Barracuda

You're gonna burn, burn, burn, burn, burn to the wick...

SONG: Barracuda

ALBUM: Little Queen

ARTIST: Heart

YEAR: 1977

Full disclosure: Heart is the very first concert I ever went to.

I caught them at Maple Leaf Gardens back in 1985. That’s where my hometown hockey team used to play: the sad-sack Toronto Maple Leafs. These days, the legendary venue is an overpriced grocery store. Considering the vegetables now on display and the ones who used to run the Leafs, I’d say not a whole lot’s changed.

On November 12, 1985, however, Maple Leaf Gardens vibrated with the song being honored in today’s Gen X Jukebox.

Barracuda was released in 1977 and made it as far as #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was played third on the magical night I saw them, and it blew the malleable brains of 13 year-old me.

Barracuda has everything a bona fide banger needs: soaring vocals, a driving beat, and an unforgettable riff. I posted it a while ago on the Gen X subreddit, where it was met with plenty of enthusiasm.

One Redditor, however, was convinced the song’s lyrics amounted to little more than gibberish. I corrected that nonsense by encouraging him to read this short interview with Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson.

OK, enough already. You didn’t come here to learn, after all. You came here to rock!

So let’s fasten our seatbelts and lift with our knees.

And remember, my Gen X brothers and sisters:

If the real thing don’t do the trick, you better make up something quick.