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 News
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...]
RARE 1980 “You Really Got Me” & “Cradle” TV Lip-Sync
Here is a rare treat. Two little-known clips of Van Halen lip-syncing for TV in Europe in 1980. We featured the "And The Cradle Will Rock..." video years ago, but never the "You Really Got Me" one. Keep in mind that seeing Van Halen on TV was something that almost never happened back in 1980. And when you did actually get to see a great rock band on TV, it was often a … [Read more...]
MTV’s ‘Lost Weekend With Van Halen,’ Part Two
"Fear And Loathing in 1984", Part Two (Continued from Part One). The Detroit Van Halen show quickly came to a close and Kurt and Tom found themselves deep in the tunnels of the dungeonesque backstage. They were quickly served lobster and filet mignon while the band took a few minutes for some post-show relaxation. When the band returned, they spent time hanging out with the … [Read more...]
Van Halen Nominated in 2012 Ultimate Classic Rock Awards
As we reported last month, the staff of Ultimate Classic Rock chose Van Halen's "A Different Kind of Truth" as the Best Rock Album of 2012, and Van Halen's "Outta Space" as the Best Song of 2012. (Read that story here). But now it's time for their READERS to cast their votes! The 2012 Ultimate Classic Rock Awards are now live and ready for your voting. They've narrowed … [Read more...]