What is Van Halen, and do they know who they are?

[Illusion37]

I was reading posts here, and I got to thinking, what is Van Halen? They are more than a band. But I can't figure out what they are exactly? Super Heroes? Gods of Rock? What evere they are, I wonder if they know who they are. Do they know how much we as fans look up to them? I mean, do they understand the way we feel about them? To a lot of us, it's more than just a "Favorite band" feeling, it's kind of like how we would feel twords family. But then I thought, if they DO know what they mean to us all, then why have they kept silent so long? Maybe they don't understand how important they are to their fans. Or the scope of the big picture. Just posting my thoughts.

[BEZEK KNOWS BEST]

Word [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]

[Lead Synth]

I think they have had enough contact with fans in the past to know just how important they are. Eddie and the boys have heard everything from the "you inspired me to play guitar" to the "my kid was in a coma and came out of it when we played VH for him." I'm sure they know how much influence they have. On the other hand, they've probably had their share of psycho stalker fans. The only reason why they could be keeping silent is because of a) Eddie's health issues or b) not wanting to put the cart before the horse on the reunion thing, in my opinion.

To me, VH is more than a band because of all the great friends I've made through them. The fan community has taken on a life of its own and I've had so many great times with people I never would have met if it wasn't for VH. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Betty Boop]

I think Van Halen is what happens when the head meets the heart and BAM. OW!! VH is more than a great rock band, or is it just that everything before (and mostly) since cannot measure up in terms of talent, intelligence and creativity? VH is the way I always imagined rock to sound--silly, powerful, smart and hot. The cure for depression. A palliative for a broken heart. A way to get laid. Excellent dance music. Driving music. Excellent fucking music.
I don't think Ed, being Ed, can ever know what VH means to us--the fans. He spent one half of his life sheddin' and shreddin' in a classical family, digging Iommi and Segovia alike,a Rockman clamped to his fuzzy head, and the other half of his life was spent as a Messiah on a long string of brightly-lit stages, bringing his knowledge home to the ever-widening crowd, and half-privately dealing with his own demons of jealousy, addiction and anger.
I think Dave (the three-pronged DLR to his nemesis, the three-pronged EVH) however, knows what VH means, because there is speculation--and he'd be the first to admit it--that he was the ringleader, chief mouth, Bolivian-tongued poet, resident blond, and the main commentator on Van Halen. A member, but somehow different & apart from the other three men--three men who definitely came to think of wildly gregarious lead vocalists as replacable objects.
And as of today, I think Van Halen is three geniuses who don't like to think about what their gift means. Nor should they.
What's the line? Van Halen is three musicians and they have a Jew to sell 'em.
And DLR's comeback: yeah and now that they got rid of the Jew, Van Halen stinks!
It's this kind of tension within the band that makes them so fucking good as well. High art, art of the VH variety, requires discomfort, ketchup soup, and ideas that often don't mesh.
I want them togther. Soon. Hating eachother, of course, but all together in one dressing room, preferably one located in the bowels of Nassau fucking Coliseum.
[img]graemlins/yell.gif[/img]
And getting ready to literally blow us away.

[ January 07, 2002 at 02:49 PM: Message edited by: Betty Boop ]</p>

[Rikk]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Betty Boop:
I think Van Halen is what happens when the head meets the heart and BAM. OW!! VH is more than a great rock band, or is it just that everything before (and mostly) since cannot measure up in terms of talent, intelligence and creativity? VH is the way I always imagined rock to sound--silly, powerful, smart and hot. The cure for depression. A palliative for a broken heart. A way to get laid.
I don't think Ed, being Ed, can ever know what VH means to us--the fans. He spent one half of his life sheddin' and shreddin' in a classical family, digging Iommi and Segovia alike,a Rockman clamped to his fuzzy head, and the other half of his life was spent as a Messiah on a long string of brightly-lit stages
I think Dave (the three-pronged DLR to his nemesis, the three-pronged EVH) however, knows what VH means, because there is speculation--and he'd be the first to admit it--that he was the ringleader, chief mouth, Bolivian-tongued poet, resident blond, and the main commentator on Van Halen. A member, but somehow different & apart from the other three men--three men who definitely came to think of wildly gregarious lead vocalists as replacable objects.
And as of today, I think Van Halen is three geniuses who don't like to think about what their gift means. Nor should they.
What's the line? Van Halen is three musicians and they have a Jew to sell 'em.
And DLR's comeback: yeah and now that they got rid of the Jew, Van Halen stinks!
It's this kind of tension within the band that makes them so fucking good as well. I want them togther. Soon. Hating eachother, of course, but all together in one dressing room, preferably one located in the bowels of Nassau fucking Coliseum.
[img]graemlins/yell.gif[/img]
And getting ready to literally blowing us away.<hr></blockquote>

Yup.

