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View Full Version : Monsters of Rock Tour Van Hagar Interview



thefive
03-22-2004, 04:23 PM
Just listening to this right now on an MP3. One question what year was this tour? Monsters of Rock with Scorpions.Van Hagar, and who else?
thanks
thefive

beto
03-22-2004, 04:30 PM
WHO THE FUCK CARES ABOUT HAGAR

thefive
03-22-2004, 04:36 PM
I dont. I just curious because I am listing to this interview to see if they say anything about Dave.
thefive

lesfunk
03-22-2004, 04:53 PM
I saw that tour. The most boring event I ever witnessed.

degüello
03-22-2004, 05:39 PM
I remember when it was happening, not sure about the year though. Wasn't it '88, maybe?

Didn't it have disappointing ticket sales throughout the US?

Think I read about that, maybe I can dig it up.

degüello
03-22-2004, 06:02 PM
Okay, here's a bit about it the tour, taken from a wicked book, Bang Your Head: The Rise and Fall of Heavy Metal, by David Konow:
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In 1988, it was announced that the Monsters of Rock tour would hit the road in America that summer. The tour would feature an impressive lineup of bands: Kingdom Come, Metallica, Dokken, and the Scorpions, with Van Halen (Van Hagar- degüello's note ;)) headlining. To warm up for the tour, Metallica played a suprise show at the Troubadour, and the place was packed. It was the same club where they had opened for Ratt in 1982.

In spite of the bands' divergent musical styles, once on the road, they all got along well. In between gigs, the bands had a lot of time to hang out and party. There was a lot of personal and chemical camaraderie, and booze and drugs were in abundance. As former Dokken bassist recalls, "There were a lot of 3 A.M. phone calls: "Yeaah, Jeff? Got any?' And usually I did! In that respect, it was a tremendously fun tour."

Even the hard-partying Metallica, who were nicknamed Alcoholica, were suprised at how much chemical intake Van Halen (Van Hagar- deguello's note) could handle. "They were partyers, no doubt," said James Hetfield. "I couldn't believe how a band could be around that long and party hardcore like that."

The "Monsters" tour didn't live up to expectations. Its stages were twice the size of those for U2 and Bruce Springsteen's recent tours, and its dimensions dwarfed the bands. It also took fifty-one trucks to haul around the 971 tons of equipment. Promoters overestimated the draw of the tour; many shows didn't sell out, and some sold less than half capacity. Some promoters lost money in the six-figure range. "Promoters are praying for breakeven," said one prominent manager. "There was a reasonable, six-truck tour here. Instead they take this fifty-truck tour out, just to gratify their egos, to prove they're larger than life, and then brag about it."
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degüello
03-22-2004, 06:05 PM
If Dave was on the bill they'd have done alright!

thefive
03-22-2004, 06:09 PM
Thank you so much degüello for that interview. Really appreciate it.
thefive

thefive
03-22-2004, 06:10 PM
Yeah one more thing. I am happy it flopped big time.
thefive
Van Hagar sucks the big one and licks where the sun dont shine.

degüello
03-22-2004, 09:28 PM
Originally posted by thefive
Thank you so much degüello for that interview. Really appreciate it.
thefive

Hey, no problem. I enjoy diggin' up that shit.

Highly recommend the book, by the way. It's a very entertaining read, covers a lot of ground. (Even though it's negative towards Dave at times.)

I've read it twice, and the first time couldn't put it down, read it in a couple of days.

thefive
03-22-2004, 09:33 PM
Hey degüello what type of negative stuff did they say toward Dave?
thefive

Catfish
03-23-2004, 02:28 PM
I thought Dave was on the Monsters of Rock tour in '88...in support of Skyscraper...????

degüello
03-23-2004, 11:01 PM
Originally posted by thefive
Hey degüello what type of negative stuff did they say toward Dave?
thefive

Not much, but it is frustrating to read.

Konow devotes a lot of ink to classic VH, and gives Dave his due as a mega-frontman, but portrays Dave as becoming a parody of himself post-Skyscraper. (Although even some Dave fans might agree with that sentiment.)

Worst of all, he views Van Hagar as "great" and "doing just fine without Roth." Argghh...