But since the subject came up yesterday, it makes sense to get this tired and trite topic out of the way. Because one has to know where you stand on the "VH Question".
Therefore, my thoughts:
1. Everyone knows that David Lee Roth currently sucks balls, but he was clearly the superior VH front man.
2. VH with Sammy sounded like the Sammy Hagar band.
3. Eddie Van Halen WAS a great guitar player, but ceased being in the least bit interesting after 1984.
4. Losing Michael Anthony on bass was the death note for one of Rock's all time greatest acts (who is so obnoxious as to name your kid Wolfgang? AND let him play bass in your band!!)
So, with that said, a smattering of amplifications.... (get it..? as in "amplification", like a guitar amplifier? freakin' sweet...:-)
Can someone PLEASE tell me why someone with such amazing, creative talent just simply stopped being relevant and decided to just be a shadow of his promise? Yes Eddie, i mean YOU. I mean, holy crap. The cat could do just about anything with a guitar but then faded away and refused to keep pushing the instrument. Very disappointing. Consequently Ed pales next to such masters as Randy Rhodes and Eric Clapton (Eddie's own idol).
While OU812 and 5150 were interesting albums possessing a few cool moments with Sam, they still sounded more like overproduced Montrose and Sammy solo stuff than VH.
So on the point of Montrose.... simply a great, great rock band. Yeah, Ronnie Montrose got a bit weird later, but the fundamental coolness of the self-titled Montrose album (introducing a young Sammy on the mic) was brilliant when it hit in 1973. That album gave us the Sammy classic "Bad Motor Scooter".
Oh yeah, anyone know the initial band moniker of VH when Alex, Ed, Dave and Mike first hooked up?
Mammoth. And yes, they were....
Anyway, needing to hear other views on the mythic metal masters we USED to call Van Halen .
Gimme what ya got.
The God of Thunder is with you always...... RIP
GOT
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You know there are moments in your life you never forget, like where I was when I heard Elvis died, or John Lennon or 911.
ReplyDeleteMine was when I was in a record store(yes RECORD store)in Sherman, TX and "Eruption/Running With The Devil" started playing. I about shit myself. It was the greatest thing I had ever heard. At that time I was listening to KISS almost exclusively. But I bought that album and literally wore it out till I had to buy another one. I remember at the record store I saw the poster of the back of the album with Diamond Dave leaning back with the mike and I thought it was a guy named Van(first name) Halen(last name). To me each album they came out with was a little inferior to the previous one until 1984. 1984 was good and had it's moments, but Dave had become a cartoon and it was time for him to go. In the early 80's I had strted listening to a lot of Sammy Hagar and he had become my favorite by about 84-85. When he joined Van Halen I was ecstatic about it and I wasn't disappointed. I thought in total the Van Hagar years were better than DLR years, with exception of the first album. I know I am in the minority on this. To me both will always be great and I still listen to both a lot. Diamond Dave came back, they sucked without Mikey and now Mikey and Sammy(at age 61) are still rockin and kickin ass and Dave is doing bluegrass versions of Jump. And since Valerie dumped Eddie and met Jenny, she's definately back.
Awewsome post JLL. You da man. I remember eating a microwaved breakfast of frozen sausage and eggs in a buddy's kitchen getting ready to go skiing and hearing it. Whatta album! I thought Dave looked like the coolest dude on the planet.... Turns out a few years later, not so much.... Cartoon is right.
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