Van Halen: VH1
From Guitar World.com. Originally printed in Guitar World Magazine, April 2008
Thirty Years ago, Van Halen burst out of the Sunset Strip and set the music world on fire with their debut album. This is the story behind the group’s rise to success and the making of Van Halen, the record that changed guitar playing – and rock – forever.
Thirty years ago, Van Halen arrived when music was in desperate need of them. Belching fire and brimstone and fighting for their right to party while the Beastie Boys were still in middle school, their timing was impeccable. When Van Halen, the Pasadena, California–based group’s debut album, was released on February 10, 1978, there were hardly any stars in American music. The album not only made celebrities of the groups four members—it also gave new life to guitar-oriented rock and made virtuosity a criterion for any guitarist who hoped to follow in the group’s footsteps.
From the start, everything about Van Halen seemed to suggest grandness of scale: Their name, which, somewhat surprisingly, singer David Lee Roth had to convince Eddie Van Halen into using in place of the more directly sizecentric Mammoth (Eddie later admitted that his surname was the perfect choice: “It sounds huge, like an atomic bomb.”). Their outsized stage show, perfected at backyard keggers and wet T-shirt contests, and eventually at Sunset Strip clubs like the Whisky a Go-Go and Gazzari’s.
And, of course, their energy. Van Halen had swagger, good looks and smiles—that magical show-biz triumvirate introduced and perfected by the Beatles that had somehow become lost over the years. What’s more, they and their music were fun. By the early Seventies, music was beginning to feel like work: the prog-rock movement brought staggering feats of virtuosic musicianship, but the music was full of torturous 20-minute opuses about space travel and Knights of the Round Table. Van Halen seemed to understand that music could be the antidote to cynicism, that it could make you feel alive again. “I think the thing that separated me and the rest of the band from everybody else was the fact that we just loved to play,” Eddie recalled. “That’s the thing: you don’t work music, you play music.”
There was also that sound, a ground shaker that matched the audacity of the band’s ambitions. It was based on booming drums and gushers of distorted guitar, jacked up by Eddie’s personally modified guitars and amplifiers (the guitarist famously used Variacs to lower the line voltage of his amps, thereby reducing headroom and causing the power tubes to compress and distort more). Rarely in the annals of rock did a sound serve a band so beautifully: the higher the volume, the larger the canvas, the more inspired the music making. Most important, there was
Eddie’s singular approach to the guitar, honed at first by years of obsessively studying the styles of Hendrix, Beck and, in particular, Eric Clapton. Slowing down Cream records to copy the solos to songs such as “Spoonful” brought the young guitarist only so far. By his mid-teens, out of frustration and sheer force of will, he flipped the bird to convention and become a recluse, shutting himself in his bedroom for 12 hours at a time to devote himself to the instrument and the strange and wondrous noises he heard in his head. “I used to sit on the edge of my bed with a six-pack of Schlitz Mall talls,” he said. “My brother [Alex] would go out at 7 p.m. to party and get laid, and when he’d come back at 3 a.m., I would still be sitting in the same place, playing guitar. I did that for years.”
When he finally emerged from his room and hit the Hollywood stages with Van Halen (which included Alex on drums, Michael Anthony on bass and Roth), his breathtaking abilities were nearly fully formed, as was his unorthodox hammer-on-and-pull-off technique. Eddie readily admits that he wasn’t the first guitarist to employ this approach, but the manner in which he brought it to the fore, with a commitment and finesse that transcended mere gimmickry, was seen as shocking, revolutionary and, above all, baffling. “I think I got the idea of tapping watching Jimmy Page do his ‘Heartbreaker’ solo back in 1971,” he recalled. “He was doing a pull-off to an open string, and I thought, Wait a minute, open string…pull off. I can do that, but what if I use my finger as the nut and move it around? I just kind of took it and ran with it.”
Still precocious enough to be considered an enfant terrible, Eddie Van Halen incited strong reactions and drew legions of fascinated (and no doubt envious) guitarists to his band’s shows. When performing live in those early years, he played with his back to the audience. While this might have been seen as an act of supreme humility, as if some part of him rebelled against canonization, it was in fact an act of self-preservation. His brother Alex, demonstrating uncanny prescience, had warned him that other guitarists would “rob him blind” if his tricks were exposed before the band could cut a record. It was only after the release of Van Halen that Eddie, secure in the knowledge that his feats of fretboard wizardry had been sufficiently documented, felt comfortable playing facing a crowd.
But even before he tracked his first note in a professional recording studio, he was putting serious distance between himself and his peers—and his heroes. Many guitarists have a talent, but to be successful it is not enough to have talent; one must have a certain kind of talent. Hendrix was a shape-shifter of sound in a psychedelic, blues-based idiom. Page was a master of moods, production and arrangement. Beck was a flash stylist. Clapton had tone, taste and knew his way around pop composition. With Eddie Van Halen, all of the above applied. His thing was, he could do it all. And, along with David Lee Roth, he was penning songs that were tight and tuneful—the stuff that hits are made of.
Their reputation for drawing audiences was built quickly. Soon the band was opening for the likes of Santana, UFO, Nils Lofgren and Sparks. When scenester and show promoter Rodney Bingenheimer booked Van Halen into the Starwood club, Kiss’ Gene Simmons caught their act and was floored. Taking the Pasadena upstarts under his leathery wing, Simmons financed the band’s first professional demo tape. Basics for the songs “Runnin’ with the Devil” and “House of Pain” (the latter of which would appear on the album 1984) were cut at Village Recorder Studios in Los Angeles. Later, Simmons, who was trying to persuade the band into calling themselves Daddy Longlegs (an idea they rejected out of hand), flew the group to New York to finish recording at Electric Ladyland Studios in New York.
It was there that Eddie had his first exposure with the practice of overdubbing; the guitarist was anything but comfortable with the process. “I tried to [do it], but I just didn’t know how,” he said. “You have to play to yourself. I was like, ‘How the hell do I do this?’ I hadn’t even played with another guitarist.’ While in New York, Simmons arranged for the band to perform a showcase for Kiss’ manager Bill Aucoin. Aucoin agreed with Simmons that Van Halen had spirit, but he felt their commercial prospects were limited; instead, the manager set his sights on signing a band called Piper, whose commercial prospects proved to be even less than limited. With their demo tape in hand, Van Halen headed back to California, buoyed by their brush with success but uncertain when their real break would come.
Although they were stars on the Sunset Strip, the band wasn’t seeing much money; some gigs paid no more than $75. “Not even enough to buy equipment,” Eddie recalled. “Alex and I used to go around and paint house numbers on curbs to make extra money.” All of that changed during another Starwood performance when the band was introduced to Marshall Berle, nephew of comedian and TV icon Milton Berle, who became the group’s manager. Berle had a flair for hype, but something about the way he talked up Van Halen and their ability to draw crowds led Warner Bros. head Mo Ostin to believe that maybe this was more than just talk—perhaps there was something to this band from Pasadena after all. And so, on a night that saw heavy rain flood the Hollywood streets, Van Halen played to a nearly empty Starwood.
Mo Ostin was there, along with Warner Bros. in-house producer Ted Templeman. Despite the nonexistent crowd, Van Halen played with unbridled brio. Ostin and Templeman looked at each other and smiled: They would sign the band, as in right away. “It was right out of the movies,” Eddie said. “Just like that, we finally had a record deal.”
Templeman, who had produced albums for Van Morrison, Carly Simon and Captain Beefheart, among others, and who enjoyed a long and fruitful association with the Doobie Brothers, was astounded by Van Halen’s surfeit of strong material, and he wasted little time in hustling them into Sunset Sound Studios. Once in the studio, even less time was wasted: In only 18 days, the band raced through their entire repertoire, 40 songs in all, originals as well as covers such as the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me” and John Brim’s blues standard “Ice Cream Man.” On the songs that didn’t require a vibrato bar (“You Really Got Me,” “Runnin’ with the Devil,” the rhythm track for Jamie’s Cryin’ ”), Eddie employed his main live guitar, an Ibanez “Shark” Destroyer. On other songs, he used a black-andwhite striped Strat that he outfitted with a Gibson Fifties PAF humbucker.
Much to Eddie’s relief, Templeman wasn’t the punctilious sort; the producer was in thrall of the band’s live performance qualities and insisted on keeping instrumental overdubs to a minimum. “It was a party,” Eddie said of the sessions. “We played the way we played onstage, and it was great. It didn’t feel like we were making a record. We just went in, poured back a few beers and played.”
The tracks for the album had almost all been cut when, one day, Templeman walked into the studio and heard Eddie and Alex warming up for a show the band was to play that night at the Whisky. According to Eddie, the two were just “dickin’ around,” but Templeman sensed something else was happening, a breakthrough of some sort. He watched and listened in hypnotic excitement as the guitarist’s fingers danced along the fretboard. These weren’t the normal scales and patterns Eddie had traditionally practiced to limber up; these were strange and exciting song fragments, a voluptuous feast of ideas, operatic in scope but performed with a savage, erotic force. Templeman had already been telling friends and associates about this marvelous new guitarist he’d been working with, going so far as to compare him to the likes of Django Reinhardt and Andrés Segovia, but now he was convinced of Eddie Van Halen’s genius. He asked Eddie what it was he was playing. “Oh, that’s a little solo thing I do live,” he responded. Templeman didn’t recall Van Halen playing it at the Starwood show he attended, but he insisted that the instrumental be fleshed out and cut for the album.
In one breathless take, after a short, bombastic intro with Alex and Michael Anthony, Eddie released an unbroken ribbon of scales, bends, dive bombs and hammer-on classical-sounding arpeggios. As he did in all of the band’s songs, Eddie tuned down a half step (this was done both to accommodate Roth’s vocal style and to give the guitar sound more teeth). The only effects that were used were an MXR Phase 90 and a Univox EC-80 echo box (the latter of which was housed in an old WWII bomb shell that Eddie found in a junkyard). One minute and forty-two seconds after the tape started rolling, Eddie pulled his vibrato bar up after a long, descending growl and “Eruption,” as it was now called, was complete. Templeman and the band were elated, but Eddie was chastened. “I didn’t even play it right,” he later remarked. “There’s a mistake at the top end of it. To this day, whenever I hear it I always think, Man, I could’ve played it better.”
