"Borrowed"?

[Uncle Jerry]

I just heard the song The Rock, by the English progressive rock band Atomic Rooster(Carl Palmer of ELP, is the drummer). The opening drumming is ALOT alike Little Guitars. The drumming on Little Guitars changes, but not on The Rock, it goes pretty much the same the rest of the track. If you havn't heard the song, I would give it a listen. Do you think Van Halen, "borrowed" it? Have you noticed any Van Halen similarities in songs(Pre debut)?

[Sugar-Dave]

every steals everybody's stuff in fact i am doing that right now

[Simon Ribeiro]

I just heard the song The Rock, by the English progressive rock band Atomic Rooster(Carl Palmer of ELP, is the drummer). The opening drumming is ALOT alike Little Guitars. The drumming on Little Guitars changes, but not on The Rock, it goes pretty much the same the rest of the track. If you havn't heard the song, I would give it a listen. Do you think Van Halen, "borrowed" it? Have you noticed any Van Halen similarities in songs(Pre debut)?

Do you know when this song, The Rock, was recorded/released?

[Uncle Jerry]

Not excatly, but between 1969 and 1972.

[unchainedguitars]

Van Halen also borrowed "La Grange" (Bottom's up!) & "Heard it on the X" (Meanstreet) from ZZ Top.
They borrow stuff, but always return it in even better condition.

[MeWiseMagic]

I dunno but check out the Sunset Strip band Roxy Blue. They borrowed from Van Halen a lot.
Their album is called Want Some? The video to their song Rob The Cradle is exactly like Jump's video and the guitar player Sid Fletcher certainly has that EVH sound. Good band though.

[unchainedguitars]

They faded into obscurity along with Vinnie "Wiz Kid" Vincent.
Roxy Blue was the equivelent of VH if they sucked huge donkey balls, while miming to the latest MTV clip.

[unchainedguitars]

Ya know who kicked ass from that era??
Salty Dog, brother. Love that band.
These guys had a shit-hot guitar player who was all blues, but really proficient & fast.
The singer was cool too.

[Simon Ribeiro]

Not excatly, but between 1969 and 1972.

Well, I never heard the tune, so I can't speak with property.
But, just like Unchained said, Van Halen borrowed stuffs from ZZ Top, but their songs were that bigger.

For what I remember about "Little Guitars", Edward Van Halen wrote the tune after getting the Les Paul miniature from this guy, Dave Petschulat. He liked the guitar and used it for some sound checking (WDFA Tour - 1981). As he brought the riff and showed to his brother, I think Alex Van Halen just followed the groove and created his patterns.

[unchainedguitars]

That's right, Simon.
I read that many times as well.
Al layed down a very sexy groove to accompany Eddie's great guitar line & i don't think it was consciously lifted from that other group.