[Wolfman]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Betty Boop:
I think Van Halen is what happens when the head meets the heart and BAM. OW!! VH is more than a great rock band, or is it just that everything before (and mostly) since cannot measure up in terms of talent, intelligence and creativity? VH is the way I always imagined rock to sound--silly, powerful, smart and hot. The cure for depression. A palliative for a broken heart. A way to get laid. Excellent dance music. Driving music. Excellent fucking music.
<hr></blockquote>



Down, boy.....

[seenbad]

Yup. I'm in love.

[paradiddle]

I agree that it'd be Dave who knows the answer to this incredibly astute question. He's always maintained it, and he probably always will.

Ed and Al, however, I still wonder. I really do. Even now, 20 years later, I still reherse my script if I ever saw Ed or Al in the flesh. Trying to make it sound real, and not psycho.

But with Dave (and certainly Mike), I've never rehersed that script. I just figure I can be myself, and buy him a cold beer, and he'd appreciate and acknowledge me as just that (a regular dude, not a cold beer).

And this distinction that Betty and Maya present, is to me, what is really at the crux of why Ed and Al need Dave and Mike. We've all said it, or heard it here at the links, Dave and Mike are our liason to the socially inept, genius brothers.

Ed and Al lack the skills to relate to us and the feelings we get from their music. I'm sure to them it's just music. But to us its memories, friendship, romance, celebration, naughtiness, and a profound loss of inhibition many of us are to shy to fully expose.

But this is exactly the area of David's ph.D. He has experienced these same feelings through Van Halen, shared them with us, and steered them to a cruising altitude never again duplicated by an American Rock Band. Dave is us, and we are Dave. Which is as plain to me as it is to you, now if only we could make Ed and Al believe...

I blather, carry on...

[img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]

[seenbad]

Wow. This thread certainly brings the best out of us eh? Cuts straight to the chase.

[FORD]

What is Van Halen?

A legendary rock n roll band comprised of the following individuals:

David Lee Roth
Eddie Van Halen
Michael Anthony
Alex Van Halen

And the only other thing that needs to be said is:

GET THE SHOW ON THE ROAD!!

[Lead Synth]

Yeah, it does. But it's so hard to express this stuff...you know, "What is understood need not be discussed"? That's so true with VH. If you love this band you don't have to justify it or explain it. You just gotta UNDERSTAND.

[laner]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Lead Synth:
Yeah, it does. But it's so hard to express this stuff...you know, "What is understood need not be discussed"? That's so true with VH. If you love this band you don't have to justify it or explain it. You just gotta UNDERSTAND.<hr></blockquote>
i agree totally. i remember trying to explain why i like van halen so much, and i always end up writing a novel to the person because it's so complex to me, and to them it's just another rock band.

[Betty Boop]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by seenbad:
Yup. I'm in love. <hr></blockquote>
[img]graemlins/devil.gif[/img]

I really wish the lawyers would get out of the way. See, the other thing about this band is that it is a business; and it had a great business plan drawn up from the getgo. It's airtight and it protects VH as four members of a band, AND as a limited partnership with four separate copywritten writers--in ways that other bands--naive bands w/out management skills--can't even dream of having.
Ergo, no one is broke, no one has to work, ever again; most guys in the band have families (either at home or all over the globe, haha), so when there's legalese and lawyers "making them stop" & read the fine print as soon as they sneak into a studio(as Mikey said), I mean, WTF? Nobody's in a hurry, mainly because the guys don't have anything to prove.
Or so they think.
Maybe this belongs on a Speculation thread, I dunno, but it kinda makes me mad. But this is how it goes.
I just wanna be young enough to still look hot for the goddamn SHOW. [img]graemlins/yell.gif[/img]

[Wolfman]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Betty Boop:

I just wanna be young enough to still look hot for the goddamn SHOW. [img]graemlins/yell.gif[/img] <hr></blockquote>

[paradiddle]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Betty Boop:
I just wanna be young enough to still look hot for the goddamn SHOW. [img]graemlins/yell.gif[/img] <hr></blockquote>

No Shit! HAHA. I'll probably be gray!