The 1981 Van Halen track Eddie Van Halen never got tired of: “I love that song”
It was going to take something pretty major to get the Van Halen seal of approval.
Since Eddie Van Halen had more talent in his right pinky than most people have in their entire body, it’s not exactly easy to come at him playing pentatonic licks and have him actually want to steal some moves off you. It had to take something extra, and when Eddie went to create Fair Warning, he admitted to impressing himself when making the song ‘Unchained’.
That’s a rare admission from a guitarist who continually pushed his own limits. Eddie was never short of innovation, but moments where he could step back and genuinely admire his own playing were few and far between, making ‘Unchained’ stand out even more in his catalogue.
Granted, part of why Fair Warning works so well is because of how damn weird it is. Although Women and Children First saw the band grow up into metalheads, this was the moment where they actually started sounding closer to art rock in some respects, including some of the most bonkers chord progressions Eddie has ever made.
There’s still that party-style Van Halen charm that people missed way back when, but there are just as many songs like ‘Hear About It Later’ that feel impossible to come from just one guitarist’s mind. But nowhere do both of those styles work better than on ‘Unchained’, if only for how many hooks they cram into one song.
It’s that balance between chaos and control that defines the track. While the riffs feel raw and unpredictable, there’s an underlying structure that keeps everything locked in, showing how deliberate Eddie’s “wild” ideas actually were.
Outside of the massive riff played in Drop C#, this is probably the closest you get to hearing Van Halen in their natural habitat. There are definitely some studio tricks going on, but the break in the middle where producer Ted Templeman tells David Lee Roth to give him a break is something that can only come from a band that knows it’s hot shit.
No good Van Halen song is complete without a solo, and when tracking the tune, Eddie thought that solo was a cut above anything else he tried to play, telling Guitar World, “I love that song. It’s rare that I can listen back to my own playing and get goosebumps, but that’s one of them”.
This is strange because it’s not like every part of the solo was the most technical thing Eddie had ever played. There are still tracks like ‘I’m the One’ that seem impossible for mere mortals to play, and Eddie even had more daring moments when he tore through ‘Mean Street’ on the same album.
It’s all about the context that a solo fits, and Eddie made a solo that’s lyrical as it is fast. Since his signature brand of two-hand tapping on the guitar was starting to become a bit of a party trick by this point, hearing him throw caution to the wind and play something that tastefully incorporates tapping is why he should still be held in such high regard.
Most importantly, though, it’s the rhythm that puts Eddie on another level from the other virtuosic players of the world. It’s one thing to be able to play those mind-numbing solos that every guitarist tries today, but the true power is playing that fast, stopping on a dime, and getting right back in the pocket with the drummer. ‘Unchained’ might not be the most accomplished song in the Van Halen oeuvre, but it’s definitely one of the first songs you should play to someone looking to find out why they are still considered classic today.
