Beat It
Michael JacksonSeptember 2015Newbridge Memo
Four minutes where we get to be a rock band.
The thing that decides whether Beat It works is the solo. It is one of the most recognisable pieces of lead guitar ever recorded, and there are only two honest options - play it properly or replace it with something of your own. Approximating it badly is worse than either. We play it, which puts a fair amount of pressure on one person for eight bars while everyone else holds a groove that has to stay absolutely rigid underneath.
It also does something useful to a setlist. Dropping a heavier, guitar-led number into a run of soul and pop stops the night flattening out, and it pulls in the part of the room that does not particularly want to dance to Motown.
Filmed at the Memo, which has the ceiling height to let a loud song breathe rather than bounce back off the walls.
More from the same sessions on the Newbridge Memo series page.
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