Does the death of EVH make you more or less sympathetic to.....

[GRCITY]

I’m totally satisfied with what we have 12 studio albums, couple of live albums and GH albums with some new songs. Will Wolf and Al find some nuggets in the library? Who knows if they do awesome if they don’t I’m satisfied.

[kydtsoos]

It would've been great if they'd have cranked out another record. I was disappointed before Ed's passing that in all the time Ed had spent at 5150, there wasn't at least one more. But now, I greatly appreciate what Ed has given us in the entire VH catalog. I'll always enjoy listening, even when songs from III come up in the shuffle. For now I'm looking forward to Wolf's album, even though it's not a VH record nor will it be VH. It will just be cool to hear it merely because of Wolf's raw talent. And hopefully there's some stuff in the vault at 5150 that will start to finally see the light of day.

[belikemike]

I’m thankful for what we got. Don’t love it all equally, but it’s a very strong catalog, all told.

Ed’s life and musical output will continue be celebrated, as it should be.


As to the question, I’m neither more sympathetic or less sympathetic. Don’t have enough information to make a judgement on that.

Since the 2015 tour, I’ve always imagined the reason at least one more record wasn’t churned out with the VH IV version was creative differences between band memebers. That’s solely based on Ed’s comments about Dave not wanting to come to the table and make a record. And that there were 3 band members that liked rock music, and one liked dance music. Or something along those lines. I’m guessing that’s why we got the live record instead.

For the 2004 reunion, based on comments by Hagar, it seemed like the original intention was to do a full album and tour behind it. Whether or not it was the band not really being able to work together, or Ed’s state at the time, or some combination of both, it seems like the process of making an album was aborted in favor of touring and making the $$$ that would come from that before the entire thing fell apart.


Certainly hoping for more from the vaults. But no expectations. No idea what Ed’s wishes were, no idea what the owners of the material think about it, etc. etc.

Would be very disappointed if we didn’t get a remastered version of the Hagar records.

[PrideofPasadena]

As said, life changes. Ed was busy being a dad.

To be honest, after VHIII, I didn't expect much of anything from VH. Maybe Sam came back, or Dave came back and they did a record, but I never saw them releasing a bunch of records in the next twenty years.

All I was hoping for was a tour with Dave and Mike, a new record, or two, and some vault releases.

Didn't go as planned but never woulda guessed three more tours with any singer either. I can't complain about that.

[Little Dreamer]

As said, life changes. Ed was busy being a dad.

To be honest, after VHIII, I didn't expect much of anything from VH. Maybe Sam came back, or Dave came back and they did a record, but I never saw them releasing a bunch of records in the next twenty years.

All I was hoping for was a tour with Dave and Mike, a new record, or two, and some vault releases.

Didn't go as planned but never woulda guessed three more tours with any singer either. I can't complain about that.

Busy being a dad? But his son was 19 - 29 years old during the last 10 years! It's not that he couldn't, he didn't want to. And that's ok.

[Jamie M]

Ultimately it was up to Ed if he wanted to make more records. He owed us nothing, as fans we have had more than enough from VH over the years. I cant imagine constant touring and recording in the studio is much fun. After a while it probably gets a bit stale.

[Metalsludge]

As Roth said in his book that came out just after the FIRST aborted reunion in 1996, wasted energy can’t be regained by running back up the stairs. He was pissed off with the band for wasting time in the 1980s which ultimately was a big catalyst to him leaving in 1985 - he was coked out of his head and on top of the world and wanting to be on tour forever and do projects etc, and Ed wanted to sit around noodling or just do four big shows a year not proper tours.

Ed has done nothing BUT waste time since 1999.

They finished that 07-08 tour and Roth was ready to record and Ed sat around doing nothing for years. Roth went off and wrote and recorded a whole solo album with John5 while he was waiting for Ed to get off his ass!

Then by the time they recorded that and then did the tour Roth was out of shape vocally and sounded like crap after sounding the best he had for literally 25 years on the 07-08 tour. Roth uses the analogy of a boxer. He was in shape totally after that tour and they let him get totally OUT of shape for three years before doing ADKOT. Just nuts.

Then they could have done another studio album in 2014/2015/2016, didn’t happen. More wasted time.

You could sense the frustration in that interview Roth did last year when he said VH was done, he said something about how he had put his whole life on hold. It’s the exact same story as 1984-1985 again. Roth raring to go and Ed not wanting to do jack and Alex going along with it.

Hopefully they finish up the supposed 25 songs they had ready to go for ADKOT and we get a posthumous album.

[Jamie M]

As Roth said in his book that came out just after the FIRST aborted reunion in 1996, wasted energy can’t be regained by running back up the stairs. He was pissed off with the band for wasting time in the 1980s which ultimately was a big catalyst to him leaving in 1985 - he was coked out of his head and on top of the world and wanting to be on tour forever and do projects etc, and Ed wanted to sit around noodling or just do four big shows a year not proper tours.

