The Van Halen song that happily ripped off AC/DC: “I was grooving on that beat”
For all of the hair metal bands that came out in the 1980s, Van Halen always had their singular voice. Compared to the sounds of Ratt or Poison that were clogging up the airwaves, no one was going to argue the power behind Eddie Van Halen’s fretboard, able to create a kaleidoscope of different sounds that few could match. Although the band may have created the decade’s soundtrack for many metal fans, Eddie was just as likely to crib notes from his favourite acts.
Then again, Eddie willingly admitted that he stopped listening to most new music while in Van Halen. Only buying Peter Gabriel’s So throughout his glory years, the guitarist was happy to fall back on the artists he loved when he was younger, whether that was the sounds of Eric Clapton or Jeff Beck.
By the time he started working on the band’s debut album with David Lee Roth at the helm, Eddie had started stockpiling his original licks that reinvented the guitar’s sound. Compared to the usual lead guitarist approach, Eddie was known to play with both hands on the fretboard, opening up the door for millions of imitators to match his intensity.
Although the band maintained their party atmosphere throughout their first two records, Eddie would guide them into heavier territory for the next few years. Across albums like Women and Children First and Fair Warning, Eddie helped prove the band’s metal credentials, playing songs that bordered on the sounds of Black Sabbath in places.
While the mid-1980s would give way to Eddie’s fascination with the keyboard on the album 1984, he admitted to taking one of his favourite licks from another titan of rock history. Despite being known as a good-time rock and roll band in America, Van Halen had stiff competition in AC/DC from Australia.
Taking the sounds of bluesy rock and turning the intensity to 12, Angus Young was known for making the most of the basics, creating songs that emphasised groove rather than technical flash. While Eddie had enough flash to spare, he thought that it would be interesting working in the AC/DC mould for the song ‘Drop Dead Legs’.
When talking about the track, Eddie admitted that he used the entire song to rip off AC/DC, telling Guitar World, “That was inspired by AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black’. I was grooving on that beat. Although I think that ‘Drop Dead Legs’ is slower. Whatever I listen to somehow is filtered through me and comes out differently. So ‘Drop Dead Legs’ is almost a jazz version of ‘Back in Black’. The descending progression is similar. But I put a lot more notes in there”.
Whereas most AC/DC songs benefit from having the same groove as ‘Drop Dead Legs’, the Van Halen tune is what the Australian act would sound like had they been given copious amounts of musical steroids, taking the basic foundation of rock and turning in one of the most underrated deep cuts that Van Halen would ever produce. While the band’s time with Roth was about to hit a sharp stop after this album, ‘Drop Dead Legs’ proved that Van Halen could still kick ass even on an album smothered in keyboards.
Though AC/DC guitarist Angus Young had mixed feelings about Eddie Van Halen, having cited his preference for blues players over the soloist’s style, he also enjoyed some special moments together. “AC/DC played on a bill with Van Halen back in 1978, 1979 for a Bill Graham Day on the Green show,” remembered Young of seeing the band for the first time. “I didn’t know much about Van Halen then except that I remember seeing film clips of them. Especially the one of Eddie playing the solo piece, ‘Eruption’, I was very impressed. I didn’t meet Eddie until years later, when there was a Monsters of Rock open-air festival in England. I was shocked to hear he liked my playing. Because I’ve never rated myself as a guitarist.”
Speaking about Eddie, Young continued, “He’s got everything characteristic of his playing in that song. There’s a bit of everything. When Jimi Hendrix came along it was like, ‘Where did this guy come from? I think that was the same feeling with Edddie. When Eddie appeared on the scene, every guitarist I ran into said, ‘You’ve gotta hear this guy!”
It goes to show that mutual appreciation can always exist within the realms of rock music, even if those artists don’t necessarily adore everything the other does. And, even if they pinch the odd thing.
