(Gibson) "Unchained," from the 1981 album, Fair Warning, has emerged as the victor in a Rolling Stone readers' poll that asked fans to name their 10 favorite Van Halen songs. With the group set to make a comeback with original singer David Lee Roth in tow, the magazine said it "figured it was a good time for such a poll."Perhaps not surprisingly, 80 percent of the top picks were from the Roth era, 20 percent were from the Sammy Hagar era and none were from the Gary Cherone era.
Commenting about "Unchained," Rolling Stone wrote: "It's not quite as famous as 'Jump' or 'Hot for Teacher,' but 'Unchained' has frequently been voted the favorite song of Van Halen fans. During the interlude, producer Ted Templeman breaks in and says 'Come on, Dave, gimme a break!' Dave responds with, 'One break, coming up!' According to legend, Ted felt that Dave was being too over the top and he scolded him. The band liked the moment and kept it in. Recent evidence suggests that the bit was rehearsed, but it's hard to say for sure. Like most things in the Van Halen world, there are two competing narratives of one event."
