Guitar World has announced the official results from their 2012 Reader's Poll in their February 2013 issue. Van Halen came in at first or second place in all 5 categories in which they were nominated. The results are as follows: Comeback of the Year Van Halen-44% Rush-28% Aerosmith-15% Green Day-8% Down-5% Best Rock Guitarist Eddie Van Halen-52% Slash-20% Billy … [Read more...]
Van Halen News
Ultimate Classic Rock Bowl Rd 2: Van Halen VS. Pink Floyd
After defeating Motley Crue by by a margin of two to one, VAN HALEN is back in Round 2 of the Ultimate Classic Rock Bowl against PINK FLOYD, who stomped Metallica. This round should be much closer! From Ultimate Classic Rock: The second round of the 2013 Ultimate Classic Rock Bowl features a lot of interesting matchups — perhaps none more intriguing than the one pitting Van … [Read more...]
1986: EVH on “5150” vs. Vai on “Eat ‘Em And Smile”
From Premiere Guitar: How Van Halen's split broadened the musical landscape of the mid-'80s. I remember the days of running down to the mailbox to see if the latest of many guitar magazine subscriptions had arrived, always hoping for one of two players to be on the cover: Eddie Van Halen or Steve Vai. Nothing drove me to my room faster for a three-hour session with the … [Read more...]
Ultimate Classic Rock Bowl: Van Halen VS. Motley Crue
From UltimateClassicRock.com: The sixth matchup of the 2013 Ultimate Classic Rock Bowl features two of the most explosive groups ever to come out of Los Angeles — Motley Crue and Van Halen. Over the next month, 16 of rock’s biggest bands will square off against each other in a series of single-elimination battles to determine the true champ. Edward Van Halen and company … [Read more...]
Van Halen’s “No Brown M&Ms” Concert Rider Infographic
Perhaps the most famous concert riders of them all are the ones in which Van Halen famously stipulated that brown M&M's were to be banished from the band's dressing room. Feast your eyes on this cool infographic based on the actual 1982 Van Halen World Tour rider, below. The rider contains items such as "Schlitz Malt Liquor beer (16 ounce cans)", "One (1) large tube KY … [Read more...]
Full Blast & Top Down: The Making of 1984 (Part 4)
. Continued from Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3 Los Angeles also provides Roth’s canvas for "Top Jimmy", but this time the picture he painted was more grounded in his day-to-day life. Easily the oddest cut on the album, it features Eddie sounding as if he is playing a guitar strung with elastic bands—partly the result of the fact that he is often slapping the strings. It is one … [Read more...]
Caption This Photo, #10
Van Halen photo from 1979. Write your own caption/punchline in our Comments section. (Captions only). … [Read more...]
Full Blast & Top Down: The Making of 1984 (Part 3)
Continued from Part 1 & Part 2 Opening with the unexpected sound of a warm electronic swell, MCMLXXXIV/1984, seemed to herald the arrival of some new mutant, synth-driven, Van Halen. But the truth was that the synths had taken outings on the previous two Van Halen albums, as well, and would likely have featured more had Eddie gotten his way earlier. The short instrumental … [Read more...]
Full Blast & Top Down: The Making of 1984 (Part 2)
Story by John Scanlan (Author of Van Halen: Exuberant California, Zen Rock’n’Roll) Continued from Part 1. Roth’s return from the Amazon was just in time to prepare for a giant outdoor show Van Halen were co-headlining in San Bernardino County, California. The US festival, styling itself as a latter-day Woodstock, had been named “us” as in ‘we’—not US, or “United … [Read more...]
Full Blast & Top Down: The Making of 1984 (Part 1)
Story by John Scanlan (Author of Van Halen: Exuberant California, Zen Rock’n’Roll) The singer, on one of his many exotic adventures, is lost in the Amazon rainforest weeks before the biggest gig the band will ever play. The guitarist is threatening to burn the master tapes of the new album, which is taking considerably longer than the usual five days to record. … [Read more...]
Van Halen Tops Guitar World’s ‘Top 50 Albums of 2012’!
Guitar World's STAFF has chosen VAN HALEN"S 'A Different Kind Of Truth' as the #1 album of the year! From Guitar World: From an impending apocalypse to the promise of a new Van Halen album with David Lee Roth, the bar was set high for 2012. Everyone from the Mayans to Nostradamus allegedly prophesied the end of the world in 2012, but who could have predicted Green Day's … [Read more...]
Best Songs of 2012: Van Halen’s “Stay Frosty”
Van Halen just made Rolling Stone's '50 BEST SONGS OF 2012' list with "Stay Frosty" at number 16! From Rolling Stone: This single-handedly proved the reunion was worth the wait. Diamond Dave rides the Van Halen brothers’ flashiest riffs in decades, shooting o one-liners with the wisdom of a strip-club Zen master – from “You want to be a monk, you got to cook a lot of rice” to … [Read more...]