Eddie would soon make one more screw up, only this wouldn’t go down so well. With the album still months away from release, he went to the Rainbow Bar & Grill and hung out with members of a fellow Sunset Strip band called Angel. As alcohol flowed, drummer Barry Brandt began to brag about the forthcoming Angel record. Eddie, flush with pride over the album he had just cut, responded in kind. When the party moved to Brandt’s house, Eddie, hell bent on blowing everybody’s mind, put on a tape of Van Halen—and jaws were dropped. Eddie thought nothing of it—for weeks he had been playing the tape for his friends—but when he got a call from a furious Ted Templeman, informing him that Angel were in a studio frantically recording their own version of “You Really Got Me” with the intention of beating Van Halen to the punch, he realized the magnitude of his mistake. As a consequence, Warner Bros. had no choice but to rush-release Van Halen’s version of the song. (It should be noted that Angel would soon join Piper in the Oblivion bins at record shops.)
There were no riots in the streets, nobody threw anything (except guitars out of windows), but it’s safe to say that from the moment people dropped the needle on Van Halen and heard what seemed to be some sort of air-raid alarm (actually, it was the band members’ car horns synced together and slowed down to ominous effect) they were in a state of shock. A new movement was taking place, and Van Halen, with a bratty authority and a rapacious sense of purpose not heard since the debut of Led Zeppelin, were leading the charge. A nearly flawless piece of pop art, Van Halen is one of those great rarities in music, at once simple and sophisticated, distilling the band’s prodigious chops and party-hearty aesthetic into hummable melodies that took hold of one’s senses and didn’t let go. “Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love,” “Jamie’s Cryin,’ ” “Runnin with the Devil,” “I’m on Fire”— there isn’t a bum track to be found. As both singer and carnival barker of sorts, David Lee Roth made all the right noises: surprised whoops, leering come-ons, testicle-gripping screams, hollers of “whoa now” and the like—the full panoply of orchestrated letme- entertain-you shtick. Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony more than held up their respective ends, providing a prizefighter’s punch and, in the case of Anthony, background vocals that sailed in the air and served as the perfect counterpoint to Roth’s gruff voice.
Of course, there was Eddie. Of all the young guitarists who ever issued a debut record, he’s the one who delivered on promises he never had to make. Dispensing with the usual wobbly preamble of a flawed but ambitious first record, he burst through the gate as a musician who valued substance and emotional contact over mere technical flash. With poetry in his heart and a panoramic vision of where he was headed, he never had to develop into something special, for he was already there. Being thrust into the pantheon of greats at such a tender age (he was 22 at the time) and so early in his career can be ruinous to most musicians, but Eddie’s extraordinary energy and thirst for innovation proved to be invaluable strengths. Guitarists the world over saw the rashness and speed of his gifts and emulated him in a way that no musician has ever had to endure. “Eruption” was and continues to be a litmus test for budding axslingers—what Frank Zappa’s “The Black Page” is to drummers, so, too, Eddie’s tour de force is to guitarists. But it’s also a cul-de-sac, for no matter how hard everyone tried to catch up to Eddie Van Halen, he was burning up the ground as fast as he could run.
Thirty years on, it continues unabated.
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February 24th, 2010 at 12:38 pm
30 years from bithday of one the best rock albuns ever!
Van Halen!!!
@VanHalenBrasil
February 24th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Ain’t got no money got no house on the hill……….
February 24th, 2010 at 1:00 pm
“I think the thing that separated me and the rest of the band from everybody else was the fact that we just loved to play,” Eddie recalled. “That’s the thing: you don’t work music, you play music.”
Therein lies your answer on when there will be new music.. it’s become “work”..
February 24th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
As a guitar freakoid it’s cool to see a rare shot
of the back of the black and white.
In an unrelated note my black and white striped EVH sneakers
and some back issues of VH Guitar World/Player were ruined
by water damage due to a fire in my building yesterday.
“On Fire” indeed.
February 24th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
Was that black and white guitar turned into the frankenstrat or are they two different axes?
And I think that studio shot above is actually from the recording of the second album (Dave had the broken foot). Has anyone actually seen any pics from the VH1 sessions?
Great article. I’ve heard it all before but it never ceases to please! Awesome stuff.
February 24th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
“there isn’t a bum track to be found”? Ice Cream Man sucks! Other than that, the album is one of a kind.
February 24th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
@ dude
Yes , same guitar.
Search youtube for Frankenstein Replica to see a great
interview with Ed about building and painting .
February 24th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
Ahhh, the good ol’ days.
woof
February 24th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
iwannaberr says: “Ice Cream Man sucks!”
Let’s just say I vehemently disagree.
February 24th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Great read…the lovely VH=) Better than the rest!!!
February 24th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
Fun stuff, makes me miss bands that just love to play.
February 24th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
@Atomic Pete
Great interview. Thanks.
February 24th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Great read!
Did anyone know that the black and white pic (of the band together about to jam) all the way at the bottom was taken in roth’s basement?
That’s a fact!
February 24th, 2010 at 3:27 pm
Scottso says:
February 24th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
iwannaberr says: “Ice Cream Man sucks!”
Let’s just say I vehemently disagree.
Me too!
February 24th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
@ Dirty Duck
The picture is during the recording of =VH= 2 at
Sunset Sound, Hollywood.
February 24th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
An absolute classic album. There are so few that come out anymore that can fall under the “classic” label even though this one is thirty plus years old. Not a bum track on the entire cd. And the idiot who thinks “Ice Cream Man” sucks, are you out of you fucking mind????????? or just tone deaf, or stupid!!!!!!!!!! That tune is got to be my favorite from that cd. Or maybe you have no taste what so ever, moron!!!!!!!!!!!
February 24th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Yeah duck,atomic pete is right. It’s the band recording at sunset sound studio’s. I have a poster of one of the shot’s taken in the studio. Killer sh*t!!!!!!!!!
February 24th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Really?
Well cook me up for dinner!
I have an old VH book at home with that same exact pic in it. The quote under it says: Jammin’ in roth’s basement.
Thanks atomic pete for the correction brother!
February 24th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
Well, there you have it people! Van Halen owes us dick!! Stop the rambling about “We need new music!” or “No new music, no tickets for a 2010 tour!” That’s a bunch of crock. They did their thing already and have absolutely nothing to prove to anyone!! Besides, can you imagine VH putting out new material and the haters comparing it to the first VH album, or any other album for that matter? Do you people actually think a new album is even going to come close to any of the material from the past? Yeah right! Just leave it as it is: Great memories and music that will live forever in our hearts! In fact, no other band will ever accomplish what the mighty VH accomplished. “God only knows, and he ain’t talkin’”
My 2 cents.
out!
February 24th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
oh…so now we dont want new music….duh…thats the stupidest thing ive ever heard….i am sooooo tired of rehearing how great he was…..theres no question about it…but to rewrite old news when all the members are alive and kicking…well thats a crock…..lazy ass guitarist…yeah joe satriani doesnt have anything to prove…but he still appreciates his fans and delivers at least once a year….probably 3 times this year…Eddie said he had an album and tour in the works after the first Chickenfoot album…what will he say after the second?…and hes said he has 100′s of songs….so…stop making excuses for a guy who has energy to take your money and gives you nothing you cant get somewhere else
February 24th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
J5150C….Come on man!!! We all know that if VH released a new album it would’nt compare to the classic albums. ME WISE MAGIC doesnt compare to classic VH but was still a damn good song!!! KISS SONIC BOOM isnt no where near the classic KISS but it’s still a cool album. If VH doesnt release a new album so be it,but if they do HELL YEAH!! im ready for it!!!
February 24th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
J5150C said:
They did their thing already and have absolutely nothing to prove to anyone!! Besides, can you imagine VH putting out new material and the haters comparing it to the first VH album, or any other album for that matter?
Then why did they tour in 2007-08? And why did Ed say he’s got loads of material and working on getting it recorded with Dave in preparation for a non-nostalgia tour (comments made earlier this year outside Beso Restaurant in L.A. when approached by the paparazzi). And who cares what the “haters” think? If VH does new stuff and it’s good (it will be) the fans will love it and they’ll make some new fans as well. Rock n Roll could use a shot in the arm. Van Halen can deliver it. If they really want to retire and said so, we would all understand. But they shouldn’t sting us along. There’s my $0.02.
February 24th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
J5150C,
I disagree. The last Van Halen album produced was VH3 and the disc didn’t even produce a gold ranking. Van Halen has become a bit of a nostalgic band or cover band for their own material.
In my opinion, VH has already flopped with new material with VH3. The whole “Gary is my brother nonsense and if Ed can’t make it with him he (Ed) shouldn’t make it at all”. Van Halen, by their own rights, became a comedy of affairs over the past decade; minus Ed’s health issues of course. I was saddened to see that Ed was suffering with tongue cancer and the fans eagerly anticipated hearing about his well-being during this time. Instead, the fans were told “…we’ll be back soon making some new music” or something along those lines.
Many fans just gave up. The drama over the past decade was hard to stomach and culminated with an embarrassing showing at the RRHOF. In my mind, I found it very hard to be a fan of the band, and at times (Michael’s treatment) I hated the band. I just don’t buy the shit anymore…the merchandise…the interviews…the “bass player we used to know” etc..
There are plenty of other bands that have accomplished plenty more than Van Halen. I mean, if Creed can get back together after all of Scott Stapp’s shit, why does Van Halen have such a tough time finding their way to the studio…in any line-up?
With that said…VH3 is the last album Van Halen has produced and cut. Generally, the album sucked and wasn’t received at all. If that’s how Eddie wants to be remembered, then so be it. Standing on Top of the World? I don’t think so…
February 24th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
Roth and the Boys need to finish “Growth” if/when a new album comes out.
February 24th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Great article. Reminds of when Van Halen used to be a band.
February 24th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
I think that by saying they are a band ( Wolf,Roth,Alex and Ed ) and that they will do new music ( Quoting Ed there ) we all wanna believe that they will make new music and at least TRY to do what we all loved them for in the first place, and that is to new make music that sounds like it is being made by people who love what they’re doing…I’m no hater nor am I whiny…Any Normal Person who is promised something Great , Wants Something Great…Do they owe me anything? NO. But that doesn’t have ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT!!! And whoever tried to justify van halens lack of respect for what they them selves promise by not releasing new material by saying ‘they dont owe us anything’ is misleading the point…If They wanna do classics with no music just say so! Why is that so hard for some fans to understand??That ‘They don’t owe us anything ‘ crap is old and used up-it doesn’t work anymore.
February 24th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
kayser said “Reminds of when Van Halen used to be a band.”
I think some of you guys who are obviously so tormented about Van Halen not releasing music recently need to either see a therapist or go on antidepressants.
