Van Halen on Clapton

We`ll bring the Jack Daniel`s and some “Dirty Movies”,LOL

Rich

look i just had to throw in what i thought was the worst DLR/VH song little dreamer ??? its just my opinion , there cld be worse i dont know ,

Once again if you cant say theres a bad VH song u are delusional , ok how many say i , utter shit!!! , appolitical blues , crap , black n blue , avg at best , its just my opinion .

ou812 is a very very avg album prod is the worst of any album ive ever heard any album!!!!!!!! they had to rely on ballads , there great ballads but more journey whitesnake then mighty vh .

TO RUSS
All this oh u cant bag van halen on this site is pretty weak , u must praise all eddie does, UM NO !! when he makes shit it shd be called shit , i know 99.9 pc of his music is great

Van halen shd make a real van halen album was quote

ok , do u really compare balnce or 3 to vh 1 or 1984 , really ??????? cld u honestly say oh i prefer balnce to 1984?? balance sounds like the same band???? not in a million yes!! they shd make a real vh album ,

That’s weak Fat Cat. Really weak.

Karl,

It’s all I had!!! You’ve been a good sport, see ya on the next story!!!!

VAN HALEN FOREVER!!!!!!!!

Dimond Dean:

Dude, lighten up. I guess I was pretty hard on you, but my main point was that like what you like and don’t give a shit about other people’s opinions.

To be honest, I couldn’t give a shit what your favourite album or song is, whether you think OU812 is gold or dust…personally its a favourite of mine, but thats because when I got it a friend of mine at work made me see a real depth and awesomeness to that album that I hadn’t seen before (he also did it to VH2 and 5150).

You can’t just suggest that everyone is delusional if they like all of Van Halen’s material.

“rich is the one who cant take a bit of critism of eddie”

Because I get sick of people like you who say that Eddie owes the fans the world and how he is so crappy for not turning up to your front porch on his knees with a signed copy of Fair Warning, with a written apology to Michael Anthony and an invitation for you to live at 5150 for a year.

Seriously.

Plus, 5150 and OU812 had “ballads” because keyboards were popular in the mid to late 80s and if you look back, it hardly hurt the band. What about I’ll Wait? They’re all good but the ballads really started with 1984 IN MY OPINION.

This topic really is flogging a dead horse….

Fair enough Rich

I do go on , but cld u make it a signed copy of 1984 cool ????

I do do enjoy a good debate

Rock on my vh bro

DiamondDean:

The solo in “Feels So Good”(I know you included it in your post): Holy Fuckin’ Shit!

“Mine all Mine”: WOW start to finish.

“Cabo Wabo” and “When It’s Love”: Harmonies of The Gods

Yeah, it was tweaked out too far for everyone’s taste, even the band’s. Unsure if it’s been remastered or not. I should check on that, but until then I’ll just crank up the bass and punch it up a little.

Tommy Boy covered a lot of the good songs.

I don’t know WHAT it is about OU812 that makes it so good. I don’t know if anybody else knows what I’m talking about but my memories of my friends and I jamming out to this album almost makes it better than it probably is. OU812 was a soundtrack to my summer a few years ago and I can’t help but fondly remember it.

Mine All Mine is a fantastic opener. I especially love the rhythmic playing Eddie does with the backing vocals in the pre-chorus (or chorus?) part. And the solo is pretty fun and just all over the place.

When Its Love: Had a good first impression on me. Yeah its synthy but thats what was popular then. I love how it jumps in with Sammy’s “ha!” at the beginning. It seems here its almost what Eddie doesn’t play (the gap in the solo, etc) that makes it good.

AFU: Man the intro has so many tapped harmonics. It sounds so great, Alex is on fire! The riff is fun and its just a great, fast paced rocker that doesn’t hold back. Sammy really belts it. The double bass that Alex kicks in on the second bridge part is pretty sweet too.

Cabo Wabo: What is not to like about this song? As a guitar player its a pretty easy riff and you can really let it go on this song. The riff is simple but genius. Has lots of pop elements with the backing vocals but to me it just sounds great. This is a pretty long song and there isn’t so much lead here from Eddie as there is interesting and varied chords and phrasing. (You can tell that its the riffs that I care about most here!)

Source of Infection: I remember the first time I heard this it sounded like Eddie had about 17 fingers. I mean how can you hit so many notes, so quickly, and make it sound so good? This is a weaker song for me as Sammy’s contribution isn’t much more than what sounds like an improvised verse to a chorus with weak lyrics but its fun on Eddie’s part.

