The staff at Loudersound has gone through their Van Halen album collection to highlight the ones they say are most worthy of a needle drop. "Van Halen albums have it all: One of the most innovative guitarists of all time, your choice of rock star frontmen, and some great tunes," writes Paul Elliott. "If ever a back catalogue epitomized the American Dream, it's the albums of … [Read more...]
The Van Halen Song That Should Have Been Number One [VIDEO]
Which Van Halen songs do you think should have gone to number one but didn't? If you said "Panama" you're in good company. The Professor of Rock hosts a series of videos devoted to the greatest classic rock artists of all time. In his most recent episode (above) he makes the argument for "Panama" as being the Van Halen song that should have topped the charts. "'Panama', … [Read more...]
Hear Never Before Heard Outtakes/Alternate Endings Of Early Van Halen Tracks [VIDEO]
Credit: Sunset Sound Recorders YouTube channel Sunset Sound continued its Van Halen November series with parts 2 and 2.5 of their interview with engineer Brian Kehew. This time Kehew takes us into the studio to hear never before heard outtakes and alternate endings of classic Van Halen tracks. Kehew was hired by Warner Bros. around 2005 as an independent contractor to … [Read more...]
Anthrax’s Scott Ian Calls Eddie Van Halen ‘The John Lennon And Paul McCartney Of Hard Rock’
Credit: Scott Ian's Instagram page Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian has paid Eddie Van Halen the ultimate tribute by saying his musical skills were those of both John Lennon and Paul McCartney combined. Ian talked about Eddie's legacy during a recent appearance on Dean Delray's "Let There Be Talk" podcast. "There's not a bad song from 'Van Halen I' to '1984' -- for me, … [Read more...]
Engineer Brian Kehew Talks Unreleased Van Halen Songs With The Van Halen News Desk
Credit: Neil Zlozower Ah, wow, man. Wait a second, man. Waddaya think “Hot For Teacher” is gonna sound like this time? It’s hard to imagine hearing Van Halen’s classic “Hot For Teacher” and not being able to recite every lyric word for word. Even harder to imagine is hearing the song with an entirely different set of lyrics but that's exactly what engineer Brian Kehew … [Read more...]
Watch Moving Netherlands Bell Tower Tribute To Eddie Van Halen
There have been many noteworthy tributes to Eddie Van Halen over the last week and a half. This one may be the most unique and moving of them all. Four days after Eddie passed, a tribute was performed by carillonneur Malgosia Fiebig from the Dom Tower in Utrecht, the Netherlands - the country Edward Lodewijk Van Halen was born on January 26th, 1955. In this video filmed … [Read more...]
Has Waldo Been Found? Check Out His ‘Hot For Teacher’ Cover!
The still unknown actor who played Waldo (L) and Keith Kessinger (R) The great “Hot For Teacher” Waldo hoax has officially come to an end. Meet Keith Kessinger, a musician from California who, back in 2011, posted a one-man-band tribute video to his favorite Van Halen song and titled it “Hot For Waldo.” In it, Kessinger performs the Van Halen classic “Hot For Teacher” … [Read more...]
Recreating The Alex Van Halen Snare Sound with Rick Beato
In this episode of "Recreating The Sound," Rick Beato attempts to recreate the snare drum sound of Alex Van Halen. Watch the video above. … [Read more...]
What Happened To The Woman From ‘Hot For Teacher’? [Video]
Looks like someone's been doing their Van Halen history homework. The website Grunge recently posted a video on their YouTube channel all about what became of Lillian Müller, the woman who played the teacher with all the right moves in Van Halen's classic "Hot For Teacher" video. Here are some of the interesting notes Grunge revealed about Müller: Müller had started … [Read more...]
Tawny Kitaen On Touring With ‘Greatest Rock Band In The World’
Tawny Kitaen was doing cartwheels for Van Halen long before Whitesnake. In fact, she still is. "I'd like to see somebody tell me that Van Halen isn't the greatest rock band in the world," said Kitaen during her recent appearance on rock journalist Mitch Lafon's podcast "Rock Talk with Mitch Lafon". Kitaen said she toured with Van Halen's original lineup for three years … [Read more...]
Listen to Eddie Van Halen Join Scandal On Stage in 1984
Not many people are aware that Eddie Van Halen joined Patty Smyth's band, Scandal, on stage in 1984. Eddie Van Halen and his then-wife Valerie Bertinelli were good friends with Patty Smyth as Scandal was still riding a wave of popularity after 'The Warrior' became a Top 10 hit song. During Scandal's 1984 tour, Eddie - impromptu - joined Scandal on stage for two songs in … [Read more...]
Watch the ‘Lost Weekend’ Van Halen Documentary!
NOW STREAMING, for free: 'Lost Weekend', a documentary from filmmakers Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb: In 1984, two friends from small-town Pennsylvania win an MTV contest and the chance to party with Van Halen for 48 Hours. And 36 years later, a short (14 minute) documentary about that legendary "lost weekend" has been released for free streaming! Watch the … [Read more...]