The Mighty Van Halen
This book was originally published in 1984 and was written by Buzz Morison.
After literally exploding onto the music scene during the late 70's, the mighty Van Halen have rapidly emerged as the hottest rock and roll band in the business. With the ever flamboyant David Lee Roth together with master guitarist Edward Van Halen spearheading their attack, the Pasadena rockers have a string of multi-platinum albums to their credit and are renowned for their dynamic stage performances. This book explores the group's complete history and is action-packed with a mass of high quality, previously unpublished photographs. Accept no substitute: this is the definitive Van Halen biography.
by Buzz Morison
Chapter 1: The Sound of Number One
The noise is deafening. David Lee Roth stands on a platform of steel grating that juts from the front of Van Halen’s enormous stage. He is smiling, laughing, reveling in the noise. He raises his hand, and the volume rises with him. He opens his arms, beckoning, and the waves of sound crash down upon him. Cordless microphone in one hand, bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey in the other, the band’s singer soaks up the adulation of 14,000 people gathered before him, for the sounds he bathes in are not those of guitar, bass, and drums but of a screaming, sweaty mob. This is the 1984 tour, and Van Halen is number one.
“This is the party capital of this part of the country,” Roth bellows, and a new wave of noise descends on him. “Whaddaya say we just forget about the rest of the concert and go across the street and get drunk?” As the crowd sends out its loudest barrage of howling yet, Eddie Van Halen rips into his red and white guitar, slamming chords back at the hordes, and suddenly the arena is Runnin’ with the Devil.
Following the release of their album 1984 and on the heels of the meteoric rise of Jump!, the band’s first song to reach number one on BILLBOARD magazine’s singles chart, Van Halen is crossing the continent with their largest and most ambitious stage show yet. Eddie Van Halen and bassist Michael Anthony no longer content themselves with crisscrossing huge stadium stages. No longer is the quartet backed by a simple wall of amplifiers. No longer is David Lee Roth bathed in light from your basic battery of overhead spots. This is the 1984 tour, and just as technology has entered the band’s music in the form of Eddie Van Halen’s synthesizers, so too has the modern age turned Van Halen’s show into an event of spectacular proportions.
There are speakers everywhere. They form three tiers that rise 40 feet at the back of the stage. They hang overhead from the lighting stanchions circling the stage. They form the base of the stage and rise on each side, the foundations for platforms that bring the band, literally, into the crowd’s hands. They even fill Alex Van Halen’s bass drums. Just seeing all those woofers and tweeters would be enough to send crowds a-howling, but it’s the supersonic, diamond-hard rock that jets from them that brings the walls down.
Dwarfed by the set is the band, but it’s the band that makes that rock. Just your basic drums, bass, guitar, and swaggering sex symbol in ripped, skin-tight pants, but from small things, big noises come, and the arena is crumbling, and the continent is shaking from the music of, at least for now, America’s number one rock band.
From their newest album, Hot for Teacher, is unleashed at a torrid pace as Eddie Van Halen, in a leopard coat and patched jeans, spits snarling, bluesy riffs from his cordless guitar. David Lee Roth, never still, always shaking, barks out the lyrics garbed in silver stretch pants overlaid with a bright red jockstrap. Michael Anthony, “the quiet one,’’ pounds his bass while doing a little dance step in place, riding the music’s surge, truly lifted by the crowd’s affection. And then Alex Van Halen is turned loose behind the drum kit and encircled in a motherlode of chrome and skin. With every roll and tattoo amplified well beyond safety levels, the crowd rolls and tattoos back. There’s a love affair here between a band and a million teenagers, and for tonight, there are no restraints on stage or in the pits.
Each member of the band gets his turn. Michael Anthony climbs the stairs that rise through the tiers of speakers and hurls his bass through the air to the floorboards below, and then, he hurls himself onto his instrument, releasing an electronic moan never dreamed of by Les Paul or Leo Fender.
