Which Van Halen song would you play ...

[I Coulda Hada VH]

For someone who had never heard of VH? Why would you choose that particular song?

[Dave's Dreidel]

In A Simple Rhyme

[I Coulda Hada VH]

In A Simple Rhyme

Good choice. That song contains all of the elements of what made Van Halen so great.

[Jedi McFly]

In A Simple Rhyme

That song contains all of the elements of what made Van Halen so great.

Yup, we can go ahead and close this thread.

[I Coulda Hada VH]

Yup, we can go ahead and close this thread.

Lol. I wouldn't go THAT far.

[MasterP]

"In a Simple Rhyme" is one of my favorite Van Halen songs, but I'd choose "Panama" for the same reasons I Coulda gave: it has all of the elements that show the greatness of Van Halen.

[Raldo]

ATBL

[I Coulda Hada VH]

It's not my favorite VH song, but Hot For Teacher just might be their quintessential tune.

Killer drum intro from Alex and guitar intro from Eddie. Fun lyrics with a great sense of humor from Dave. Stellar background vocals from Mike and Eddie. An epic guitar solo from Eddie. A bombastic outro and ending from the entire band.

[Dr5115]

Beautiful Girls!

The song is just fun and catchy. Great background vocals, great riff and the classic VH breakdown.

[atomicpunk5151]

If it is someone new to VH.... I would lean more to the HITS like Master P(Panama) and Raldo(ATBL) mentioned. Not a "DEEP CUT" like IASR (although that song is fuckin great).

[jimmy812]

I've always thought of HFT as their quintessential song.

[DRFC]

HFT is great for the brothers for sure but Mikey and Dave are not major highlights. And to me, part of what made VH great was that their music sounded live (and was often recorded live in studio with few overdubs) and Al right out of the gate gives HFT that layered feel. Someone who never heard VH would be relatively less impressed with Ed's playing I think, if this is the first time they heard it and they believed it also might be multiple guitars layered too. Just my take.

That said I feel like this question has been asked in other ways and I always went with I'm the One because all four musicians are equally incredible on it for their own reasons -- Dave's lyrics introduce the band and are classic Dave with all his yips and screams (but not too many), Ed's tone is at it's best and he has multiple lead riffs going that could each be it's own song, Al using his double kick shuffle (on HFT too, I know), Mike's bass is all over the place, and that damn barbershop quartet breakdown before they drop the bomb on a classic outro (yes, HFT outro is better...).

To me it's the best representation of who VH was and was going to be.

[James in New York]

Ice Cream Man

Because it was the first one I heard and when I heard that solo I was hooked for life...

[MF5150]

Me Wise Magic


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[VH1986]

For the Dave years, I would play them Hot for Teacher. That song epitomizes early Van Halen riding the rails.

For the Sam years, I would play them When It's Love. That song captures the ethereal beauty of the Van Hagar era.