Poundcake

Three main guitar tracks make up this song, from the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge album. They include two tracks of electric 12-string, a Roger Giffin custom guitar with Smith pickups. The prototype Peavey 5150 amplifier (designed by Eddie and James Brown) was also used.

Had it not been for Alex Van Halen, this song would have never been made. Eddie had recorded a 10 or 15-second riff while jamming one day, and while listening to it the next day, Alex picked up on it and brought it to Eddie’s attention. Eddie then turned that riff into Poundcake. Alex once insisted that the solo on this track is unfinished. Eddie explained that the solo wasn't counted (in terms of bars) perfectly, but that it felt right.

Eddie used a Makita drill, set at 60 cycles, for parts of this song, including the intro. His tech Matt Bruck left the drill on the recording console after replacing the tubes in Eddie's Soldano amp. When he came back, Eddie was using the drill in the solo for Poundcake. While on tour, the drill was stolen, but luckily Scott Smith, formerly of The Inside magazine, had a replica drill that Eddie borrowed until the original was recovered.

This song is about Sammy's ideal woman, plain and simple.

The video for the song was a typical performance video interspersed with clips of scantily-clad women (it was banned from Canada's Much Music video channel shortly after its debut for this reason). It debuted on MTV on 06/15/91. It was produced by Warren Hewlett and directed by Andy Morahan, who also did the Finish What Ya Started video.

This is one of only two known videos featuring Eddie performing on a red-, white-, and black-striped Ernie Ball Music Man guitar, the other being Runaround.

MTV used scenes from the making of the video in a few news specials and in a rockumentary about the band.

The song also appears on Best of Volume 1 and Live: Right Here, Right Now.