Calling all Van Halen fanatics
 

I've seen this before on a grainy VHS, but just found a decent online version. Those were the days!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FORI7x8WWHg&search=van%20halen

Man, do I miss the old Van halen!!

I just don't respect Eddy VanHalen these days, not since he left Valerie.http://www.pelicanparts.com/support/...ool_shades.gif

I think Val left him. 20+ yrs. with someone who was always drunk was probably enough for her.

Have you seen Eddie these days? Scary. He makes Keith Richards look good!:eek:

Oh, man, say it ain't so.http://www.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/pint1.gif

Pat, remember Ed had part of his tongue removed for oral cancer and continued to smoke thereafter. He is much an alcoholic as they come too. I don't know how Val made it that long with someone so self-destructive. But there's no denying his greatness in the music world.

**** band since 1985! Party rock cover band formed in 1974 that as early as 76 was considering luring Hagar and also nearly ended up with Richard Hell's then-wife and future John McEnroe spouse Patti Smythe of faux new wave band Scandal as frontwoman.

But yes, their DLH era output is great. He was a great frontman and blindingly perfect for their image and sound.

Don 't you mean DLR, as in David Lee Roth? MTV had a great show quite a while ago called Dave TV, it was Roth for hours mostly in person. His acrobatic antics were stunning to say the least.

yeah dlr...got the braindamage today

Read an interview with Ed not too long ago that was originally written around the Diver Down album timeframe. He lambasted DLR (a sign of things to come) and also had *nothing* good to say about Michael Anthony. He basically said, "It's all me. I do everything."

At least he was modest.

His tone is incredible, though. Wow.

Mike

In a very recent interview, Mike (I think very accurately) said his backing vocals are every bit as much of the classic VH sound as was Ed's guitar. If it's all Ed, why isn't he out there playing solo now? The others would love nothing more than to get out there and play again.

I agree. In that video above, Mike has some decent chops on bass, too. I was a little surprised that Eddie was so totally negative on Mike in the interview. He said something to the effect of, "All he has done is remodel his house and buy a Porsche with the money he's made off of us."

That statement, to me, made it sound like Eddie (and maybe Alex to an extent) felt that Mike wasn't part of "us" - he was just some guy riding their coattails. He also lambasted DLR saying that many of the songs had to be adjusted to fit Dave's "range" and the implication was that he meant that in a derogatory manner.

Interesting interview. I think it is in a GuitarOne magazine from a month or so ago...

Mike

Update. Here's another one.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=U9pbvGp4jwU&search=van%20halen

This is another total crushing by the king when he was still young and hungry. Looks like their first tour. Sound quality is pretty good too.

Eddie did the solo to Michael Jackson's "Beat It". It won "solo of the decade contest" by some Guitar magazine, I think .

Thanks Rick-- Anyone who can't appreciate that version of Eruption...
Amazing!

MA didn't really have chops, but in a band like VH, you don't want that. Kinda like SRV's backing band...boring as all snot and not really technically proficient players. But any serious noodling from the ryhthm section would detract from the guitar, so it is the best setup.

In some cases you can get guys who hold down the ship will still providing sublime/inspired playing (Jim Gordon on drums with Derek and the Dominos comes to mind, along with Tony Levin on bass playing with Peter Gabriel), but those are exceptions.

EVH was borrowing quite a bit from the Jimi playbook on that eruption video...

I am old enough to remember VH, and what his technique meant in the late 70s. I wish i still had the 1978 GP magazine which fiest featured EVH after the VH1 album had come out.

Tho I personally lean much more to the Brit school of Page, Beck, Green, Moore et al myself, to my mind there have been only two really influential rock guitar players. Hendrix stood guitar playing on its ear in the 60's and EVH set the agenda for the 80 and 90s.

Who's come since?

Stuart

Eddie and Jimi are the only two I can think of who actually inspired entire generations of kids to go out and buy guitars. Lots of great ones between and after them. But none had the impact they had. I still get goose bumps when I go to a VH show or hear certain songs. I got their first album right when it came out and I was in 2nd grade. Certain bands are just a soundtrack to one's life. VH is mine. I grew up and learned all my lessons while listening to them.

Thanks for sharing......that made my night. I think they are the only band I didn't get to see (with DLR) that I would just love to attend now. If they re-unite again, I'll travel anywhere to see.

Thanks again,

I love VH--but as far as a soundtrack to my life, I gotta go with RUSH. I've loved them since I was 10. Soundtrack to my life? That's great, Rick. Got me thinking a lot!

Yes, Rush is that for me as well. I heard All the World's a Stage when I was about six. But I didn't get into them until I was about 15 and didn't appreciate their music until I started playing it with my band. I'll never forget listening to Farewell to Kings on my Walkman as I took a train ride down the Rhine in Germany and literally looked at "castles in the distance". Unreal.

