The Van Halen News Desk’s Eric Senich is going back to the classic Van Halen catalog once more for the latest episode of his classic rock podcast DISCovery. Just recently he revisited the ten-million plus selling ‘1984’ album. this time he’s digging deep into another diamond-selling album, the one that started it all – their iconic self-titled debut from 1978.
“You cannot underestimate this album’s importance when it comes to the world of hard rock and heavy metal,” said Senich. “Not only does this album have songs that continue to get heavy airplay on radio, continue to get tons of hits on YouTube and continue to blast through the speakers of sports stadiums everywhere, it’s got what every album requires to be considered a classic – amazing and timeless deep tracks to go along with the hits.”
Senich is once again joined by author Greg Renoff (Van Halen Rising: How A Southern California Backyard Party Band Saved Heavy Metal, Ted Templeman: A Platinum Producer’s Life in Music) to add his and Ted Templeman’s insight into the album. He also had the chance to get some comments from Martin Popoff, author of over 90 books on hard rock, heavy metal and more along with the 2015 book Unchained: The Van Halen User Guide.
Here are some of the topics covered in the episode:
– Which song originally included the car horn intro which ended up at the beginning of “Runnin’ With The Devil”
– Which popular funk, soul music and R&B band from the 70s inspired the lyrics for “Runnin’ With The Devil”
– How did the band Montrose (featuring singer Sammy Hagar) influence the decision by Ted Templeman to release “You Really Got Me” as the album’s lead single?
– How did Eddie Van Halen’s “Eruption” end up on the album by accident?
– Which 1971 concert inspired Eddie’s legendary two-handed tapping technique?
– Which track from the album was written in response to the burgeoning punk ruck movement of the late 70s?
– What is the only track from the album written in the studio during the recording sessions?
– Which track from the album doesn’t include the classic Van Halen backing vocals?
– Which now-classic track did Gene Simmons think wasn’t good enough for the album?
Get the answers to all these questions and a whole lot more by streaming or downloading the latest episode of DISCovery below.
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