At the time, Jackson was riding high on the success of his best-selling Thriller album.
Songs from the "Thriller" album received an especially warm reception.
"Beat It" is the second video released for the Thriller album.
The song is said to be a "pioneer" in black rock music, and is considered one of the cornerstones of the Thriller album.
This wasn't the case 25 years ago when Michael Jackson released his classic Thriller album.
Enjoying the demo, Jones had the ballad included on the Thriller album.
Jackson's Thriller album was at No. 1 on the charts for 37 straight weeks.
In the five days following, the Thriller album - already out for 1 years, sold another million copies.
"Thriller" was the third and final video for the Thriller album.
Part of the extended version can be heard on the Thriller 25 album, released in 2008.