HIStory
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You never know what becomes an Internet hit and when. This is something that is known to us, fans, for years: the way Michael created music in general and this Beat It demo in particular which was released on the This Is It album in 2009. La Cienega (also a member here) put this on her Tumblr together with a quote from Robert Hofman about how MJ made music:
http://lacienegasmiled.tumblr.com/post/77598143356/demo-of-beat-it-composed-using-only-michael
It went viral immediately. Reposted by several websites and even tweeted and retweeted by famous people such as jazz musician and critic Ted Gioia and Radiohead's guitarist Johnny Greenwood:
There are also articles written about it:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/perpetua/mi...r-beat-it-is-the-ultimate?sub=3123929_2695623
Here is a discussion on a music forum: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f30/michael-jacksons-beat-demo-1066291/
(There are some idiots as usual trying to derail the thread into child molestation allegations talk - not even having their facts together, claiming MJ said on TV he took baths with young boys, when he never said that etc. And there is one narrow minded individual who insists MJ cannot be called a musical genius because he did not play instruments. The same person says Elvis (who never wrote his songs) is huge but MJ will be a footnote LOL. But most are impressed.)
[video=youtube;eZeYw1bm53Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZeYw1bm53Y[/video]
As Jackson couldn’t fluently play any instruments, he would sing and beatbox out how he wanted his songs to sound by himself on tape, layering the vocals, harmonies and rhythm before having instrumentalists come in to complete the songs.
One of his engineers Robmix on how Jackson worked: “One morning MJ came in with a new song he had written overnight. We called in a guitar player, and Michael sang every note of every chord to him. “here’s the first chord first note, second note, third note. Here’s the second chord first note, second note, third note”, etc., etc. We then witnessed him giving the most heartfelt and profound vocal performance, live in the control room through an SM57. He would sing us an entire string arrangement, every part. Steve Porcaro once told me he witnessed MJ doing that with the string section in the room. Had it all in his head, harmony and everything. Not just little eight bar loop ideas. he would actually sing the entire arrangement into a micro-cassette recorder complete with stops and fills.”
http://lacienegasmiled.tumblr.com/post/77598143356/demo-of-beat-it-composed-using-only-michael
It went viral immediately. Reposted by several websites and even tweeted and retweeted by famous people such as jazz musician and critic Ted Gioia and Radiohead's guitarist Johnny Greenwood:
There are also articles written about it:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/perpetua/mi...r-beat-it-is-the-ultimate?sub=3123929_2695623
Here is a discussion on a music forum: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f30/michael-jacksons-beat-demo-1066291/
(There are some idiots as usual trying to derail the thread into child molestation allegations talk - not even having their facts together, claiming MJ said on TV he took baths with young boys, when he never said that etc. And there is one narrow minded individual who insists MJ cannot be called a musical genius because he did not play instruments. The same person says Elvis (who never wrote his songs) is huge but MJ will be a footnote LOL. But most are impressed.)
[video=youtube;eZeYw1bm53Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZeYw1bm53Y[/video]
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