And I don’t mean to single out kayser at all. There are way too many people on this great site who constantly spew negative crap that only annoys and does nothing to contribute to this website. Complaining on the VHND about Eddie not releasing music is not going to increase the chance that Eddie will do it.
To VHND: Is there a way that the VHND can come up with a filter to filter out all the negative crap? (I wish). This site would be a lot more pleasant to read. At the very least, please consider moderating the comments more. Most blogs and forums do. There are too many negative posts that have nothing to contribute. No one wants to read someone say, “Reminds of when Van Halen used to be a band.” Please save it for your therapist.
But you are right about one thing, this is a Great article!
February 24th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
I understand Tone feels like negativity isn’t fun to read.Apparently he didn’t read Eddie’s last interview.Thanks VHND for providing a forum for the fans ( Fans of a rock band usually means they are putting out product directly related to their music-Thats why they are called a band?!?) and giving us news about our favorite soap opera called Van Halen.IMO i dont have a problem with peeps who are happy with the past and being led along regarding new music…Thats their business and their right..I laugh when someone posts here calling people Names just because they want new music that was promised…Keep posting Everyone VHND…Thats the difference between this site and some bullshit FanBoy site that just kisses an artists ass.You guys rule!!!
February 24th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
Oh yeah…Censorship. When did Rock And Roll ever …and I mean EVER stand for censorship?!?!?!?! Please don’t moderate-censor-ban-edit-burn-ignore-twist or otherwise pussify whats left of good ol’ American Rock Music by listening to people ( including us fans ) who want to make this site a ‘Positive-weak minded-follower’ website…There isnt much left of Rock so let’s not try to kill it by being The ‘Tipper Gore’ of the internet….Van Halen FUCKING Rules!!!
February 24th, 2010 at 6:36 pm
“I have a right to my opinion.”
How many times will we read that?
One of the most important things (out of many, of course) that my father taught me, was “If you can’t say something positive, say nothing at all.”
Most of us truly appreciate what VH (as a whole) means to us. The ones with negative comments will incite some sort of backlash, and honestly, that’s why they’re posting them, they wanna push a fuckin’ button.
VHND would never “filter” those ridiculous negative comments, people do have a right to free speech.
So I suggest this: Let’s be our own “filter” and NOT respond to shit, and let it remain shit. The intelligent folks here know what’s shit….
If someone is a fucking douchebag and starts attacking you, then hell yeah, by all means, retaliate. Otherwise, let’s just skip over the dick lickers and comment on worthwhile posts.
Cool? Or not cool? Peace me brethren….
February 24th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Just for fun, I was totaling up everything King’s X (their solo projects and as a group) have released since 1998 and I lost count. Ridiculous why VH hasn’t atleast kept us half as full as them and some other good rockin’ bands. I’ll never get it. Cheap Trick has a few years on them age wise and they never let up. When I think of the VH situation (especially after that dreadful Ed interview from Guitar World) I think of a line from a kinda cheesy Don Henley song. “How bad do you want it? Not bad enough” No, I’m not a hater. Just a fool who held out way to long for the VH fix that never seems to materialize. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. Give me a CD of Drop Dead Legs type songs and I’ll shut up forever. Goodnight.
February 24th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
This would have to be the best written article on the 1st Van Halen album!!
I’m constantly disappointed and angry that Van Halen are yet to be featured on one of those Classic Albums documentaries!! Van Halen 1 is a landmark album that changed not only rock music but the whole musical landscape!! If Quincy Jones ‘got it’ about EVH’s incredible genius then why the others don’t is just criminal!! Whether it’s jealousy, envious or they plainly scared to admit it, Van Halen changed music much like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and all the other greats before them. Van Halen is not only about Eruption or Jump, their body of work (mainly the VH/Dave era!) is groundbreaking and untouchable. I don’t care if Van Halen never release another album ever again, they have nothing to prove, they have made their mark with music that will continually be rediscovered, copied, sampled, analysed and loved in years to come!! As for the naysayers and EVH bashers who cry foul on all matters VH, get a life!! Van Halen will always be remembered…you won’t be you nameless and gutless lot!!
I LOVE THE MIGHTY VAN HALEN!!!
February 24th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Those live shots are from Oakland at the Day On The Green concert, held on July 23, 1978. VH was the opening band. That day was my 15th birthday. My dad said that I couldn’t go to the concert, which was about 90 minutes from home, because the guys I would have gone with were a “bunch or drunks” and he didn’t want me getting into trouble, or worse. If only my dad cared a little less, I could have witnessed history in the making. Thanks, dad…
February 24th, 2010 at 7:33 pm
To Van Foot!!
Your so full of shit you don’t realise how much you stink!! That sarcastic remark about “the bass player we use to know” is about the bass player before Michael Anthony joined!! If you know your VH history (plainly obliviously you don’t!) you wouldn’t question what EVH has to say. If your gonna hang EVH on every word he ever says then I’ll do the same to you!! It seems every time EVH say’s something you have your own preemptive views before you read the story or interview. That to me is a WANKER!!!
YOU in your stupid mind thing YOU know more about Van Halen then the one person that it is named after; Edward Van Halen!! Go ahead and jump over to Sammy. I’m sure there’s a hug and kiss waiting for you there!! Chickenfoot who? Who are they? I forgot them already!!
February 24th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
If Van Halen were a ship I would be running for the lifeboats…” Better Save The Women And Children First….”
February 24th, 2010 at 8:48 pm
I love the shots of them in the studio! They are some of my favs from Zlozower’s book too. I enjoyed the article; reminded my why I fell in love with Eddie to begin with back in the fifth grade when I first heard VH1. He became my favorite guitar player of all time and has remained so.
February 24th, 2010 at 8:50 pm
Great – I’d like to see an article on the making of a new album though.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:06 pm
It really gets tiresome people saying that Van Halen doesn’t owe the fans anything. On the contrary, they owe the fans everything. There have been plenty of guitar players that have been just as good or even better than Eddie that never were lucky enough to make it. The music business is about 10 percent talent and 90 percent luck/being in the right place at the right time. If Eddie doesn’t want to make music anymore than fine, retire. But I’m sick of these half ass reunion tours. The guy didn’t even have enough respect for the fans in 2004 to play his shows with a blood alchohol content under .20 The 2007 tour didn’t even accompany one new song and had Wolfgang on bass. No disrepect to the kid, but come on! Now we all sit here and play the waiting game. I’m perfectly happy living with the catalog of Roth & Hagar as is. What irks me is the making it seem like something good is coming and ending up with crap or nothing at all.
February 24th, 2010 at 10:29 pm
By far… THE GREATEST ALBUM OF ALL TIME! I have never heard (nor will I ever) a better, more influential, & timeless collection of songs on 1 album. I have listened to this album thousands of times and I still get chills each time I hear it. I agree with an earlier post… Why has this not celebrated & discussed more often? I love this album!
To the haters… If this was the only album VH ever released, it would be far more than most of the “wanna-be”s” who came after them. The fact is, we have 12 albums of new & original music to enjoy & reflect on. Do I want more new music from VH… Absolutely. Do they “owe” us anything… Nope. Van Halen has given us plenty. It is a testament to their greatness that we keep wanting more.
Just my 2 cents.
February 24th, 2010 at 10:48 pm
Man, fuck all this drama, lets just celebrate the music from the best fucking debut rock album of all time!!!!!
February 24th, 2010 at 11:26 pm
Well-written stuff Joe Bosso! This article and well-informed look back at VH1 is superb. You encapsulate everything with accuracy, efficiency, and descriptive precision. (It took me 10 minutes to concoct the previous sentence.)
February 24th, 2010 at 11:49 pm
GREAT READ ,
Luv the old pics , i bought the neil zlowzier book , wow!!! just amazing , it brings bacl lots of memories
It wld be great if they rereleased it as a remastered , new booklet pics n all that kind of stuff, like the def leppard hysteria/pyro n whitesnake 1987 , which i bought all of them .
IWANNABER said, “ice cream man sucks!” Not in a million yrs , it solo is amazing , its still a crowd fave , is there anything better then dave with his guitar just strummin , i mean how many great stories u get when he does it . Imo , i think little dreamer is the most avg song on the whole cd , n prob my least fave dlr era song , van hagar has many worse.
It wld be great 4 new music maybe even a dream ???? but what i cant get over is the lack of material released , such as boxsets , old concerts on dvd , the last tour on dvd!!!, remastered n repackaged material , gees if they rereleased 0u812 n remastered n remixed it , it may be a half decent cd .
February 25th, 2010 at 2:52 am
@Big Al OZ:
Since when did this site become a competition about how much you “know” about your VH history? It sounds pretty lame man.
“I know more about Eddie than you do”
“Na-errr I know more”
“My dad’s better than your dad…” etc.
Its really pointless. The main thing that makes this site interesting is the different views and the POSITIVITY that everyone shares in light of this band.
@ JC:
“There have been plenty of guitar players that have been just as good or even better than Eddie that never were lucky enough to make it. The music business is about 10 percent talent and 90 percent luck/being in the right place at the right time.”
Its easy to say this in retrospect, but there was no one like Eddie at the time, and pretty well is nobody like him out there today! Sure you’ve got people like Vai and Satch but they are so different. I’m sure that if Eddie’s words are truth, and he did indeed spend years practising for hours and hours then surely the music business is more than 10% talent?
Either way, this album was mind-blowing. I remember trying to emulate Eddie’s guitar playing and giving up in frustration because I couldn’t do it (had only been playing for a few months). This is truly one of the greatest debuts ever made by a rock band.
February 25th, 2010 at 3:00 am
To JC!
You said; “There have been plenty of guitar players that have been just as good or even better than Eddie that never were lucky enough to make it. The music business is about 10 percent talent and 90 percent luck/being in the right place at the right time. If Eddie doesn’t want to make music anymore than fine, retire”
If there were plenty of guitarist just as good as EVH then name them pal?!! Where are they, who are they?
I’ll tell you!! Nowhere to be found from the dust that EVH left behind!! More people quit playing the guitar than picking it up!! I for one decided to take up drums rather than try to play guitar. What EVH did was breathtaking beautiful and devastating!! It took 10 years after Hendrix’s death for someone (EVH!!) to change/innovate/revolutionise the guitar. Many critics and experts preached it was mission impossible!! It’s been 30+ years since EVH destroyed ‘mission impossible’ No one has come remotely close to revolutionising the guitar like King Eddie did!! Some have tried but EVH continues to leave them in their dust!! FACT!!!
