My Favorite Heart Songs: #1 "Barracuda" (1977)

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Yes, it requires a spectacular lack of imagination to select Heart’s signature song as top choice. After all, “Barracuda” is relentlessly played on classic rock stations. So what! “Barracuda” was awesome 40 years ago and just as awesome today. I never tire of the song and always crank it up. The background to “Barracuda” is strange. Nancy said the band’s original label Mushroom had concocted a bizarre publicity story implying the Wilson sisters engaged in an incestuous relationship!?! An enraged Ann knocked out “Barracuda” expressing her anger and the rest is history. Heart walked out on Mushroom. “Barracuda” is furious and thundering hard rock. Ann channels anger into vocals never more booming and soaring. There is the blistering guitar solo and frantic crescendo. It does not get any better. From the “Little Queen” album, “Barracuda” charted at Billboard Hot 100 #11 which is surprising. Heart’s most famous and popular song charted and sold lower than “Magic Man” and the later power ballads. “And if the real thing don’t do the trick you better think of something quick your gonna burn, burn, burn,burn, burn into the wind oh, barracuda! oh yeah”