Describe how it was...back then

[Mean_Street]

What was it like when Van Halen ruled everything back in the roth years?

[I Coulda Hada VH]

As Dave himself said, "It was a great time to be alive!"

[Triple Whammy]

EVH ruled! You couldn't wait to rip open the plastic on the vinyl to see what magically impossible shit Ed was putting down now. EVERYONE was trying to learn his licks and tricks.

I also remember defending Dave from the start. He was never a favorite of the metalheads back then. He couldn't sing like Dio and Gillian or something, and he screamed too much. IMO, they totally missed the point.

[Elwood P.]

And believe it or not, they actually played videos on MTV. None of this stupid "reality" garbage.

[Little Mikey]

It was something thats been missing in music for a long long time.

[joe318]

van halen was the shit man, i hope they return to do one more time.

[Betty Boop]

Well, we didn't have the Internet, so we did a lot of hanging out at the mall and a lot of talking on the phone (Mean St. you should check out the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High if you want an idea of what it was like) and we lived from concert to concert--who was coming into town next??? Who was getting laid, who had the best gear & the best band. The simple, good shit...
In my crew it was also all about who had the coolest shoes and the wildest hair. And since we were 16, cars were becoming a reality (my friend Jon Dyer got an IROC and that was the hottest thing you can imagine. It was gunmetal grey and gorgeous.
MTV actually mattered. Hard rock ruled the earth & the airwaves. I got on the VH bandwagon kinda late (in 1980 ) so by the time the '84 tour rolled around I was more than ready. We all entered the MTV Van Halen "Lost Weekend" contest. The epicenter of rock, taste and action was LA. Personally, I adopted the silly fashion sense of Dave and Eddie--everything mismatched. Sunglasses 24 hrs a day. Scarves and bandannas. AIDS wasn't really a reality (Rock Hudson hadn't come out yet) so no one was scared of anything except for pregnancy. Eddie blowing smoke rings at the piano...we were unstoppable. Aah, when we were kings.

[Eddymon]

Mean Street,

I know that you are 12 and weren't around back then so heres a suggestion.
Try to find some old videos from bands like VH, AC/DC, Motley Crue, Ratt, Poison, White Zeppelin (Snake), and even throw in early Huey Lewis and the News. Then when you watch them you can sense the whole rock and roll attitude. Sure alot of the videos were cheesy and low budget compared to todays mini-movies, but the music was what was real back then. It wasn't about getting your picture on MTV. When you see interviews from those stars they say how much they hated doing videos, but MTV changed the way music is transformed into pop culture.
It used to be about putting on an album and cranking it until your neighbors called the cops. Now its about putting on your TV and seeing phonies trying to look cool.
Its like seeing a clothing item on a maniquin at the store. Its just a window dressing.

[joe318]

betty boop you hit the nail on the head, hanging at the mall what show was next, we use to drive around the plaza (tons of cars) music turned up havind a few beers listening to van halen, motley crue whitesnake, ozzy it was a dam good time. i hope van halen can bring the feeling back one more time.

[79th and Sunset]

For me, it was actually going out with gals who really liked VH. One of my fondest memories is the gal who had the Roth WACF poster hanging over her bed on the ceiling.

I also remember the lack of media. I used to purchase the CREEM, HIT PARADER, and CIRCUS Magazines of the time. Lots o' Halen in there. Still have all the VH cutouts too. Complete with the old tape on the edges from hanging on the walls in the ole room at home.

Memories....... [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[hain23x]

back then , VH concerts soled out in 45 minutes!
back then they partied! [img]graemlins/drunk.gif[/img]
back then other bands wanted to be them.
back then they had a certian attitude
back then ALL hard rock fans loved them.

[Frank N.Strat]

"Back then"
You were either a VH fan or a Duran Duran fan...
Eddie Murphy was making funny "original" movies.
If you had your left ear pierced you were cool, your right you were gay.
MTV had no idea who Madonna was
People/Bands actually played and sang the music they made - No Milli Vanilli, NSync or Puff Daddy shit.
Intellivision took out Atari
VHS took out Beta
Rocky took out Clubber Lang
Nobody knew the Go Go's were such whores
John Travolta and disco pulled a disappearing act
John Carpenter knew how to make a decent horror flick.
...and EVERYONE was runnin' around with toy lightsabers saying "MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU" AND "ET PHONE HOME"...