In the midst of the band’s most heathen and sexy song, Everybody Wants Some!!, Roth, now in his eighth or 20th different set of leotards, engages in some martial arts swordplay, then brings the band down and unfolds a whory, boozy party rap. A new-age Bob Hope gone off the deepest end, Roth tells hotel tales of “this fair city” and beckons to “all these smiling faces,” communicating with the seething mass more easily and effectively than any Miss Manners or Mister Rogers ever did. Then, amidst the late-night goofing and tales of elevator rides with mystery women, the bra appears in the hail of hats, lighters, banners, and bandannas that constantly pelt the stage, bearing and fondling, Roth raises the delicate item to eye level and turns to Eddie Van Halen to his left. “Looks like it’s big enough to be Valerie’s,” he needles as the bone-crushing crunch of Everybody Wants Some!! returns in perfectly choreographed time.
As each Van Halen character gets his turn in the spotlights, magically, like some close encounter of the electrical kind, huge banks of lights are lowered and tilted, the set engaging in a space-age duet with each musician. It’s a flawless, enveloping technical show with an awesome human connection.
Finally, we get Eddie Van Halen’s spot, the solo frenzy for which everybody who has ever played air guitar has been waiting. Running from side platform to side platform, the guitarist fills the stage and spills out his high-speed spectacles, including the intricate twists and melodies from his recorded experiments Cathedral, Spanish Fly, and Intruder. He races to the outer reaches of the stage, pointing and giving the thumbs-up with one hand while the other continues to play as if communicating his excitement at and appreciation of the crowd’s adoration to each person individually. Then he occupies Roth’s centerstage, grating, shirtless now, and grinning as far as his cute cheeks will allow as his playing meets the Bic flicking assembled halfway at the hysterical level.
On it goes, the temperature and decibels rising and falling through new songs Girl Gone Bad and Panama and old faves like (Oh) Pretty Woman and Little Guitars. But when Eddie Van Halen and Michael Anthony mount the stairs to take positions at keyboard outposts that crown their speaker construction, and the 1984 theme is sounded, the chaos is complete. Here comes Roth, balanced on the ramp in front of Alex Van Halen’s elevated drums, with the kicker— into space he leaps, legs out-stretched in a mid-air split. It’s the jump, and with it, number one— JUMP! Tonight, and every night on the road, the band that claims “everyone has a little bit of Van Halen in them” has given everything they can to everyone around them. They are number one, they love being number one, and they have become number one like nobody else. VAN HALEN—the band, the music, the eternal party.
Chapter 2: What is Van Halen?
Sometimes, it seems like a bad comedy routine, this rock and roll life, as if a little cloud of canned laughter is following you around. “Hey Mom, me and Marty got tickets for the Van Halen concert next week.” Pause, then she looks up from pounding the family steak, “Oh … I didn’t know he was in town.” Sheeeesh, moms.
Whether they think it’s a guy, a moving company, a neutron bomber prototype, or “that comet that comes once every couple of decades or something,” we know that Van Halen is number one and why—cuz they play the best, loudest and most partying rock music in the world.
Moonman David Lee Roth, guitar maniac Eddie Van Halen, bass basher Michael Anthony, and grinning pillager of tubs and cymbals Alex Van Halen— they, in simple terms, are the coolest. Four guys who have grown from playing California wet t-shirt contests to creating a sound wave of rock music that makes 15,000 t-shirts wet with sweat on any given night, in any city, on any continent in the world.
Van Halen. It’s the guitarist and drummer’s last name, but now it means so much more. Just say, “Diver Down.” Means Van Halen. Brown M&M’s—Van Halen. Jack Daniels—Van Halen. Prom queen— Van Halen. Valerie Bertinell’—Van Halen. Party—VAN HALEN!
