Sour Taste?

[belikemike]

As much as I love this band -- and there's no doubt about it -- I love this band, don't most of you feel like this band's "need" for drama is a little much?
The thing that really irks me is the treatment of Mike. It leaves a bit of a sour taste.
Mike's done nothing but stand behind this band through all of the bullshit between singers, and Ed & Al f*ck him over royally during 2004.
The only thing he did (at least publicly that I know of) was hit the road with Sam for the Sam & Dave tour in 2002. I remember at the time, I kind of thought it was a ploy by the VH brothers to send him out and maybe butter Sam up for another go.
Obviously, looking back, this wasn't the case. Maybe part of the reason Mike did it was to try and mend fences, but clearly not at Ed or Al's behest.
So why in the hell do the brothers target Mike?
When the Dave thing blew up the first time, I assumed (and correctly so) that Dave was an ass that nobody could get along with. When the Sam thing blew up, I kind of thought maybe it was Sam's fault. Really, after Sam did his greatest hits thing in 1994 I just had a hunch that wouldn't sit well with the band. As good as I thought Balance was, I wasn't shocked that Sam was out.
And when Dave left again, it was no shock to me. A reunion I KNEW would never last.
So I never assumed Ed & Al to be the big problem.
I'm just so dumbfounded by the Mike thing, and quite frankly it has soured me a bit on VH as a whole. Obviously I don't know what goes on in private that may have contributed to the Mike problem, but it does seem to me he's a go-along, get-along guy that doesn't make waves.
So we are all obviously fans of this band here -- doesn't it sour you just a little bit the way the brothers have treated Mikey??
I'm for any VH reunion or new singer or whatever, but if there's no Mike, there's no me. It would be the same if Ed or Al weren't there. Mike's just too much a part of the sound.

[Hack]

It really does seem like he's getting treated terribly. Who really knows what goes on behind closed doors, but to me, Mikey seems (by far) like the most down to earth member of any incarnation of the mighty VH.

[It's Mike]

I don't know. I can see both sides of this. On one hand, I can see that Mike has been treated badly like you say. On the other hand I can see that maybe Ed & Al would have been peaved that their bass player toured with the guy they tossed out of the band. It doesn't say much for his loyalty, assuming Ed & Al were against it. No one can argue that Mike has benefitted greatly from his association with the brothers and if they were against him touring with Sammy and he did anyways I can understand why they'd be pissed.

[belikemike]

I don't know. I can see both sides of this. On one hand, I can see that Mike has been treated badly like you say. On the other hand I can see that maybe Ed & Al would have been peaved that their bass player toured with the guy they tossed out of the band. It doesn't say much for his loyalty, assuming Ed & Al were against it. No one can argue that Mike has benefitted greatly from his association with the brothers and if they were against him touring with Sammy and he did anyways I can understand why they'd be pissed.

I kind of understand that viewpoint, but.
Problem is, VH had done NOTHING since 1998. At this point, it's 2002 and Mike's got no idea (after a third singer quits and apparently two more roth reunion attempts fail) if VH will ever be a band again. I think a reasonable person would see this as, this guy sat on his ass for four years essentially waiting around. Was he supposed to wait another year, two, six, ten?? And not do anything, that seems like an unreasonable request to me.
It also seems pretty reasonable to me that he told the VH brothers up front of his plans and didn't go behind their backs or anything like this.
Just my thoughts, and was curious what everybody else around here thought...not trying to start an argument.

[Duck]

I kind of understand that viewpoint, but.
Problem is, VH had done NOTHING since 1998. At this point, it's 2002 and Mike's got no idea (after a third singer quits and apparently two more roth reunion attempts fail) if VH will ever be a band again. I think a reasonable person would see this as, this guy sat on his ass for four years essentially waiting around. Was he supposed to wait another year, two, six, ten?? And not do anything, that seems like an unreasonable request to me.
It also seems pretty reasonable to me that he told the VH brothers up front of his plans and didn't go behind their backs or anything like this.
Just my thoughts, and was curious what everybody else around here thought...not trying to start an argument.

Yeah, Mike just wants to PLAY. Not sit and sulk, I suppose.

[Interceptor]

I agree that at least on the surface its hard to understand how and why Mike could be at all "looked down upon" by Ed and Al unless they were in fact firmly against him touring w/Sam (which I certainly wouldn't/don't have a problem with at all)

I still think back to something Dave said a while back. Can't remember where I saw it or heard it, but I remember him saying something like: "I really don't understand why there is a failure for us (VH) to commence and make music".

I also agree that Van Halen does seem to have that "crazy ex-girlfriend" way of always needing to have what appears to be a shitload of unnecessary drama going on. Then again a lot of serious personal and family things have indeed happened especially to Ed, but if some of that stuff is true about how Mike was/is treated by them, wow that seems like a little much I guess.