The Van Halen hit that Eddie Van Halen said he didn’t like

Since Van Halen released their first album in 1978, the band created many tracks that would be huge hits and part of their setlist. Until the end of the band in 2020 after Eddie Van Halen’s death, they released 12 studio albums and sold an estimated amount of 80 million records worldwide.

Even though almost the entire discography of the group is praised fans and critics, there was one hit song that the late guitarist Eddie Van Halen didnd’t like. Rock and Roll Garage selected what the musician said about that track over the decades.

The Van Halen hit that Eddie Van Halen said he didn’t like

As Eddie Van Halen said in an interview with Forbes in 2009, there was one Van Halen hit song that he was not a big fan of. He mentioned the track as an example, he was trying to say that he didn’t like everything other arists had made on their careers.

“I don’t even like everything I do. Sometimes I’ll write something, for instance a song called ‘Top Of The World.’ Everyone else liked it, I didn’t. I got outvoted and I wrote the damn song. It ended up on the record, I didn’t like the song, everyone else did. I got outvoted. It’s personal preference, that’s all music is,” Eddie Van Halen said.

As the musician said, he helped to write the song that is credited also to Michael Anthony, Alex Van Halen and Sammy Hagar. The track was released as a single in 1991 and also featured on the band’s ninth studio album “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge”, that was Sammy Hagar’s third record with the group.

Toto’s guitarist Steve Lukather was also part of the song

Curiously, Eddie Van Halen wasn’t the only guitarist who was in that track. His good friend Steve Lukather from Toto also performed on that track but only helped with the backing vocals. He recalled that in an interview with Tone Talk in 2020.

“I did some background vocals (on ‘Top of the World’). That’s all. People are still thinking that I play Eddie’s parts. Yeah, that’s really funny. I mean, come on – of course he doesn’t need me to play anything like that. I was there at the house. So I used to hang all the time. I love those guys. They’re like family to me,” Steve Lukather said.

At the time of it’s release, the song reached number 27 on the United States Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the United States Mainstream Rock chart.

He liked the album

Even though Eddie Van Halen was not a big fan of the track “Top Of The World”, he liked the album “Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” as he said in an interview back in 1991 when the record was released. (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

“This album, without really planning it, ended up much more Hard Rock and Roll. I guess (that’s) what we are really about, which also transfer to live (performance) much better. It was a lot of fun working with Ted Templeman (producer) again and Andy Johns (Producer) of course. I think it’s our best work to date,” Eddie Van Halen said.

Besides “Top of The World”, that album also had many other hits like “Poundcake” and “Right Now”. The record debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart and stayed in the position for three weeks.