The 1st Time Van Halen took your breath away??

[BEZEK KNOWS BEST]

For me it was 1986!!!

I was five and dreams just came out

and everyday I listen to it!!!!

[Ian Sane]

It would have been around 1988, I was about 15 and some kid brought "1984" to my music class at school and was allowed to play it. It just blew my mind from start to finish!

[Rikk]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Glenn:
Probably the time they ganged up on me and took turns punching me in the stomach. Sure I'm a dynamo, but 'round about the tenth shot to the bread basket, the wind just went sailing out of me. Fell to the ground, gasping for air, as they laughed and walked away.

Then Warrant showed up, and they asked me if I was alright. I repayed their act of kindness by kicking the shit out of all of them.

Funny story, remind me and I'll tell it to ya sometime. <hr></blockquote>

[Rikk]

January 1984. I was nine years old and JUMP came on CITY TV Toronto CHUM 30. There was this incredible music and an amazing guitarist...and this unbelievably charismatic singer. He was incredible. I had been looking forward to seeing Michael Jackson's THRILLER video for the umpteenth time, and here was this new video with this singer I wanted to grow up and be. I looked at my brother and said, "Who is this?"

"This new band, Van Halen," he stated with ignorance.

"They're amazing," I declared in my pre-pubescent voice.

I was hooked. They were instantly my favorite band.

I never cared to watch Michael Jackson's THRILLER video again.

[kevohman]

Cool topic ...thanks...

I was about 13 in 1980....(oops...just dated myself) I had just been given an old Chuck Berry style cheap copy guitar by my brother (he had a new one) and I was just learning how to play the thing...when a friend of mine who also played came over to jam..."have you ever heard these guys?" he asked...it was Van Halen...the first album...and Van Halen II ...the first time I heard Spanish Fly..and then Eruption...I still feel the chills and amazement I felt....
Kev

[cloudieskie]

As i am told, [img]redface.gif[/img]

I was a newborn and didn't like sleeping all that much. One day my mother but the TV on as background noise so that she could iron some of my dad's shirts. I was in one of those crib thingies and I was being my cranky whiney self, when all of a sudden this video with these guys that my mom didn't know of comes on MTV. I am told I stopped fussing and fell asleep. My mother made sure that whenever I had to take a nap, the Jump was the song playing. Hell, even today when I'm in the car and I'm talking too much, she pops it on! lol

[THUMP 5]

funny story..but true

1981 i just started
driving and one of my
buddy's was going out
of town for the summer.
he let me use his
"tapes" while he was
gone.

well i was driving
around listening to all
his shit and there was
one tape all wore out.
couldn't even see who
the artist was or what
the songs were. i
played most them all
but the wore out one.
i really didn't want to
put it in because the
dude had shit like
"men at work" and "the
stray cats" don't ask
me why?
so i go home and lay
down to take a nap
before going out that
night. (anyone still
remember the 1:00 nap
and ya could never get
the room dark
enough...) anywho i put
the wore out piece of
shit in the "hi-fi" put
the haed phones on and
cranked her
up.......then "runnin
with the devil" started
screaming in my
head...i just got
settled down from that
and "eruption" comes
on..........breath
.....awayyyyy
i've never been the
same.

anyway i played that
tape the rest of the
summer non-stop not
knowing who the fuck
even sang the shit till
my buddy made it
back.....

and i haven't aged a bit since then..

i hope this wasn't to
long...?
1981 jeeeeeeezzz

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

[paradiddle]

Did you ever get that nap?

[THUMP 5]

nope no nap..

i was to wired after that....
i had to find someone to go drink with...
funny thing is is (i sound like bill clinton)...i'm still the same way when i hear old vh....i want to run out the door and never look back...but it's hard to do with 3 kids
lucky i can get away for 10 min.

[jrk5150]

I was an MTV hound when Jump came out, the video kind of grew on me to where they became my favorite band. I was a Sammy fan as well, and was really fired up when he joined the band. I'd sit in my room and try to catch the new tunes on the radio, the only station in the area at the time that played rock was PDH in Poughkipsee NY (probably spelled wrong). Finally caught WCTBL, thought it was good, but different. Got the album, put in on the stereo, turned it up, and lost my breath right from Hey There, Baby and the guitar squeal. Done, locked in, forget it, I was hooked.