You think it was easy for Eddie and Van Halen? A band like Van Halen made their own luck!! Remember!! Gene Simmons and Warner Brother went to them!! Through their countless backyard gigs and working 7 nights a week, word of mouth brought new fans that embraced them. How? Why? Van Halen did gigs other bands didn’t or were to afraid too. Van Halen played everywhere, any gig that was available, paying or not paying they would do! Van Halen played to empty rooms. Didn’t fazed them one bit, they treated it as paid rehearsals!! For you to even question Van Halen being “lucky or being at the right place at the right time” is just plain stupid. Every musician knows the deal; If your not out there you’ll never be seen, let alone discovered!”
You know nothing about the life of a musician. They go through more hard times than you will ever endure in your pathetic life. For you to sit on a computer and criticise EVH’s career speaks volumes of your ignorance and how pathetic your life is!! Did it ever occur to you how many times musicians get ripped off, lose money/gigs, the rehearsal bills, running out sticking flyers on every corner, finding/auditioning new members (time consuming!), the constant dealing with clubs managers for work, paying to play (thats called exploitation!) etc. While your comfortable with your secure job, house, car and family, spare a thought how tough it is for musicians. But you’ll never hear them complain, the ones that complain are the quitters their the ones like you who cry foul…you are the weak!! Musicians are true worriers, but we don’t kill you we heal you with music that will be part of your life soundtrack.
Van Halen owe us nothing, they’ve given their whole life to us through their music. I think it’s amazing and a true testament to their greatness that in the year 2010 fans old and new still want new music. Can’t say the same for the majority of todays bands and solo acts.
February 25th, 2010 at 4:33 am
No filler news please…
where is the news that only matters?
new album!
Greetz
Ozzy
February 25th, 2010 at 4:54 am
Its great to see an article that gives king Ed his due.I still remember hearing VH 1 over my friends house like it was yesterday.I simply could not believe what I was Hearing, the guitar notes just seemed to leap off the vinyl.By the time the record needle reached IM THE ONE I knew I was listening to something revolutionary.I looked up at two posters hanging on my friends wall, one of jimmy page and the other of Hendricks and thought to myself THATS NOW THE PAST.
IT saddens me to see Eddie often ranked behind other players like Clapton,Page,and hendricks when the fact is that he had it so much harder . Before those Guys came along there was no top ten list of great guitar players.These guys came along and etched their names in stone and now according to the critic nobody can ever be as good as them FOREVER.Ed had it much harder.He grew up listening to them ,was infuenced by them, and still managed to sound totally origional..To me thats alot harder. Henricks first record comes out in 1967 (a classic if their ever was one),but if he was as influential as everybody says then ten years later the rock world would have been a sea of Hendricks clones instead rock was on life support and the whole world was going disco crazy. VH comes out in 1978 ten years later rock was back and dominated by a million VH wannabes.Its nice to see an article that puts it in perspective
February 25th, 2010 at 8:12 am
Ed and Roth can’t get along. It is clear from the delays. If they parted ways we might get regular releases of music. Probably something worse than VH3. Probably with Wolf on vocals or something crazy like that. Not saying that they won’t release with Roth. Just that there is clearly a feud going on about how this new music should sound etc. Almost guarantee that Roth wants it to sound like VH and Ed wants it to sound different.
February 25th, 2010 at 8:46 am
I wonder what stadium that is in those pictures. I saw Van Halen on their first US tour in 1979 at a Day On The Green in Oakland California. I had barely heard of them, but they blew the place away. Everyone was saying “Who is that guitar player”. Here is the artist lineup for that day …
Aerosmith, Foreigner, Pat Travers, Van Halen, AC/DC
Those were the days.
February 25th, 2010 at 8:56 am
I just looked it up. It was July of 1978 that I saw the concert. Oh well, it was LONG time ago and I might have been slightly impaired
February 25th, 2010 at 9:07 am
This author’s credibility is out the window. Piper had one of the most successful debut albums of any band in rock history.
February 25th, 2010 at 9:22 am
Are those pictures copyrighted by neil zlozower?
February 25th, 2010 at 9:43 am
Piper – had Bruce Kulick and Billy Squire. Circus magazine touted it as the greatest debut album ever produced by an American rock band. DiamondDLR was right…although I admit I never heard of them….
February 25th, 2010 at 10:03 am
What they’ve given us is enough to last a lifetime. Seeing them on tour in 07 was a bonus. They don’t owe us anything. New music would be interesting, but if it doesn’t live up to their best stuff, people will complain and it would taint the bands image.
I would love to see another tour.
February 25th, 2010 at 11:27 am
I’m with scar.Stop bein’ a man child and enjoy Van Halen.The complainin’, i just skip over and don’t read anymore just like friends in the past who were whiners and refused to change.I gave them years to change,but once a whiner always a whiner.I don’t even bother with those pups anymore.And please Snatch and Bi are no where near Eddie in talent or legendary status.
February 25th, 2010 at 11:46 am
Re Dirty Duck
The black and white picutre is NOT David’s house in Pasadena.
It was taken at Sunset Sound recording studio in Hollywood with they recorded VH and VH2.
You can see the baffles on the wall, and the head phone box. They did NOT wear headphones in Roths basement to practice.
February 25th, 2010 at 11:47 am
That live shot is at Fresno, CA.
February 25th, 2010 at 11:48 am
The lack of new music, I think, is quite interesting. So is the total silence from DLR. That says to me they’re trying, but aren’t quite firing on all cylinders. VH1 took 18 days in the studio, right? This much time isn’t a great sign in my opinion.
Or who knows. Maybe they’re all just sitting back and enjoying the fruits of their most profitable tour in history LOL.
I’d love to hear more music from them. But like many, if nothing else comes… “Happy Trails… to you…. (bomba-deeda-bomba-deeda)”
February 25th, 2010 at 11:51 am
And for Christmas my wish would be that Edward (since he spends so much time at 5150 dicking around anyway) would put out a DVD of how HE plays his songs, with transcriptions. SO we dont have to rely on transcriptions from others.
The DVD of this would sell millions.
I know this will never happen, but its a wish nonetheless.
February 25th, 2010 at 11:57 am
THANK YOU to VHND.com for giving Van Halen fans something to look at from time to time. Thanks for your hard work.
February 25th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
Why do my comments not get posted here and others that do disappear? Is it because I’m not spending enough in the store? No that can’t be it. I think I’ve spent quite a bit here and will continue to do so. But answer me that???
February 25th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
Tone – sorry to offend your sensibilities with my quip about the article reminding me of when VH was a band. But if your sensibilities are so delicate that a remark like that would bother you that much, maybe I’m not the one who needs therapy, yeah?
I’m not “tormented” by VH’s failure to release new music. I’m a huge fan of VH’s music but I honestly wouldn’t care if they never released another album. I’d be perfectly happy with what they’ve done. What bothers me, and why I make quips like that, is that VH keeps stringing the fans along with empty promises but never deliver. If the band were up front about what’s going on – even to say “we’re not really sure what’s going on” – I promise you most of what you label as “negative” posts on this site would cease.
As long as VH keeps promising new music but only delivers merchandise, VH is a trademark, not a band. That’s why I wrote what I wrote. The article reminded me of when VH made music, which is what bands do.
As far as your idea about VHND censoring “negative” comments on this site, I hope that was just you expressing displeasure/disagreement at what I and others have said rather than a serious suggestion. How boring would this site be if we were all just sheep who agreed with each other? If you were serious, go create your own fansite where you have editorial control. I for one appreciate that the creators of this site let everyone have their say, including those I disagree with.
February 25th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Get ready for next month. If memory serves me right it is the 12th anniversay of VH III. Don’t get me wrong, lots of great guitar work on that album. I could do without “How Many Say I” but other than that, it still gets played once in a while. Maybe I will be wrong and the headlines for next month will be something to cheer us all on………
February 25th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Those were good times… Damn Good times…
Where Have All The Good Times Gone?
February 25th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
The VH1 pics that is- NOT VHIII…
February 25th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
My favorite part of this is the following:
1 second into seeing this new article on vhnd, I instantly thought about all the douches that will go on here and post something referring to unless there is new music, then this means nothing.
For a few months now, I’ve been finding it so entertaining.
February 25th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
kayser,very well put.someone said put vh on the back of a milk carton,that was a good one.
February 25th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
Yes, a lot of these news articles are reprints but they are still fun to read, and some of ‘em can seem kind of new to someone who has the memory of a goldfish like me.
The part where they quoted Eddie saying:
“I used to sit on the edge of my bed with a six-pack of Schlitz Mall talls, Alex would go out at 7 p.m. to party and get laid, and when he’d come back at 3 a.m., I would still be sitting in the same place, playing guitar. I did that for years.”
Reminded me of something…when Eddie was interviewed for “The History of Rock and Roll” Documentary series from years ago and he said the same thing. Except it was funnier ‘cause he said something like — Everybody was always trying to get me to go out with them and chase girls, but I always wanted to stay home and practice. I knew when I got good enough I would be getting all the pussy I wanted. Lmao!
And the part in the article when Alex said people would “rob him blind” referring to Eddie’s playing, reminded me of those chodes who tried to rip VH off with “You Really Got Me” which was included in this article as well. I’ve always thought–What a humongous douchebag move that was by those guys. Sounded like to me they deserved a good ass kicking for trying to pull that shit.
Van Halen 1 is amazing. Goes down in the annals of rock as one of the best albums EVER! One of the many reasons why I love that album so much is because they kept the over dubbing to a minimum, so it had more of a “Live” sound to it. It almost sounds like they recorded the whole album at the same time, one song after the other in Roth’s grungy basement. Awesome!!
I don’t mean to be negative, I know bashing VH3 is popular and everything but that was one of my biggest complaints about it. It sounded like it was recorded at the opposite end of the spectrum from VH1. With the opposite take or idea on producing it that Templeman had in ‘77-‘78 which I really liked. Y’know, it had more over dubbing, and it had the “studio feel” to it instead of the “Live feel” that VH1 had. But Eddie’s guitar playing was still awesome as always.
@iwannaberr – not a fan of “Ice Cream Man” Really?!? Why? Seriosly why? Eddie is on fire!
@Bluesbro – That sucks man, that’s too bad. At least you can replace the shoes. And you didn’t waste time making them yourself like I used to do with red converse and fabric paint. Lol.
Super jealous about the ‘78 show, man. That’s way better than shoes or magazines dude.
@Fletch5150 – “Are those pictures copyrighted by neil zlozower?” Ha ha,ha – I was thinking the same thing.
