July 26, 2006. Not much to smile about these days. More war in the middle east, nasty hot weather here in Phoenix, and not much cash to go around. To top things off, there has been a virtual drought of good new music. When this occurs, I usually revert back to some older bands. Van Halen has made a resurgence in our house. This may be due to several reasons. VH1 Classic has been trying to push 80’s metal back into circulation. VH was a cut above all of the so-called “hair metal” bands. My wife, who watches a lot of trauma-EMT shows on cable, has a new-found respect for David Lee Roth after learning he worked as an EMT recently. But the real reason is that Van Halen, especially the DLR days, has a vast library of great rockin’ feel-good party tunes. Roth has been derided often for being a self-absorbed fat-head. This may be so, but doesn’t this come with the territory of the type of band VH was? No one I know will dispute that the DLR days of VH were much better than the Sammy Hagar days. In my opinion, Dave’s distinctive voice, clever though sometimes campy and humorous lyrics and hyperactive stage presence were as much responsible for Van Halen’s success as Eddie’s guitar playing. Most people are unaware that Dave even suggested the name of the band be changed from Rat Salade to Van Halen. Sounds like the brothers Van Halen had no problem stoking their own egos as well. Much has been made about the departure of Dave from the band after the hugely successful 1984 album. Whether Dave was fired or quit doesn’t really matter. What really matters is that artistically they went into 2 different directions. Dave continued to make humorous original videos and music more in the tradition of the original band, putting together a supergroup with talent like Steve Vai and Billy Sheehan. The Sammy Hagar era of VH scored more hits with keyboard-based ballads like When It’s Love and Dreams. As far as commercial success goes, VH had more than DLR. This could be due to several things such as name recognition, the increasing popularity of rock ballads, or just Dave fatigue. However, neither achieved the popularity of the original band. This is usually the case with bands anyway. If Eddie and Dave couldn’t coexist in the same room, then he separation was for the best. As to who’s fault it was, we’ll never know. Most people assumed it was Dave’s until Sammy was replaced with Gary Cherone from Extreme on VH3. This was the only VH album never to achieve platinum status. The bottom line for me is that a guitar style as flashy as Eddies is complimented best by a flashy front man. And none shone more than Diamond Dave.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
In Defense of David Lee Roth
July 26, 2006. Not much to smile about these days. More war in the middle east, nasty hot weather here in Phoenix, and not much cash to go around. To top things off, there has been a virtual drought of good new music. When this occurs, I usually revert back to some older bands. Van Halen has made a resurgence in our house. This may be due to several reasons. VH1 Classic has been trying to push 80’s metal back into circulation. VH was a cut above all of the so-called “hair metal” bands. My wife, who watches a lot of trauma-EMT shows on cable, has a new-found respect for David Lee Roth after learning he worked as an EMT recently. But the real reason is that Van Halen, especially the DLR days, has a vast library of great rockin’ feel-good party tunes. Roth has been derided often for being a self-absorbed fat-head. This may be so, but doesn’t this come with the territory of the type of band VH was? No one I know will dispute that the DLR days of VH were much better than the Sammy Hagar days. In my opinion, Dave’s distinctive voice, clever though sometimes campy and humorous lyrics and hyperactive stage presence were as much responsible for Van Halen’s success as Eddie’s guitar playing. Most people are unaware that Dave even suggested the name of the band be changed from Rat Salade to Van Halen. Sounds like the brothers Van Halen had no problem stoking their own egos as well. Much has been made about the departure of Dave from the band after the hugely successful 1984 album. Whether Dave was fired or quit doesn’t really matter. What really matters is that artistically they went into 2 different directions. Dave continued to make humorous original videos and music more in the tradition of the original band, putting together a supergroup with talent like Steve Vai and Billy Sheehan. The Sammy Hagar era of VH scored more hits with keyboard-based ballads like When It’s Love and Dreams. As far as commercial success goes, VH had more than DLR. This could be due to several things such as name recognition, the increasing popularity of rock ballads, or just Dave fatigue. However, neither achieved the popularity of the original band. This is usually the case with bands anyway. If Eddie and Dave couldn’t coexist in the same room, then he separation was for the best. As to who’s fault it was, we’ll never know. Most people assumed it was Dave’s until Sammy was replaced with Gary Cherone from Extreme on VH3. This was the only VH album never to achieve platinum status. The bottom line for me is that a guitar style as flashy as Eddies is complimented best by a flashy front man. And none shone more than Diamond Dave.
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