't the answer, wears what would later become his iconic bright red leather coat.

* EducationalSong: "Beat It!" informs street gangs that fighting is not the answer.

* {{Gangbangers}}: The two gangs featured in the video are depicted as such, wearing denim, [[HellBentForLeather leather]], and [[BadassesWearBandanas bandanas]]. This is intentional as the concept of the song and the video is based on real-world gang violence and the video actually features actual members of the infamous real life rival gangs, the Bloods and the Crips.
* KnifeFight: The two gang leaders have their wrists tied to each other while they engage in a knife fight in the street, in order to prevent either side from being able to run away or escape.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: The entire song is about both avoiding violence when you can and knowing when to back out of a situation that has escalated to the point of unreasonable violence, i.e. knowing when to "beat it."
* MobWar: The video features two gangs preparing for and engaging in the beginnings of an all out gang war in the streets before Michael intervenes.

"Beat It" is the third single from Music/MichaelJackson's sixth studio-album, ''Music/{{Thriller}}''. Produced by Jackson and frequent colloborator, Music/QuincyJones, the song is renowned for its mixture of {{Pop}} and {{Rock}}, with the inclusion of guitar solo from legendary guitarist, Eddie Van Halen of Music/VanHalen.

Released in 1983, the song was met with universal acclaim and quickly rose to number one on several music charts on ''Billboard''. Much like with the previous single, "Billie Jean", this early success only built on upon the release of the song's music video on Creator/MTV in an previously not yet done primetime premiere on March 31, 1983. The video sees two rival street gangs preparing to have an all out gang war when they are interrupted by Jackson, who through the power of music is able to get both gangs to reconcile their differences. While the lowkey video for "Billie Jean" made Jackson an icon in the United States, it's this video that launched him into the international stardom that he would only go on to expand upon for the rest of his career.

* BadassPacifist: Michael in the "Beat It" video, who breaks up two fighting rival gangs and has them all join together in a dance.

* SunglassesAtNight: The gang leader in the white coat is wearing sunglasses inside a bar despite it being nighttime for the entirety of the video.

* {{Gangbangers}}: The two gangs featured in the video are depicted as such, wearing denim, leather, and [[BadassesWearBandanas bandanas]]. This is intentional as the concept of the song and the video is based on real-world gang violence between gangs like the Bloods and Crips.
* MobWar: The video features two gangs preparing for and engaging in the beginnings of an all out gang war in the streets before Michael intervenes.

''It doesn't matter who's wrong or right''

"Beat It" is the third single from Music/MichaelJackson's sixth studio-album, ''Music/{{Thriller}}''. Produced by Jackson and frequent colloborator, Music/QuincyJones, the song is renowned for its mixture of {{Pop}} and {{Rock}}, with the inclusion of guitar solo from legendary guitarist, Music/EddieVanHalen of Music/VanHalen.

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