@Rick Pride – I’ve noticed the strange disappearances of comments too. I don’t know man, it’s a conspiracy I guess. But the talk of censorship here is something I completely disagree with, even if some comments can be annoying, (particularly the angry name-calling ones) but without a doubt mine are probably annoying to some too.
But I’ll never believe in any form of censorship.
“If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.” –Noam Chomsky
I know this was another loooong post, sorry. Maybe better luck next time. But it’s my ONLY post on this particular news story……so far….eeesh.
February 25th, 2010 at 6:53 pm
Nice read about one of the greatest rock debut albums of all time, although nothing was revealed that hasn’t been mentioned in past articles. I would love to see “Van Halen I” featured on VH1′s (no pun intended) “Classic Albums” series (if it still exists). I watched the shows on Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” and Def Leppard’s “Hysteria” and liked them a lot. “VH I” certainly deserves a full hour documentary with in-depth interviews from band members and Ted Templeman about making that legendary LP.
I still get pissed when I don’t hear enough acknowledgment about Dave’s contributions to early Van Halen success. Most articles seems to focus on Eddie’s talent and Dave is briefly mentioned as a doctor’s son who owned a PA system the brothers rented out. Without Dave, Van Halen never would’ve achieved their enormous popularity in such a short period of time. By Eddie’s own admission, Mammoth’s set list was mostly long trippy Cream jams that weren’t exactly drawing huge crowds. Only when Roth joined the crew did they start to attract a lot of attention in Southern CA. Dave convinced the band they needed to play shorter, melodic, catchy tunes that “people could dance to”. Like it or not, Dave also convinced the band that flashy clothing and showmanship were essential since up to that point Ed & Al were wearing jeans & t-shirts onstage. Gotta “look like the music sounds” as Dave used to say. Basically, Dave was in charge of everything outside of writing the music and it paid huge dividends.
As far as new music, I think we need to accept the fact that rock n’ roll is a young man’s game. How else do you explain that VH hasn’t released new material since 1998 (wont even mention the putrid Van Hagar tunes in 2004 or the porno soundtrack)? Yet, this same band cranked out six multi-platinum albums in only 7 years (accompanied by six sold-out world tours) when they were young and hungry. Eddie calls all the shots now and he’s too distracted with banging his new wife, watching Wolfie’s testicles drop, and shooting cameo TV appearances for his celebrity pals. It’s probably a good thing because his playing has been uninspired since “5150″. “VH 3″ was awful enough….we don’t need another 4 or 5 shitty albums to completely tarnish the legacy of the mighty Van Halen.
At this point, if VH never makes another album I will be happy as a pig in a poke. They gave us those six legendary Roth-era albums and I highly doubt anything the band creates these days will come close to that creative genius. Launching a few more reunion tours wouldnt be a bad thing since today’s music is so repugnant and stale anyway. I don’t know about y’all, but the only thing I want in return for my VH concert ticket is two hours of reliving good memories from my youth and celebrating the greatest rock music ever produced (1978-1984).
February 25th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
I remember when Sammy “left” or whatever, Ed and Al called him lazy and mocked his work ethic. …ironic.
February 25th, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Kudos to Guitar World and Joe Bosso for an edifying article. This was so much better than the utter crap they print in Rolling Stone. Bosso seems to actually understand the principles of Van Halen. Gave props to Mike Anthony as well, BRAVO.
Dare I say that I always liked VHII better. BUT, VHI has a special place in my heart and cd case. Someone said it earlier, how the music was the paramount driving force of the band. If they could get things back into perspective, wouldn’t that be awesome. Ed would just get in the studio and jam. Not care what anyone else was doing, just creating it in the moment… electrifying. Their GREATEST ALBUMS are the ones that took the least time. What’s that tell you? With rock music, over-thinking just dulls the process.
Music doesn’t lie. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music.
• Jimi Hendrix
February 25th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
Give it a rest drama queens!!! Catch a buzz and mellow the fuck out – it will do you some good!!!
February 25th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
Why won’t some of you people just give in and accept the fact that we may actually never see new material??? You keep saying things as if you owned 5150 and Ed’s guitars and his picks and his stripes and his… you name it! Ed is NOT reading any of this shit we are writing… maybe Wolfie and his buddies are, but then again, they would never give a squirt of piss for our comments. I love Van Halen and everything they’ve done for rock and roll, but let’s just let it go. If new shit comes out, so be it and enjoy. If not, however, enjoy what we have.
February 25th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Piper wld of been great , maybe the greatest band of all time if anyone had heard of them……………
Now lets move on to ANGEL didnt they use to wear all white ??? like WARRANT in the heaven video??? n they did that like 10 yrs b4 Warrant!!!! , see ground breaking stuff , n from all reports when they heard HOW MANY SAY I , they tried to beat VAN HALEN into the studio to record it , again VH beat them , talk about lightning striking twice hey?
February 25th, 2010 at 10:49 pm
Other than Hendrix..I never really liked it when guitarists closed their eyes during a solo…It felt like they were lying to me…Van Halen never did that…he looked right at you and smiled as if to say…” How Do You Like That?!?”
February 26th, 2010 at 12:57 am
There’s a video clip, albeit, don’t blink or you’ll miss it, brief of that VH 78 Oakland show. If you’ve got a Btb Silver Stallion DLR boot of his Camden 2002 you can see it during the preshow montage. It’s about a half minute in after the Arnold Schwarzeneger flex and the 82 Lion logo. Live motion footage, not a still, of Dave from behind with his arms raised in the air looking out to the crowd. To his right you can see Mike for a brief moment, also. Wonder if that’s that with that?
February 26th, 2010 at 1:03 am
I love how every VHND release (the comments section) devolves into ‘Where’s the new album?’ or ‘Dave vs Sammy’.
Thx to those of you throwing some humor into the mix.
February 26th, 2010 at 3:09 am
To those who post intelligent stuff on here; I applaud you!
To those who post retarded stuff on here; why?
Here’s the problem with Van Halen and i said this in an earlier post.
Eddie and Alex are to blame for Van Halen’s issues. Some blame Dave or Sammy or even that guy Gary, but the bottom line is that it’s Eddie and Alex’s fault. These guys have a vision on what they want for Van Halen, which is fine, but if the 2 singers mentioned above who have, has, or had a problem with the music, Eddie got pissed. Not sure if it’s true, but from reading stuff over the years, I believe it’s true.
The problem here is that Dave and Sammy did something after they left Van Halen. Gary is too, which was where he should’ve stayed, and yet so is Mikey with Chickenfoot. These guys have nothing to prove as some of you have stated, but why make music then? Why go on tours, still sell out arenas and merchandise, but yet still say you got decades worth of stuff and not release it?
Once Dave realized his career was going down, what did he do to get it going again? He went out on tour with Sammy Hagar to get himself back out there. Then he faded again until he finally went back to Van Halen AFTER Sammy was out again. Who do you think makes those decisions folks? I don’t care if the name Van Halen bears their last name, but seriously, look at the writing on the wall.
Sammy has been out there doing it ever since he left Van Halen. Not because he has anything to prove, but because he loves playing and making music. Dave did the same until it faded for him. If Eddie wants to call it quits, I’m happy for him and i thank him for 30 years of music memories.
But he needs, yes needs, to put out a press release saying whats going on at least. Not a press release of the new Van Halen tampons, but about the band and the music if there is any being made.
All you fans have to do is read the beginning of this article to understand why we’re pissed about no new music.
Quoting Eddie here:
“I think the thing that separated me and the rest of the band from everybody else was the fact that we just loved to play,” Eddie recalled. “That’s the thing: you don’t work music, you play music.”
If Eddie would remember 30 years ago what he did then, like what he’s doing now pushing merchandise from 30 years ago and playing songs from 30 years ago, he might actually get it. Just play some new music for the fun and love of it for once! Get the BAND back together! The ORIGINAL VAN HALEN!
Do one big reunion tour with the original lineup, thank all of us for sticking around and retire. We will all be on here the next day saying: “THAT’S WHY VAN HALEN IS THE GREATEST!”
They’re great now, but are fading fast and faster everyday! So to those who think Van Halen doesn’t owe us shit, why are you on here then? We, the FANS, deserve respect from those we give our respect to! I guess some people’s parents didn’t teach their kids that way of life!
February 26th, 2010 at 6:29 am
Cool article.
But now we know why Alex’s drum solos suck:
“My brother [Alex] would go out at 7 p.m. to party and get laid, and when he’d come back at 3 a.m., I would still be sitting in the same place, playing guitar. I did that for years.”
February 26th, 2010 at 7:05 am
@Panama Red:
Totally agree about the recording style of VH1 (and most of the Dave era stuff). But VH1 just really takes the cake. It’s like the urge to play and blast through the songs was what they wanted to do and recording the stuff was just a side bonus.
In this day and age, I wonder how another album with that vibe would go over. I’ve commented before that I think that’s what the industry needs right now (a good butt-kicking of raw guitar solid song writing) but for VH, they may want to try to appeal to newer fans by doing the over-production thing. Can’t blame a band for evolving and it’s definitely true that fans’ love of older albums is not always just about the music itself, but also about the personal memories associated with it. Let’s face it but most of us long-time fans were in our youth when VH burst onto the scene and therefore the early VH became the soundtrack to the rest of our lives. Hey, thankfully, we got VH instead of Britney Spears!
Waxing on. Sorry.
I’m good with the VH I already have. Nothing VH or any other band releases will ever have the same impact. I’m good with that – but I’m still dreaming of Eddie plugging the original Frankenstrat into an old Marshall again … That would really be the best statement they could make.
Rock on.
February 26th, 2010 at 8:54 am
Here is a big box of man pads for all you whinny cry baby haters out there! If I were EVH, the only thing I would owe the cry babies and haters is a swift kick in the ass!!! You cry babies need to man the fuck up and quit acting like a bunch of wussies!!!! No wonder why some of you pathetic losers can’t get laid – YOU ARE TOO BUSY WHINING AND CRYING!!! Golly jeepers, nothing makes a woman feel more secure than a whinny cry baby – lol!!!
February 26th, 2010 at 9:03 am
VH2 kills VH1, IMHO.
February 26th, 2010 at 10:53 am
Even though I swear by Fair Warning, VH1 is the alltime classic rock album. End of story.
February 26th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
The best band ever! And in Dutch: Eddie en Alex jullie zijn het export produkt op muziekgebied.
February 26th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
I’m not pissed off at Eddie for not releasing new music. It’s the fact, as fans, we are in limbo.
If Eddie has had enough of the music industry (as one of his interview indicated), then just announce that Van Halen is retiring..end of story.
