"Barracuda" by Heart

It's time for the hardest rocking song ever written about sea life, as Kirk takes a deep dive into Heart's 1977 body-shaker "Barracuda." A deceptively complex song written around a deceptively straightforward riff, "Barracuda" opens the door for a discussion of the particulars of guitar tone, stompbox effects, the long history of the "galloping groove," why Ann Wilson's vocals rock as hard as they do, and a brief tribute to her sister Nancy's killer guitar chops. Band/Artist: Heart Album: Little Queen, 1977 Composed by: Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Roger Fisher, Michael DeRosier Listen/Buy: Apple Music | Amazon | Spotify ------ ALSO FEATURED: • "Pride and Joy" by Stevie Ray Vaughan • "Make a Mistake with Me" by Brad Paisley • "November Rain" by Guns 'n Roses feat. Slash • "This Flight Tonight" as performed by Nazareth • "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin • "William Tell Overture" by Gioachino Rossini • "Crazy on You" by Heart • "Black Dog" by Led Zeppelin A cool interview with Roger Fisher about creating his Barracuda guitar tone, as well as that "Alien Attack" sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcQik5m0t9Q A Wall Street Journal interview with the Wilsons about the process of writing the song: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-rage-behind-hearts-barracuda-11557331740 OUTRO SOLOIST: Dan Nervo This episode's outro soloist is the fantastic Dan Nervo. Dan plays guitar all around the San Francisco Bay Area in bands like Neon Velvet, and also teaches private guitar lessons. Hit him up if you want to get really good at guitar: https://www.facebook.com/DanNervoGuitarLessons/ NEWSLETTER/MAILING LIST Sign up for Kirk's mailing list to start getting monthly-ish newsletters with music recommendations, links, news, and extra thoughts on new Strong Songs episodes: https://kirkhamilton.substack.com/subscribe STRONG MERCH! Visit the Strong Songs merch store for some very cool t-shirts, mugs, totes, and more: store.strongsongspodcast.com SUPPORT STRONG SONGS ON PATREON! Join the club over at the Strong Songs Patreon and help make this show as good as it can be. We're still working toward 250 backers, at which point Kirk will do a bonus interview episode with an interesting musician or educator. Find out more here: https://Patreon.com/StrongSongs WHOLE-NOTE PATRONS Caleb Rotach Chad Barnard Dan Apczynski Dave Florey Sara Walsh HALF-NOTE PATRONS Alexander Polson Andre Bremer Andrew Lee Arjun Sharma Chas Lednicky Earl Lozada Emily Williams FlSHBONES Forrest Chang Jaehoon Jeong James Johnson Jasmine Fellows Jeff Dixon John and Sharon Stenglein Jon O'Keefe joujou Justin Liew Justin McElroy Kevin Morrell Kevin Pennyfeather Kyle Simons Max Schechter Melanie Stivers Michael Blackwell Mueller Nate from Kalamazoo Nicholas Schechter Richard Toller Shane DeLeon Tom Clewer Tom Lauer A huge thank you to all of Strong Songs' patrons - your support makes it possible to make the show what it is!