Ed has done nothing BUT waste time since 1999.

They finished that 07-08 tour and Roth was ready to record and Ed sat around doing nothing for years. Roth went off and wrote and recorded a whole solo album with John5 while he was waiting for Ed to get off his ass!

Then by the time they recorded that and then did the tour Roth was out of shape vocally and sounded like crap after sounding the best he had for literally 25 years on the 07-08 tour. Roth uses the analogy of a boxer. He was in shape totally after that tour and they let him get totally OUT of shape for three years before doing ADKOT. Just nuts.

Then they could have done another studio album in 2014/2015/2016, didn’t happen. More wasted time.

You could sense the frustration in that interview Roth did last year when he said VH was done, he said something about how he had put his whole life on hold. It’s the exact same story as 1984-1985 again. Roth raring to go and Ed not wanting to do jack and Alex going along with it.

Hopefully they finish up the supposed 25 songs they had ready to go for ADKOT and we get a posthumous album.

Maybe Eds time was spent doing other things he enjoyed so not a waste. You seem to have an issue with a lot of things.

[Raldo]

I totally understand your sentiments and wish we would’ve gotten more properly recorded music from Eddie. But I don’t think there’s much sense in dissecting what should’ve been done in Ed’s life, especially when we‘ll never know all the details.

He already gave us more than most. It’s time to just enjoy that.

Well said Jedi!!

[NDL]

Does the death of EVH make you feel more sympathetic or less sympathetic to the fact that the band released one album in the last 20 years?

I'm not really sure how long he was really sick for, how long he has been covering it up, so there's certainly the side of me that thinks he just wasn't up to it, physically, mentally, emotionally, whatever.... he just couldn't do it. Hindsight being 20/20, we need to forgive that.

There's the other camp that this just pisses off even more. He squandered some good years when he was healthy (late 90's early to mid-2000's) where he could have released music but he didn't. For whatever reason, maybe he took it for granted that there'd always be time. I know he was disenchanted with how poorly received VH3 was, so there is that.

Anyway, just want to know what your feelings about this are, if it in any way impacts your feelings about what might have been.

I dunno...I haven't really thought about it.

EVH has been touted, by the people who knew him, as a funny, warm, humble, welcoming, guy. We need more people like that around, so his passing is a shame.

The one thing that I do wish about EVH: I wish that he wasn't the perfectionist that he was; I think that we missed out on a lot, simply because he never finished his music. Was it a lack of discipline that made him jump around, before completing something?

The guy was a genius; did he have ADD? Did he have a lack of focus and discipline such that he could say: "here's a completed song."

I would have loved to have known what was in his mind; did he devalue himself to the point at which he saw his music as nothing? In other words, the snippets that we see as gold - the stuff that we can listen to for years on end - did he simply see it as nothing more than a song? If so, that would explain a lot.

From EVH's perspective: why leak stuff out? It's not finished.

From the fan's perspective: EVH leaked out this INSANE riff; it would make a KILLER song.

Example: Growth. What was Growth to EVH? A nothing; an incomplete nothing. Yet how many fans crank Growth up when listening to Fair Warning?

The ending of Fire In The Hole. What was it to EVH? The ending of a song. What is it to us? "A killer riff around which other songs could be written"

[ziggysmalls]

Could it have been a better ride? Sure but think of the positive. Eddie could have died about 2005 or so. Heck could have died when he got cancer the first time. So we did get some tours and an album with Dave. He was happy. He was able to see his kid grow into an adult. He found a new wife and seemed to be enjoying life. Not everything is music. Not everything is about us fans. Sure I am selfish and wish we had 5 more albums but it could have been a lot worse.

Will take what we got

[Zahzoo]

Doesn't really matter what the facts of the circumstances or motivations of EVH for the last 20 years. Knowing changes nothing... his chapter has been written and the ink on the page is dry.

If you take anything away from this... envision what your next 20 years will be and what you you plan to leave in your wake... Waste not one breath, Get on it... time ain't waiting...

[Simon Ribeiro]

I haven’t thought about that at all. I’m just sad he’s gone and I’m thankful for all the music we DO have. Not what we don’t

This for sure!

Still I'm sad. Really, really sad.

[Railrunner130]

Doesn't really matter what the facts of the circumstances or motivations of EVH for the last 20 years. Knowing changes nothing... his chapter has been written and the ink on the page is dry.

If you take anything away from this... envision what your next 20 years will be and what you you plan to leave in your wake... Waste not one breath, Get on it... time ain't waiting...

Yeah. It's tempting to be dissatisfied because we didn't get MORE music, but the man had a life to live and that's more important. That being said, he did truly love to play. There may be volumes of music in the vault just waiting to be unearthed. Hopefully that's the scenario. Time will tell.

[PrideofPasadena]

Busy being a dad? But his son was 19 - 29 years old during the last 10 years! It's not that he couldn't, he didn't want to. And that's ok.

I was talking 1999-2008. While Wolf was under the age of 18.