Comments by "Harry Mills" (@harrymills2770) on "Michael Jackson"
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@ProofCare I came looking for Eddie's solo straight from Lukather interview. I remember thinking at the time that the solo guitar was awesome, but I didn't remember - if I ever heard - that it was Eddie on the solo. I never associated Michael Jackson with shredding guitar.
I just heard the story of how the collaboration came about. Eddie didn't believe it was Quincy Jones calling him on Michael's behalf. Something like 4 hang-ups, before he took Quincy seriously.
Then in the studio, Eddie changed the song structure from the original idea of just trundling on the I chord behind the solo, to playing the solo against the verse form. I'm sure he could've done something great just hanging on the one, but by playing over the chord projection for the verse, his solo had somewhere to start and somewhere to go, like all good solos should.
The solo definitely boosted the song's power and popularity, but Michael deservedly got most of the attention, for the vocals, choreography, and production values of the video, itself. People loved the solo, but it wasn't the focal point. It's pretty cool to learn this story so many years later. Better late than never?
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