How many high school notebooks have been graced with this logo?
I have lived through three incarnations of the band Van Halen, and I believe I am in the rare circle of person who has seen all three in concert. As a band, they are high octane from the guitars to drums to larger than life personas. In a band with two brothers, you'd think the squabbling would be between those two, but the reality is Eddie Van Halen just couldn't or wouldn't get along with his charismatic lead singers.
The combustion worked, however. Which did I like best? Oh, like a mother, you can't distinguish between your favorite child, although there is at least one you shake your head at, Gary Cherone.
A great band for so many reasons that make this list:
Runnin' with the Devil - that intro!
Eruption - that solo!
Dance the Night Away - a surprising waltz into top 40, a brilliant move towards pop radio friendly singles.
Beautiful Girls - this may be the self esteem talking, but work with me. Other rock bands featured fetishized models in their videos, alienating middle America gals like me, who couldn't even buy the MAKEUP possible to look like that, let alone the clothes. When Motley Cure sang about the Looks That Kill, they weren't singing about someone like me. But God bless David Lee Roth, there was something about his phrasing, and his singing that this song was about YOU. There is a certain "woohoo, wimmen!" exclamation in his vocals that makes a girl strut.
And the Cradle Will Rock - "have you seen junior's grades?"
Everybody Wants Some! - I think this has hit the playlist in the past based on the Claymation music video in the movie Better Off Dead. Quotable, even garbled. Love that low tribal drum that opens the song. Classic Rock Playlist claims this is the ultimate Van Halen song since it is equal parts Roth/Anthony/Alex/Eddie.
Unchained - "c'mon Dave, gimme a break... hey, hey, heeeeey... one break.... comin' up!"
So This is Love? - for all the overplayed staples of classic rock radio, this one doesn't get much play. Too bad, it is a great jam.
Pretty Woman - oh, the VHS cheesiness of the low rent video production that is this video. DLR and Eddie were always at the forefront, but let's give it up ladies for Alex as Tarzan and Michael as a Viking. Oh, and that strut thing with Beautiful Girls? Back with a vengeance.
Big Bad Bill is Sweet William Now - anyone who bitches about DLR being a heavier rocker than Sammy chooses to ignore Dave's affection for tin pan alley. In mommy's fantasyland, she can see her son skating an exhibition to this with all the ladies swooning.
I'll Wait - from 1984, a classic staple on heavy rotation.
Love Walks In - mixing my eras and influences, the period when Sammy looks like Brian Krakow from My So Called Life, and they were promoting Sammy as DLR's harder rocking replacement with a ton of live conert videos.
Inside - one of the many songs on 5150 that made me think the songwriting was going in a new, mature direction. A fan of Sammy's from his Standing Hampton days, I was a quick convert to Van Hagar.
When It's Love - I think OU812 is my favorite VH album, and I remember playing this cassette til the tape wore thin. Video could be all Sammy's hair blowing wild and free *sigh*. Warner Bros. contract and Michael Anthony in Mickey Mouse tee? Subtle jab at the man.
Cabo Wabo - I think of it as VH's version of Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville.
Source of Infection - franticly energetic.
Black and Blue - sexy.
Poundcake - sexy. Ex-boyfriend didn't like that I liked this so I think it made me like it even more. What was I thinking?! Faithful readers *crickets*, yes indeed, it is the same ex who thought it was unladylike to listen to Zeppelin. If I write a cheeky memoir, I think I have my book title.
Right Now - reinforcing the "thinking man's VH" with an award-winning video about life's possibilities in the here and now.
I tried to list something from the Cherone years. Can't do it. I remember thinking at least the song "Without You" was good, but it sounds like VH in a blender with Pearl Jam and STP. Sadness. This concert was disappointing too, even the Black Crows, who were the opening band, dialled it in.
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