Anyone want to add to this list - feel free! [img]graemlins/bounce.gif[/img]

[DLR'sCock]

Back then was about cranking up your Rock and Metal albums and being kool!!! Van Halen, Rush, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Dio, Queensryche, Black Sabbath, RATT, Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Triumph, WASP, Motorhead, Kiss(High School for me was 1981 - 1985), The Scorpions, Accept, Metallica, etc etc...

Driving around with friends drinking beers ijn the car on a friday night, cranking some kick ass music and cruising for chicks(I was 16 my buds were 17)!! The younger years when we were too young to drive was hanging at the Mall and cruising for chicks!!!!

I was not into John Cougar, Bruce Springsteen, Prince(well he was ok), Duran Duran, and all of the bubblegum POP on MTV....

Denim and Leather!!!Cruising for GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS!!!!!!!!

Van Halen and Iron Maiden were my all time top two favorite bands!!!!!! I did get to see Roth and VH on the 1984 tour, I was not allowed to go to a concert until I was 16(without the rents' of course)...fucking Autograph SUCKED!!!!!

I could swear I saw Dave and Mike in a Limo leaving the Brendan Byrne(now Continental Airlines) Arena, after the show, I remember turning to my buds and saying they're in that LIMO!!!!!! But the tinted black window was going up.....I know it was them,....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh youth.... [img]graemlins/drunk.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/cry.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/devil.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]

[Mean_Street]

i love it. now people tease me about how i like 80s rock and van halen, vh was everything back then. I NEED TO BE IN THE 80S! if i could go back in time, it would be be 16 in 1983 and go to the US Festival and party for just one day.

i'm going to get into Iron Maiden. what are there best songs?

Try to find some old videos from bands like VH, AC/DC, Motley Crue, Ratt, Poison, White Zeppelin (Snake), and even throw in early Huey Lewis and the News.

I've seen motley crue vid. my dad has ratt cds, and he has white snake records. and i have dr. feelgood (motley) in my cd carrier pouch. i even like def leppard, i'm all 80s pretty much. i'll try though.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

well, i tried to rent that but it has profanity in, i guess, and its rated r, but who cares, i'll rent it anyway. HAVE YOU SEEN PRIVATE SCHOOL? (1982) Phoebe cates and Matthew Modine? i seen it late night on tv once.

oh yeah, if you go to vh1.com and i posted on the nsync board titled "YOU KNOW WHO ROCKS??!?!" and inside it says VAN HALEN ROCKS THATS WHO.

and i had this 80s pop music era, when i burned Depeche Mode, Yes, A-Ha. and i was like obbsessed. until the day van halen met my cd burner and thats when my obsession with real music started. i own all the good movies "The Breakfast Club" where john bender hums Sunshine of my love and Sixteen Candles, ferris bueller pretty soon, i want to buy big with tom hanks (its on tonight Comedy central 8:00), some girls(my new favorite movie, Patrick Dempsey), you know

[ February 23, 2002 at 03:29 PM: Message edited by: Mean_Street ]</p>

[ScottRoberts]

Originally posted by Eddymon:
Mean Street,

I know that you are 12 and weren't around back then so heres a suggestion.
Try to find some old videos from bands like VH, AC/DC, Motley Crue, Ratt, Poison, White Zeppelin (Snake), and even throw in early Huey Lewis and the News. Then when you watch them you can sense the whole rock and roll attitude. Sure alot of the videos were cheesy and low budget compared to todays mini-movies, but the music was what was real back then. It wasn't about getting your picture on MTV. When you see interviews from those stars they say how much they hated doing videos, but MTV changed the way music is transformed into pop culture.
It used to be about putting on an album and cranking it until your neighbors called the cops. Now its about putting on your TV and seeing phonies trying to look cool.
Its like seeing a clothing item on a maniquin at the store. Its just a window dressing.

Great posts everybody, especially Eddymon's here. I agree with it so much that I had to reprint it. [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img] One thing I remember that I can add to the discussion: I was in junior high in 1984 and everybody was into VH; not just "metalheads" or "stoners", but EVERYBODY...and Sammy Hagar, too (remember this is the St. Louis, MO area, home of sammy's biggest fan base ). I remember some high school kids sneaking in the junior high school grounds one night and spray painting the "VH" logo and a big "55" with the circle/slash on the main building. We all thought it was the shit! [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img] Ironic, because this happened in the fall of '84, a full year before Sammy joined the band...