The inspiration for Van Halen's classic song "Everybody Wants Some!!" can be traced back to an off-color remark.

By 1979, the band already had two massively successful albums under their belt, Van Halen and Van Halen II. While touring on the latter release, producer Ted Templeman -- who helmed the band’s first six LPs -- went to see them at a concert in Phoenix.

“I’m backstage,” the producer recalled during a conversation with UCR, and Dave (Lee Roth) was out there [on stage] and he’s talking, ‘All of you guys got pussy out there, I want some too, c’mon, man!’”

Roth’s comment got a chuckle out of Templeman, who filed the moment into the back of his mind only to revisit it at a later date.

Flash forward a couple of months. Van Halen were now in the studio working on what would become 1980’s Women and Children First. As their creative process often went, the band was building a song off of a guitar part written by Eddie Van Halen.

“So we’re in the studio,” Templeman recalled, “and Ed had laid down this riff and Dave didn’t have an idea for the melody [yet].” Roth asked the producer if he had any suggestions. "I said, ‘Yeah, remember when you said that, ‘Everybody’s got pussy, I want some too?’ He goes, ‘I want some too!’”

The concept immediately clicked for the vocalist, who quickly began penning his lyrics. The result was “Everybody Wants Some!!” “He wrote that on the spot in about five minutes, bang, like that,” Templeman recalled, while also referring to Roth as a “lyrical genius.” “He could write that stuff, boom, boom, boom and just knock it down.”

“Everybody Wants Some!!” would be the second track on Women and Children First. It also served as the b-side to lead single “And the Cradle Will Rock…,” released in May 1980. “Everybody Wants Some!!” quickly became a fan favorite and mainstay of the band’s live performances. It was later included on Van Halen’s The Best of Both Worlds greatest hits album, released in 2004.

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