Yes it would suck, but at least we know where he stands.
It’s the quotes in mags, etc. that he has tons of new music..we’re still a band, etc. that keeps this drama going.
If you are band, release new music or tour (even a low-key leisurely tour) hit some clubs for intimate shows, do something musical!
f your done..let us know so the fans can quit bitchin’ about it!
February 26th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
I actually now come on to see if there is Chickenfoot news. Tired of the new tee shirts, same news from 30 years ago crap that goes along with every Van Halen post. Wake me up for Van Halens “Chinese Democracy”.
February 26th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
The last I knew, Ed said that VH was going to release new material. The plan the entire time was to tour in the mid-later part of 2010 in support of a new album. There is nothing indicating that won’t happen.
VH was never a band that would drop updates on status every week. With VH, it has always been “no news is good news.”
I don’t understand why everyone apparently put a deadline on them and thus have come to the conclusion that their will be no new music.
It should be understood that making a new album with Roth wouldn’t be something done in a month. Ed’s hand delayed everything by about 6 months. It’s critical and VH understands this, that the new album not be pieced together. The last word I heard was that they for the most part had a bunch of songs ready and they were trying to reach a deal with a label. In addition, you could also assume that they probably are tinkering different songs and adding here and there and are not in a rush to get it out. The timing is going to coincide with the tour, either midway thru or when it starts. There is also the relationship building with Roth that is continuous. How do we know that Roth is ready to do whatever and whenever?
February 26th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
As a fan of the band for the past 30+ years, I have always felt I was part of the Van Halen family. I’m in my 40′s now and I too have kids of my own. I’ve shared the music, videos and even the Guitar Hero game with them, but now I think it’s time to come clean with the fans. If they are “secretly” recording new music, let the fans know. At least gives us “Wow, wait ’til you hear the new tunes.” If we are at the end of the line, say so. The fans would rather hear you say “Well, we’re pushing 60 now and decided to hang it up.” Eddie might still be playing sax somewhere at a local club, but the rest of us have moved on. I know most of the fans have, except for the few remaining diehards.
February 26th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
I went to the store and bought a bottle of Makers Mark and drank it. Now it’s gone. The makers of Makers Mark owes me a new bottle. Where is it? Why wont they bring it to me?
It’s been snowing alot where I live and it’s cold outside. Where’s the sun? Why won’t it come out already? Doesn’t it know I miss it! Why doesn’t it just let me know it’s done and never coming out again, at least then I could move on with my life!
I love the old Woody Wood Pecker cartoons,but the cartoonist won’t draw him anymore. Other cartoonist still draw crappy cartoons for people who don’t watch them. I know he can still draw but it’s probably work for him instead of enjoyment! I should just read the writing on the wall!
Oh Well! IT’S FRIDAY, VAN HALEN IS CRANKING IN THE BACKGROUND, MY ICE IS MELTING AND MY YOUNG LADY FRIEND NEEDS ATTENTION!!!!!!!
Enjoy your tears!!!!!!!
February 26th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Some of you assholes in here are just fucking CLUELESS…..
Basically, you can’t trust anything Eddie says. We all learned this during the 1996 MTV Awards debacle, and it’s been a continuous string of lies from his cigarette-stained teeth ever since. Here are just a sampling of lies Eddie has foisted on us in the last 15 years:
“Sammy wanted to be a solo artist”
“We’re not a nostalgia act”
“Going out on tour with Dave without a new record would be ripping the fans off (’07-’08 tour?)”
“Two songs with Dave and then maybe cut a new record”
“Gary Cherone is my musical soulmate for life”
“I wrote enough new music for 10 albums (said in 2000)”
“We’ll have some new stuff for ya soon (said in 2001)”
“Working with Sammy is great (Hagar left again in 2004)”
“We’ll be touring with Dave and a new record (2007)”
Are you detecting a pattern yet? As much as I love Edward for creating all that awesome music, he sucks as a person. Dave said it best — “Ed Van Halen without a guitar in his hands is a lousy human being”. I’m not sure what his personality malfunction is. He doesn’t seem very bright in interviews, but I think it’s mainly the curse of being successful over many years despite becoming more and more erratic in his musical production and declining commercial viability. He can piss all over the fans and we still line up like sheep to buy concert tickets. When he was young, he was hungry and wanted to prove something to the world. Now that he’s a living legend, he feels he’s entitled to continued wealth & fame regardless of how much he lies to us. Just watch the shocking NAMM 2003 appearance on YouTube for proof of how shitty his attitude towards us has become.
So please stop all the “Throw us a bone, Eddie” posts. Eddie is not a Twitter addict or Facebook goober. He could care less if we know about what’s been happening at the 5150 studio lately. A productive day for him is smoking a few packs of cigs, chugging some Schlitz malts, and noodling. If him and Dave can stop bickering and cook up some tasty new shit, I’m all for it. If not, then let it be. It was a hell of a ride.
February 26th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
I have a pretty strong inclination that they are working on a new album. But who knows how long it will be until we get to hear the finished product. Sometimes Eddie talks in a positive light, like he wants to move forward and make new music, and sometimes it seems like he just doesn’t give a shit anymore. So who knows?
There have been many times where Ed, Al, or Dave said something about the upcoming future of VH which never came into fruition or materialized. So I don’t fucking know what to think anymore. Maybe the feeling I get that they’re working on new stuff is just the hope I have.
Whatever, I’m not losing any sleep over it but it will be really cool if they come out with a new album with DLR. I hope they can get along long enough to do a whole album and tour. That seems harder and harder these days for them to do. It’s seems so strange to me really.
Maybe their friendships have dissolved to the point that it’s just business now, so it’s not much fun and it’s hard to get inspired to make music. I hope not, because I honestly can’t see anybody singing for Van Halen besides Dave or Sammy.
@ Chad. Are you serious about Alex’s drum solo’s? I’ve always been in awe of his solo’s that I’ve seen and I’ve always considered him one of the best rock drummers around. You must be one hell of a drummer.
February 26th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
Pasadena Kid & Jim (and everyone),
You two said that Ed promised us a new album. I’ve read that here countless times – people on here think Ed said this.
I want to clarify something: Eddie DID NOT say that he is making an album! The last time Ed said, in ANY interview, that they were working on an “album” was 1999!! That was 11 years ago, with Gary Cherone. But I see the fans say it on VHND over & over, and I think the more people read this, the more they think that Ed actually did say this.
The closest he ever came to saying anything about a new album was June 2009 when he told Rolling Stone: “Dave, Wolfie, Alex and I are going into the studio and record some new music…”
Many people mistakenly think that quote meant there will be a new album coming out some day. But bands (especially Van Halen!!) often go into a studio and record music and not end up releasing it, or instead release just one or two new tracks.
So who knows. But he definitely never promised that a “new album” was ever going to come out. I myself haven’t been expecting a new album for about a decade now. It’s too bad that so many people are under the false impression that he promised an album.
For 20 years they recorded heavily and toured heavily. 20 years. Those days are over. Everything that Van Halen has done since 1998, and anything that they might do in the future is all the “cherry on top.”
February 26th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
EDDIE!!!! PLEASE, IF YOU”RE OUT THERE, JUST ANSWER US!!!!! WILL THERE BE A NEW VH ALBUM OR NOT?????
February 26th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
Spin,
No worries, don’t fret so much over the new album or the lack thereof. There are other artists out there committed to keeping the rock alive during a very difficult period for musicians. I’ve read many posts and been a Van Halen Fan since the early 80′s. My take may be a little different than others with regard to Eddie’s inability to pull things together.
As an artist, and a guy that plays r-n-r in a band with a good group of guys, I sense that Eddie may have difficult being creative while sober. Practicing, recording, and writing take up an inordinate amount of time and can be quite boring. Eddie has, from what I’ve read and understand, always been under the influence while writing and recording music. On top of his addiction, he’s also smoked his way into surgery to remove cancerous tissues from his mouth. In the midst of his treatment, Ed provided some excuse about metal picks and being in the midst of sound waves and radiation in the studio as THE cause for his cancer (if I remember that correctly). I thought the excuse was convenient to continue the smoking habit and shrug off criticism.
Ed’s dad, Jan, struggled with addiction as well and Eddie learned (socially) from an early age to pound more alcohol and drugs to sidestep issues. His passive-aggressive style has surely led to issues with everyone that’s ever worked with EVH, including his brother. Go back to the stories of Mick Jones and his production of 5150…he recants how Ed and Al would act like animals when Jan showed up and throw fists at each other. Pulling the lens back a little, there was likely a dysfunctional mess going on between family members and band mates.
In my opinion, Ed can’t be creative and sober at the same time. Whether the issues are psychological or physical, I don’t believe that he can stay in a studio without craving a bump or a dozen beers. Listen to the interviews of the past decade. In most of them, in my opinion once again, he sounded fucked up and from another planet. While he blamed some of this on his tongue (the slurring), his ramblings didn’t make sense and were comical to the casual observer.
EVH has let some critical years pass by, in his prime, with very little to show for it. With that said, the new Dave Matthews is very good, Shinedown continues to impress (they toured with Van Halen in ’04), Alice in Chains came out with a pretty good album (toured with VH also), and there are some bright spots in rock-n-roll. Creed getting back together was refreshing, even though I like Alter Bridge, and Chickenfoot gave us some pretty good tunes for a first outing.
Why you would want Eddie to answer you is interesting. PasadenaKid summed it up pretty well in his post. Regardless of what Ed says, there is a whole other side that we won’t/don’t understand. EVH has said many things that never came to fruition, why would an answer today be any different.
VH gave us some great years and for that I’m thankful. With regard to the past 12 years of drama from one of the best rock-n-roll bands in my lifetime…wasted time.
Sammy wrote it best when scripting “It’s About Time” and that time passed as well…
February 26th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
How great would your social skills be if you spent 8-12 hours a day playing guitar during your formative (teen) years and the spent the next 25 recording, touring, drinking and partying??
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that dealing with people (without having a guitar in your hands to do the talking) would be one of your achilles’ heels.
Not defending EVH or ragging on the guy, but that’s the reality imo.
February 27th, 2010 at 1:35 am
I think they should make a cheaper version of the Frankenstein
replica. Also make an affordable replica of the Ibanez
chainsaw job pictured above.While they’re at it lets release a
“guitar only” version on =VH= 1. Record company’s are always
whining about profits so here is a way to re-sell what they
already have.Also “guitar only” Blizzard of Ozz. VHND you should create a forum so that us fans can discuss different =Vh= topics. Like a separate forum for the Dave VS Sammy whiners and a forum for us guitaroids and =VH= trivia buffs.
