Heart’s Nancy Wilson says the opening riff of the band’s 1977 hit “Barracuda” was inspired by Scottish band Nazareth.
"Nazareth had a hit with a Joni Mitchell song that they covered called ‘This Flight Tonight’ that had kind of that riff,” the guitarist told Loudwire. “So we kind of borrowed that, and we made it into ‘Barracuda.’
“We saw the guys from Nazareth later, and they were pissed.”
Wilson said she doesn’t feel guilty. “You borrow from what you love and make it your own,” she explained. “It’s one of those sounds too. It’s one of the guitar tones that I’m still trying to figure out what we did because it’s hard to recreate.”
The ‘chugging’ rhythm technique used in “Barracuda” and in Nazareth’s “This Flight Tonight” is more or less a convention of heavy rock guitar playing. It's worth noting that neither is drastically different than Led Zeppelin’s “Communications Breakdown” or Black Sabbath’s “Children of the Grave” – both of which predate the Nazareth version of "This Flight Tonight.”
Nancy and Ann Wilson have reunited for Heart’s Love Alive summer tour, which hits Toronto’s Budweiser Stage on July 14, and Montreal’s Bell Centre on July 16.
Original article by Andrew Magnotta at iHeartRadio