After changing its name from Mammoth, Van Halen strutted a glam-punk attitude when it burst onto the national scene in 1978 with its self-titled debut album. Featuring the template-smashing talent of the whammy-bar-happy, two-hand-tapping guitarist Eddie Van Halen and his percussive-dynamo brother, Alex, Van Halen the band, to many, became the obvious successor to the hard-rock … [Read more...]
A Passion for Van Halen
Last year, we featured a story about a podcast from The Guardian’s film & music editor, Michael Hann, where he professes his passion for Van Halen, whom he describes as “the most important and influential white rock band apart from the Beatles.” Hann really gets how Van Halen totally reinvented hard rock and how David Lee Roth helped make them much more interesting than the … [Read more...]
Sammy Hagar and ‘That Metal Show’ Hosts Chose Their ‘Top 5 Roth-Era Van Halen Songs’
Sammy Hagar co-hosted That Metal Show this week, where the four hosts tried to choose the top five best David Lee Roth-era Van Halen songs. Trunk called the task "Impossible because the first four albums, top to bottom, were amazing." Eddie Trunk, Jim Florentine, and Don Jamieson primarily chose deep tracks, while Hagar argued more for the hits such as "Jump" and "Panama." Don … [Read more...]
Dweezil Zappa’s Ongoing Tribute To Van Halen
When Dweezil Zappa's "Zappa Plays Zappa" tour hit Raleigh, NC, Earlier this month, Zappa shared the story of how he met Eddie Van Halen, much like when he shared the story during his tour three years ago. This time he played "Somebody Get Me A Doctor" as well as "Eruption". From Raleighmusic.com: There was a musical aside when Dweezil grabbed a black guitar with yellow … [Read more...]
Preview: How great is Eddie Van Halen?
From Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: By Scott Mervis He rewrote the guitar manual when the band debuted in 1978. Three decades later, he's playing with fire again. Where does he rank among the guitar greats? Early 1978. In the music world, things are churning at a furious pace. Punk is exploding; "Saturday Night Fever" is raging; the Stones, Floyd and Zeppelin are still … [Read more...]
‘The Whole Truth’: The Howard Stern/Van Halen Special
This Tuesday, Feb 7th, the release date for Van Halen's new album, A Different Kind Of Truth, a new special called "THE WHOLE TRUTH: THE HOWARD STERN/VAN HALEN SPECIAL" which is essentially a 5-hour uncensored history of Van Halen on The Howard Stern Show...the good, the bad and the ugly. They pulled a variety of appearances from the different band members over the years to … [Read more...]
Van Halen: Arguably the Most Important American Hard Rock Band Ever
From The Guardian: David Lee Roth: "I've been rich and I've been poor. Rich is better" He's been up, he's been down. And in recent years he's also been a medical technician. Now he's back with Van Halen and has much to say about the band's glory days. First, though, he wants to chat about, erm, sheepdogs There's something to clarify before David Lee Roth gets down to … [Read more...]
Van Halen Podcast
From Mars Attacks: This month’s Classic Albums Column focuses on Van Halen’s second album Van Halen II. You can listen to the free 84-minute podcast celebrating the album here. (The podcast can be streamed or downloaded). … [Read more...]
Memories Of Opening For Van Halen In The Early Years
Here's an interesting story written about a band called the Granati Brothers and their experiences on tour with Van Halen. They were Van Halen's opening act for many concerts in 1979 and 1981. From PittsburghLive.com: Van Halen's devotion to music reaches far and wide By Regis Behe, TRIBUNE-REVIEW Spandex. Brown M&Ms. A revolving door of lead singers.These … [Read more...]
The David Lee Roth Awesomeness Meter
From the San Francisco Chronicle: Molded by rock Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle More than 20 years later, there's very little that I don't remember about my first rock concert - Van Halen on the "5150" tour at the Cow Palace in Daly City. I was 15 years old, and drank cans of Budweiser in the parking lot while listening to "Led Zeppelin II" on the stereo … [Read more...]
David Lee Roth: “Van Halen Transcends Music”
The following David Lee Roth quotes were taken from a 1997 interview that Roth did with Frank Meyer from the now-defunct POPsmear magazine. Photographs by Robert Yager. "This band has been at each others throats since before the beginning. Once upon a time, no even before that. And out of this conflict comes marvelous, competitive, flame throwing, hallelujah, dump truck size, … [Read more...]
Sammy Hagar Career-Spanning Video Montage
Sammy Hagar: Every Picture Tells A Story, Don't It? Sammy put this visual guide together to give you a sense of his musical history - from Montrose to solo career to Van Halen (and the Van Halen reunion) to the Wabos to Chickenfoot! Let Sammy tell you all about it by picking up a copy of his book at VanHalenStore.com. … [Read more...]