Feels So Good: This is just a feel good song. I do genuinely feel good when this song comes on. Eddies solo: wow! Tommy Boy got it right, its just a great solo and even if the production is muddy throughout the album, you can tell Eddie was on fire with this album.

Finish What Ya Started: No, its not David Lee Roth type stuff with this song. But its fun and its a great song to play if you can pick up a guitar. Again, its a simple riff but once you get to the solo…man, its hard. I like Mike’s contribution here with the backing vocals. This is great live, as Eddie ditches the acoustic sound and gives it a hella-long outro solo.

Black and Blue: Another great song here but I can tell people won’t like the vocals by Sammy. I usually concentrate on Eddie with this song but I can’t fault Sammy for putting together coherent lyrics…they’re just not that meaningful or deep (but how many bands are?). Its a really interesting solo too. The way Eddie sustains those high notes…I mean man. Starts and finishes perfectly. I remember Eddie in an interview saying that he preferred to write riffs than just use chords – and never have I remembered this more than on OU812.

Sucker In A 3 Piece: This song has always sort of sounded a bitter filler-ish to me. But when it gets to the bridge, and the backing vocals, theres something special about the song that I can never quite put my finger on. Eddie’s tone on the bridge…man. So gritty. Mike is actually pretty nifty in the guitar solo too, he’s everywhere! Unfortunately I have to have the bass booster on to actually hear him.

Apolitical Blues: This is a cover, and a fun cover. No, its not a great song. But you can tell that Eddie had some fun sitting down at the piano and with the slide guitar. You can also tell Sammy was digging the bluesy singing he had to do. Its pretty funny but not essential to the album.

So there you go, song by song.

People hate this album, fair enough. I feel the same way about Diver Down sometimes – to me, that just sounds like a filler album. OU812 brings back some great memories for me. And I’m not even 20 yet. Haha.

Rich…Panama Red…WOW. I’ve thought about typing that much, but just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Awesome that both of you did. Now I see what a GIGANTIC post looks like and many thanks to you guys, nice reading…a couple of the handful that makes this place worthwhile.

RICH , PANAMA RED RESPECT!!!!

Brilliant comments, u guys keep these things interesting , its great to have an educated opinion

I find a lot of fans relate an album to a great time in their life , or their fave album is the first album they hear of their fave artist , which doesnt make it great or bad .

OU812
It started off with Black n blue released as the first single????? its not overly commercial , did it even go into the charts,
The mighty VH started to rely on ballads 4 hits becoming more journey then led zep , which is sad
I know they had , ill wait n love walks in , but both of them are brilliant .
Feels so good is brilliant though n trully does give me good feeling inside
Hagar screams far too often on this album .
They lost their sense of humour , the album cover is very dow n just a beetles kinda copy .
appolitical blues is woeful!!!! painful , its just my opinion

Hagar may touch on some serious subjects but his lyrics arent deep or intelligent at all, black n blue is up there for the worst lyrics with up 4 breakfast.

EVHs solos r just rehashes of all he had done b4 n seemed like an afterthought , mine all mine is a fine example, when on 5150/1984 were brilliant.

THE PRODUCTION! is the worst ive ever heard on any album by any artist!!!!!!seriously , i dont think EVH can produce 4 shit . Its so muddled with no bottom end it amazes me that professional musicians wld not relise how bad it was .

Its funny i read a critic compare it FAIR WARNING which was a very interesting comparison, i actually had a bit of a think about it n knew where he was coming from. Many critics didnt like Fair warning at all , but as a VH fan is regarded as one of there , if not there best .

Does anyone consider 0u812 the best VH cd????

Jeremy, this might not be the right format to talk about addictions, but it’s kind of relevant. Eddie is an alcoholic. Being addicted to alcohol doesn’t mean that he’s an idiot though. With all due respect Jeremy, I think saying “You are an idiot if you are addicted to drugs and alcohol” is a very simplistic statement and doesn’t show signs of making an effort to have much intellectual depth on the subject.

But if you mean that it can make you have idiotic-like behavior and cause you to make bad decisions, then I agree with you.
Although, It seems you enjoy a little hair of the dog too, buying a bottle of Cabo every couple of months. If you’re drinking beer, wine and other stuff as well, that’s more than a little nip here and there dude.

