Barracuda: Heart’s Fury, Turned Into a Riff

In 1977, Heart was a rarity: a hard rock band led by two sisters, Ann and Nancy Wilson, in a world run almost entirely by men. And a run-in with that world gave them their most famous song.

Their label at the time, Mushroom Records, had put out a fake story as a publicity stunt, hinting at a relationship between the two sisters. One night after a show, a man who worked promoting records to radio came up to Ann and asked about her “lover.” She thought he meant her boyfriend. He meant Nancy.

Ann stormed back to her hotel room and wrote the lyrics that same night. When Nancy found out what had happened, she was just as angry, and she came up with the melody and the bridge. Guitarist Roger Fisher and drummer Michael Derosier finished the song.

The barracuda in the title isn’t a fish. It’s the industry people who come at you smiling, then bite. The album’s producer later said the song also grew out of the band’s contract fights with their label.

What’s left is that riff, galloping from the very first second, and a lesson: sometimes the best answer to disrespect is a song people are still playing almost fifty years later.