And so the adventure continues...! Thirty five years ago today David Lee Roth released his debut full-length studio album Eat ‘Em and Smile. Released on July 7th, 1986, the album peaked at #4 on the US Billboard 200 while eventually achieving platinum status for a million sales. For his first full-length release, Roth worked with long-time Van Halen producer Ted … [Read more...]
Better Or Worse? YouTuber Dr. Bob Puts David Lee Roth On The Vocal Tuning Operating Table
Somebody get me Dr. Bob! Bobby Huff is a producer/songwriter who has a series of videos titled "Music Surgery with Dr. Bob". They all include the good doctor "cutting into" rock songs in pursuit of musical perfection. In his latest episode he decided to operate on David Lee Roth's vocals from Van Halen's "Dance The Night Away". "So we've all heard the argument that Sammy … [Read more...]
Billy Gibbons On First Van Halen Concert: ‘That Blew My Mind’
ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons said seeing Van Halen perform for the first time lived up to all of the hype and then some. Gibbons was a guest on Eddie Trunk's SiriusXM show Trunk Nation recently. At one point in the interview the conversation steered towards Eddie Van Halen. Gibbons said he had heard all about Eddie's talents, even had Van Halen's 1978 debut album, but didn't get a … [Read more...]
Van Halen On ‘The Today Show’ – July 1986
It's time to revisit another moment in Van Halen history. We go back 35 summers for the band's July 1986 appearance on The Today Show. At the time of the interview, Van Halen had just kicked off the second leg of its North America tour to support the 5150 album. They were about to perform a show at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado on July 12th of '86. As expected, the … [Read more...]
June 29th, 1976: Van Halen Rocks The Starwood
Summertime on the Sunset Strip with Van Halen….gu-gu-gu-gauranteeeeed to satisfy! Forty five years ago tonight Van Halen performed at the legendary Starwood nightclub in West Hollywood. It wasn't too long before this gig that the lineup of David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony had been been confined to playing mostly cover songs but the tides … [Read more...]
On This Night In 1988: Van Halen Headlines Giants Stadium During ‘Monsters Of Rock’ Tour
Thirty three years ago tonight Van Halen's "Monsters of Rock" tour invaded Giants stadium in New Jersey for the first of two concerts. Van Halen was just about midway through the 23 city, 29-date tour when they arrived in New Jersey. It kicked off on May 23rd at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin and ended on July 30th in at Mile High Stadium in Denver, … [Read more...]
Wolfgang Van Halen On The Creation Of ‘Guitar Hero: Van Halen’ Video Game
Wolfgang Van Halen revealed details behind the making of 2009's Guitar Hero: Van Halen video game during a recent podcast appearance. While a guest on the video game podcast Good Game Nice Try, Wolfgang (an avid video gamer himself) along with the hosts Sonja Reid and Aaron Bleyaert were discussing some of their favorite games of the past. That's when Reid reminded Wolfgang … [Read more...]
Don Dokken Says Seeing Eddie Van Halen Perform Convinced Him To Give Up The Guitar
How good was Eddie Van Halen? So good he could make a guitarist give up the guitar. Dokken recently recalled the first time he saw Eddie perform live. It was at a venue in California in the 70s when Dokken was the lead guitarist and lead singer of a Los Angeles band called Airborn. "This is before the Dokken days, before I got signed," Dokken said while a guest on the … [Read more...]
Steel Panther’s Satchel: ‘Eddie Van Halen Made It Look So Easy’
If only every Eddie Van Halen video came with a warning - "Guitarists Everywhere: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!" In a recent clip of Dweezil Zappa's podcast Runnin' With The Dweezil, Steel Panther guitarist Satchel admitted to throwing a few guitars in the trash at an early age after failed attempts to recreate them the same way Eddie did. Satchel found out the hard way - just … [Read more...]
Sammy Hagar & Michael Anthony Launch ‘Van Hagar/Other Half’ Page
Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony are keeping the Hagar era of Van Halen alive with a brand new social media page. The page, which can be found on Instagram as well as Facebook, will feature vintage footage of Van Halen during Hagar's time in the band. "Hey everybody I got some fresh news for ya," Hagar said in his video message. "Mikey and I been checkin' out all our … [Read more...]
‘I Know This Band!’ – Twisted Sister’s Mark Mendoza Tells Van Halen FKA Mammoth Radio Contest Story
Rock & Roll can be a small world. Just ask Twisted Sister’s Mark Mendoza. Before he gained fame as the bassist in Twisted Sister, Mendoza was a member of a New York City punk band called The Dictators. On one particular night in the mid 70s, Mendoza and his bandmates were in Los Angeles and just happened to catch a local band on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip called Mammoth … [Read more...]
Wolfang Van Halen On ’07 Van Halen Reunion: ‘It Was Inevitably Going To Be Roth’
Wolfgang Van Halen said Van Halen's 2007 reunion with David Lee Roth was inevitable and an idea he initiated. Wolfgang told Rolling Stone's Andy Greene the seeds of the reunion began in 2006 when he, Eddie and Alex Van Halen started jamming together at 5150 Studios. Soon after, Wolfgang offered up the idea of bringing Roth back to the band. "Initially it was all for fun … [Read more...]