“Unchained” from French TV ‘81
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Believe it or not, someone actually uploaded a Van Halen video to YouTube today that almost no one has ever seen since it only once… on French TV, back in 1981! Until today, this lip-sync Van Halen footage has barely circulated among bootleg collectors. Enjoy!
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October 27th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
That’s hilarious. And all these years I thought Eddie was the only guitar genius in the band. And Dave sings so good he doesn’t even need a mic. And Eddie is rockin’ those badass candycane socks. He should break those out for the tour next year.
October 27th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
The original version of Guitar Hero. Lipsync. That was fun. Thanks for Sharing.
October 27th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Um… wow. No wonder it only aired once. This was VH’s “Star Wars Holiday Special” moment. Ed’s probably got his wife on the phone right now trying to get it removed from youtube.
October 27th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
I wonder what kind of pickups DLR has installed in that Fender Strat. It sounds EXACTLY like the custom-wound 1961 P.A.F. taken from a Gibson ES-335 that EVH used, except it fits in a single-coil slot?
October 27th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
As Peter Griffin would say, “Wow. What can I say….my God man…wow. They…they….look like a bunch of Frick’n posers.”
October 27th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Not their best moment. Embarrasing…flush it…
October 27th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Why the helll did dave have a guitar? Thatt was just pointless and dumb.
October 27th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Jeez, lighten up - it was likely just done as a goof figuring it would never see the light of day outside the original airing in France. The triple bow at the end was hysterical.
October 27th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Yea! More 30 year old crap to dig up because there is nothing new! NOT EVEN A FREAKIN’ “Hello fans, how ya doin”!
Dave, your a singer hero - nobody wants to see you fake play guitar!
October 27th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Every group has done stupid things but this is insane. Maybe this is why VH doesn’t tour Europe. Digging up items from decades ago does not count as “new.” I really think we will never hear new music from VH with Dave again.
October 27th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Really?
No one is going to mention the outfits?
(Anyone taking bets before we see EVH Striped Socks on the Store?)
If my lead singer was making me wear these clothes I’d boot him too.
October 27th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
And by the way - Dave makes a more convincing Hair Band Guitar Rock God that Eddie.
At least he moves and just doesn’t smirk to himself all clip.
October 27th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
just found out from a friend who is in a VH tribute band on the west coast that they hear Ed wailing away in the middle of the night from their place. I guess the recording is going down now
October 27th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Is it just me or has the song been raised in pitch up to D?
Also, I’m not suprised about Dave and the geetar, there’s another lip-synching video of him playing that glittery guitar he used for Ice Cream Man on the DD tour..
October 27th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Wow it smells like a bunch of shit in here, the year is 1981, Jesus H. Christ. They’re high as fuck, havin’ a blast doin’ a video for their badass rock n roll song “Unchained” and that they knew no one had EVER heard that kind of crazycool music before, and that they’re also laying the groundwork for the years of imitators and cover bands to come. 1981…think about it.
October 27th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Watch Mike look for Ted when he speaks…fuckin’ hilarious!
October 27th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
A fake guitar? Why!? COME ON Dave, gimme a break!
That is some lame ass shit. At least they look like they’re having fun with it. I hope this ISN’T why they don’t tour Europe, I really want them to come to England on their 2010 tour. Man, that would be sweet.
This lipsynch stuff is pretty funny. Does anyone else think Mikey could pass off as a bass-playing Mario?
October 27th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Woaahh..that was just the most strange awkward video. LOL.
Its not like we have never seen VH live, so clearly we know they can play live.
This is just kinda dumb..and pointless..to put up.
Jack– It sounds like it was raised..very weird..the whole vid lol.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Stick with the singing Dave - LOL
October 27th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
I’m speechless. I’m might actually have nightmares about this one.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Jack, original recording was Drop D flat, this was Drop D standard without a doubt.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Was Al wearing a loin cloth?
Wow, that was awkward but interesting to watch nonetheless.
MA=VH
October 27th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Looks more like 1983-84 time frame.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
It was probably the producer of the show that wanted Dave to play guitar not the band. This video needs to be lost again.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Not trying to be cool or anything, but I’ve had that for over 10 years. There’s a lot of those promos from Europe in ‘80, ‘81 & ‘82, especially ‘81. He’s just playing the guitar to be a goofball anyway.
