Feature Song: “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘bout Love”
Van Halen was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California in 1973. They have often been credited with restoring “hard” rock to the forefront of the music scene, as they were known for their energetic (a likely understatement!) live performances, not to mention the virtuosity of their guitarist, Eddie Van Halen. From 1974 to 1985, the members of the band included Eddie Van Halen (guitar), his brother Alex Van Halen (drums), David Lee Roth (lead vocals), and Michael Anthony (bass). Their self-titled debut album (1978) sold over 10 million copies in the United States, By 1982, the band had released four more albums: Van Halen II (1979), Women and Children First (1980), Fair Warning (1981), and Diver Down (1982), all of which achieved multi-platinum status. By the early 1980s, Van Halen was among the most commercially successful rock acts.
“Ain’t Talkin’ ‘bout Love” was the fourth single from their debut album. This song is one of the few David Lee Roth-era songs that subsequent replacement lead singer, Sammy Haggar, was willing to sing in concert when he joined the band after Roth’s departure to pursue a solo career in 1985. When Eddie Van Halen wrote the song, he did not consider it good enough to show his bandmates until a year after he wrote it. He has said that it was supposed to be a punk rock parody, “a stupid thing to us, just two chords. It didn’t end up sounding punk, but that was the intention.” The song has been described as “laying down the style and sentiment of what would become 80s ‘hair music,’” another way of describing “heavy metal.”
I have featured Post Modern Jukebox (PMJ) many times before for several reasons, but especially for their innate ability to take a song and repurpose it in a completely different style, in this case a 1960s “girl group rock cover” which, as far as I know, is a genre that does not exist. Well, at least not until 2025! I have also featured Veronica Swift before, both as a solo artist and with her featured performances with PMJ. For this performance, Swift channels “both The Ronettes and Van Halen,” delivering a “girl-group-with-an-edge” cover of Van Halen’s hit single. The song is one of 15 tracks from PMJ’s 2025 twenty-fifth anniversary album release, Lounge Language Models. Accompanying Swift for this performance are: Amber Woodhouse (backup vocals), Kyndle Wylde (backup vocals), Anthony Castanga (electric guitar), Jared Manzo (electric bass), Chris Gelb (drums), Scott Bradlee (Piano & arrangement).
Swift, from Charlottsville, Virginia, grew up in a musical family, Her parents are late jazz pianist, Hod O’Brien, and singer Stephanie Nakasian. At the age of nine, she recorded her debut album, Veronica’s House of Jazz (2004), which featured Richie Cole playing with her father’s rhythm section. She began touring with her parents at this time as well. She released her second album, It’s Great to Be Alive, in 2007. She earned her bachelor’s degree in jazz voice in 2016 from the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. While there, she composed a goth-rock opera entitled Vera Icon about a homicidal nun. She has stated that she needed a more “dramatic genre to express the anger she was feeling due to her father’s illness.” Her 2015 album, Lonely Woman, includes two songs with her father at the piano, representing that last recording by Hod O’Brien before he died in 2016. She has appeared and toured with the likes of Wynton Marsalis, Chris Botti, Benny Green, and Michael Feinstein. Her first appearance with PMJ was in 2019 with her cover of Rag Doll.
Enjoy!
Van Halen. “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘bout Love. 1978.
Post Modern Juke Box featuring Veronica Swift. “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘bout Love” cover 2025.
According to WhoSampled, there are 246 listed covers of Van Halen songs. So I thought it would be fitting to include a Van Halen cover from the same debut album, The Kinks, “You Really Got Me” (1964).
Los Angeles 2025
While I always found David Lee Roth a little bit too much over the top, he certainly was a talented lead vocalist who sang some great songs for Van Halen. “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘bout Love” is a nice pop hair metal banger. Van Halen’s cover of “You Really Got Me” is a pretty good rendition, though personally, I always felt Eddie Van Halen had a tendency to overdo the fretboard acrobatics, as great a guitarist he undoubtedly was. INHO, he oftentimes seemed to be in the department of maximizing the number of notes when less might have been more. That said, when I’m in the mood for guitar shredding, it probably doesn’t get much better than Eddie Van Halen. The remake by Post Modern Juke Box is fun. I actually think they did an outstanding job!
Yeah, a bit “over the top” as you say, but it goes with the era for sure.
Oh, I think you’re right, North. The hair metal era was over the top. I think another great example of the excesses are Mötley Crüe.
I agree with this. When I was 12 years old, David Lee Roth was exactly the frontman I wanted to see. Over time, Sammy Hagar’s style has come to better match my tastes in that sense. Either way, Eddie Van Halen was a huge influence on my guitar playing in those early days. The fact that I play both piano and guitar is largely because of him. I’ll always be grateful for what Van Halen gave us musically and for the memories of those days with songs like Jump, Hot for Teacher, Eruption… all of it!
Wow that is a killer version of a song I would have thought difficult to do. I don’t think I heard You Really Got Me by VH before. Good stuff North. Hope things settle down out there, peacefully!
Thanks Randy. Although we are not in the thick of things, we are close enough to be listening to helicopters hovering for hours at a time last night until well after midnight. A real shit show to be sure. Glad you liked the PMJ take on this song. I feel they nailed it!
Stay safe my friend. This may only be the spark I fear. My daughter is due in LA to visit her inlaws July 4. Needless they are closely monitoring things.
Veronica Swift & PMJ bring a nice, fresh and jazzy interpretation to VH’s rock classic.