Have a great weekend peeps!Gotta move do to fire. AAHHG!
February 27th, 2010 at 9:32 am
To those saying that Ed never said a new album was coming. He may not have but his manager did. New alum and tour for 2010. Ed authorized the comments. Hold tight people they were supposed to start in June but that could have gotten delayed for any reason including Ed’s hand surgery. Give them at least 1 year to complete a record before you start complaining already!
February 27th, 2010 at 10:33 am
Like John Belushi (R.I.P.) said in Animal House…
“It ain’t over till we say it’s over!!”
February 27th, 2010 at 10:37 am
Steve,
Actually you are incorrect. This is a prefect example of what I was saying – the FANS talking about a “new album” so often that they start to believe that Eddie actually SAID they would have a new album, evn though Ed NEVER said that.
I know the instance you are thinking of – last September when VH manager Irving Azoff slipped up and mentioned something about VH planning on touring in 2010. But he said NOTHING about any new music. Here is every word of the article:
http://www.vhnd.com/2009/09/09/van-halen-to-hit-the-road-in-2010/
“From Pollstar:
Van Halen Tour?
Posted on Wednesday September 9, 2009 at 12:01 PM
Van Halen will hit the road in 2010, Ticketmaster Entertainment CEO Irving Azoff announced during the 2009 Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Communications and Entertainment Conference Sept. 9.
This was not expected to be the time when the next VH tour would be announced, but some lines got crossed and the information was brought during the Q&A.”
So, again, nothing was said about new music. But over time, your memory changed the story to include talk of a new album.
The last time Ed said anything about a “new album” was in 1999 when they were recording what would have been their second album with Gary Cherone.
February 27th, 2010 at 11:27 am
VH 1 is down in history as a true stand out debut album. I’d be hard pressed to name another band’s debut as even in the same league. However, props to Jimi Hendrix for “Are You Experienced?” in 1967 and Ed and Al’s countrymen Golden Earring for “Moontan” in 1972. “Radar Love” was on that one and later they did “Twilight Zone”, both still gettin good air time on the radio. “Candy’s Goin Bad” “Vanilla Queen” “Are You Receiving Me” deserve air time, but nowadays radio stations stick to their narrow play lists, unfortunately.
February 27th, 2010 at 1:56 pm
I Just saw the new MJ movie, it was filmed during rehearsal’s before his death. the girl who plays the solo on beat it kicks ass, you could tell she did her homework.
February 27th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
This just in. Chickenfoot are not in it for the money. They are already rich people. Don’t let the fact that they released the same cd twice, more expensive the second time because it contains one more throw-away song and video commentary of how they don’t need money,fool you. They really have lots of money. Yay money. Just havin’ fun with the silly truth. Don’t throw empty beer cans at me.
I can’t get over how kick ass “Glitter” and “Gentlemen of Liesure” are from ’73. Damn, if ever there were a band that’s sittin’ on a 10 cd box set. Rock the F on.
February 27th, 2010 at 7:47 pm
VH3: Her name is Orianthi, she’s from Greece. She has a single out called “According to You” And yes, she does kick ass.
February 27th, 2010 at 8:46 pm
It’s true that eddie never said they are going to release a new album,but at the vhnd site from june the 1st in a interview from rollingstone.com eddie said ” after the honeymoon we are going into the studio and record new music then go on tour a year from now”. He went on to say that he had been over at dave’s house 4 or 5 times the last month trying to figure out what dave is into…Now i would take this as meaning so they can start writing ” the new music”! I know this doesnt mean a new album is on the way,but it’s a good sign that they could be. Hopefully,things have been delayed!!!!!
February 27th, 2010 at 9:36 pm
Van Foot:
Very well put-thx.
February 27th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
I’m sure there’ll be a new album sometime. Van Halen knows they have the largest fan base in the world. No other bands from their era even come close !!! No one. Eddie Rocks !!!
February 28th, 2010 at 1:50 am
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
February 28th, 2010 at 2:19 am
Yes the shit is exciting going back and looking at the best band ever. You know what would and will be more exciting? A new Van Halen album. Let’s just hope it happens before the Mayan calender ends in 2012.
February 28th, 2010 at 8:30 am
How about another isolated guitar track VHND!!! That will cheer us up.
How about On Fire or Mean Street?
February 28th, 2010 at 10:06 am
Pretty much the driving force behind a new VH album is for Ed and to show Wolfy how it’s done. It very well could be the last album.
Note: Talk about if it’s just new music or new album.
True – they never spoke specifically about a new album. If they released new music, how would it come out if it is not on an album? I don’t see VH just releasing a few singles. It would be either on a full new album or a few new songs on a greatest hit type deal. Either way, it’s an album.
I haven’t heard this to be confirmed but “Encore” has been leaked to be the title of the new album.
February 28th, 2010 at 11:38 am
ooooh Mean Street, that would be really cool Rickie. Like I said before, I wish I could hear all of the VH tracks isolated. But I think VHND is giving us what they can of what’s available. But now sometimes when I hear a Van Halen song I think, Man I wish I could hear that as isolated tracks.
Was something going on yesterday with VH? Like an anniversary or something? I was listening to the classic rock station on satellite radio and they were playing several VH songs in a row w/ small clips of interviews in between. Then a little later on I was listening to the regular local classic rock sation and they were playing several VH songs in a row too.
Maybe it was just a good day to listen to the radio. I never heard the D.J.’s talk before the songs so I wasn’t sure why they were playing so many. I was thinking “Oh my God, maybe Van Halen released some news or something, like the date for a new album to come out.”
Optimism or Delusions of Grandeur?
By the way does it make anyone else feel old when they play Van Halen w/Sammy Hagar on the classic rock stations? I understand them playing stuff like “You Really Got Me” but when they play stuff like “Finish What Ya Started” I think to myself…damn…I’m really gettin’ old.
February 28th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Anyone have a cool story about meeting the band? That would be more interesting than reading what we can all just go read in a magazine that we probably have lying around on the coffee table in our living rooms…again.
February 28th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
Panama Red:
No, it doesn’t make me feel old when VH/w Sam is played. I get the “You Really Got Me” and “Finish What Ya Started” comparison. If FWYS is dated (I think it is, but so is “I’ll Wait”) and YRGM is timeless for all of rock n roll eternity (it is)…so be it.
All I gotta do is hear Summer Nights, Humans Being, Poundcake, etc. to get back in the proper frame of mind to appreciate both eras to the max.
February 28th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
That’s cool Dooley, I just don’t think of Sammy era VH being old enough to be on classic rock stations, even though I think they’re great albums.
But now that I think about it those albums are getting pretty darn old. I guess I just lose track of time. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like it was that long ago that Van Halen was touring with Sammy in support of new albums.
It’s fine with me that they are starting to play those songs on classic rock stations. The more Van Halen the better.
I can’t believe it took me a whole day to make the connection of the anniversary of VH1 and hearing lots of VH on the radio. It actually took me reading my own comments to connect the dots and rattle that conclusion out of my subconcious brain.
I wish I would have been kidding, but I was like “Was something going on yesterday with VH? Like an anniversary or something?
hmmm anniversary….that sounds familiar…hmmm (long pause)….(contemplation)….OH Dammit!
February 28th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Jim
“True – they never spoke specifically about a new album. If they released new music, how would it come out if it is not on an album? I don’t see VH just releasing a few singles. It would be either on a full new album or a few new songs on a greatest hit type deal. Either way, it’s an album.”
Rush have talked about how they’re going to release music in the future and have questioned if it’s still even valid to release in the album format when it’s going to end up on services like iTunes and people are just going to cherry pick anyway. They’re giving thought to the new world of music consumption so who knows for VH…
So long as we get a batch of new tunes that are on a par with what happened last time Ed and Dave got together I’ll be a very happy camper regardless of how they come out.
February 28th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
Adam,
I guess you are right. It seems like though there was an interview where Ed mentioned a new album that they were going to do after Wolfie finished high school and he got married. Did he not say that? I am not totally sure
February 28th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
Jim-
I believe (someone correct me if I’m wrong here) ‘Encore’ was a fabricated story from one of those pathetic rag mags.
‘Van Halen IV’ sounds (and would look) better anyway imo.
February 28th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
Fat Cat…that was some funny shit! Bravo! I must admit some the speculation on here is kind of entertaining though….kind of. Lol. Ugh! Work it..
February 28th, 2010 at 10:41 pm
How Pitiful. Just when I thought I was having a pretty good day I realized I can’t do 1st grade level math or pay attention to sub-heading of articles. The thirty year anniversary for VH1 was in 2008 like the article says. It’s a re-print. How sad of me, man I piss myself off want to kick my own ass sometimes.
I guess it was just coincidence that radio stations were playing a lot of VH lately.
I confuse myself, how ridiculous is that. I’ve always remembered that VH1 was released in 1978. I don’t know what I was thinking. Focus, dammit focus…..wow my brain really blows. I’m just not all here sometimes…..what a tool.
March 1st, 2010 at 1:30 pm
‘Encore’ may be just a made up story.
I really have no idea about that one.
March 1st, 2010 at 2:03 pm
was just checking around the internet and found out that in sept of 2009 Van Halen and Manager irving azoff were implicated in a ticket scam for their last tour! They witheld the best tickets for scalpers just so they could more profits! Now that is pretty lame if you ask me!
March 1st, 2010 at 2:24 pm
SS-
What’s the current status of the lawsuit??
If true, that’s beyond lame.
March 1st, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Swingin Sinner:
Is it probably that pricy Ilovemusic site or whatever
it was called? Where you could pay $1500 bucks to
be inside the “golden ring” and get a bag of crap with a
fake laminated pass(NOT AN ACTUAL BACKSTAGE PASS).
March 1st, 2010 at 4:17 pm
That’s ridiculous B.S. Don’t believe it.
March 1st, 2010 at 4:28 pm
That scam appears to be old news from september of last year..nothing more about it. Does seem to be info out there to suggest a Van HalenU.K./ European tour for 2010 …no dates yet though….hmmmm. Let’s just hope they don’t have another dirty manager like Ray fkn Daniels was!
March 1st, 2010 at 5:14 pm
scott
I was in the same room with EVH back in 1980 when he came to a guitar store named “Focus II Guitars” in town called Patchogue, Long Island NY. My recollection was that it was at the beginning of the Kramer guitar relationship.