Jeremy, most definitely there is more to life than being high or drunk, like you said. Unfortunately some people’s lives are cut short or are mostly wasted because of addiction. But having said that, when a drug gets a hold of someone it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are an idiot. Are there idiots out in the world who are addicts, Yes. Are there idiots out in the world who have never touched a drug or drink, Yes. All I’m saying is, is that addicts and idiots aren’t necessarily one in the same, which is what you seem to be implying.

It can seem idiotic to throw away so many things in your life because of an addiction. But without understanding it better or being an addict in recovery, I think it is entirely wrong to label everyone an idiot that has had an addiction problem. I would bet a substantial portion of people who we all meet or come across on a daily basis are in recovery or they are people who are active addicts, without us even knowing it. People who most of us probably wouldn’t consider to be idiots.
I can think of A LOT of extremely talented people, artists, musicians, etc., who have been addicts and who we would have all been worse off without having them in this world.

I’ve had friends/family who were addicts, some died of overdoses and some in other ways related to their addiction, some are in recovery, some went to jail, most of whom I would not label as idiots, just bad addicts. Some of us can get out from underneath the addictions, and some of us are drug down so far we can’t get back and recover from them.

I myself years ago used to drink morning, noon, and night. Shit, I remember drinking vodka for breakfast, after only being asleep for a few hours after partying all night. It was a good way to get the buzz back fast because you’d still have alcohol in your system. I did some idiotic shit and should’ve probably died several times. But I don’t think I’m an idiot. I was just out of control, I have an addictive personality. But I don’t think having an addictive personality necessarily coincides with intelligence or idiocy. It’s more involved and complex than that.
If I could, I would go back and change some things, make some different decisions. I wouldn’t change everything though, I had some great times too, back in those days when I was fucked up all the time.

I’ve put a lot of mileage on my body, I’ve suffered from a lot of wear and tear. Now I only drink maybe once or twice a week. I need to take care of the last remaining brain cells I have, plus I’m not sure how much more my beat-up body could take anyway. So maybe I am an idiot now from brain damage, but I used to not be. Ha ha. So maybe addictions Can Turn You Into an idiot, that’s the moral of the story. LOL!

All this talk of Idiocy reminds me of the movie “Idiocracy” It’s a really goofy comedy by Mike Judge (who wrote/directed “Office Space”-one of my fav comedies EVER) “Idiocracy” isn’t anywhere near as good as “Office Space” but his silly take on the future of the world actually kind of makes sense and sadly seems plausible. Lmfao.

Rich:

I’m 56 and still doing as much of the bad stuff as I think wise. You hit right on it, moderation in all things. Heck, we even got the Bible on our side. Water into wine, making good use of the herbs, etc.

Rich – Usually when I write a comment I don’t intend to write that much. But you’re totally right. I have trouble being concise. I’ll start writing something to make a small point and by the time I’m through I look up and say “Oh SHIT! What the Hell?…oh well” then I (kind of embarrassingly) hit the “submit” button.
My mind just keeps going. I think I tend to do everything in excess unless I really try hard not to. Shit man, I can’t even drink one or two cups of coffee, I always have to drink like a whole pot. LOL
If I can keep the thoughts in my head organized long enough to write them down legibly, then I’m doing good.

Dooley – All I know is that if I had kept up that pace I would have died a long time ago. It took me a long time to chill out, but I’m glad I finally pulled the reins back and slowed down some. More power to ya if you can still keep up the rock star pace bro. Those days are all but gone for me, man. But I still know how to have fun. I usually drink top shelf liquor now, instead of the cheap stuff. It hurts less. Lol. Plus, I don’t drink as much ’cause it’s so expensive. Ha!

“Everything in moderation, including moderation.” Right?

Panama Red:

It’s great that you have made, and continue to make, the necessary adjustments. Maybe I’m lucky, but I get hammered pretty easy, no matter if it’s liquid or out of a pipe.

Like others on this site have noticed, your posts are not exactly tight terse and telegraphic, but they are very interesting, and you cover lots of ground.

On the coffee thing, I used to drink a whole pot as well. Now I’m done after 2-3 cups and I just switch to V-8 or orange juice. It helped me to reduce my caffein intake. Try it, it might work for you as well.

Dooley, I thank you for the comment!

PanamaRed,

I feel for ya in your post. My take on this subject is this, I didn’t start to drink until I was 25. I barely did it then, and I barely do it now. I buy the Cabo for friends and my wife because they like the waboritas. I have one every now and then. I’ve never smoked cigarettes, or have done drugs. But the funny thing about life is that I get cancer for what reason? I’ve had family members die from drugs and alcohol and it pains me that some people are weak minded to let a drug or drink control you. I understand 100% it’s a disease, but nobody forces you to do those things. My biggest issue here is that Eddie ruined this band with those issues. Yes Sammy and Mike and Dave and Alex all do it, but for some reason Eddie just can’t quit when it’s too much. I guess a genius needs his fuel to make him tick. No clue honestly!

