10 Greatest Rock Music Cover Songs Of The 2000s
9. Beat It - Fall Out Boy
Seven years after Alien Ant Farm laid out the “Michael Jackson, but rock” formula, Fall Out Boy followed it to great success with their rendition of Beat It.
Taken from Jackson’s mega-selling Thriller, Beat It is one of the King of Pop’s rockier tracks, with Eddie Van Halen himself making a guest appearance on the solo. Fall Out Boy didn’t need to do much to the song to bring it into their wheelhouse, but what they did do worked very well.
The whole thing feels much bigger and louder than the original; bigger drum sounds; bigger vocals from Patrick Stump; more crunch in the signature riff to add some heft. It feels like a dirty version of Beat It, one you can imagine people throwing themselves around to in a dingy underground club.
There’s also the reimagined solo, which the band gave over to king of the softbois John Mayer. His playing is much less structured than EVH’s, adding to the grittier feel of this record.
If you prefer the original, then that’s ok. After all, as Jackson himself said, it doesn’t matter who’s wrong or who’s right...