October 27th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
You know Dave plays guitar too! He broke out the guitar last tour.
October 27th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Lighten up guys! Someone just opened a time capsule and gave all of us a kick ass gift that Van Halen would never give us!! I think you are all missing the point and just weren’t around then (I was 12 and was just getting into VH). Or maybe you just forgot: This was 1981, MTV launched in August of ‘81. Hardly anyone had VCR’s. This was intended for one airing locally, only overseas. No one would ever see this again even locally, much less in the US or nearly 30 years later all over the world (who besides Al Gore knew about the internet?). It was just an impromptu recording to promote sales of the album and possibly tour dates. Someone probably walked up to Dave minutes before the filming and handed him the guitar. There are several VH videos like this with bad lip synching (actually I thought the camera angles were the worse thing). Each one is from a different country - management got local TV stations to broadcast an in-studio, one-take, performance clip. Although MTV launched that year, no one knew videos were going to have the impact they did - in fact, “music videos” were not spoken of in households yet. Even the better made videos (Dance the Night Away) were intended for one or a few airings, late at night (sometimes they were called “record label promo clips”). This was a time period when ugly but talented bands had a chance - radio and vinyl albums were hot and most of us didn’t even know what some bands looked like other than their album covers. It was the best fucking time – ironically, videos eventually brought us shitty, untalented, but good looking people who rule the music world.
I’m thankful that someone held on to this footage and finally decided to share it with us. I wouldn’t be surprised if even Michael Anthony (he’s the biggest VH collector) didn’t have some of these clips. Let me tell you - everyone was talking about how cool Ed’s socks were then, but he was the only one cool enough to pull it off (for the record, Waldo copied Ed). Thanks Ed for your bad ass socks and thanks to whoever posted this! You both rock.
October 27th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
absolutely awful. why didn’t they just let them play?
journey did this back in the 70s, too. ughh.
October 27th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Jimi Hendrix opened for the monkey’s in 1966.Van Halen in the above video is a combination of both those bands.
October 27th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
That “someone” in the description is a member of VHFrance staff (and avid Van Halen collector too), the only french Van Halen message board!
Would’ve been nice to, at least, mention that little tid bit.
October 27th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Dave had a guitar because they were lip-sync-ing to the studio track which contains both rhythm and lead guitar parts. Someone had to play the rhythm guitar part, otherwise where would that rhythm guitar sound be coming from? They were just trying to make it look more realistic.
October 27th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
I saw this on youtube some time back, I had forgotten about it. This is a variety of bad. Remember shows like Solid Gold, Hee haw, etc? Pretty much any variety show with musical acts that wasn’t SNL or the midnight special, everyone had to lip sync their current single. So very dumb. Cost efficient for a show to play a tape than actually having a live set up…sad.
October 27th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Funny stuff.
It sounds like the record they used was playin a little fast, kinda like my Sears Winnie The Pooh Record player did from the early 80’s
October 27th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
yeah, pretty lame. I hate bands that lip sync anyway. It doesn’t even look like their own instruments. Leave this one off the dvd and box set ok Ed ?
October 27th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
When did Wolfie grow a beard??
I assume that was Wolfgang on bass, since according to VH Guitar Hero, he’s the only bass player VH has ever had…
October 27th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Last one about this cool video…let’s all pretend that it is the most immaculate, crystal clear, perfectly synced footage ever. That it is not a recording of a recording of a recording. Look at what these guys are doing: EXACTLY what they do on stage (’cept for Dave’s guitar and much smaller stage) Why is everyone so critical? Listen to the music…let it inside, it’s o.k.
October 27th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Nobody’s mentioned that the shots from overhead are backwards. Al’s drumming left-handed.
October 27th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Never mind, they’re shooting into a mirror above the stage. Still funny. You people taking Van Halen so SERIOUSLY are even funnier, though. Clowning around was always a big part of who they were and what they did, so I’m not sure why the goofiness of this video is so shocking. (Hello, “Pretty Woman” video, anyone?)
