Never could stand That band, but my condolences to Eddie’s family.

Quote
Mathijs

With rock bands, I think American bands are more flash, more theatrics, more 'good fun', whereas European bands tend to be more serious and self conscious. The difference between Stones and Aerosmith. American bands more often have this entertainment, or Las vegas aspect to them.

Wow! My view is exactly the opposite. So many European (often British) artists are/were "theatrical": The Stones, Elton John, Queen, U2, Gary Glitter, David Bowie, Sex Pistols, Rod Stewart, Roxy Music, Black Sabbath, the Who, Genesis, the Cure ... the list goes on and on. There is a wonderful embrace of overt sexual ambiguity with many (not all) of these artists.

In contrast to so many "non-theatrical" American/Canadian artists who have focused more "seriously" on their music: Neil Young, Tom Petty, REM, the Cars, Grateful Dead, the Eagles, CCR, the Allman Brothers, Crosby Stills & Nash ...

Drew

Quote
Rocknroll1969
Eddie Van Halen invented that style of playing. When I first heard his playing it was incredible. Nobody did the string tapping before him. What others did does not come close to what Van Halen did.

People did string tapping before Eddie was born. However, he adapted it to his genre. Some love it, others can't stand it. Nobody's indifferent. Art mission completed.

The most influential guitarist of the last 40 years, spawned a generation of imitators- Randy Rhoads may have surpassed given time and on the whole, Michael Schenker was superior- more melodic and song oriented- in this genre. Not my cup of tea, never bought any of it. RIP

Quote
DandelionPowderman

Quote
Rocknroll1969
Eddie Van Halen invented that style of playing. When I first heard his playing it was incredible. Nobody did the string tapping before him. What others did does not come close to what Van Halen did.

People did string tapping before Eddie was born. However, he adapted it to his genre. Some love it, others can't stand it. Nobody's indifferent. Art mission completed.

Who did that before him? I think jimmy page did a little but nothing Van Halen.
We know in the 1980’s it became more common.

Quote
Rocknroll1969

Who did that before him? I think jimmy page did a little but nothing Van Halen.
We know in the 1980’s it became more common.

There's a 9 (?) Jan.1969 recording of Hendrix playing in Denmark and at one point you can hear him playing that two-hand tapping stuff EVH got famous for. I think it's during "Tax Free".

But EVH should have been fined for doing that "artificial harmonic + whammy bar abuse" trick every 5 seconds live. Dimebag Darrell obviously fell in love with that trick too (alas).

Quote
Rocknroll1969

Quote
DandelionPowderman

Quote
Rocknroll1969
Eddie Van Halen invented that style of playing. When I first heard his playing it was incredible. Nobody did the string tapping before him. What others did does not come close to what Van Halen did.

People did string tapping before Eddie was born. However, he adapted it to his genre. Some love it, others can't stand it. Nobody's indifferent. Art mission completed.

Who did that before him? I think jimmy page did a little but nothing Van Halen.
We know in the 1980’s it became more common.

[youtu.be]

Quote
Mathijs

Quote
rattler2004
Randy was great no doubt about it, but he was nowhere near the player Eddie Van Halen was...nowhere near...the man even admitted it himself in an interview or two before he died.

If you think Randy was greater then either you don’t know Eddie Van Halen’s music well, or you don’t know much about music. This is taking personal taste out of the equation.

Yes Van Halen played with a sense of fun, loud music, good times fast cars, and girls. If that’s unabashedly American and you’re offended or turn your nose up...then you have brought a smile to my face today.

One of the dumbest comments on the internet. Right up there with hating on Motzart for being too European.

In my opinion...

Pretty much sums up your entire post...the rest is window dressing.

BTW you lumped in bands that have little or nothing to do with each other...Van Halen, Bon Jovi Motley Crue and yeah Def Leppard, Deep Purple, UFO, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Duran Duran and a miriad of others are part of a great master-class deep evocative contemplative music to move your mind...lol

You also forgot to mention Jazz & The Blues as American Music...you know the Blues, without which the band that this board is dedicated to wouldn’t exist.

the shoot 'em dead, brainbell jangler!

