Synopsis

Fall Out Boy turn Michael Jackson's "Beat It" into a colorful, knowingly over-the-top rock spectacle. The band performs amid stylized sets, exaggerated choreography, gang confrontations, martial-arts imagery, and comic interruptions from a collection of celebrity cameos. Patrick Stump handles the vocal attack while Pete Wentz, Joe Trohman, and Andy Hurley play up the video’s swagger and theatricality. John Mayer appears as the featured guitarist, bringing a modern take on the song's famous solo and completing the playful tribute to Jackson's visual world.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was conceived as an affectionate homage to Michael Jackson rather than a frame-for-frame remake of the original "Beat It" video. Its imagery draws from several parts of Jackson's visual mythology at once.

• Fall Out Boy's version was released in 2008 as the only single from the band's live album *Live in Phoenix*. The recording features John Mayer on lead guitar.

• Tony Hale, Donald Faison, Joel David Moore, and Hal Sparks appear in the video, including a comic karate-class and dance sequence in which the performers imitate Jackson-inspired styles.

• Pete Wentz's costume references one of the rival dancers from Jackson's original "Beat It" video.

• The video received a nomination for Best Rock Video at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards.

• Fall Out Boy had already performed "Beat It" live before recording its studio version, making the cover part of the band's concert repertoire before it became a formal single.