Runnin' with the Devil

The noise at the beginning of this song, from the Van Halen album, is a collection of car horns. The horns were taken from the band's own cars, including Alex's Opel, Eddie's Volvo, a Mercedes Benz and a Volkswagen. The horns were mounted in a box and powered by two car batteries, with a foot switch to turn them on and off. Producer Ted Templeman slowed the horns down before adding them to the track. This same idea was first used during the band's club sets and appeared on the Gene Simmons Demo on House of Pain, sounding after each verse. On the demo the horns also acted as a segue to Runnin' with the Devil. Eddie recalled that the horns were detrimental to the songs on the demo and may have been partly responsible for its failure.

There was a mixing error when this song appeared on Best of Volume 1. The error was corrected in later pressings of the album.

The video for the song (filmed at the Whisky A GoGo in 1977) starts off in much the same way as the song had been performed live: Mike seemingly plucking the strings with his teeth. Dave provides one of his more glaring lip-sync errors in the first few seconds by missing half a scream. Eddie and Mike launch into what would later be called a Kiss impersonation, rocking back and forth perfectly choreographed twice. Near the end of the video a crew member accidentally shares the stage during a shot; he flees, realizing his mistake.

Corporation of One's 1989 song Guns of the Boogie Down featured a sample of the song's intro riff.

A recording of Pearl Jam covering this song in concert is in circulation among Pearl Jam and Van Halen fans.

Runnin' with the Devil was also the title of a Van Halen tribute album (Runnin' With the Devil: Tribute to Van Halen, Progressive Arts, 08/18/00) featuring the following tracks and bands: "Somebody Get Me a Doctor" by Project X, "Romeo Delight" by Aces Wild, "Everybody Wants Some" by Elephant Orange, "Feel Your Love Tonight" by Hear Here, "Little Dreamer" by Project X, "D.O.A." by Babt Jones, "Atomic Punk" by Wraith, "Unchained" by 5150, "IceCream Man" by Drop, "Eruption 2000" by Don Sullivan, "I'll Wait" by Klank and "Mean Street" by 1984.