RIP and my condolences to his many fans.
Personally I didn't like that he massacred the Kinks twice and I feel its a shame he didn't put together a good band and find a grownup frontman. I classified them as the only proponent of bubblegum metal; as such, they had some fun moments, like 'Dance the Night Away,' 'Jump' and 'Jamie's Crying.
Chuck Klosterman loved them, and since I love his writing I have to take that seriously, but he also ranks 'Hot for Teacher' as one of their best songs.

Quote
Rocknroll1969

Quote
DandelionPowderman

Quote
Rocknroll1969
Eddie Van Halen invented that style of playing. When I first heard his playing it was incredible. Nobody did the string tapping before him. What others did does not come close to what Van Halen did.

People did string tapping before Eddie was born. However, he adapted it to his genre. Some love it, others can't stand it. Nobody's indifferent. Art mission completed.

Who did that before him? I think jimmy page did a little but nothing Van Halen.
We know in the 1980’s it became more common.

Well, he always seemed to be humble. He added something
to what others did before:





Anyway, VH always wanted to be a hard rock band you can dance to. That
what I remember DLR was pointing out once.

I always loved Mean Street, with a fantastic guitar interlude from
2´06 on, "dance, baby":





RIP, Eddie!
Cathedral:






Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-10-09 02:16 by TooTough.

I wouldn't say Eddie invented finger tapping - like Frampton didn't invent using the voice box - but he was the first to use it with widespread popularity.

Not my type of guitar playing but he was a great player. RIP.

Quote
Elmo Lewis
I wouldn't say Eddie invented finger tapping - like Frampton didn't invent using the voice box - but he was the first to use it with widespread popularity.

ummm...its called a talk box. Adam and Eve I believe used their voice box first..

Nice to see Thursday Night Football play a couple Van Halen songs as they went to commercial.

Listened to Van Halen I, II, Women and Children First and 1984 today. Those albums still kick as much as they ever have. Always funny when I relisten to 1984. The backlash about keyboards. Its basically an 8 song record, and only 2 have prominent keyboards. So sure its 1/4, but the other 3/4 is awesome hard rock. Top Jimmy, Drop Dead Legs, Hot For Teacher, Girl Gone Bad. Panama. I've always contended its as great an album as all their others. I never loved Fair Warning but I know many others do. Diver Down is really the only stinker in their catalogue and even half that album is insanely solid.

Quote
RollingFreak
Listened to Van Halen I, II, Women and Children First and 1984 today. Those albums still kick as much as they ever have. Always funny when I relisten to 1984. The backlash about keyboards. Its basically an 8 song record, and only 2 have prominent keyboards. So sure its 1/4, but the other 3/4 is awesome hard rock. Top Jimmy, Drop Dead Legs, Hot For Teacher, Girl Gone Bad. Panama. I've always contended its as great an album as all their others. I never loved Fair Warning but I know many others do. Diver Down is really the only stinker in their catalogue and even half that album is insanely solid.

Always thought that Fair Warning, which many die hards say is their favourite album, is the VH equivalent to Powerage for AC/DC fans. Of the original 6 DLR albums, that has sold the least, similar to Powerage for the Bon era. Both are platinum certified though.

One thing that I always found weird with Diver Down apart from all the covers, is that Fair Warning, released the previous year, had such great sound quality. Great crisp cymbals and deep bass whereas Diver Down sounded so flat.

My ranking:

1. Fair Warning
2. Diver Down
3. Women & Children First
4. VH 1/VH 2
5. 1984
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
_______________
6. 5150/OU812

the rest of Sammy Hagar era is pretty blah, imo.

Wow, not many would rank WACF and DD over VH1, 2 and 1984!

Quote
rattler2004


Yes Van Halen played with a sense of fun, loud music, good times fast cars, and girls. If that’s unabashedly American and you’re offended or turn your nose up...

Imho that's not "unabashedly America" it's just a bunch of cliches that was prevalent in the USA when Reagan was president. A zeitgeist if you like that word.
And imo again it hasn't aged very well... like Spandex trousers.
Around the time VH ruled America (1981/82) a band like The Gun Club released two breathtaking LP's that also were unabashedly American but in a different (better?) way.

1. VH 1
2. Fair Warning
3. 1984
4. Women & Children First
5. VH 2
6. Diver Down


All others like 5150/OU812 are no real VH to me...because they are
without DLR. There are some good Van Hagar songs on it though.

Quote
DGA35
Wow, not many would rank WACF and DD over VH1, 2 and 1984!

