Mikey on Fair Warning

[Marcus]

I know most think Mikey is just a hack - and a lucky one at that - but I really think his bass playing on Fair Warning is pretty good. I mean the bass is thick and powerful, and he's not just playing one note bass lines.

'So This Is Love?', 'Mean Street', and especially 'Push Comes to Shove' show that he really can play. Also sounds like the first time he recorded without using a pick.

[frenchie]

eddie plays most of the bass line on fair warning.even roth said it.fair warning was ed first solo writing,eddie was a genius at this time 'cause roth was here.

[Carmine]

Originally posted by frenchie
eddie was a genius at this time 'cause roth was here.

Nuff said...

[Rikk]

Personally, I think Mikey was always the right bass player for Van Halen. Part of his talent is knowing when not to overplay. Now mind you, COULD he overplay? That, my friends, is the question.

[Marcus]

Did Ed really play bass on Fair Warning? If so, that would explain a lot.
I still think that by staying out of Ed's way musically, he provided more of a focus on Ed's guitar work. True, he probably can't keep up to Ed anyway, but it seems to work, even to this day.

[Warham]

I think Mike played on the early albums. I don't think Ed got any ideas about putting bass on a VH album until that monstrosity of a Hagar album came out in '87 that Ed played on. He got more bright ideas after that.

[Vivian Campbell]

As long as Mike is delivering back up vocals, I could care less what he does on bass.

[WACF]

Mike's vocals are more pronounced in the Van Halen sound than his or Ed's bass playing.

[VHII]

mike plays it live anyway, and i think its good in a band for bass to not be too obnoxious, but he was under doing it a little bit

[Wolverine]

agreed mikes backing vocals is the signature sound for van halen. without mikes backing vocals you don't have van halen.

[tydhurst]

I hate that ugly Jack Daniels bass!

[EDDIEVRULZ]

ive said this before, but i have seen mike play at NAMM. dont be fooled. this dude knows his way around a bass. plus, a genuine nice guy to talk to.

[DrMaddVibe]

Really? How many songs did he write?

[spmusicplyr]

Originally posted by Rikk
Personally, I think Mikey was always the right bass player for Van Halen. Part of his talent is knowing when not to overplay. Now mind you, COULD he overplay? That, my friends, is the question.

i think the ideal bass player is someone who provides a thick bottom for the band and doesnt overshadow the other instruments. thats just what mike did. hey, in funk and jazz its all different. bass is sort of a show off instrument. in rock, all you need are those quarter notes.
if he had a chance to overplay, maybe we could know for sure if he sucked or not

[academic punk]

Originally posted by Rikk
Personally, I think Mikey was always the right bass player for Van Halen. Part of his talent is knowing when not to overplay. Now mind you, COULD he overplay? That, my friends, is the question.

Michael Anthony is a supreme example of a band being more than the sum of its parts.

True, his bass playing is not one of the main attractions of classic Van Halen, but you know what? With a guitar player as innovative and dominant as the young Eddie V, it's a wonder that you could find even a frontman who could compete for the listeners/audiences attention. Lo and behold, Roth managed to accomplish that. So you've already got two ENORMOUS personalities in the band...need their be a third?

As has been noted, Mike was - in the words of Derek Smalls - like "luke-warm water". And that was a necessary component in the classic VH. Supposedly at the time of the FW tour there was discussion about replacing Mike with none other than Billy Sheehan (Billy's band Talas was VH's opening act on the first leg of the tour. In Dave's words, "Billy was so good we had to fire him"). Dave and Ed were both for it, Alex was DEADSET against it.

It may have made for some more exciting music, and virtuoso performances, but VH was NEVER really a metal band - they were a rock band of the classic mold, picking up as much influence from the likes Motown, Texas blues and the Stones as Led Zeppelin, Cream and Black Sabbath.

Guess what? Billy really only has the latter influences. Mike had both the former and the latter. He was a goof fit for the band, he meshed well with Alex's dfrumming (whereas Billy would've been trying to mesh with Eddie) as he didn't impose himself too much both for his musicianship and his personality.

And, yeah, his backing vocals are an integral element of the bands sound.

Now if only he would take Sammy's cock out of his ass...