Atomic Punk is the seventh track on Van Halen.
Atomic Punk was released as a B-Side on the You Really Got Me single.
This is a rare tune in that it contains no backing vocals, a trait so often identified with early Van Halen choruses. Eddie rubbed his hand back and forth across the strings, while kicking in his MXR Phase 90 to produce the scratchy-sounding riff so prominent in this track. The same effect was also used on Everybody Wants Some!!
From Guitar World:
Eddie often credited Black Sabbath as an early influence, and you can really hear that inspiration during this song’s versus when he plays rapidfire staccato eighth notes that evoke “Paranoid.” But Tony Iommi never played anything as brutally boisterous as Ed’s intro, where he summoned a wash of dissonant white noise by rubbing the strings with his palm and processing the signal with an MXR Phase 90, creating what sounds like a helicopter with chainsaws for rotor blades.
Guitar Track:
Lyrics:
I am a victim of the science age, uh
A child of the storm, whoa yes
I can’t remember when I was your age
For me, it says no more, no more
Nobody rules these streets at night like me, the atomic punk
Whoa yeah, wow
I am the ruler of these nether worlds
The underground, whoa yes
On every wall and place my fearsome name is heard
Just look around, whoa yes
Nobody rules these streets at night like me, the atomic punk
Ooo, Ahhh
I am the ruler of these nether worlds
The underground, oh, oh
On every wall and place my fearsome name is heard
Look around, whoa yeah
Nobody rules these streets at night like me, nobody, ah
The atomic punk