from the LP Van Halen, Warner Bros. Records, 1978Having all grown up in the greater Los Angeles area during those shaggy-haired, jamadelic late ‘60s & 1970s, the members of Van Halen must have been taken by utter surprise when suddenly the clubs they were used to frequenting had been taken over by sour-faced little kids with fluorescent green liberty spikes and safety pins shoved through their moping faces. Rather than bitching about “these damn talent-less kids” like so many other classic rockers did, Van Halen took it on the chin & decided to pen this speedy number on their debut album as a document (and perhaps skewering) of what was happening--- and anyways, metalheads didn’t produce the ire in punk rock circles that prog or psych rockers did. Say what you will (and plenty can be said) about the douchebags who comprised this band, they still fucking rocked, end of discussion.
