| "Everybody Wants Some!!" | |
|---|---|
| Single by Van Halen | |
| from the album Women and Children First | |
| A-side | "And the Cradle Will Rock..." |
| B-side | "Everybody Wants Some!!" |
| Released | May 1980 |
| Recorded | December 1979 – February 1980[1] |
| Genre | Hard rock, heavy metal |
| Length | 5:08 |
| Label | Warner Bros. Records |
| Songwriter(s) | Michael Anthony, Alex Van Halen, Eddie Van Halen David Lee Roth. |
| Producer(s) | Ted Templeman |
"Everybody Wants Some!!" is the second track on American hard rock band Van Halen's 1980 album Women and Children First. It is one of the band's most popular songs, starting as a concert highlight throughout the band's early career.
Chuck Klosterman of Vulture.com ranked it the 36th-best Van Halen song, writing that "Roth’s improvised rap is lascivious and fetishistic."[2]
Composition
The song is rife with experimental features including a "jungle" drum & Tarzan-like vocal introduction and some new guitar playing techniques from guitarist Eddie Van Halen. The drum-vocal interlude or breakdown section has an improvised feel, with Roth ad-libbing conversational dialogue; for example, he begins the section by saying “I like…” before being cut off by Eddie striking a guitar chord, then finishes "I like the way the line runs up the back of the stockings". At the very end of the song, Roth quips, "Look, I'll pay you for it, what the fuck?" However, the song fades out to where the obscenity is not entirely audible.
The song was a staple on all of the tours with Roth, following its release. Often, the band would stop in the middle of the song and Roth would chat with the crowd for several minutes before finishing the song. In later years, with their later lead singers, Van Halen would use the opening drum beat from this song as an introduction into "Panama."[3]
In popular culture
The song appeared in the 1985 comedy Better Off Dead in a humorous claymation scene.[4] It is also featured in the 2009 horror-comedy Zombieland.[5]
The 1999 Judd Apatow-produced comedy Freaks and Geeks featured the song in episode 107, "We've Got Spirit".[6]
It is also featured in the 2016 Richard Linklater film Everybody Wants Some!!
References
- ^ "AesthetiX Choice: Top 20 Van Halen Songs". Listal.com. Listal.com. 10 March 2014. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
- ^ Klosterman, Chuck (October 6, 2020). "All 131 Van Halen Songs, Ranked From Worst to Best A look back at the band's formidable legacy". Vulture.com. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
- ^ "Everybody Wants Some!!". vhnd.com. vhnd.com. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
- ^ "Everybody Wants Some!!". vhnd.com. vhnd.com. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
- ^ "Zombieland". imdb.com. imdb.com. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
- ^ https://www.tunefind.com/show/freaks-and-geeks/season-1/17141#songs
Further reading
- Templeman, Ted; Renoff, Greg (2020). Ted Templeman: A Platinum Producer's Life In Music. Toronto: ECW Press. pp. 304–6. ISBN 9781770414839. OCLC 1121143123.
- Van Halen Guitar Anthology. Van Nuys, California: Alfred. 2006. pp. 76–90. ISBN 9780897246729. OCLC 605214049.
External links
- Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics