VAN HALEN NEWS DESK

Posts Comments

VH reference on No Reservations

January 25, 2010 23 Comments

There was a unexpected Van Halen reference on a recent episode of No Reservations.

In 1989, Panama’s military dictator, Manuel Noriega, fled from US troops during the US’s invasion of Panama. A manhunt ensued. Eventually he was discovered hiding inside the Vatican embassy in Panama, and U.S. troops set up a perimeter outside the building. During the resulting stand-off, the U.S. forces tried to drive out Noriega by having their psychological warfare unit bombard the embassy with loud pop and rock music.

No Reservations host, Anthony Bourdain, mentions some of the music that was in the US troop’s playlist. This will answer the question of whether Bourdain prefers Dave or Sammy.

* * * * *

Note to our readers: Tomorrow, Jan. 26th, in celebration of Eddie Van Halen’s birthday, the Van Halen News Desk will feature a rare audio clip of Eddie Van Halen jamming that most of our devoted readers have never heard before. Stay tuned!

Filed Under: David Lee Roth, Humor, Sammy Hagar, Van Halen
  • Waldo

    Good show, and a host with good taste.

  • Mike

    Can anyone guess the clip?

  • Tony

    “Oh, snap – no he didn’t!”
    Poor Sammy gets no love for his VanHalen contributions these days. It’s too bad, really. There were some great songs from that era. (My favorite was “Summer Nights”). But we’re all in a Diamond Dave kick right now and Van Hagar is overlooked… oh well, at least Sammy has got the ‘Foot.

    and what a bitchin way of pissing off a dictator! Blasting Van Halen music too loud pisses my wife off too!

  • chris.omeara

    If they bombarded me with Van Hagar, I’d surrender and beg them to take me into custody- Just make it stop!!!

  • Kimberly

    chris– ME TOO! Haha loveee it.

    People have love for Sammy! It just all depends on your taste. Two verrry different eras. Poundcake is one awesome song!! Haha great for road trips:)

  • sammyvanroth

    must be a slow news week. another worthless story!

  • http://none chickenfoothater

    Note:rare eddie audio clip will not be accessible to fans who cry for new vh music every post.Instead,a rare clip of mtv’s bully beatdown feat. spammy hagar will be shown instead.Mike and joe turn sam in,watch him get beat down and make a few thousand off his cocky ass.Enjoy!!!

  • Panama Red

    Just another segway into another Dave vs. Sammy predictably boring and frustrating battle of insults. Mark my words there will be the typical biased not very well thought out insults posted here. Oops, it has already begun….

    Tony – I love “Summer Nights” too. I love it when that song comes on the radio. It always reminds me of sitting on the tail gate of a pick-up at the lake on a hot summer night with a couple of friends and a cooler full of ice cold beer.

  • TheTruthHurts

    I like how nowadays, the “cool” thing to say is that only old Van Halen is good. So, you’ve got kids that couldn’t name 2 Van Halen songs ripping on how it’s so lame to like Sammy “Hager”. Nice. It’s like how MTV told all the young hip kids that Obama was the “kool” choice and only old people like McCain.

  • chris.omeara

    Kimberly: I actually love the entire For Unlawful… hate all the Sammy afterwards…

  • Tony

    Panama Red, so true. Somehow all these topics end up spinning into a Dave vs. Sammy debate. I liked them both; my point was just that Hagar seems to get bashed a lot lately. Ok, maybe they released a few ballads – hey, Eddie was the one that composed the music. Don’t blame it all on Sam. That’s just what gets the air play. Too many people heard “Feels so good” on the radio & labeled Van Hagar as synth pop… meanwhile you’ve got some shredding rock like A.F.U., Mine all Mine and Naturally Wired on the same c.d. BUT, the ones that never bothered picking up the cd missed out on it. ANYWAY, enough rambling. They both rocked, and I’m just as happy to hear Diamond Dave’s growly, shreaky awesome voice paired up with the greatest guitarist on the planet.

    And yes, SUMMER NIGHTS. Captures all the goodness of Hot women & cold beer. 2 of my favorite things.

    And that’s all I have to say except for the obligatory, “NEW MUSIC – PLEASE!” Give us Van Halen fans something to talk about besides who was the greatest singer.