The reason why I call them idiots is because they were put here for a reason and they ruin a great gift. Hendrix could’ve done more with it, John Bonham, Bon Scott, and the list goes on. The time they spent here in my opinion was too short. Addiction is a funny word that alot of people take for granted.

Tiger Woods got caught cheating, but now he’s a sex addict. Well, If your a full-blooded male, you should be addicted to women. Cheating on your wife makes you an idiot. Having a couple of drinks makes it a social cause, drinking the biggest river or lake where you live to get a buzz or be obliterated, is an idiot.

I know my limits and to you Rich, my post was meant towards those who ALWAYS come on here and tear down what smart people say on here. This is a open forum for us fans. You have those “fans” on here who THINK, not know, but think they are Van Halen or know Eddie personally. We can all debate on here who is better, but both eras of Van Halen were great. Cherone tried, but those are tough shoes to fill folks!

Sammy in my opinion took Halen and made them a band. Roth took them and made them a household name. Both guys are in the Hall of Fame, so enough said.

So lets hope that Van Halen does do something, but honestly, I’ll stick with Chickenfoot and Sammy Hagar. Not because he’s better, but because he’s still doing it for almost 5 decades and he’s still got it. Not much can be said for the acts out there these days or from days past!

Panama Red:

As far am I’m concerned you can post whatever and whenever you want. You have some like-minded, friendly (mostly) type people here. And we are pulling for you, albeit from “afar”.

PANAMA RED U R THE KING!!!!

look im pretty positive they will release a new album this year , i just hope its great?

This hasnt been discussed but , cld they release another vh3???? is it possible??? or a balance/ou812 which in my books r very avg , do we really want an album if so

Will they release a classic in the vh 1 /1984 5150 mold???, these r the thing we shd think about, cld it be possible 4 another great album , do u think they have it in them???

Will Daves voice hold up , will he scream like a few of his solo cds ” blacklight” is an example where he missed the mark , musically its great

Does anyone remember the rumour they had recorded “saturday nights alright for fighting” ????????

I think it wld be great if they do a cover, daves voice is great when it comes to singers others songs , i luv his voice on shine a little love n baker streat , they shd of been released

VH VH VH VH VH VH VH VH VH VH VH VH VH

Dooley, Diamond Dean, Thx for the good words.

It’s kind of funny now about the Cancer test thing, one of the other “technicians” (besides the mulleted-molester mustache guy who basically insinuated that I was gonna die soon) asked me to swallow that barium crap. And another “technician” said “No, he doesn’t need to do that. He doesn’t have cancer yet.”
I said YET??!!
And he goes “oh, poor choice of words I guess…sorry”
Those guys weren’t exactly well-versed in etiquette or proper bedside manner.

I won’t keep going on to much more. I don’t want to seem so self-indulgent when I’m really just taking a break. Writing helps me relax. But one of the worst things about the crap when I was in such bad shape at 19-21 was that when I came back home and was sick, trying to recover, my live-in girlfriend who I was planning on spending the rest of my life with, ended up cheating on me. (With a guy and a girl) Because I guess I became “boring”. I couldn’t go out and party anymore because I was to sick at the time. Talk about kicking a man when he’s down. Geez.
But it ended up being all for the better for me. But not for her, she ended up marrying some shit-kicking redneck-douche who was into building pipe-bombs and guns. I have no idea how she went from someone like me to that huge bag ‘o douche.
I never once laid a hand on her but she told me he would abuse her. I tried to talk her into leaving him, but it didn’t work.
It sucks… she ended up treating me pretty bad towards the end and I didn’t want to be with her anymore but I still cared about her. I never wanted her to end up in a situation like that. It’s weird how life can work out, life can be very perplexing sometimes. She ended up marrying someone who treats her the opposite of how I treated her and I ended up marrying a woman whose pretty much the opposite of her.

You know I (and I’m sure lots of other people) sometimes think that life sucks. Shit man, I’ve been suicidal more than once in my life. But it can always be worse. It’s really not that bad for most of us, compared to what a lot of other people in this world are trying to get through and survive. I’m extremely lucky and fortunate in a lot of ways.
I don’t mean to get sappy but I’ve always really liked Sammy’s song “Give to Live” and thought it was pretty inspirational.
Especially the lyrics:
“Each man’s a country in his own right.
One friend, one God, one Country. No man need defend.

