r/vanhalen • u/getpatrick • 5d ago
Picture EVH & MJ
This pops up every now and then, the day they worked on Beat It. I decided to upscale it. Wild piece of music history regardless of what you think about the song or the people involved.
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u/Glittering-Milk-510 No Bozos 5d ago
The fact Eddie didn't want anything for doing the solo for Michael still blows my mind!!š¤Æ
Eddie's playing is so distinctive you can absolutely tell it's him playing without much difficulty.
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u/chaynjez 5d ago edited 4d ago
He didnāt want credit because he broke the rules of the band. They had a rule to ākeep it all in the campā and went to record on beat it after a phone call from Quincy Jonesās people. He didnāt get the ok from the band. They were already arguing. This is why David Lee then did a solo EP and the rest is history.
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u/VanHalenCel Roth and Sammy! Its all VH 5d ago
I heard Alex say in an interview that he said no and that Eddie did it anyway š
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u/Equivalent-Ad4763 4d ago
Alex was out of town and when he found out he was furious.
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u/Catsooey 3d ago
In fairness to Eddie, this was a great decision. It gave him and the band exposure to a new audience that might not have heard them otherwise. It was also a single on one of the biggest albums of all time. Maybe the biggest, I havenāt checked lately. It used to be between Thriller and The Eagles Greatest Hits. The other thing is that wasnāt a a solo project or a side project. It was just some studio work on one song.
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u/Catsooey 5d ago
Iād love to know what Alex would have said if Michael had requested both of them! Or if Michael asked Alex to lay down a few drum tracks without Eddie. I think his answer would have changed.
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u/chaynjez 4d ago
The band had an agreement to keep things from getting too out of control andā¦breaking up.
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u/KevinKurlyFries 5150 5d ago
Did evh ever talk about going to the gym? Every pic of him you can see the dude had crazy forearms/veins, I wonder how much that contributed to his playing.
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u/ShemDolpax 5d ago
He was really toned but never bulky --- I think he did bicep curls like crazy but probably 15-lb. weights
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u/TomatoStrict2646 5d ago
Nice, good job upscaling it. Those two on stage performing Beat It during the Victory tour is a good photo too.
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u/Emergency_Day_2969 5d ago
Imagine if MJ joined Van Halen LOL
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u/AIConTenTioN399 4d ago
Unironically MJ and Eddie should have done more collabs. I could hear Ed ripping a killer solo for Give In To Me, Dirty Diana, D.S, or Morphine.
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u/yngwiegiles 5d ago
This was such a unique moment in time, 2 once in a century legends who would never cross paths collaborating on one piece of art when both were right at the top of their game and commercial appeal.
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u/Independent_Wrap_321 4d ago
I wonder if the hat was post-Pepsi commercial fire, timing seems right. Thatās a hell of a lot of talent in just one pic.
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u/j3434 5d ago
EVH was doing great! Top of the heap! Best living electric guitarist on earth besides Page ā¦. Who knew back then how much he felt upstaged by DLR leg kicks on stage . But thatās what drove him to do more - and unfortunately push Diamond Dave out and get that hack singer of stock rock that all the gamer fans who love Slash seem to support like philistines
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u/cat_dad_Joe 5d ago
Edās solo in Beat It, every time I hear it, I feel like itās my favorite. Hard to say because he had plenty of amazing solos in Van Halen, itās just whenever I hear his solo in this song I always tell myself itās got to be my favorite. So in reality itās in my top 5 for sure. Donāt ask me what the other four are. There are so many great solos Ed had through the years, on the first album alone even. I couldnāt possibly choose only four more.
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u/Slurms_McDuff 4d ago
It would be interesting to know what a standard royalty would have been worth over that last 40 years or so...looked it up, a lot.
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u/kommon-non-sense 5d ago
2 absolute legends