best part of the Gary years...

**empyrelounge5150** · 12.17.02, 08:24 PM

now before you all chime in with "the end of it", the best thing was how gary really did look at things like a fan and brought out stuff a lot of us hadnt heard live, or hadnt heard in 20 years. i remember giong to the old van-halen site (when it was updated...just kidding brad) and they had that poll for 'vote for a song from each cd that you want them to play and they would do it next tour) how cool was that?

**Ikeda** · 12.17.02, 08:31 PM

good point. i would also add the excitement of knowing a new album was actually in the works, that the band was making new music to bring to us. sad that everything got so fucked up.

**Tonedaddy** · 12.17.02, 11:58 PM

I really think the Van Halen fan base fucked themselves with the Gary era. I have my problems with VH3, but I appreciated it for what it was, a first outing with a new line up. Was it undercooked? IMO yes. Was it a solid start? Again yes! Our closemindedness in regards to that album led to Gary's departure and another failed attempt with DLR. It's fuckin sad and dispicable that the very thing we complain about; the appairant demise of this band we love is our own fault.

The best part of the Gary years? It was the second album in the can that we never got to see. Period, end of story!! Who knows what the second album was. After a tour where they got to feel the moments that worked for them as musicians and performers, and the moments and elements that worked for the fans. And that includes hearing early DLR period pieces that the fans made them feel good playing live again. How do you know that those elements and that energy wasn't a part of that follow up? We only have ourselves to blame for the current situation.

Peace. And sorry if people have a problem with this venting.

Rock on.
TD

**JMJ** · 12.18.02, 01:13 AM

Originally posted by SactoFan:
These are great posts. When VH played Sacramento on the 3 tour, the place was 2/3 full and the opening act was a joke...And you know what...I'd NEVER seen the band bring the thunder like they did that night! VH3 became a damn fine live band and it's a shame that they didn't give themselves another shot with Gary. We'd be right to say the fans dissing Gary probably had something to do with his departure, but if Ed had given him time we may have a couple new VH records right now...

That bit of theorizing on my part convinced me a long time ago that there was a deal with Dave...It also convinced me that whatever happens with the band now, whether Sam comes back or not, that Ed regrets letting Gary Cherone get away.

i hear ya sacto.

i thought for awhile that they had thoughts of getting dave back at some time during the III tour and after as well. if dave at that time would have been dead against going back into van halen, i think gary would still be there

JMJ

**the 316 man** · 12.18.02, 03:34 AM

I think Gary should have stuck around for the next album which we all know is practically finished and will never see the light of day. What i'm saying is that VH3 is a good album, not my favorite but still good, and people would think differntly about it if it was never released by Van Halen but by some new band. I think people got scared because Van Halen made that musical change and people don't like VH3 as much because its not your usual Van Halen sounding album.

Gary was the 21st century Van Halen and would have probably stayed to the day they finally switch off their amps for good. Its a shame it never worked, I like roth music and even the two 96 song are roths best yet but it will never be look what happened to kiss. The only alternative would be sammy but even thats shakey. Maybe sammy was right when he said in hive dvd, 'when ed leifer died that was the end of that band", could it be true.

**lil'devil** · 12.18.02, 04:40 AM

I really think the Van Halen fan base fucked themselves with the Gary era.

... no ...

van halen fucked them selves with the gayry era.

plain, simple and undeniable regardless of your effort otherwise.

**Scott** · 12.18.02, 05:01 AM

The best part of the Gary year(s)were the regular updates from the band....remember seeing weekly (and sometimes daily) updates on the status of the new record, pictures from inside the studio. I generally had a sence that the band was indeed doing something...ahhh, the glory days.

**TOTW92** · 12.18.02, 05:28 AM

I disagree with the above posts regarding how the band was live. I thought Gary brought them down. He does not have the vocal range for a lot of the catalog. He was not able to sing any of the Hagar songs well. When It's Love and Why Can't This be Love were painful. Stage antics sucked. He was open to singing DLR era songs which was refreshing, but I would've rather heard Mikey sing them. With hagar they played 2 sold out shows in 95 at the PNC Bank Arts Center. With Gary it was half full for 1 show and deservedly so.

