Controversial Van Halen opionions

[Brett]

I know there's gonna be at least one or two Linkers who are gonna chime in with "I love karaoke. Me and the wife..."

Oh, I’m sure there’s a shit ton of guys on here that like to do it.

I’m sorry, after being routinely tortured by what I hear every week, I’m telling you most people have no business fucking doing it. And it sucks.

[Simon Ribeiro]

I'm convinced there's no such thing as bad music in Latin America. Pro or amateur.

Ah, I can positively tell you that there is bad music everywhere.

Here in Brazil? Don't let me start with it.

[Van Squalen]

Look if you can sing and you enjoy doing it I say more power to you. Sometimes there are people that sound good, but it’s rare. I’ve played in bands for 30+ years and I wouldn’t even get up there and do it. I know I’m not a singer. Yeah I can sing backups in key, but I’m no fucking singer. And I know a lot of these people are drunk and it’s just having fun but holy shit, stop!! Spare the world from more noise pollution.

I notice every week people are singing a bunch of the grunge stuff. I think they believe that all those songs are just yelling and screaming, and nobody can actually sing. Some guy was doing Smells Like Teen Spirit. And yeah Kurt Cobain is yelling, but it’s not just screaming off key. There is some technique to actually doing it correctly and making it sound good.

And if you are going to do it and can’t sing, then at least pick a fucking song that is manageable for a normal person. Singing loud doesn’t mean screaming and yelling.

Inevitably, someone will cite the Cinderella story of how Arnel became the lead singer of Journey because of karaoke, or how karaoke led Adam Lambert to American Idol and then singing for Queen.

Yeah. Those are one-offs. Plus, they can sing.

Most karaoke folk...cannot sing, I'm afraid. No offense to those who enjoy it.

[Brett]

#StopKaraokeTorture

[Van Squalen]

LOL.

[The Rover]

I became a fan well after Dave was no longer in Van Halen. I listened to a few of Dave's solo songs--whatever came on the radio--and that was enough for me. I wasn't a fan. I did the same with Sammy. I listened to a few of his pre-Van Halen songs and didn't get very far with him either.

Both of their initial runs with Van Halen however, were magic.

Whereas I was a Sammy fan before Van Hagar, and I prefer Sammy solo to Van Hagar.

[The Rover]

It would be nice if most people who have done it, never have as well.

I just don’t know why some people think they can automatically sing because there’s some background music behind them to sing over. Lol.

For some, it's like putting lipstick on a pig.

[CatchAsCatch]

This is no groundbreaking revelation but I think Dave's solo career was proof of just how magic the EVH/DLR combination was. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts... although in their case the individual parts were pretty great. It's kind of funny that he got that band with a bunch of great players but it just (to me) always sounded pretty uninspired. It's like how you can stack a baseball team and still not win the world series.

[I Coulda Hada VH]

This is no groundbreaking revelation but I think Dave's solo career was proof of just how magic the EVH/DLR combination was. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts... although in their case the individual parts were pretty great. It's kind of funny that he got that band with a bunch of great players but it just (to me) always sounded pretty uninspired. It's like how you can stack a baseball team and still not win the world series.

I agree that DLR and EVH were never better than when they recorded together.

[CaboChris]

Well, ya know what they say about opinions...

[Van Squalen]

I agree that DLR and EVH were never better than when they recorded together.

This is a sheep gambit, geezer. Cut the shit.

EVH was as good, and sometimes better, later in his career. Any dummy axe man can hear it. You just have a preference. But that isn't the same as hard reality beyond subjective opinion.

[bklynboy68]

I agree that DLR and EVH were never better than when they recorded together.

In other news, water is wet.

[CatchAsCatch]

This is a sheep gambit, geezer. Cut the shit.

EVH was as good, and sometimes better, later in his career. Any dummy axe man can hear it. You just have a preference. But that isn't the same as hard reality beyond subjective opinion.

Just to be clear. My comment wasn't a knock on the Hagar era. I didn't really mean it to be a knock on DLR solo either, although I guess it kind of sounded that way. Anyway probably just shouldn't have made that comment

[Little Intruder]

That's the beauty of Van Halen: two fantastic eras to enjoy, Dave and Sam. Gary, Mitch and Sass don't count.

[Little Dreamer]

The only reason to do karaoke is if you're after a girl that wants to go there.