David Lee Roth steals the halftime show at the Iowa-Iowa State game Sept. 13, 1986, at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. Roth, who had embarked on a solo career after leaving Van Halen in 1985, was in Iowa that weekend for a pair of gigs in Ames and Cedar Rapids. On Roth's right? No, that's not former Iowa tight end Mike Flagg in the No. 86 jersey, but rather Roth's bodyguard Eddie … [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...]
Patty Smyth Regrets Turning Down Offer To Join Van Halen
Eddie Van Halen clowning with Patty Smyth, 1985 Regrets. She’s had a few. Not being lead singer of Van Halen is one of them. Patty Smyth has enjoyed a successful career as both the singer of Scandal (“The Warrior”, “Goodbye To You”) and later as a solo artist (“Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough”) but she could have added another major accomplishment to that list. Back … [Read more...]
Teens React To Van Halen’s Live Video of ‘Unchained’
Will kids these days like "Unchained"? Claire (16 yrs old) and Walker (13 yrs old) are on their musical journey to react to the greatest music of the '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s on their YouTube channel, "3 Years Apart." Today's reaction video is Van Halen performing "Unchained" at the Oakland Coliseum Stadium in 1981, during the Fair Warning tour. Their dad, who picked … [Read more...]
Sammy Hagar Answers The Critics Regarding Keyboards In Van Halen
Sammy Hagar has heard it many times over the years. He’s the guy who wanted more keyboards and less guitar in Van Halen. Well, the former Van Halen frontman finally set the record straight on the topic and he had a rock-solid witness to back him up – Michael Anthony. “I didn’t do any of that. That’s what Eddie did,” Hagar said during yesterday’s interview on Sirius/XM’s … [Read more...]
‘5150’ In Two Minutes
Guitarist Charlie Stinchcombe (aka “Liquid Charlie”) says it's 5150 time! Here's his two-minute tribute to every song on the album... Bonus! Full cover of "Humans Being" Keep up with Liquid Charlie! Follow him on Instagram and Facebook. And Check out his YouTube Channel, filled with plenty of cool guitar vids! Related: Watch Liquid Charlie's Dave-era Van … [Read more...]
35 Years Ago: Van Halen Release ‘Hot For Teacher,’ Then Everything Goes To Hell
For the 35th anniversary of the release of "Hot For Teacher" today, we're featuring Van Halen Rising author Greg Renoff's new piece for Ultimate Classic Rock: In the fall of 1984, Van Halen dominated rock 'n' roll. Their latest album, 1984, had sold a jaw-dropping 4 million copies in less than a year. The album’s debut single, the … [Read more...]
Watch this guy react to seeing Eddie Van Halen play guitar for the first time!
There are a lot of "reaction" videos online. But this is one of the better ones. This guy is funny! How long have you been a Van Halen fan? Years? Decades? Well, for the guy in this video, you can watch him become a Van Halen fan right before your naked steaming eyes. And it's a real treat! This guy, Shaq, posts videos of himself reacting to music videos, as he's seeing … [Read more...]
Oh, You Ate 5150 Too! – Van Halen Mashup
Kick off your weekend with a KILLER new Van Halen mashup! Here's a new, unique Van Halen medley from guitarist Charlie Stinchcombe (aka “Liquid Charlie”) that cleverly combines classic riffs from Van Halen's 5150 and OU812 albums. Yet another great one from Charlie! Keep up with Liquid Charlie: Follow him on Instagram and Facebook. And Check out his YouTube Channel, … [Read more...]
Watch Millennial Hip Hop Fan React to Eddie Van Halen’s ‘Eruption’ Solo
It's always interesting to see how people react to Eddie Van Halen for the first time. Even more interesting when it's a millennial who's preferred music genre of choice is hip hop. Like in this video, posted by Hectic Reacts, the first edition of the channel's Shreddin' Saturday. Hectic says Eddie's 13-minute Eruption solo was "By far, the most requested solo I'm supposed to … [Read more...]
Watch The Blue Angel’s Video for ‘Dreams’ By Van Halen
One of the most popular videos that Van Halen ever had on MTV was a video made by the Blue Angels, using "Dreams" as the accompanying music. The band initially decided against making videos for MTV to promote the 5150 album because they wanted the fans' first visual experience with Sammy Hagar to come from a live performance. So a few months after 5150 came out, the band … [Read more...]
When Van Halen Kicked Up ‘One Way To Rock’ Ten Notches
How do you turn a pretty decent rock song into an ABSOLUTELY EPIC guitar song? You just add Eddie Van Halen, of course. It was on this day in 1986 that Van Halen was filmed in New Haven Connecticut, which resulted in our favorite recorded version of "There's Only One Way to Rock." If you want to appreciate the difference Eddie Van Halen can make on guitar, just listen to … [Read more...]