But whoa . . . hang on a minute. We know they’re number one because we made them that. And we know the songs—Runnin ’ with the Devil, Everybody Wants Some!!, Mean Street, Dance the Night Away—and the solos. We’d recognize that chest anywhere. There’s that flying VH logo and the little guy with the beard sometimes. That’s all on the surface. We can see that stuff in the pictures and even hear it in our minds when we listen to the records. But really, what is Van Halen? How come they’re number one, and why are so many bands trying so hard and using so many gimmicks to get past Van Halen, to outdo Van Halen, to be the next Van Halen? Hell, that’s a good question because Van Halen hasn’t even begun to become what Van Halen can be. They only just recently became number one, and they’ve been around since 1978. What gives with these guys? How’d they get there? How come they’re so good? And, perhaps most importantly, how are they having so much fun???
10 things that have led to Van Halen becoming number one:
1) They’re from California. This is obvious but often overlooked. There is no other place in the world that could have spawned a band so full of obnoxious talent and uproarious bravado. If they were from any other state in the union, they’d be just another “outrageous” band, but because they are from the Gold Coast, everything they do is accepted as okay. California is crazy. Van Halen is from California. Van Halen is crazy. Okay.
Seriously, Alex, Eddie, Michael, David—they’re all products of California high schools. That alone is frightening. But really, it’s not so far-fetched to think of this band as the California state symbol— everything in excess, totally unpredictable, sexy, tan, loud, obnoxious, fast, charismatic, always having fun, photogenic, supremely confident, and best/worst of all, they know they’re great and aren’t the least bit hesitant to tell you so.
It’s become something of a motto of the band that there’s a little bit of Van Halen in all of us, and they’re just helping us get it out. By the same token, there’s a little bit of California in all of us, and Van Halen helps us exorcise it so that we can get on with the rest of our lives without going there.
2) They are not heavy metal; they are Van Halen. It is often argued or assumed that Van Halen plays heavy metal, that heavy metal is stupid and pointless, and therefore, Van Halen isn’t worth a second thought or listen. Stop, look, and listen, those California school teachers might have told us. In the band’s own words, they play “big rock,” and as they term it, so they define it. Van Halen’s music is big, it’s loud, it’s fast, it’s exciting, and always, it’s a party. Name one heavy metal band that sounds like a party.
There is no Satanism or black magic in this rock and roll, no specter of doom, no barking at the moon. What we have here is good times, girls, whiskey, dancing, fun, maybe a ride in a fast car, and the party because that’s what rock music is all about, having fun. Van Halen lives fun, and nowhere is that more evident than in the music. Besides, name one heavy metal band whose lead singer could get away with wearing torn Spandex and scarves and sport hair and an upper torso so leeringly as Mr. David Lee Roth.
3) Van Halen is cute and sexy. Look, AC/DC is neither cute nor sexy. Ronnie James Dio is definitely not cute. Def Leppard might be cute but, face it, they’re not old enough to be sexy (really, check their IDs). Quiet Riot might be sexy, at least they think they are, but they’re too old to be cute.
With Motley Crue, it’s make-up and mirrors. Ted Nugent could be sexy but tries to be ugly. Queen tries to be both but is blessed with neither quality. Judas Priest— enough said.
There’s no denying the visual image of Van Halen—-there’s David Lee Roth with the aforementioned chest and skin-tight leggings, and to his left, master of all sounds possible from the electric guitar, the cuddly cute, oh-so seemingly young and innocent Eddie Van Halen. No other band so nimbly balances the bawdy and the pure in their music and their image.
You’re right; there are two other guys in the band, but be honest, when you think of Van Halen, is Michael Anthony’s wardrobe the first thing that comes to mind?)
David Lee Roth exudes sex, taking his body and lewd monologues to the very edge of ribald parody. He jumps, he thrusts, he screams, he moans, and he talks, talks, talks about girls, girls, girls. His sexual escapades and conquests (implied) are as legendary as they are unsubstantiated, photos of ransacked motel rooms and stories of elevator rides notwithstanding. He is a walking sexual fantasy.
