Thirty seven years ago this week Van Halen’s "Jump" knocked Culture Club’s "Karma Chameleon" off the top of the charts and started a five week run at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. "Jump" was released a single on December 21st, 1983 and began its ascent atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart beginning on February 25th, 1984. It stayed there until the week of March 24th, … [Read more...]
An Appreciation Of Van Halen’s ‘1984’
Entertainment Weekly has shared an excerpt of LIFE's recent special issue on Van Halen and it's all about the legendary album released 37 years ago - '1984': An Appreciation of Van Halen's '1984' by Entertainment Weekly & LIFE The year was MCMLXXXIV. Or, yes, 1984. On Jan. 9 of that year, in full command of their rock powers, Van Halen unleashed 1984 into the … [Read more...]
Angus Young Looks Back On Good Times & Late-Night Call With Eddie Van Halen
AC/DC's Angus Young will always remember Eddie Van Halen as a man full of fire on stage, full of warmth off. "He was just all charm - full of warmth, happy to see me," Young recalled during a recent interview on the Talk is Jericho podcast. "At first, I was a bit shocked. I got this guy, he's talking like, 'You crazy motherfucker!', he's hugging me... He was always funny, … [Read more...]
WatchMojo Pays Tribute To Eddie Van Halen [VIDEO]
The YouTube channel WatchMojo paid tribute to Eddie Van Halen by highlighting his best career moments. In the video above WatchMojo takes a look at the accomplishments of Eddie by counting down his past appearances on: Top 10 Songs That Make You Want to Jump, Top 10 Iconic Guitars of All Time, Top 10 Musical Siblings, Top 10 Coolest Rock Vocal-Guitar Duos, Top 10 Most Insane … [Read more...]
Listen To Van Halen/Foo Fighters Mashup ‘Jump Like These’
It's times like these you might as well "Jump"! Check out this mashup just posted to YouTube by Pierre Dentale. In it he takes David Lee Roth's isolated vocals from Van Halen's "Jump" and lays it over the music of "Times Like These" from Foo Fighters. The result - "Jump Like These": Makes us wonder what it'd be like if David Lee Roth actually was the lead singer of … [Read more...]
Documentarian Sam Dunn: ‘The Definitive Van Halen Story Is Yet To Be Told’
Canadian documentarian Sam Dunn says a Van Halen documentary remains the "Holy Grail" of stories yet to be told. Dunn (Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, Super Duper Alice Cooper) was asked by Death Angel's Ted Aguilar during an "Alive & Streaming" YouTube interview if he had a bucket list of documentary ideas. "Van Halen, for me, … [Read more...]
Loudersound Picks Out The Best Of Van Halen Album Catalogue
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]
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 sort through their archives to find material worthy … [Read more...]
Anthrax’s Scott Ian Calls Eddie Van Halen ‘The John Lennon And Paul McCartney Of Hard Rock’
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, there's nothing that I don't love. Every … [Read more...]
Engineer Brian Kehew Talks Unreleased Van Halen Songs With The Van Halen News Desk
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 has revealed. In a recent … [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...]