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Yount
08-14-2012, 08:12 PM
http://number1albums.com/2008/07/10/for-unlawful-carnal-knowledge--van-halen-july-6-1991.aspx

Gotta love how big Sammy thinks he is/was!!


Warner Bros. 26594

Producers: Andy Johns, Ted Templeman, Van Halen

Track listing: Poundcake /Judgement Day / Spanked / Runaround /
Pleaure Dome / In 'n' Out / Man on a Mission / The Dream Is Over / Right Now/ 316 / Top of the World



July 6, 1991
3 weeks

Van Halen intended its ninth album to be its "masterpiece," says singer Sammy Hagar. "We decided we were going to go into the studio and overwrite. We were going to spend as much time as it takes to make the greatest record we could ever make. For once, we were going to get together as a band and work hard."

Yet the band's best intentions went slightly awry. "We were going to produce ourselves, basically, but we got so damned lost we had songs that were 20 minutes long," Hagar says. "So we called in Ted Templeman. Andy Johns had been there working with us, but he wasn't so much producing—he was there for the sound."

With two consecutive Number One albums, 5150 and OU812, Van Halen were feeling confident that a "masterpiece" was within their reach. "That was our intent," says Hagar. "And it was close. I think that's a great record. Song by song, each song was pretty good, but no one was there to beat me up on the lyrics, so I just sang the first thing I wrote."

Although For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge was a year in the making, Hagar doubts it would have ever been completed if the band hadn't turned to Templeman. "If we would have brought Ted in from the beginning, it would have been done a lot sooner." Templeman, a veteran staff producer at Warner Bros., had worked with Hagar in the early '70s when he was a member of Montrose, and also produced the early Van Halen records, but For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge marked the first time that Templeman had worked with Van Halen since Hagar had replaced original vocalist David Lee Roth in 1985.

Unlike Van Halen's prior two albums, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge didn't spawn any top 10 hits. "Right Now," the second single released from the album, stalled at number 55 but became one of the group's best-known songs, thanks to extensive album rock play, a striking video that won the band an MTV award, and its subsequent use in a Pepsi commercial. "It's been used in every football game, every baseball game, every basketball game, and by Pepsi," says Hagar. "It wasn't because we sold out, it was just because all these people wanted to use our song, which is very flattering."

The album's title wasn't just a joke like OU812. Says Hagar, "That's when censorship was a big issue. I wanted to name the album just Fuck. I thought, 'How are they going to stop us? We're one of the biggest bands in the world. We are worth all this money to all these people. If the big chains are going to carry it, the mom-and-pop stores will.' I wanted to be rebellious. I guess I was a couple years younger then, but I wanted to push the censorship issue, because I thought it was bullshit. People were blaming rock bands for all the violence in the world."

Yet Hagar's original plan was a little too radical. As a compromise, he turned to his friend, boxer Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, who told him "fuck" was actually an acronym for "For unlawful carnal knowledge." Says Hagar, "I thought that was great, we will enlighten our fans. We thought it was pretty intellectual for Van Halen."

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge entered The Billboard 200 at the top, giving the band its third consecutive Number One album.

THE TOP FIVE
Week of July 6, 1991
1. For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, Van Halen
2. Slave to the Grind, Skid Row
3. Spellbound, Paula Abdul
4. No Fences, Garth Brooks
5. Gonna Make You Sweat, C + C Music Factory

Here's Van Halen's video clip for "Right Now," which helped push For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge to the top of the chart.



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Yount
08-14-2012, 08:15 PM
Check the Top five of the week. Stiff competition there. Heavyweights!

DONNIEP
08-14-2012, 08:37 PM
I liked Slave To The Grind :)

FORD
08-14-2012, 08:53 PM
The Garth Brooks record is the only one out of the top 5 that I will admit to buying.

(OK.... I did own a copy of "FUCK" but I didn't pay retail price for it, and I couldn't even tell you where it is right now)

DONNIEP
08-14-2012, 08:54 PM
The Garth Brooks record is the only one out of the top 5 that I will admit to buying.

(OK.... I do own a copy of "FUCK" but I didn't pay retail price for it, and I couldn't even tell you where it is right now)

Not a Skid Row fan?

FORD
08-14-2012, 08:56 PM
Not a Skid Row fan?

Nope. Never could stand Sebastard Bitch. He's almost as bad as Hagar.


Well... maybe that's a little harsh..... but he's definitely as bad as Bret Michaels or Vince Neil.

gbranton
08-14-2012, 09:02 PM
In 48 hours I will be in his presence, Baz is opening for Cinderella in Louisville, KY.

jhale667
08-14-2012, 10:04 PM
Slave to the Grind is pretty awesome. Sebastian Bach still kicks ass.