Eddie Van Halen is the cutest thing going with a mischievous mile-wide smile that sums up Van Halen as well as anything. He’s married to TV’s Valerie Bertinelli, a storybook romance that’s true-to-life. He’s a sweet, shy, self-proclaimed loner, a knockout who could probably make most any hard-rock outfit on looks and charisma alone. But the truth is that he has become, at the tender age of 28, the greatest rock guitarist of our time. Which leads us to reason for success number four, he’s not just cute . . .
4) Eddie Van Halen is the best guitarist in rock. Perhaps the greatest evidence of an artist’s accomplishments comes when others start copying his or her work. That’s how it’s been with Eddie Van Halen for a while now— everybody tries to sound like him and to know, “How’d he do that?” There are a million guitarists, some on records and some just heard in basements, trying to get a grip on Eddie’s solos just as Van Halen used to teach himself Eric Clapton’s solos note for note.
There is evidence that he’s the best guitarist in rock. Perhaps Eddie Van Halen for a while now— voted by the readers of GUITAR PLAYER magazine; accolades from the likes of Frank Zappa, who thanked Eddie for ‘‘reinventing” the guitar; and so on. But the only real evidence anyone needs is contained on six platinum-selling Van Halen albums (meaning there are over one million copies of each frightening slab stashed in record collections worldwide). The technique, the style, the WOW. Just as his cuteness balances Roth’s heavy breathing, so his spectacular playing is the foil for the primitive prancings of Van Halen’s voice. And get the shy and diminutive Eddie Van Halen on stage where he can do what he loves to do most—play guitar—and it’s obvious again why they’re number one.
5) The concerts are amazing. It’s a fact that Van Halen’s 1981, 1982, and 1984 concert productions were the largest overtaken on cross-continent tours in the history of rock. It’s also a fact, at least for anyone who has seen one, that the Van Halen stage show is just plain amazing, whether it was on the World Vacation tour or an Invasion jaunt.
What makes a Van Halen concert so celebratory, though, is not just the spectacle but the obvious truth in stating that the four guys on stage are having just as good a time as all the folks out in the arena. Eddie Van Halen has stated more than once that he’s just like his fans and that if he weren’t up in the lights playing, he’d probably be rushing the stage, reaching out for a touch, just as lost in the roar as everyone else. He’s said it’s not work; it’s play—they play music—and in concert we get to play with them. A Van Halen concert ticket is an invitation to party, and the band does everything in its power as ‘ ‘host” to make that party one-of-a-kind unforgettable. (It seems the fellas love to be out on the road, too. Something about girls.) And the tours keep getting bigger and better.
6) Van Halen has been blessed with luck and good timing. The story of Van Halen’s discovery by Warner Brothers executives is an often-told tale (and retold again in the next chapter). It was an off night; hardly anyone was in the bar, but the band found out about their visitors that night and played the set of their lives. Sign on the dotted line, please. A lucky night.
Their first album came out in 1978 because that was when they signed and recorded, but it just so happened that the music world was ready for a blistering rock blast. Disco was rearing its ugly head as John Travolta came down with his Saturday Night Fever (that soundtrack was number one when Van Halen hit the charts), and You Really Got Me turned out to be the rocking tonic many a youngblood needed. Some ballyhooed the re-emergence of metal. But hey, it was just Van Halen, announcing their arrival at precisely the right time.
Today, the often-talked-about heavy metal revival actually seems to be in full swing, with creatures like Scorpions and Twisted Sister filling the charts. Van Halen had them all beat. They’ve quite simply become the hardest, cleanest, and most savvy rock band around, confidently stepping over the heap of clone bands and leather pretenders while leaving more than one Foreigner and Foghat in their wake on the way to number one. Right now, the stereos of America can’t get enough loud, fast, crashing music—there’s a new Ratt and Helix (and old Kiss) at every turn. Van Halen just took their time, became the best, and stepped in to steer the ship. And, as their luck would have it, they struck a soft spot between the Michael Jackson blitz and the Prince rain. Number one in 1984 because the time was right.
7) They write great songs. It’s hard to imagine the four lads of Van Halen sitting down to write Push Comes to Shove or Hot for Teacher, but that’s what it says there on the record sleeves— “songs written by Edward Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony, and David Lee Roth.” Whatever, from out of that collective consciousness and giant pen come some super rock, and even pop, songs.
