1978 Metal Hit Named Among Greatest Guitar Riffs of All Time

Eddie Van Halen is on nearly every lists of the greatest guitarists of all time and helped create a number of the greatest licks of all time, including his work on Michael Jackson's Beat It.

It was his riff on Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love, though, that caught Guitar World's attention as the No. 5 greatest guitar riff of all time.

"Proving that arpeggio homework can pay off rather handsomely, this early Van Halen track was built around a simple A minor shape, played palm-muted half a step down, and ended up becoming one of their most famous recordings," Guitar World wrote.

"On the game-changing debut, EVH was using his self-made Frankenstrat, built out of factory reject parts, then fitted with a 1958 Stat tremolo system and a Gibson ES-335 PAF pickup in the bridge. The swirling effect came courtesy of his MXR Phase 90 before the signal was fed into the late-'60s Marshall 1959 Super Lead that was used on all the David Lee Roth-era albums."

Eddie Van Halen Was Embarrassed by the Track

Eddie Van Halen initially wrote the music for Ain't Talkin' ‘Bout Love as a way of slyly parodying the ethos of the punk rockers who were so prevalent in the late '70s, according to American Songwriter.

"That's why the song is relatively simple in terms of having just a few chords. In fact, Eddie felt slightly embarrassed about the song when he showed it to his bandmates," American Songwriter wrote.

David Lee Roth reportedly wrote the lyrics from the perspective of a rock star who wanted to make sure the groupies he met didn't get too attached.

The song is credited with the spike in hair metal in the 1980's and listed among the band's most metal songs.

Related: 1980 Rock Classic Named Among Greatest Guitar Riffs of All Time

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 1, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published May 31, 2026 at 6:56 PM.