I believe in fate and destination. But so much of that lies in our own hands.
If you know what you want, just go on out and get it.”

Not to be asshole interjecting here, but Jeremy, you’re a friggin’ idiot for ragging on Jimi but praising Sammy. I’ll admit that one knows his limitations while the other did not (care), but we’re not their keepers, wives, girlfriends, psychologists, priests, or pastors.

Musically, they’re not even in similar universes. Jimi spent his adult years following some weird muse that allowed him to channel some amazing music-nothing that anyone ever heard (or seen) before. As a person, he appeared to be lacking in a lot of areas, but that’s his shit to deal with-wherever he is now. Sammy hasn’t done anything original or exceptional-ever. He’s been a part of some good music along the way, but he’s no more important in the pantheon of rock than say, Three Dog Night or Seals & Croft or Air Supply or Creed. Those bands have done well, either in album sales and/or touring, but the world (esp the rock world) wouldn’t be any different if those bands had never existed.

Jimi otoh changed things forever, and EVH did the same from his starting point in time too. But to focus on addictions and whatnot as a litmus test for impact is misplaced in this forum. EVH had already made his mark-long before Sammy had even released ‘I Can’t Drive 55′.

If you want to discuss who’s got (had) their shit together, that’s fine. But just because you don’t get Jimi doesn’t mean that his impact wasn’t monumental and it certainly doesn’t mean that Sammy is anything more than a blip on the r n’ r radar screen.

No, I don’t Dooley. With all due respect to the Sammy fans here, I think he’s side by side (not the same) with the above artists. Yeah, he played louder and usually with more balls, but I stand by my assertion that he’s no more important than them.

Now, you may like him and hate the others, but that doesn’t change his place in the history of rock and roll. He sang on some catchy (memorable) tunes, but he didn’t change anything (a al Jimi, EVH, etc.). That’s my point.

There’s empirical evidence to support the claim that Jimi’s impact was monumental (other players constantly citing his influence, people flat out ripping him off, etc.). Whether you or I actually like what he did is irrelevant to that point. Take your monkey shits to your heart’s content, the facts are there regardless of your opinion of him. His self destruction may not have been admirable, but it’s a separate issue here. The fact that YOU seem to have a big issue with it is your problem. I very anti drugs and (heavy) drinking, but a few beers (for those who can stop there) is no reason to march on Washington.

The RARHOF isn’t empirical evidence that someone’s impact changed rock music-only that they had enough fans to warrant entry. Again, big difference.

I never said EVERY guitar player cited Jimi as the reason they picked up a guitar.

And God forbid I bring facts into the discussion. If you’re saying facts don’t belong here, it’s time for you to let this conversation go.

I also NEVER said that you aren’t entitled to your opinion. I’m not even that big a fan myself. But I can recognize when someone has made a significant contribution AND whose influence has changed the rock music world forever.

That’s a good question. First, I would ask you: Better how?? Overall?? I’d pick Randy, too. I’ve never heard Randy play the blues, but I’ll bet he was good at it. I’d rather listen to Ozzy w/ Randy than Hendrix anyday. All I’m saying is don’t let your emotions (“I hate Hendrix”) get in the way of facts that have been around longer than your opinion has. It doesn’t make your opinion less important, but if you’re not recognizing that truth, you’re letting your emotions dictate your facts-and muddle the truth. I’m not telling you that I love Jimi and that’s why he’s great. I’m not telling you that EVERY guitar player cites Hendrix as the end-all-be-all either. Read what I’m writing. Hendrix’ influence is documented. Don’t like him if you choose to-but don’t get hot under the collar that others like him-that’s the way a child reacts. Can you understand that without getting upset??

How many years he was around doesn’t matter. Has EVH done anything to influence guitar players in the last 25 years?? No. But he’s still around-not doing anything public, but…whatever.

Jimi influenced much more than the early 70s, and if you really believe that, you’re ignorant and you’re fooling yourself. You need to find someone you trust who knows more rock history than you and have them tell it to you straight. You’re facts are all screwed up and you’ve let your feelings dictate your facts.

Don’t know how old you are, but you’re acting 12 years old (“My band is better than your band…You better not say anything bad about my band…You like WHO?????? They suck. If you don’t like my band (my point of view), then you suck.) You need to learn how to separate facts from opinions/emotions before you engage anyone in debate.