Rock Candy

This article is about the song. For the candy, see Rock candy.

"Rock Candy" is a song by Montrose, the last song written and recorded for their 1973 debut. It was composed by all four members of the band. The song still gets performed on Sammy Hagar's solo tours and even had been re-recorded as the b-side to the Hagar single Little White Lie by the original band. It was also included on Hagar's live release, "Live: Hallelujah".

The song is well known for its distinctive drum intro played by Denny Carmassi. According to Ronnie Montrose in radio interviews, the song originated from Carmassi's experimentation with alternatives to Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham's intro to "When the Levee Breaks".

"'Rock Candy' is like a standard for bands like Def Leppard or The Cult. Over the years, anybody who wants to jam with me wants to jam 'Rock Candy' - Chad Smith, Joe Satriani, Matt Sorum, Slash. Lemmy from Motörhead came up to me at a show in England, and what did Lemmy say? 'Fucking Rock Candy, mate.'"

The song was featured in the 1994 movie The Stöned Age, and has appeared in the U.S. television series My Name is Earl. In May of 2015, Hagar sang the song with Daryl Hall and Hall's band at Hagar's Cabo Wabo nightclub for an episode of Live from Daryl's House.

Cover versions

The song was covered by the Glam metal band BulletBoys for the Wayne's World soundtrack in 1991. It was also covered by Dixie Witch for the 70s cover compilation album, Sucking the 70's - Back in the Saddle Again. Canadian rocker Lee Aaron also covered the song in her album Bodyrock. L.A. Guns covered the song during their early years.