October 27th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
I’m surprised at the negative comments. My thoughts:
*This is no worse (and no better) than the other VH lip-sync videos filmed overseas from that time period.
*Hell, this is no worse than all the lip-sync videos that other bands did overseas back then.
*Tommy is right - all 4 guys are behaving EXACTLY how they always did on stage (except, of course, for Dave having to hold a guitar).
*Tim is right - clowning around was always part of it.
*VH Dude is right about everything - this was the epitome of cool in 1981.
October 27th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
VH can do anything they want. Stop being pussies. It’s just a frikin video.
October 27th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
they looked like clowns. but they WERE clowns.
incredibly killer rock n’ roll bozos. dave wouldn’t argue with that.
October 27th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
I love Ed’s socks. They look like they are part of the 1960 Denver broncos uniforms.
October 28th, 2009 at 12:10 am
Yea all you dudes need to Really chill out!! What were you doing 28yrs ago?! Running around one finger up your nose the other up your ass! Get A Grip!!
Bottom line when they hit the stage for real they were The Real Deal, that just about every band from that era tried to copy!!
October 28th, 2009 at 12:33 am
Hell yeah! Eddie’s fair warning outfit,socks included were killer! It’s not the best video they did,but i’ve seen alot worse! 1981 fair warning tour,one of the best ever!!
October 28th, 2009 at 5:19 am
YIKES!!!
October 28th, 2009 at 5:29 am
Dave with a guitar? That was a good laugh…but what the hell…if we all looked at old pix or videos of ourselves we’d probably cringe once or twice ourselves.
October 28th, 2009 at 5:31 am
Canes_fan5150– EXACTLY! Lol..its just a flippin video…we all know VH is awesome:)
October 28th, 2009 at 6:05 am
Promo shit like this really sucks, I feel sorry for the band for being forced to do something like this. Kinda reminds me of the Jump video, cheap!
woof
October 28th, 2009 at 6:41 am
If I were in a band as great as Halen and someone asked me to lip-sync, I’d have some fun with it too. If they tried to do it seriously they would look ridiculous. As it is, they rise above the stupidity of this type of show. The Police have a great video from one of these type shows. In the middle of the song Sting knocks over the mic with his bass, etc. Pretty funny. Back in the day a lot of people probably didn’t even have a clue about lip-syncing which makes this all the better! I think it’s hilarious.
October 28th, 2009 at 7:36 am
VHFrance: Sending my thank you to you and the rest of the France VH fans! Anything else cool you guys can share?
Adam: Thanks man - you and a few others have a sense of humor and still remember the good time vibe that Van Halen once had.
Canes_fan5150: Well said!
VHND: Thanks for scrounging up something VH for us…
October 28th, 2009 at 8:29 am
VH Dude: sure, check out our youtube channel, there’s a lot of cool stuff there: http://www.youtube.com/user/VHFrance
October 28th, 2009 at 8:36 am
We need more people like VH Dude on this site… Too many people are so uptight! I would have loved this video in 1981, do you remember how hard it was to see your favorite bands on tv in the late 70’s & early 80’s? This is the very reason why MTV was started, we all wanted to see the bands perform. Yes, it was lip synced, but so was every early video on MTV. Everyone needs to chill out and enjoy the long history of Van Halen… This is why we love them.
October 28th, 2009 at 8:40 am
No Scottso, that was Mike on bass. The guy who Eddie played the bass line for on all the albums.
October 28th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Terribly awesome!! LOVE it!!!
October 28th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Funny video. At some point all bands were asked to lipsync, especially back then. no biggie.
October 28th, 2009 at 9:51 am
Look, they were probably wasted at the time and thought, hmmm, lets give Dave a guitar and lets lip sync this and ham it up a bit! Shit, we can get away with this, because we are the mighty VAN HALEN!!!!!
October 28th, 2009 at 10:32 am
That was Great!Roth doing kicks with a guitar?-HI-larius
October 28th, 2009 at 10:32 am
IMO, I thought it was funny to see VH try to keep up w/ a fast-pace background song to lip-sync to, while you can tell they were ALL wasted! It was a one-take thing & they were outta there, to party some more!I guess thay gave Dave a guitar cuz they didn’t have any microphone stands laying around… luckily they didn’t lower the Discoball this time, or let Dave do one of his flying splits… He probably woulda cracked his skull open again… Thank you to the VHFrance team for unearthing this old gem!!!
