Why did Eddie Van Halen refuse royalties for his part in Beat It?

Allegedly, the producer Quincy Jones called Eddie to do the part.

Eddie had no idea it was Quincy and told him off, hanging up the phone.

Michael then called Eddie and explained that was actually Quincy Jones.

So in turn, Eddie just agreed to do the session work for a small (small in his terms) fee as a form of apology.

Eddie banged out the solo fairly quickly given how brilliant he was. It became an ongoing joke that he should have asked for royalties. But Eddie was a top-tier rock star at that point and had no financial problems.

It remains an amazing song with a badass opening guitar solo that has that tell-tale sound of Van Halen to it.