Woman And Children First is maybe my favorite of the original 6, even though they're all pretty equal.

I get that about Powerage comparison to AC/DC although Powerage has literally always been my favorite AC/DC album whereas I could always dump Fair Warning.

Quote
Cooltoplady

Quote
Elmo Lewis
I wouldn't say Eddie invented finger tapping - like Frampton didn't invent using the voice box - but he was the first to use it with widespread popularity.

ummm...its called a talk box. Adam and Eve I believe used their voice box first..

"No Anchovies, Please"

Quote
drewmaster

Quote
Mathijs

With rock bands, I think American bands are more flash, more theatrics, more 'good fun', whereas European bands tend to be more serious and self conscious. The difference between Stones and Aerosmith. American bands more often have this entertainment, or Las vegas aspect to them.

Wow! My view is exactly the opposite. So many European (often British) artists are/were "theatrical": The Stones, Elton John, Queen, U2, Gary Glitter, David Bowie, Sex Pistols, Rod Stewart, Roxy Music, Black Sabbath, the Who, Genesis, the Cure ... the list goes on and on. There is a wonderful embrace of overt sexual ambiguity with many (not all) of these artists.

In contrast to so many "non-theatrical" American/Canadian artists who have focused more "seriously" on their music: Neil Young, Tom Petty, REM, the Cars, Grateful Dead, the Eagles, CCR, the Allman Brothers, Crosby Stills & Nash ...

Drew

Yes the error of painting with a wide brush while having a myopic perspective

the shoot 'em dead, brainbell jangler!

Quote
Mathijs

Quote
Doxa
RIP Eddie Van Halen. Not any personal favourite in guitar department but that is just my personal opinion and tells more about my ancient taste and unability to follow the evolution of guitar rock idiom. But not so stupid I am not that I don't recognize a genius when I see it (like in the case of Paul McCartney that I for some odd idiosyncratic reasons can't stand...). And that was Eddie was. One cannot underestimate his influence. Yeah, up there with Hendrix.

- Doxa

Funny...I actually can't stand the playing of him, and that off all the followers he created. And I can't stand the band Van Halen, which to me was so epic fake American cliche of a rock band, also which has spawned many followers. I am sooooo glad the 1980's are over!

Mathijs

Sounds like something you would say. It doesn't surprise me.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-10-09 19:37 by More Hot Rocks.

So nice to see love for Eddie on this board.

I fell in love with the Stones the first time I heard Some Girls in 6th grade and never looked back.

Ditto with the first Van Halen album which I heard right after and to this day they are my go to albums to pick me up.

Eddies tapping? Listen to his rhythm. He had a supernatural right hand which was just as magical as his fretwork. The dive bombs and tapping were natural extensions of his musical vocabulary. And, he spoke his own Magical an inimitable language.

I can’t thank EVH enough. Love you Ed.

Reading online today that VH manager Irving Azoff said that Wolf and Alex will go through the VH vaults at Eddie's 5150 studios to look for material suitable for release. I mentioned earlier hopefully some concert video will show up like Oakland 81 complete show which seems to be the holy grail for VH fans. There has to be some complete shows that were recorded from 78-84.
Nuno Bettencourt said that a VH reunion stadium tour including Mike Anthony was supposed to take place summer 2019 but Eddie's health kept changing the plans and eventually couldn't take place. That would have been a fitting ending for the band.
Many have said an Eddie tribute concert should take place when it's safe, similar to Freddie Mercury Wembley stadium show. Would be nice to see with proceeds going to cancer research. I can think of tons of guitarists who would be appropriate like Tony Iommi, Brian May, Nuno, Satriani, Vai, Dweezil Zappa, John5, George Lynch, Kirk Hammett, etc.

Quote
KevinM
EVH & Roger Waters

Thanx for this!

I consider myself a VH freak, but never knew about this collab with Waters...

For those not familiar with "Complete Zero", seek it out and enjoy the demos from '77, with enough additional material for another great album that was never released, plus the seeds of other tracks that came later on...

[www.vhnd.com]

I'm on the VH News Desk every day, just like IORR!

Quote
TKinOH
[www.vhnd.com]

I'm on the VH News Desk every day, just like IORR!

I'm on VHND everyday, too! Don't leave any comments though.