A Controversy of The Heart

By Brad Gallagher:

You know those songs that stick in your head for days on end? Maybe a song with an intriguing riff or a mesmerizing back beat that keeps running through your mind? Maybe for you it is a specific lyric, or a repeating chorus. Well, whatever it is you just sit there and wonder to yourself, “How did I get this song in my head? I don’t even remember hearing it recently.”

Today I want to tell you about a song that I am almost positive you have heard before. And maybe you have heard it so many times during your life that at one point or another you found that it was running through your head. Over and Over. It is possible that the last time you heard it was in 2007 when your kids convinced you to buy them the “Guitar Hero III” game and you totally showed them up on the drums or the lead guitar while playing this song. It’s that song that starts off with that guitar riff that goes, “dun didi dun didi dun didi dun didi dun didi dun didi dun didi dun du… dinngggg!” That’s right, you know it, “Barracuda” by Heart.

As The Story Goes:

Up until 1977, the rock group Heart, featuring sisters Ann Wilson (Lead Singer) and Nancy Wilson (Guitarist), was under contract with a record label called Mushroom Records. Under this label they released their very successful debut album, “Dreamboat Annie” in 1975, and the controversial album, “Magazine” in 1977. “Magazine” was controversial due to the fact that at the time of it’s release, Heart was no longer under contract with them. Heart had been working on this album, but broke the contract with Mushroom before it was completed. Mushroom still released it without Heart’s permission after the contract had been broken even though it was only a partial album.

But why did Heart break their contract with Mushroom to begin with? You see, at one point during the period of time that Heart was recording “Magazine”, the promoters at Mushroom Records decided to launch a publicity stunt. Making reference to the picture on the cover of the album “Dreamboat Annie”, with Ann and Nancy Wilson standing back to back, bare shouldered, they released a rumor that the sisters were secretly lovers. Ann found out about the rumor one night after a concert when a radio promoter approached her and asked her about her lover. At first she thought he was talking about her boyfriend, but after a little discussion he told her that he was referring to her sister, and he told her all about the rumor. She got so mad that she went straight back to her hotel room and wrote the words to the song “Barracuda”, which appeared on their third album, “Little Queen”.

Growing up I always thought that “Barracuda” was a song that had something to do with a fish. Silly Me. In an interview, Hearts producer Mike Flicker, described it like this, “‘Barracuda’ was created conceptually out of a lot of this record business bullshit. Barracuda could be anyone from the local promotion man to the president of a record company. That is the barracuda. It was born out of that whole experience.”¹

But that publicity stunt was not the only controversy surrounding this great song. Back in the early 70’s, prior to the song “Barracuda”, Heart had the opportunity, as a not so well known band, to go on a European tour and open for both Nazareth and Queen. At the time, Nazareth had a big hit with the remake of a Joni Mitchel song called “This Flight Tonight”. A song that featured the guitar riff; “dun didi dun didi dun didi dun didi dun didi dun didi dun didi dun…” Later, in 1977, when writing “Barracuda”, Heart used this same riff. And Nazareth was not happy.

Nancy Wilson said in a 2019 interview, “So we kind of borrowed that. And we made it into ‘Barracuda.’ And we saw the guys from Nazareth later and they were pissed. ‘You took our riff!’. But that’s kind of what everybody – you borrow from what you love and then you make it your own. It’s one of those sounds too, it’s one of those guitar tones that I’m still trying to figure out what we did. [Laughs] It’s hard to re-create.²

Still, “Barracuda” peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1977. And the album, “Little Queen” topped out at #7 on the Billboard 200 album chart.

So now you know a little about the story behind “Barracuda”. Now you can not only beat your kids at “Guitar Hero III”, but you can bore them with trivia at the same time. So come back and see me real soon right here at As The Story Goes. And check out the videos below and you be the judge. Who’s use of this famous guitar riff is better?