October 28th, 2009 at 10:44 am
I wonder how many of you people bitching about this video are the same people who’ve been bitching constantly how there’s never anything about VH on this site.
October 28th, 2009 at 10:49 am
WOW! That was the most SCUMTASTIC bit of VH I think I have ever seen. I f ing love it. It really shows how far the band has come and grown, and how styles changed, etc.
October 28th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Sherman T. Dog -
“Promo shit like this really sucks, I feel sorry for the band for being forced to do something like this. Kinda reminds me of the Jump video, cheap!”
-you are humping the wrong leg if you are going to diss the jump video. That vid is sick as shit.
October 28th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
I never would have thought that the French would be cool enought to like VH in the first place. Viva la Van Halen!
October 28th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
This used to circulate on bootleg videotapes back in the 80s - I used to have tapes with all sorts of stuff that’s never yet appeared on the likes of youtube. Long lost now - VH did a lot of those lip-synch things (really the only music on TV before the promo video age fully kicked in). Yeah, so they were crap at miming - and probably all drunk as drains anyway.
Anyone seen Dave doing in the promo for the film Amadeus? 1984 - it’s a compilation of rock vid clips set to Mozart that was made to promote the film on MTV - Dave does a spoken intro as ‘the conductor’ wearing a ludicrous cheetah patterned suit and bowtie. Hilarious.
October 28th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Hey Skutch,
So then that must be Wolfie on drums, right? Oh wait, no, that’s Alex, the guy who Eddie played all of the drum tracks for on all of the albums.
October 28th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
grow up
October 28th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
i remember watching this live, long,long time ago!
VH FRANCE, do you remember the video from WACF on french tv also:” loss of control” was the song!They did it in a hospital room!
October 28th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Hi, I’m the one from VHFrance who posted this video. Would have been cool to have some credits for that.
Like I said on youtube, the purpose wasn’t to show a great performance, but a rare video. If you’re seeking for real live music, we have plenty of it on the youtube channel.
@jano2412 : So you’re French too ? Glad to see we’re not the only ones here to like VH ! Yes indeed I know the video you’re talking about, but I’m way too young and didn’t see it “live” on TV.
If you wish to talk about VH in French, you’re welcome to our forum, as everyone else !
@VH Dude : You can check the VHFrance youtube channel for more videos (mostly live from bootlegs).
October 28th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
There are some videos out there of VH playing in Tokyo in 1988 and Eddie is wearing that same red and white shirt. not the socks though!
October 28th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Yes jano, I have it on my computer “loss of control” with girls
October 28th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
This video may have led to the original line up breaking up.
I hope Eddie doesn’t see it. If Eddie watches Dave hogging the camera while making believe he’s playing the guitar it will drive Eddie back to drinking and end any new reunion!
God that was awful!
October 28th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
This was on youtube before. I remember forwarding it to a bunch of friends and I also remember commenting on it.
It is totally sensational.
October 28th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
This was simply great! I can see the producer of that frog tv show telling the band what to do, and they just completely messed with it. I love this, hell they should put this on there bnext dvd
October 28th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Dave had a guitar because they wanted him to cover his trouser snake!
Love it!
October 29th, 2009 at 8:24 am
This site should include “Mammoth” material and should include Mark Stone.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
heh,heh, yeah it`s not classic=VH=without Mark Stone!!!!!
god that`s funny
October 29th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Their spinal tap moment.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
What do you expect, that’s TV for you.
October 29th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Considering when this originally aired the most likely explanation for Dave having a guitar is the French TV producers probably didn’t want Dave gyrating or perhaps they may have thought he would look “out of place” or “wrong” unless he had a guitar in hand since “that’s what people expect from a rock band”. The idea it was just the band being goofy is highly unlikely since it never happened anywhere else that we know of.
November 1st, 2009 at 8:52 am
Oh my god, I nearly pissed myself watching that.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:52 am
In some places it seems they transposed the negative as everyone is playing left handed.