Beautiful Girls Album: Van Halen II (1979)
by Van Halen
This song is a credo of sorts for Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth: all he needs is a beautiful girl. Or more accurately, beautiful girls, as Roth played himself off as a rock-and-roll Lothario.
The song showcases his wordplay ("She was seaside sittin', just a smokin' and a drinkin' on ringside") as well as Eddie Van Halen's deluxe guitar riffs and Michael Anthony's rich backing vocals.
"Beautiful Girls" was the second single from the Van Halen II album, following "Dance The Night Away." Their singles did not sell well, but their albums did. Many people bought the first Van Halen album after hearing this one.
The group wrote this in David Lee Roth's basement. They had just finished a tour and were under tight deadline pressure to record their second album. They released an album every year until 1984.
Roth fractured his foot doing a jump for the album's photo shoot. Since there was no way Roth could stay still on stage, they postponed their tour so he could heal.
The album took six days to record. Van Halen was quick in the studio because they laid down most of the tracks live, with very little overdubbing.
Brad Tolinski, who spoke with Eddie Van Halen for Guitar World a number of times, had a revelation about this song after a conversation with Steve Vai. "I was listening to 'Beautiful Girls,' and what hit me was that these wild assortment of bends and growls and zany guitar sounds, they functioned almost as commentary on David Lee Roth's outrageously, hypersexual, Bugs Bunny persona," he said. "It was almost like Looney Tunes. Like Carl Stalling, who wrote the music for Looney Tunes. So, what you have, since Ed is such a sensitive musician, he's responding to this outrageous persona of David Lee Roth and just creating sounds that would somehow go along with that. I think that 'Beautiful Girls' is such a perfect example of David Lee Roth being funny and off the wall, and Eddie having to figure out something on the guitar to respond."
On their 1979 tour, David Lee Roth gave each of the crew members five backstage passes, which they were supposed to give to beautiful women. If Roth shacked up with one of the babes, he gave the roadie that got her in $100 the next day.
Eddie and Alex were born and raised in Holland. Their family moved to Pasadena, California in 1967, when Eddie was 10 and Alex was 12.
Eddie took piano lessons throughout his youth. He credits his understanding of classical music for his ability to write songs.
Eddie and Alex' father, Jan Van Halen, was a professional clarinet player.
Their original name was Mammoth, but they changed it after finding out another band had it first. It was Roth's idea to use the name Van Halen - Eddie and Alex didn't like it.
Roth was in a band called Redball Jet when he met Eddie and Alex. Michael Anthony met Alex at Pasadena City College.
Eddie had serious stage fright, and the only way he could perform early on was by text limit