There’s no denying the melody and chorus of Dance the Night Away. It’s one of those songs you can’t help but sing along with. How about Runnin’ with the Devil? You can’t get much more sinister than that, no matter how much leather you wear or fire and blood you sprinkle on your music. Jump! is a pure pop tune (actually composed two years before its time) that even 35-year-old college graduates learned to love. Everybody Wants Some!! is a song written for fun about fun and played for fun that has become a concert showpiece with a chorus that couldn’t be more true (or more raunchy). Everybody’s got a favorite, right?
That four-man collective writes great songs (though, in reality, it’s Eddie who does most of the melodies and David Lee who creates the words), which isn’t surprising but might be thought of as a bonus seeing as how Van Halen started as a cover band and their first radio hit was a Kinks’ song. Only goes to show that success also often depends on the fact that. . .
8) They do great cover tunes. Somebody knew what he was doing when You Really Got Me was released six weeks before the first Van Halen album. California’s favorite singles band went national with a classic from the ’60s, starting the flame under Van Halen before it took off.
Before signing with Warner Brothers, Van Halen paid their dues on the bar circuit, building a reputation with a repertoire of covers that ranged from Deep Purple to the Ohio Players and back again. Demand only allowed an occasional original to creep in at a pace of about one song per set. They worked long and hard to become L.A.’s favorite backyard barbeque band, so why give up on the sounds that got you to the big time? You’re No Good, Dancin’ in the Streets. (Oh) Pretty Woman—coarse, fiery bullets that shoot off the albums and light up concerts still. And, great original songs plus great covers make for great albums.
9) Great albums. The best thing producer/Warner Bros, magnate Ted Templeman ever did for Van Halen’s studio sound was nothing. That’s right, nothing. Choosing to present one of the hottest live acts around just as they sound, Templeman always has opted for recording Van Halen “live” in the studio, or nearly so. A lot is left to chance, and many of the mistakes go down uncorrected, but that’s part of what makes a Van Halen album so real and alive. The first album, Van Halen, was completed in about three weeks. They marched into the studio, plugged in, and played full bore. With a minimum of overdubs and all those careening Eddie Van Halen solos cut loose live, the sound was captured, the name was made, and that’s the way it’s been ever since. As Roth and Alex Van Halen have stated, the only thing missing is the audience.
David Lee Roth is the first to admit, as well, that there’s a formula at work: short songs, melodic songs, no bombastic solos, no boredom, concentrated doses of lethal rock. Each album models short, quick, jugular-seeking efficiency and frantic pacing. Toss in a chance to hear Eddie’s latest discoveries, again short and sweet, and you’ve got platinum LPs.
10) The men of Van Halen don’t take themselves too seriously. No pretensions, no attempts at great truth. Van Halen knows what they’re about, and they have an abundance of one of the key ingredients to rock and roll success—a sense of humor. Rock and roll isn’t meant to be taken too seriously; otherwise, it just wouldn’t be rock and roll. And, tell the truth now, can you really take David Lee Roth seriously? How many people do you know who dress like that?
The members of Van Halen are entertainers as well as musicians, and they know it. They love to play high-velocity music, to entertain on and off the stage, and to party with the people, and they’re honest about it all. They laugh at themselves. (Heck, Roth laughs throughout the band’s albums.) As Eddie has said, he likes loud rock guitar, likes to play loud guitar, and is really just a kid in love with rock like the kids in the crowd.
The band collects bad reviews of their records and shows and revels in any reaction they can arouse. The people who hate Van Halen are those who don’t take the time to stop and find out what they are really about. Van Halen is about rock and having fun, the big party, the long-revered ideal of non-stop good times. As Roth believes, audience participation should extend onstage, backstage, and under the stage. Which really sort of sums them up—party. So, there are eleven things that have led to Van Halen becoming number one.
11) Van Halen really does love to party. Honest.