What's your favorite Van Halen tune?
 

I discovered VH just before Diver Down" came out. I was hooked then.

I heard "Hang em High" on the radio today and it brought back some great memories.

I found this ditty which is probably my favorite VH tune. What's yours?

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Little dreamer

Drop Dead Legs and Panama. I was 14 and impressionable.

You're gonna laugh, but....Jamie's Cryin'. I was over at a friend's house in 1978 (?) when he says, "Have you ever heard of Van Halen?" I was big into music at the time and had to say no... He put on Van Halen's first album and I was blown away.

Eruption - Ain't talking bout love

I am going with Hot For Teacher. It was a hard choice between that and Big Bad Bill is Sweet William Now.

I don't feel tardy...

Saw them live last year! :->
Vid back in the day when Eddie/Alex had coordination :( Cradle Will Rock

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Absolutely.

With Mean Streets a very close second....

Been my favorite band since the first album came out when I was in 2nd grade. I'm gonna have to say Beautiful Girls or Romeo Delight are my favorites, though most of their songs still make the hair on my arms stand up.

BTW, here's a very cool guitar-only track from the studio version of Panama. And that's Ed's Lamborghini revving in the middle of the song.

YouTube - Van Halen Behind The Scenes Footage on a Yacht

This one is a Rocker. Top Jimmy

YouTube - Van Halen Top Jimmy (Cover)

You might enjoy this one too.

YouTube - History of Van Halen (VH-1 2006) Part 1

I saw VH open for Black Sabbath back in '77 or '78 - can't remember. They were huge during HS and years following, and since I was in a band and a guitarist I couldn't help but keep up with what they were doing. Most anything from the first album was genre-defining, and there are a lot of other tunes I like. I'll be a heretic though, and say that "Right Now" is actually my favorite of theirs. Nothing to really set it apart, but it is a very well crafted tune that walks a nice line between serious and rocking, down and up, and is nicely balanced.

No shame in loving Right Now. It's one of the toughest guitar solos out there and a cool tune too. Of course, I love it because I caught a guitar pick from Eddie from the front row in the middle of that song.

I can listen to Right Now over and over. There aren't a lot of songs on my list that I can do that with.

But for just gut-wrenching, kick-arse, goosebump raising, the beginning of "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" works every time.

There are so many VH songs that have small instrumental parts that I love... The intro/outro to Right Now, the intro to Top Jimmy, the first guitar rips before the lyrics come in on When It's Love, Unchained.. etc etc.


The melodies Ed comes up with are so perfect, and the music feels very time-period-specific, depending on the song.

Gosh, I couldn't even pick a favorite. I suspect it'd be from one of the first 4 if I spent some time going through them all and forced myself to decide, but I did like most of their stuff through 5150 and even some of the Hagar stuff.

+1 Jamie's Cryin'

Cradle will rock
and
Panama

First album. Mainly for his guitar tone. Eddie had pretty violent tone on the early stuff. I mean, it isn't Leslie West violent, but you can tell that he was turned up really freaking loud when they recorded 'Eruption', 'You Really Got Me', 'Ain't Talkin' bout Love', etc.. on the first record.