Also truly lost my breath the first time I saw them from the floor seats. FUCK tour, Worcester Centrum, sold out (or damn close to), I was in the 15th row on the floor, was the second real (non-college gymnasium) concert I'd ever been to (1st was 0U812 from the cheap seats). AIC opened, good set. After they were setting up for VH for a while, the crowd started to get going. It is soooo cool on the floor, you just hear a roar. Every seat is aimed at the center of the floor, so it is all pointed at you. The crowd started the wave, and the roar grew every time it went around. Then they put Star Spangled Banner by Hendrix on the sound system, the place got even louder. Shit, I still get goosebumps thinking about it. I remember looking around slack jawed as the place was getting insane. I looked at my girlfriend (now wife) and said something like they better come out now, they'll miss their chance if they don't. Then the lights went out. Place got even louder, didn't think it could. Drill from Poundcake kicked in, place got louder. Lights came on with Sammy in mid air just as the guitar riff kicked in after the drill. The place exploded. I couldn't believe how loud it was, and I was so pumped I thought I was going to explode. Was one of the most amazing nights of my life, just behind my wedding (or maybe even with it), though well behind the birth of my son. I've seen them a bunch since (always on the floor), and saw some amazing shows (Providence Civic Center for the Balance tour the crowd was even louder, even the band was wide eyed at the noise level of the crowd), but the first...

[VH Freak]

It was 1978 (or 79, can't remember) and I was 11 years old. I used to play wiffle ball with all the neighbor kids every day....for hours. One day this guy brought a tape (it could have even been an 8 track...again, I can't remember) and said "You've got to hear this!", and he proceeded to play the first album. Needless to say, I was blown away!....and so were the other kids, we just stopped playing and listened to the album. We all stopped listening to AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Boston, etc. and put in VH 1 and later...VH II. Ahhhh the memories.

[esquiretoo]

I'm right there with ya, VH Freak. I first heard VH around '78 or '79, and I was 11 or 12 at the time. Once of my uncles was home on leave from the Navy, and he had bought a new stereo when he was in Iceland. We were at my grandmother's house, and he had the stereo set up, and he put on the first VH album. I have been obsessed ever since! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[DirtyFacedKid]

Happened to me twice in the same night!

First time I saw VH was in the Meadowlands in NJ during the 1984 tour. I was 2 months short of turning 17 and my best friend Bill and I hitched a ride to the concert with my bro.
Bill and I snuck down front row during Autograph (warm-up band) and watched as the lights went out, not dim, OUT! BLACK!! A shimmer curtain slowly dropped and Eddie broke into Unchained!!! All of a sudden, the rest of the band kicks in (you know the part, about 20 seconds into the song) and the lights burst on. Then, DLR comes running from behind the curtain and slides on his knees, back arched with his head touching the stage, and stopped literally 2 inches from falling off into the crowd. That was the first time!

Second time was during Eddie's solo. Back then he used a clear plastic shelf-type thing on the back of his guitar to help him prop his axe up flat. He then hammered the shit out of it! It was then that I took a joint and put it on a feathered roachclip (remember those?) and flung it up at Eddie. He was hammering on his fretboard with both hands like a piano at the time. The joint and clip hit him in his right hand, he kept playing with his left hand, looked down, saw the joint, pointed to it, pointed RIGHT AT ME and gave me the thumbs up!!!! That was April 3rd, 1985.

Unreal!!!

[Axxman300]

It was 1978, I was 14. My brother brought home VHI and we put it on the turn table (remember those?) and Runnin With the Devil comes on and we think it's kind of cool. The Eruption comes on and we are too fucking stunned to pick up the needle until that whole first side was over. We kept listening to Eruption/You Really Got Me over and over. I actually had to buy a replacement for that first album after about three months because it was scratched all to hell.

[ January 15, 2002 at 11:13 AM: Message edited by: Axxman300 ]</p>

[VanEdge]

sometime around 1984, VH was obviously one of the hottest bands around. everyone knew them.
i thought 1984 was an awesome album... got the tape, i was 11 at the time.
around this same time, i was at my cousin's friend's house, and they were making compilation cassette tapes of songs off various albums.

suddenly, i heard a guitar that sounded like a windstorm - it was the intro to Unchained. i'll never forget that moment. i knew right then and there that Eddie was the most amazing guitar player ever. The sound just overcame me.

I went out and got Fair Warning shortly thereafter, and completed my VH catalog the following Christmas.

Never been the same since. [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]