**muffdiver** · 12.18.02, 09:03 AM

Originally posted by TOTW92:
I disagree with the above posts regarding how the band was live. I thought Gary brought them down. He does not have the vocal range for a lot of the catalog. He was not able to sing any of the Hagar songs well. When It's Love and Why Can't This be Love were painful. Stage antics sucked. He was open to singing DLR era songs which was refreshing, but I would've rather heard Mikey sing them. With hagar they played 2 sold out shows in 95 at the PNC Bank Arts Center. With Gary it was half full for 1 show and deservedly so.

i disagree....they kicked ass on the 111 tour...
met ed and the band...seemed really fukin happy ..
next tour you stay home and the rest of us that love these guys and their music will go...don't need any more negativity 'round here little guy...

**Raldo** · 12.18.02, 09:44 AM

One good part was when 'Without You' was leaked out and radio stations were playing it like crazy. Some CT stations would play almost the whole song, then mock apologize and say it was a mistake and that they didn't know what they were playing.

As for "the fans" being the reason for the demise of Van Halen, that is incorrect in a way. Did the fans cause Dave to leave/get fired in 1985? Was it the fans who kicked out Sammy in 1996? Was it the fans who signed Dave for 2 songs on the Best Of disc? The fans may have been unfavorable to Gary but they didn't make him leave Van Halen. They were halfway done with a second album before he bolted. I'm not saying the fans had nothing to with it but don't blame it all on us.

**Sweet William** · 12.18.02, 09:48 AM

I've noticed that just about everyone who went to a Meet N Greet on the III tour swings off of Ed and Gary's nuts. Why is that? Which came first -- the nut-swinging or the meet and greet? Were these folks nut-swingers and thus were dying to go to the meet and greet, or did they become nut swingers because they met the band? A classic philosphical conundrum . . . .

And by the way, why do you think so many fans who lacked connections even GOT to go to the Meet N Greet on the III tour? It's because the band knew a lot of people weren't buying Van Kato and they were -- for the first time ever -- reaching out. My guess is that Ed in particular was hating it, too. And in the unlikely event that Van Halen's next album (to the extent there is one) sells well, you can be sure that there will not be meet and greets of the type there were on the III tour.

(And just as an aside, the stalkerazzi who go to Mike's get-together at Pepper's every year are even worse. Mike wouldn't have made *eye contact* with you people before 1996, and you come here the day after the event and talk about it like you're all Mike's buds. Have some self-respect.)

And finally, to bring this full circle, I don't understand the argument that "the fans pushed Kato out" and that this was somehow unfair. Is is also unfair when "fans push a band out of existence" (e.g., Winger) because the band sucks and they don't buy their album? Is it also unfair when an opening act loses its slot because they suck and the fans are booing them? Music is a business. Supply and demand. Demand for Van Halen's product fell, and everyone on Howdy Doody Mountain saw the writing on the wall. There's nothing fair or unfair about it; it just is. It's called capitalism -- just ask Sam, he can tell you all about it.

[ December 18, 2002, 09:50 AM: Message edited by: Sweet William ]

**Brett** · 12.18.02, 09:50 AM

Will - take some prozac man, you're so angry over everything.

**Sweet William** · 12.18.02, 09:56 AM

I do take it. Why, do you think it's not working?

**Aquatic Punk** · 12.18.02, 10:02 AM

interesting posts..I'd have to agree that the best part of the Gary era was actually hearing updates of a new album...I wasn't a huge III fan, but I totally thought it'd be a building block for something better and I was ready to buy Gary II the day it came out...sadly it never did. But it'd be nice to hear some of those tracks.

On another note, I wonder how close they came to the point where they woulda just decided to finish the album and then part ways with Gary??? It seemed like there was a lot of progess on the album, then Gary left and it was done. I'm thinkin if they got much further, they woulda gone to far to give up and we'd have at least one more Van Halen record to listen to while we're waiting for the next installment.