Forty-four years ago today (January 28th, 1978) Van Halen released their debut single, one that would ultimately become the band's breakthrough song - "You Really Got Me". Released to just 35 radio stations initially, the single would gain steady airplay on 140 radio stations around the country within just a month and peaked at #25 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The first … [Read more...]
Van Halen 1978 Archive
Carmine Appice On Eddie & Alex Van Halen’s Love For The Band Cactus
Credit: Neil Zlozower Legendary drummer Carmine Appice is probably best known for his work with Vanilla Fudge and Rod Stewart but there were no bigger fans of his band Cactus than Eddie & Alex Van Halen. Cactus formed out of Long Island, New York in 1969 and featured Appice on drums, former Vanilla Fudge bandmate Tim Bogert on bass, Jim McCarty (Mitch Ryder's … [Read more...]
Deconstructing Classic Van Halen: Isolated Tracks
Wanna hear "Hear About It Later" in a way you've never heard it before? Want just that tribal beat of "Everybody Wants Some!!"? Are ya hot for Eddie's guitar licks only on "Hot For Teacher"? Then you gotta check out these videos! The YouTube channel Isolated Tracks is created by musician, sound technician and DJ Fatih Günes. He's just released eight classic Van Halen tracks … [Read more...]
A Video Tour Of Alex Van Halen’s Drum Sets Through The Years
Credit: Neil Zlozower The YouTube channel 65 Drums has gone back through the legendary career of Alex Van Halen to highlight each and every drum set he used from his early pre-fame days right through to 2012's A Different Kind of Truth! Here's the complete video with a chapter breakdown below: CHAPTERS Early Years :44Bands Leading To Van Halen 1:41Early 70s … [Read more...]
The ‘Unchained’ Sessions, Donn Landee & More Covered In Latest Sunset Sound Van Halen Roundtable [VIDEO]
Credit: Neil Zlozower Guitarist/producer Doug Messenger returned to Sunset Sound Studios in Los Angeles to reveal more behind-the-scenes stories on Van Halen! Messenger first caught Van Halen perform in February of 1977 and quickly made a call to Warner Bros., urging them to check out this guitar hero named Eddie Van Halen. Soon after, the former Van Morrison … [Read more...]
LISTEN: ‘Eruption: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen’ Authors Exclusive Interview
The VHND's Eric Senich talked with Eruption: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen authors Brad Tolinski and Chris Gill for an exclusive, in-depth discussion of Eddie Van Halen's legendary career! Throughout the interview Tolinski and Gill give their insight and opinions on a wide range of EVH topics including: Eddie's childhood days overcoming his shynessHis relationship … [Read more...]
Podcast Explores Van Halen’s Rare & Unreleased Recordings
Credit: Neil Zlozower It's the biggest question among Van Halen fans: Will we ever get to hear what's in the 5150 vaults? The fascination with Van Halen's vast collection of unreleased material was pretty intense back in the 80s and 90s but with the emergence of the internet, it grew to mammoth (pun intended) proportions. The Wax Audio Show podcast recently released … [Read more...]
Van Halen’s ‘Atomic Punk’ Ranks Among The Heaviest Songs Of The ’70s By Ultimate Guitar Readers
Credit: Neil Zlozower Readers of Ultimate Guitar ranked Van Halen's 1978 song "Atomic Punk" among the heaviest songs of the 1970s. The guitar community website has a weekly poll asking readers to vote an various topics. This week they wanted to know which song from the '70s is the heaviest of them all. Van Halen's classic deep track from their '78 debut album fared … [Read more...]
Anthrax’s Scott Ian On Seeing Van Halen Open For Black Sabbath In 1978: ‘Van Halen Was The Best Band On The Planet’
Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian remembered seeing Van Halen open for Black Sabbath back in 1978. At the time, Black Sabbath was in a period of decline. As for Van Halen, Ian said there was no better band around. Ian, who was a recent guest on the No F'n Regrets Podcast with Robb Flynn of Machine Head, said the stories about Van Halen blowing Black Sabbath off the stage during … [Read more...]
Exclusive Interview: ‘Van Halen: The Eruption and the Aftershock’ Author Michael Christopher
The Van Halen News Desk's Eric Senich talked with music journalist Michael Christopher about his new book Van Halen: The Eruption and the Aftershock! Below is the complete interview conducted by Senich for his podcast Booked On Rock. Christopher discusses a wide range of topics related to Van Halen including: The band's early days in Pasadena and original bassist Mark … [Read more...]
Five Favorites: ‘Van Halen I & II’ [PODCAST]
If you had to pick just five of the 21 tracks that make up Van Halen's first two classic albums what would they be? Do you favor the hit singles? The deep tracks? How about the Eddie Van Halen solo instrumentals? Hosts of the podcast The Imbalanced History of Rock and Roll Ray Koob and Markus Goldman are serious Van Halen fans. So much so that, for their most recent episode, … [Read more...]
WATCH: Van Halen Photographer Neil Zlozower Interview At Sunset Sound Studios
Photographer Neil Zlozower has shot as many classic Van Halen photos as Van Halen has recorded classic songs. That's a lot, which means he has just as many stories to tell. Zlozower sat down for a lengthy interview at Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood, California to share the stories of his time "hangin', gettin' into trouble together and workin' together" with David Lee … [Read more...]