10 Rock Songs You Didn't Know Were Covers
2. Ice Cream Man - Van Halen
There's a certain omnipresence that comes with listening to the first Van Halen record for the first time. Being pretty much a snapshot of what their stage show was like, the sound of Eddie Van Halen's guitar paired with the larger than life vocals of David Lee Roth was one of those rare lightning in a bottle moments that only come a few times in rock and roll. The chemistry proved so good that even when they were covering material, they knocked it out of the park.
Then again, most of VH's cover game has been amazing, given that they already pushed the Kinks' You Really Got Me into the stratosphere on the same record. Filling out the back half though is Ice Cream Man, which seems like a real departure once it gets going. With Roth accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, the original John Brim blues song is very faithfully played at first...before Eddie and everyone else annihilate the rest of the tune.
Once Dave leads everyone in, the signature Van Halen swing comes into play again, along with Eddie delivering one of the most superhuman licks he ever committed to tape for the start of the solo. Given that most of this record was made in a pretty slapdash fashion, this is proof that even when Van Halen were making a goof track, they could still throw down with the best of them.