EVH came into a packed store. I was 16 and pushed to the back of the store near the half stacks of amps with the other peons. He stayed near the front of the store and pulled a couple of Kramers off the wall. He talked for a while to everybody up front. I could not hear what he was saying or playing. He played the guitar without it being plugged in.
EVH made some comment involving the word “shit” pretty loudly and then the guy he was with went back to the limo and grabbed a plain white Kramer with a maple neck. He handed it to the store owner and a long conversation took place. He then walked to the back of the store and plugged in that guitar into a Marshall half stack right in front of me. I felt like I won the lottery! I fought off dudes twice my size to keep my position in front of the amp! EVH asked everybody to “back up” I did not move. He plugged in and just hammered out licks from Romeo Delight, Women in Love and other stuff I did not recognize.
He then placed his right thumb and index finger on the fretboard and started playing what I now know as the intro to Mean Street. It was so mind boggling I almost puked. I hand no idea what the hell he was doing. It seemed like a magic trick to my virgin ears.
After he finished the main intro lick somebody said “what the f@#k was that?” The guy next to me started mumbling and EVH looked at him with a wierd look. Somebody asked if there were any built in effects in the guitar. EVH said “F#@k NO!” I then said, “Oh my god, play that again!”. EVH did and then moved into the main lick of the tune. When he finished EVH laughed and said “it is kind of my way of playing a six string bass”. He unplugged and walked back to the front of the store and eventually left.
Not glamerous but that was my one and only interaction with the King.
March 1st, 2010 at 8:19 pm
While we’re all in here pissing over ourselves wondering if Van Halen will release a new album this year or not (my gut says no)……why dont we run an informal poll and pick which vintage songs we want to hear on the next tour that we didn’t hear on the 2007-08 tour ??
Here’s my choices (no Van Hagar tunes for obvious reasons):
Feel Your Love Tonight
Sinner’s Swing
Hear About It Later
DOA
Take Your Whiskey Home
Secrets
In a Simple Rhyme
Drop Dead Legs
Some of these have never been played live in the history of the band – such as “Take Your Whiskey Home” and “In a Simple Rhyme” – and it would be awesome to see if the boys could pull them off. Some of the tunes would probably still sound great despite Dave’s reduced vocal range – like “Feel Your Love Tonight” and “Secrets”.
Let me hear your picks…..
March 1st, 2010 at 9:23 pm
all of them!!!
Secrets
girl gone bad
top jimmy
hear about it later
sinners swing
hang em high
Wld all be great.
Women in love
little dreamer
atomic punk
wld give a miss on
wLD LUV!!! to hear “cant get this stuff no more , “ME WISE MAGIC”
Why do people bag those songs????? there great
Which do u prefer , sammys greatest hits ones or daves , i luv them both , cld of done without the 3rd sh song though
March 1st, 2010 at 11:03 pm
RVW…that’s rad! When I was in 9th grade VH came through Florida(where I grew up) for the 1984 tour…my mom worked at a law firm in Orlando..she’s not a lawyer..but VH’s lawyer, this dude named Jules, who also happened to be head of VH security, for some reason came into the firm she worked at. She told him her son was HUGE fan..VH covered the walls in my room..so he hooked us up with tix and backstage passes! Took a couple of my buds, was the 1st VH show I saw, seen every tour since. Anyway, we got to meet Alex, Dave , and Mike and hung out a bit in the ‘hospitality room’ backstage..but Ed was somewhere on the phone with Val becuase her car got stolen or broken into back in L.A. or something, so we didn’t get to meet him. But we saw him down the hallway for a brief second, he had a red robe on but we could see he was still wearing the jeans with all the patches he wore onstage. They were all cool as shit! Dave showed us a cheesy handshake that was pretty funny. So then Jules took us back to the hotel but there was no party goin’ down that night. We also got to go onto Eddie’s tour bus. Totally decked out…tiger stripe print couch in the back, with the little guitar(mini les paul) I presume sitting right there in its case! A roadie came on with some chick so had to get out of the bus, ha! I also remember some phony english guy tried telling Jules he was Brad Gillis, tryin to get in to the hotel. Jules told him to take a hike, lol. Anyway, that made up for the year before when I got in trouble and my dad tore up my ticket to the Diver Down tour…fkn bastard! It was pretty fuckin killer though!!!
March 2nd, 2010 at 12:15 am
“Take Your Whiskey Home” and “In a Simple Rhyme” have been played live…I believe that “Drop Dead Legs” is the only song that hasn’t been played live.
March 2nd, 2010 at 10:20 am
By his mid-teens, out of frustration and sheer force of will, he flipped the bird to convention and become a recluse, shutting himself in his bedroom for 12 hours at a time to devote himself to the instrument and the strange and wondrous noises he heard in his head. “I used to sit on the edge of my bed with a six-pack of Schlitz Mall talls,” he said. “My brother [Alex] would go out at 7 p.m. to party and get laid, and when he’d come back at 3 a.m., I would still be sitting in the same place, playing guitar. I did that for years.”
He needs to do that again. Practice Eddie, practice.
March 2nd, 2010 at 10:40 am
Outta Love Again.
Everything else would be icing for me.
March 2nd, 2010 at 10:43 am
Oh, and I know some here will roll their eyes and say “I hope not”, but ‘Happy Trails’ would be cool too…totally acapella. Let’s see if the boy can really sing or not
They’d never do it, because they’re not a close enough unit anymore.
LOL-The 3 VHs might try to sneak it in when DLR takes a leak.
March 2nd, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Oh boy, are you really gonna tell Eddie to practice? Lol
March 2nd, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Well for sure, but possibly without the Mall Talls.
March 3rd, 2010 at 1:56 am
“new album”…just my 2 cents worth…Don’t write any songs during the sessions, pick no more than 12 songs that are already penned, rehearse the songs in pre-production, then record the same way as the first record…Live off the floor as much as possible with spontaneous solos. don’t analyze or overthink, or try and impress…play and record to have FUN!
no one other than critics gives a shit if the licks are “new and improved”. The “real” Van Halen sound was born of youthful glee, excitement, and a ‘devil may care if I hit all the right notes-but I’m having fun” attitude. Have fun again…but pay attention to what scott suggests…Practice!
Seriously, I’m a 50 year old (fairly skilled at one time) guitarist/producer but rarely practice the way i used to years ago. I did a short tour a couple of years back where i would sit in the stadium dressing rooms with my backstage amp for hours every day for about 3 weeks for lack of anything else to do. I was absolutely blown away by how much of a difference even that amount of “getting back to my roots” practice can make. Fact is…at our age, without it we ALL get a little rusty..then we screw up, feel uncomfortable, think too much, etc every time we play, which isn’t as often as we used to…then that bums you out, and before you know it you’re frustrated with yourself, which sucks big time if you are at all honest with yourself and know just how good you really are when you don’t let life distract you from just playing for hours.
Not the best way to approach recording.
For me, the BEST time to record is a day or two after coming off a tour, when the band is totally tight, everyone’s stamina is up, and regardless of how you’d like to take a break, all you really need do is pull out the new songs and PLAY like you were 16 in a jam room with your buddies, with no one judging your ability to “impress”. That’s when the best shit happens…that’s when you can make a great, possibly “classic” album…from the heart to the hands with as little brain in between as possible.
Oh and if you can…hang out together as much as possible and enjoy every moment…forget the “business”, lawyers, managers, Bullshit,
let Wolfgang be the catalyst to what makes you all feel young again, and there will be no doubt that VH will record the best album in 20 years!
As I said, just my 2c worth…as I see it.
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:53 am
I’m not the one that said Ed needs to practice, that was ringo…I was trying to make the point how silly it is that some punk on a message board is trying to tell ONE of the greatest he needs to practice. It’s so……..humorous!
March 3rd, 2010 at 11:17 am
@ Pasadena Kid — I like your posts, man. You mentioned vintage songs. I always liked “Could this be Magic”. Not the typical sound, but original. First time I heard it I was like, what the fuck was that?! Then I couldn’t stop humming it the rest of the day. LmAo
As you were saying though about them doing a second string of tours with another batch of classics. Think I’ll pass dude. They got my $200 last time. Well deserved, but unless it’s the original line up, or else they have a new album or even a couple new singles… ain’t gonna donate any more to Ed & Al’s retirment fund. No disrespect, I’m just sayin.
@ Diamond Dean — I agree on “Can’t get this Stuff” and “Me Wise Magic”. Both exceptional songs that are over-looked.
On a general note. I think *ALL* VAN HALEN songs should be appreciated not just the old stuff.
March 3rd, 2010 at 1:20 pm
Thanks Moleman……exactly!
This punk will say it again……Eddie you need to practice like you used to. You were sloppy when I heard you play at the last show I saw you. For a 100 bucks a ticket, practice Eddie!
March 3rd, 2010 at 4:46 pm
@ Moleman- That was a great post. I couldn’t agree more. I wish Eddie would just make music for the fun of it. Who cares about critical acclaim, how many records sold, etc. He’s already accomplished all of that kind of success. Just play for the love of music because you’re Eddie-Fucking-Van Halen! Have fun with your band and screw the rest.
And Moleman those have been my sentiments exactly too on making a new album, like the way VH1 was recorded. That would be awesome to me.
Just a fan’s thoughts who loves Van Halen and doesn’t want it to be over. I would never think it’s my place to tell Eddie anything and I don’t think Moleman is doing that. Most of us are just big VH fans who miss the band being active and are just putting our two cents in. I’m sure Eddie doesn’t read these anyway.
But that did sound like good advice from Moleman. I wish it would happen that way.
March 4th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
Rickie VanWhalen, Scott – Thanks for sharing your personal encounter stories about VH. It’s always pretty cool to read stuff like that. You can’t read about stories like those anywhere else because their personal, so it’s just kinda cool to share stuff like that here. Especially since there isn’t ever much new stuff to hear about from VH themselves y’know?
I don’t have any personal stories about meeting anyone in Van Halen like that myself or I would share them, but it’s cool to hear about someone else’s insight or experience.
Hopefully we’ll all have some new experiences with Van Halen again in the not so distant future. Maybe not, but we can always shoot the shiznit.
March 5th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Thanks
I will never forget that experience. I almost really puked on EVH. I was so uncontrollably star struck and nervous. The intro to mean street still has that effect on me. It is really magical to watch. I highly recommend viewers watch the very ending of the guitar solo on “Live Without a Net” for a great live version of this.
RVH
March 17th, 2010 at 6:40 am
Dear DLR, EVH, AVH, MA, and/or WVH,
You saved me once from the likes of ABBA, please come back and save me from the likes of Slipnot.