VAN HALEN NEWS DESK

Michael Anthony of Van Halen & Chickenfoot Shares His Favorite Songs

March 23, 2010 64 Comments

Bass Player for rock supergroup Chickenfoot Michael Anthony is this week’s guest blogger for AOL Radio, sharing his favorite songs. Also former member of rock outfit Van Halen, Anthony shows a strong influence on classic rock and heavy metal — especially tracks that rock walking bass lines and trills. Featuring Hendrix, Cream, Deep Purple and more, here are Anthony’s favorite tracks.

These are favorite songs of mine that have influenced me when I started playing music.

Read the full story at AOL Radio Blog

Filed Under: Michael Anthony

arthur_bishop1972

Herb:

Your proctologist called. They found your head.
MICAL VEE

Kayser sozay,you are so right. Like on the 0U812 tour they had hagar singing RUNNIN W/ THE DEVIL…I’m sure sammy hated to have to sing that song! I dont blame him. I would have rather heard them do THE INSIDE!
Herb

Hey thanks for solidifying your position as village idiot. What an original zinger.
ImTheOne

Kayser – for once I agree with you, it was only human for Sam to not sing the Dave songs. Its hard t imagine that replacing Dave in 1985 and standing in front of huge crowds doing it would be within anybody’s comfort zone. If you’d ask me any time of the day, if I wanted to hear Sammy sing a Dave song, my answer would be: NO! However, when I saw them in concert on the OU812 tour I was sad they didn’play more classic tunes, just because I missed those songs. I’d never feel like that the other way around, though, Dave sininging Sammy songs…imagine…brrrrrrr lol
ROB5150

I think Mike is totally managed by Sammy, that’s why he is no longer in Van Halen. Sad.
Kayser Sozay

ImTheOne – you mean my streak is over? Damn! Ha, kidding. I agree with you though. I wish that after OU812, once Sam was well entrenched and well embraced, that he would have sung more classic tunes. It’s not the same as Dave but it’s not like he can’t pull it off. Would have been nice to hear more of those old tunes simply because they are so damn good!

ROB5150 – I gotta disagree with you. You make it sound like Mike has no say in his own path. If you were him, who would you rather spend your time with? No contest. I’m sure that if the VH bros weren’t so petty and were actually active, Mike would like to still be in the band but the way things have run their course, I seriously doubt Mike has any regrets about the way things have turned out for him.
jim

Montrose was awesome back in the day. They have way more hits than Van Halen. Have had more success all the way around. They had a distinct sound like none others.

When Van Halen was starting off after the first album, they actually opened for Montrose. Everyone there couldn’t stop raving about Montrose. They were definately the talk of the concert. Montrose was a lifestyle. They were what life was all about.
Herb

Jim….WTF?
jeff

Let’s face it guys, even Eddie and the boys have admitted IN PRINT that they were huge fans of Montrose, back in the day, and King Eddie had even said that Sammy was their first choice before Roth………..funny how they have changed their tune, but you can’t go back and erase what was originally documented.
Just because it is Sammy NOW, does not change how much the VH camp loved him THEN. DEAL WITH THE TRUTH AND GET OVER IT…….HATERS!!
MICAL VEE

Hey Jeff, just for the record, ROTH had been with VH since ’74…EDDIE didn’t know Sammy back then! What you heard was the crap Eddie and Alex were spewing after Sammy had joined the band in ’86 saying that when they were signed to warner brothers there was talk of Sammy replacing Roth in the group, but the people at w.b. and even Ted Templeman said that was not true!
Panama Red

That’s right Kayser, you made me remember Sammy singing “Ain’t Talkin’‘Bout Love” on the “Live Without A Net” video. He climbed up onto the catwalk and did the same kind of thing he did when you saw VH Live during the 5150 tour. I forgot about that until you said that. But I coulda swore Sammy has sung more Dave era VH songs than just those 4 mentioned here, but I can’t really remember what other ones (if there were others) Sammy sung. It seems like there were more though, maybe I’m thinking of the cover songs they’ve played Live.
I agree with what you said Kayser, about how everyone (including famous people) probably have some insecurities but I also don’t think you have to be famous to have an inflated ego. Unfortunately, I think that’s just human nature for most of us.
Your comments also reminded me about the subject of the Sammy singing Dave songs/Dave singing Sammy songs thing that was talked about recently here on another thread. I already put my two cents in (a.k.a.75cents) on why Dave shouldn’t (or at least doesn’t need to) sing Sammy era VH songs and vice versa on another thread here already. But another reason I thought of is that Dave’s and Sammy’s song writing styles are SO different. I mean the vibe of their songs and their persona’s are just so vastly different.
Can you imagine Dave singing a love song like “When It’s Love” or singing a song like “Dreams.”
And I don’t mean that as a dis to Sammy at all, I like those songs, I’m just trying to stay objective and realistic about the topic. I think even the biggest VH fans would find it odd for Dave to sing those types of songs. That’s just not Dave’s thing. He’s got an entirely different vibe and persona.
I Love Sammy w/ VH and I Love Dave w/ VH. But Sammy does write/sing a lot of love songs because that’s a part of his personality, the positivity vibe he has which is cool, that’s him.
Whereas Dave seems to get off on other things, like his own philosophies and shit that I think is cool too. I Love both eras equally. To me it is literally the “Best of Both Worlds.”
Like Dirty Duck said on a previous thread, it’s like apples and oranges or better yet Jack Daniels and Tequila-Good one Duck.

Rob5150 – Are you kidding? oh maaann…. that’s an outdated (not to mention ridiculous IMO) view to say the least. Where have you been? All you gotta do is read some of the old interviews with the band to realize what you said is a fallacy.
I think maybe you were just kidding or something, but if you weren’t, whatever, I guess everyone has their different perceptions and take on things. But I would say – anyone who actually has that point of view, is at the very least misinformed about the set of circumstances of Mike’s departure from VH. But I’m sure nobody wants to get into that whole thing again. I think it’s been debated and talked about to death here.
jeff

So,MICAL VEE,
You are in fact admitting that The VH boys did say that?? But you are saying that they didn’t mean it? HMMMMM…..Interesting.
All I am saying is that Eddie has admitted on more than one occasion that Montrose was influential on his own musical upbringing………but if you are saying that is not true, well then, I can’t argue with someone in the know……..Eddie must be a pathetic liar, as you pointed out. Thanks for setting me straight.
Jeremy

Folks, all this talk about Mike’s favorite songs and how he picked Rock Candy #1 is gay!

Everytime the Van Halen News Desk posts ANYTHING on here, you have the faithfull on here always tearing one of the articles down!

It’s Mike’s list of songs he likes, not who’s ass he’s kissing!

So say he picked Poundcake and not a Roth tune like Panama, then everybody would say he was favoring Sammy as well!

It’s a list of songs he likes so get over it!

But as always you have the greatest critics on here giving us their insightful knowledge on how much better a songwriter, bass player, drummer, singer, guitar player, and pretty much everything else that involves Van Halen!

Keep up the good work guys and I’ll check back tomorrow for all of your wisdom and interesting knowledge about song lists!
MICAL VEE

Jeff,i didnt say eddie wasnt influenced by montrose,that i do not know…what i said was sammy wasnt eddies first choice as lead singer in vh.