Believe it or not, Eddie Van Halen, one of the world's most famous guitarists, thought he could keep his performance on pop superstar Michael Jackson's 1983 smash 'Beat it' a secret -- even from his bandmates.

With the other members of Van Halen all out of town -- remember, this is before cell phones -- the axe hero decided to spend a half hour recording his now-famous solo for free, as a favor. “I said to myself, ‘Who is going to know that I played on this kid’s record, right? Nobody’s going to find out.’ Wrong!” he laughed in a recent interview. “Big-time wrong. It ended up being Record of the Year."

 

 

Hear 'Beat It' by Michael Jackson

 

 

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