Still, VH is what made me pick up a guitar. I caught a pick from Eddie when I had front row on the Balance tour. I look at it every day in the frame with my autographed photo and ticket stub.

For a while, the Guitar Center on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood had Eddie's famous red and white striped guitar in the front window. Man, was that thing absolutely beat to ****. Kind of like a great race car. Used. Abused. Pushed to the limit. Beyond the limit. And proudly retired.

I bought one of my Ernie Ball VH guitars at that Guitar Ctr. I saw it on display there and also the guys' handprints in the sidewalk.

EVH single handedly changed the entire guitar and effects making industry in the '80s and he deserves his guitar god status. He was a monster player and an absolutely billiant guy when it came to re-engineering gear. And his tone......wow.

I just wish he would have stayed away from the keyboards. If EVH ever had a downfall it would have been trying to convince the world that he was the 2nd coming of Gershwin or Mozart. There were plenty of better and more technical players within a few years of Eruption, but no one has ever owned the shred/boogie-woogie blues thing the way EVH did. And it worked. People loved it. People still love it. So why go to the keyboards?

I read an interview somewhere in which Ed said piano was his main inst. and he just made his living with the guitar. Ever hear his old man play clarinet on Big Bad Bill? It obviously ran in the family.

Gonna listen/watch Eruption again right now...

Exactly as I... Started at the same age even..

I indentify with the music, the views, the attitude towards life..

Big time.

rjp

Permanent Waves was the clincher for me--What a great Fking album...not to hijack.
Christian.

Quite a lyricist, Neil Peart. Can drum a bit to. I always thought of drummers as guys that hung round with musicians before Neil.

Followed his more recent fortunes and the book he has written?

Those were the days...cocaine was PC, and STD's could be cure with pills or a shot.

That, and Presto do it for me -- listen to those two daily.

Oh and OT - EVH rocks.

rjp

It was very disheartening for me to see VH in concert last year in Chula Vista. Eddie looked really bad - as a guy behind us said "He looks like a retard". Like many of you I grew up with VH and identify portions of my life to their music. (Rush not at all). Two other bands that share my life stage are the Eagles and surprisingly Neil Diamond (Stones and JLS). It's really sad to EVH these days. He's a shell of his former self and perhaps did drink himself into a tard. I refuse to see him play from here on out.

....it still works today! I just finished another "Frankenstrat"......sad, I know but it can be hard to let go of your childhood....

Yeah, Neil has had some rough times. I read his book "Ghost Rider". Gives alot of insight into the intellectual guy he really is. He definitely doesn't like Americans, though - just listen to "Beneath, Between, Behind"...

Mike

Rush fan since the Fly By Night album came out...

Yeah--Sammy just came out and said that Eddie was so drunk during the performances of their last tour that he ahd no idea whaich song Eddie was going to play next.

VH with DLR--one of the greatest bands ever--one day they will be looked upon as having such a wide influence(even moreso than now) with the likes of Zep, Floyd, Stones and as a band that continues to have appeal due to their diversity and musical skill.
The amazing part is that they certainly developed their unique "sound" which is instantly recognizable regardless of the song type being played.
If you hear any VH tune, from "Dance the Night away" to "Women and Children First" to "Drop Dead Legs" you instantly recognize it as being VH.

I would pay almost any amount to see a reuinted VH for 1 last go around.

Ok, let's just make this a "how VH and Rush influenced me" thread.

David, I saw VH with Sammy on their last tour in Atlantic City and my experience was 180 deg. opposite yours. I wasn't more than a little buzzed and I've seen VH at least 25 times, so I know how they can be live. That last show was one of the best ever. Ed absolutely crushed every song. They all did. I've rarley had such a great buzz from the music.

I've been lucky enough to watch Neil Peart do a soundcheck and he even walked past me in a parking lot in Germany once. He's an impressive guy in every way, about 6'6", steely stare in his eyes, very intense. Loved his first two books and I'm taking Ghost Rider to China to give to a friend next week. I'm probably gonna climb Tai Shan in a few weeks, inspired by the Rush song. I've had a lot of surreal Rush moments - driving a Ferrari 512BB and singing Red Barchetta in my head, riding the train to work today, pretending I was in the Subdivisions video ("Some will lose the race to rats. Get caught in ticking traps."), driving crazy speeds on the hwy., listening to Ghost Rider ("Sunrise in my mirror lightens the invisible load.") and looking in my rear view mirror. I was listening to Between the Wheels this morning and thinking of Moses's thread about his kid's first car - "Wheels can take you around. Wheels can cut you down." Rush is heavy stuff and I pity the folks who don't get their music. I can't imagine being without it.

Did any of you guys ever go see bands like:
-The Stooges
-Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers
-The Dictators
-X
-The MC5
-Husker Du

?

I know this is a bit 'Inside Edition', but can someone post a recent pic of Eddie?

As a fan, it's gotta be sad. Hey I bought their records when they were big....and spun at 33 & 1/3

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1146583106.jpg

:(