“The lamest song I ever wrote”: The 1977 Van Halen track that became a hit despite the odds
When punk rock came along, opinion was split. Some people loved what was essentially a musical reset, whereas others thought it was a copout.
Punk rock was a very straightforward genre of music. A lot of the artists who wound up making it did so because they grew tired of how elaborate a lot of rock music was becoming. As the likes of heavy metal, psychedelic rock and prog rock were becoming some of the most popular styles of music in the world, their over-the-top nature was a bit too much for many.
When you listen to bands like Sex Pistols, The Clash and the Ramones, their songs consist of no more than three or four chords. It’s one of those genres which is reliant on energy and excitement as opposed to musical complexity, but that’s what a lot of people loved about it. They were able to throw themselves into these songs, grabbing onto the limited chords that made them and throwing them around whatever dingy venue was willing to host them.
While a lot of people might have loved the simplistic style of punk, there were other bands, specifically the ones that punk was rebelling against, who thought the genre was a complete hack. One of these was, of course, Van Halen. The band might have been dangerous, but in all other ways, they were the antithesis of punk. The fast-paced guitar style of Eddie Van Halen, as well as the over-the-top vocals of David Lee Roth, were complex to say the least.
Eddie Van Halen hated punk because it was the opposite of his style of music, so in a bid to show his disdain, he began writing his own parody of the genre, ditching his strange guitar style and instead opting for a simple two-chord structure with a standard plucking rhythm. While this act of parody wasn’t surprising, what was surprising was just how much he wound up unironically liking it, and how much of a success the song became.
What did the punk piss-take end up becoming? The Van Halen classic ‘Ain’t Talkin Bout Love’. Yes, one of your favourite songs by the band was originally put together as being nothing more than Eddie Van Halen pointing and laughing at a sound he thought was dumb. He realised what he wound up writing had potential, but worried about taking it to the band at the risk of them despising the song.
Turns out, they could all see the potential in it, and so, despite it not being a great reflection of Van Halen, they decided to run with it.
“I figured out something melodic instead of just going for it […] When I wrote ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love’, I thought it was the lamest song I ever wrote in my life. It took me six months before I worked up the nerve to show the guys,” said Eddie Van Halen.
He continued, “’Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love’ was originally supposed to be a punk-rock parody. It was a stupid thing to us, just two chords. It didn’t end up sounding punk, but that was the intention.”
Of course, while the song might not have been as outrageous or experimental as a lot of Van Halen tracks, Eddie was able to show off his ability with the guitar solo. It’s arguably one of his most flamboyant to date, as he played with his usual eccentric style, but then doubled up on it with a layer from the sitar.
“I doubled the solo section with an electric sitar,” he said, “It could have been a Coral, but it looked real cheap. It looked like a Danelectro. I never really knew it was an electric sitar, because it didn’t sound like one. It just sounded like a buzzy-fretted guitar. That thing was real bizarre.”
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