When the 40th anniversary of Van Halen’s debut album rolled around last week, rock historian Eddie Trunk could not hide his frustration over the fact that the band didn’t do anything, or at least give some indication about future plans. (Although, the next day, on the actual anniversary, both Michael Anthony and Eddie acknowledged the anniversary on social media).
Listen to the February 9th, 2018 segment from Trunk Nation, above, and read some highlights, below.
Trunk laments, “Unbelievable. One of the landmark records of all time … 40 years old. Nothing. Nothing! What is going on with this band? Please, please do something.
“This is something that should be a major, major moment.
“You can’t overstate the importance and the greatness of the first Van Halen album. This whole year coming up now is going to be the 40th anniversary of Van Halen.
“We have one of the all-time icons. We have the modern-day Jimi Hendrix, and in the last 20 years, we’ve gotten two, maybe two-and-a-half records from the guy.
“I remember getting the first Van Halen album … poppin’ that thing on, and [thinking] ‘Oh my god! This isn’t like my KISS records. [Laughs] This is Next Level. This is a whole different level, man. This is crazy what’s going’ on here.’
“Put it on right now. It still sounds AMAZING. That record to me is not dated-sounding at all. It’s the sound of guitars, drums, bass, vocals, and great songs, in your face. Listen to those early Van Halen records. Ted Templeman … just genius. It feels like you’re in the room with them. There’s nothing dated about it to me. It’s gonna stand the test the time forever. It’s just like the Zeppelin records. I’ve said many times … to me, Van Halen is like the American Led Zeppelin in that regard.
“So for me, the first four [Van Halen albums] top to bottom, untouchable, maybe the greatest consecutive four record string from any band.”
Jim Florentine ads, “Personally, my favorite is Van Halen II — I think it’s one of the most rock-est, rock records ever recorded. But that’s just me.”
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