“Unchained” from French TV ’81

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.

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.

As Peter Griffin would say, “Wow. What can I say….my God man…wow. They…they….look like a bunch of Frick’n posers.”

Why the helll did dave have a guitar? Thatt was just pointless and dumb.

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!

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.

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

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.

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?

Stick with the singing Dave – LOL

Jack, original recording was Drop D flat, this was Drop D standard without a doubt.

Looks more like 1983-84 time frame.

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.

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.

Jimi Hendrix opened for the monkey’s in 1966.Van Halen in the above video is a combination of both those bands.

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.

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

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…

Nobody’s mentioned that the shots from overhead are backwards. Al’s drumming left-handed.

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.

they looked like clowns. but they WERE clowns.

incredibly killer rock n’ roll bozos. dave wouldn’t argue with that.

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!!

YIKES!!!

Canes_fan5150– EXACTLY! Lol..its just a flippin video…we all know VH is awesome:)

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.