Van Halen’s 1978 debut was a yearzero for virtuosity, the warp-speed instrumental Eruption establishing in two minutes flat that the metallers’ eponymous guitarist had the fastest fingers on the West Coast. Perhaps it was that same reputation for quicksilver two-hand tapping and violent tremolo abuse that meant Eddie Van Halen was reticent to show his bandmates the lick he’d been kicking around in private.
“I figured out something melodic instead of just going for it,” the guitarist said in 1980. “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.”
