“Kids go nuts for it”: Eddie Van Halen on the “lamest” hit he ever wrote
Often, an artist’s most profound, complex work is underappreciated, while work that an artist might deem lesser becomes their most popular. Particularly in the music world, audiences often prefer a musician’s early work, even if their later offerings are more accomplished in a technical sense. This is certainly a fact that Eddie Van Halen could relate to, with some of his least favourite Van Halen tracks coming to define the inherent sound and quality of the band as a whole.
From their initial formation in 1973, it was clear that Van Halen were in a league of their own when it came to the American rock scene. Largely ignoring trends and emerging styles, Eddie Van Halen instead chose to write timeless and diverse rock classics that were equally suited to colossal arenas as they were to car stereos. Of course, it was his stunning guitar styling that formed the bulk of the band’s appeal, with Eddie Van Halen quickly establishing himself among the greatest rock and roll guitarists to ever step into a recording studio.
It is difficult to neatly encapsulate the core appeal of Van Halen’s playing style; the guitarist was constantly developing and diversifying his sound. If you look back at the discography of Van Halen, however, an unavoidable highlight is the songwriter’s penchant for composing captivating guitar solos. Van Halen was perhaps the most talented soloist of the 1970s, with some of his finest moments arriving spontaneously, and others being meticulously planned.
Back in 1980, Guitar Player asked Van Halen how he constructed these timeless solos. “Sometimes it’s spontaneous, sometimes it’s set,” he explained. “Like the solo in ‘Runnin’ With the Devil’ was set. And the same with ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love’. By ‘set’, I mean that I figured out something melodic instead of just going for it.” The latter song mentioned by the guitarist eventually became one of Van Halen’s most accomplished efforts following its initial release in 1978.
Taken from their self-titled debut album, ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love’ introduced many listeners to the rock and roll sounds of Van Halen. Moreover, the song became incredibly influential on the development of later styles of hard rock, metal, and the much-maligned era of hair metal during the 1980s. Whichever way you look at it, ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love’ is one of Van Halen’s defining moments, but the songwriter himself was not always convinced of its potential.
“When I wrote ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love’, I thought it was about the lamest song I ever wrote in my life,” Van Halen recalled. Seemingly, the song might have been released much earlier had the guitarist been aware of its potential upon initial composition. “It took me six months before I even worked up the nerve to show the guys,” the songwriter explained, adding: “But kids go nuts for it!”
Reportedly, the song has initially been written as a kind of parody of the budding punk rock scene which was becoming increasingly present within the musical mainstream. As such, Van Halen attempted to write a song using only two chords, parodying the primitive, DIY nature of punk.
Ultimately, the song took on a life of its own, and the final mix was unrecognisable as a punk parody, yet it became one of Van Halen’s most renowned tracks. So much so that, upon replacing David Lee Roth as the band’s vocalist, it was one of the only early tracks that Sammy Hagar would agree to perform. Not bad for Eddie Van Halen’s “lamest” songs.