  • Panama Red

    Tony – I completely agree with everything you just said. Like you and many others I’m a fan of Dave AND Sammy.
    I agree with you about the songs on “OU812.” The same goes for “5150″. When it came out it was called a “Pop” album by some reviewers. But “Get Up” is one of their fastest paced rock songs ever. Alex RULES in that song! But “Dreams” and “Love Walks In” were their big singles from that album, oh well.
    Roth’s and Hagar’s style were very different from each other, but I dig ‘em both.
    Whatever….Why argue? Wer’e all just VH fans, lets be happy about that, and thankful that we share a good taste in music. At least we’re not one of those people rushing out to get the latest Lady Gaga or Kanye West C.D. for God’s sake. Or any number of those talentless hacks they play on the radio these days.
    Tony, you also hit on another good point when you said Eddie was the one who composed the music.
    Yes, things about the band did change after Roth. But it wasn’t just the lyrics or singing. Musically things changed/evolved. It’s a normal thing that happens over time with bands willing to explore new avenues. Sammy wasn’t in charge of all of that. There were other musicians in the band too. It’s just not very intelligent and well thought out to blame Hagar for all of the changes in VH. After all, the band is named after two guys. The two guys that should have the most say in the direction the band is taking. And look at what direction Roth went in after he left Van Halen. It wasn’t exactly all hard core rock music. Things wouldn’t have stayed the same if Roth stayed anyway. Their weren’t gonna be anymore Van Halen 1′s.
    Another point of view is that when you bash Hagar or Roth you’re really kind of bashing the whole band. After all They decided what lead singer to go with. If you sat down with Eddie or Alex and said “Hagar sucks” or “Roth sucks” it’s not like they would agree with either one of those. They were all great friends and bandmates at one time and all made great kick ass rock n roll together. Bottom line: I Love Dave, I love Sammy, but most of all I LOVE Van Halen!
    Holy Crap I’ve wasted a lot of time today fuckin around when I should have been doing other things. Shit!

  • Terje

    We Van Halen fans sure are blessed! Order your shoes and cymbals now, can’t wait for the Wolfgang signature strings..

  • Kimberly

    Chris– AGREED once again haha.

  • Tommy Boy

    Listen to the solo in “Feels So Good” and tell me you feel the same….buncha dbags…ALL VH music is awesome!

  • http://twitter.com/johnnybeane johnny beane

    Ive always loved the guitar solo to “Feels So Good”.
    Eddie has always played great with effects & that solo has awesome delays!

  • Darren from Staten Island

    Its no wonder so meny of you love “summer nights” 3/4 of that song was made while Dave was still with the band. After Dave left,Sam came in and reworked some (not all) of the lyrics to sute his vocals. That’s not to say Sam made it better just different. I’m very sure Daves would have been better. Nuff said.

  • Tony

    Panama Red: Good point – dead on about Roth. I loved his “Eat ‘em and Smile” album, but then “Skyscraper”… I dunno, most of it sounds almost like poppy disco music. I was heart broken when they split after 1984 – but some of his solo stuff was pretty insipid. (DLR band was good though, I thought)

    AND *Darren*, If Roth wanted to prove your theory, he could have attempted some Hagar songs on their last tour. I personally, would have loved to hear it… Roth singing “Finish What ya Started”, “Pound Cake”, etc. Hagar sang some Roth songs quite well.

  • Pete

    P-RED…I completely agree. The Dave vs. Sammy thing is kinda played out by now, isn’t it?

    Dave did some cool things, Sam did some cool things. Generally speaking some people like one more than the other. I think most simply choose to listen to something they like regardless who made it. I am glad I have 2 impressive catalogues of tunes, both with VH and otherwise, to enjoy.

    Next…

  • halenhagar

    Dudes, I remember when that happened and they played Panama, the Dave Lee Roth Van Halen, That is some pretty scary SH@T that is why Noriega gave up. The shreeking scared the hell out of him. And look how old this guy Anthony Bourdain is no wonder he likes Roth Van Halen, only old guys like Roth Van Halen. That is 55 and older.

  • http://none Dirty Duck

    I’m 35 years old halenhagar and a HUGE roth fan…..so obviously you dont know what the fuck you’re talkin about man.

    Thats like saying all hagar fans are fags.
    Are you?

  • Hugo

    This guy is an AH… VH rules w/DLR, w/SH, and even w/GC

  • halenhagar

    DD your not a Hagar fan nor a Van Halen fan your a David Lee Roth fan, I on the other hand am a Van Halen fan and the last time I looked Van Halen recorded 3 songs with Sammy as frontman and that was the last time they were Van Halen, so I still prefer the up to date Van Halen with Hagar, Roth is just a Throw Back Tour lead singer for Van Halen “Right Now”. That only sings old Van Halen songs when they were on tour back in 2007-08. now that was 2 years ago.