This week in 1984, the winner of MTV's "Lost Weekend With Van Halen" suddenly found himself in the eye of the hurricane. This is his story! When MTV announced it's "Lost Weened With Van Halen" contest in early 1984, the network received over a million postcard entries for a chance to spend three days with the band during their 1984 tour. The lottery couldn't have found a more … [Read more...]
Van Halen News
When Eddie Van Halen & Michael Jackson Performed “Beat It” Onstage (Video & Photos)
Eddie Van Halen once joined Michael Jackson onstage. Watch the video of the unrehearsed performance, above. It was this weekend in 1984, when two gigantic musical acts rolled through on Texas. Michael Jackson kicked off three nights at Texas Stadium, with Eddie Van Halen joining him onstage during the first night. Eddie was unable to join him on the next two nights, as Van … [Read more...]
Eddie Van Halen Deconstructs His Collaboration On ‘Beat It’
Eddie Van Halen was interviewed this Wednesday by CNN for a segment on Michael Jackson's masterpiece album, Thriller. The transcription of their entire interview with Eddie is below. (CNN) -- Eddie Van Halen sits on a sofa in his home studio, smoking an electronic cigarette and reminiscing about the 30th anniversary of Michael Jackson's masterpiece album, … [Read more...]
Audio: Isolated Guitar From Van Halen’s First Three Albums!
We've featured these isolated guitar tracks from Eddie Van Halen before, but those original ones are mostly gone from youtube now. Here's all the ones that are currently circulating from Van Halen's first three albums...Van Halen, Van Halen II, and Women And Children First. We'll feature more isolated tracks from Fair Warning, Diver Down, and 1984 soon. These never get old. … [Read more...]
Van Halen’s “Outta Space” Named Best Song of 2012!
Not only did Ultimate Classic Rock list 'A Different Kind of Truth' as the very best album of 2012, they now have proclaimed Van Halen's "Outta Space" the very best song of the year! From their article, here's their intro and their Number One pick: 2012 has turned out to be the year in which everything old is new again. From the triumphant returns of Van Halen and Bruce … [Read more...]
Ted Nugent: “Godspeed, Eddie Van Halen”
Ted Nugent contributed to the new hardcover photo book, Eddie Van Halen, by Neil Zlozower. VHND.com has the exclusive on what he had to say about Eddie Van Halen: "Van Halen opened up for my band in the late 1970s, and this fuckin’ kid started playing shit I’d never heard before, and I was like, 'Oh, I think I’m a bad motherfucker, but there may be an element of me sitting … [Read more...]
Van Halen’s ‘A Different Kind of Truth’ the “Number One Album of 2012” According to Ultimate Classic Rock
Popular rock news website Ultimate Classic Rock has listed their TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2012. Guess which album they liked the most this year? From their article, here's their intro and their Number One pick: "Our list of the Top 10 Albums of 2012 features some of the biggest names in classic rock history. Perennial favorites like Van Halen, Bruce Springsteen, Dylan and Rush have … [Read more...]
David Lee Roth: Gene Simmons Tried To Recruit Eddie For KISS, But I Was On To His Game
Yesterday we featured a quote from an old friend of Van Halen's that said that sometime before Van Halen's debut album was released, Kiss's Gene Simmons tried to recruit Eddie Van Halen for his band. In his out-of-print autobiography, ‘Crazy From The Heat’, David Lee Roth concurs that Gene Simmons tried to recruit Eddie Van Halen for KISS. Here's what Roth had to say in his … [Read more...]
Did Gene Simmons Beg Eddie Van Halen To Join Kiss?
Kiss bassist Gene Simmons has always boasted that in 1982, Edward Van Halen, while expressing his frustration over dealing with David Lee Roth, actually asked if he could join Kiss. We're thinking Gene is making a bigger deal out of it then it was. If Eddie really did ask to join Kiss, he probably woke up the next day with a brutal hangover and had a laugh about it with the … [Read more...]
Is Ozzy Dead? Van Halen’s Crazy Tour With Black Sabbath
David Lee Roth shares a tale from Van Halen's first world tour: There is an old science-fiction movie from the fifties called Forbidden Planet, where the extinct inhabitants are called the Krell. So we started to call cocaine "Krell", gave it a science fiction name. We would stay up all night, well into the next day, having what we called Krell Wars. And the best Krell War was … [Read more...]
Van Halen’s ‘A Different Kind of Truth’ Nominated for ‘Best Rock Album’ in Guitar World’s 2012 Readers Poll
Days ago, we reported that Guitar World nominated Van Halen in four categories in their 2012 Readers Poll, but failed to nominate them for 'Best New Album'. Well, now things have changed... 'A Different Kind of Truth' is now nominated! So if you're one of those fans that likes to make your voice heard, head on over and vote so that Van Halen can catch up from a late start in … [Read more...]
Legendary Record Producer Andy Johns on Producing Van Halen
In the video above, Guitar Shop TV sits down with legendary record producer Andy Johns (The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, and many other rock greats) In this exclusive interview, Andy discusses his work with Eddie Van Halen in producing several of his classic rock albums. “WORKING WITH EDDIE VAN HALEN WAS MAGIC,” Johns told Guitar Player magazine. “I loved him, … [Read more...]