And regarding F.U.C.K. - maybe someone should have been there to beat up Spammy over the lyrics. And the screeching.

DONNIEP
08-14-2012, 10:17 PM
Back in the day I couldn't stand Baz's behavior and his attitude. But the motherfucker can sing - no denying it. Slave To The Grind is hard and heavy as hell. I'd love to go to a show these days. The dude still sounds awesome.

gbranton
08-14-2012, 10:18 PM
There is a chance I will get to meet or hang out with him, my wife and I have been joking around about what NOT to say to Sebastian Bach, cause he'll fight a motherfucker.

DONNIEP
08-14-2012, 10:23 PM
They should hand out a list of trigger words to everyone backstage. You know, words that set him off. :)

gbranton
08-14-2012, 10:45 PM
Something like "Damn dude, couldn't you find a better looking chick for that Kicking and Screaming video"? would prolly do it, LOL.

FORD
08-14-2012, 10:47 PM
Slave to the Grind is pretty awesome. Sebastian Bach still kicks ass.


And regarding F.U.C.K. - maybe someone should have been there to beat up Spammy over the lyrics. And the screeching.

Yeah, there was some stuff on that album that really could have been great with the right singer. Something like "Judgment Day" for example. Instrumentally, it's a Hell of a song. Vocally, it's a bad motor scooter, dragged by a Trans Am right into a train wreck.

Production wise, it was the best Van Hagar could manage, and certainly better than either 5150 or Oh,This Blows Goats 2. But with Ted Templeman and Andy Johns on board, it would have to be.

DONNIEP
08-14-2012, 10:48 PM
Something like "Damn dude, couldn't you find a better looking chick for that Kicking and Screaming video"? would prolly do it, LOL.

Or you could ask him what it's like being a "pretender to the throne" all these years. Be sure your wife films it! :biggrin:

jhale667
08-14-2012, 10:49 PM
Oh,This Blows Goats 2.


:lmao:

gbranton
08-14-2012, 10:54 PM
Or you could ask him what it's like being a "pretender to the throne" all these years. Be sure your wife films it! :biggrin:

Better yet, act excited and say "Johnny Solinger! Dude I love you!"

binnie
08-15-2012, 06:44 AM
It took them a year to make FUCK?

A year to come up with 'Man On A Mission'?

'Slave To The Grind' still melts my speakers to this day.................

VHscraps
08-15-2012, 07:13 AM
It took them a year to make FUCK?



I think I read in Hagar's book that he demanded that Ted be brought in, because (i) he couldn't get along with Andy Johns, and (ii) Eddie and Andy Johns spent most days sitting around drinking and doing blow.

I bought that album at the time - still in denial about it being Van Halen, etc., as I'm sure many of us were. Can't say I've listened to it in 20 years, though - I don't even own it now. In fact, I recently moved home and I found some CD singles from it and the follow-up live album. I binned them.

Alex abandoned his usual drum sound on that for the big boom drum sound, which - in my view - immediately dates everything from that era.

The title and the cover of the album - as with all Van Hagar albums - was garbage; devoid of any feel for design or nuance. I also read in Hagar's book that Alex's wife at the time got the job of designing those covers ...

Nickdfresh
08-15-2012, 07:27 AM
LOL Hagar singing for "20 minutes" straight? That's enough to cause a Hale Bop-like mass suicide event...

lesfunk
08-15-2012, 03:00 PM
"Masterpiece" my Ass. Van Halen had already made their masterpiece. It's called Fair Warning.

hagar really thinks his shit is "intellectual"... VH's version of pretty woman is more intellectual than anything that fuckhead ever shat out of his mouth

gbranton
08-17-2012, 03:07 AM
Back in the day I couldn't stand Baz's behavior and his attitude. But the motherfucker can sing - no denying it. Slave To The Grind is hard and heavy as hell. I'd love to go to a show these days. The dude still sounds awesome.

I had a backstage pass to tonight's show with Cinderella. It was an outdoor show, in the former University of Louisville stadium, due to the weather it turned into a fiasco, but an amusing and memorable fiasco. Once everything was set up and sound check was done, nasty weather rolled in. Just after the gates opened and the crowd got in a fair official came to us and told us the show would have to be delayed, winds of up to seventy and lots of lighting. Behind the stage were a series of trailers the bands were using as dressing rooms and it was determined that in those kind of winds they weren't safe. They relocated us to the home dugout and locker room for the baseball team. There we rode out the storm for the next three hours with Sebastian Bach, his band, three guys from Cinderella (all but TK), wives, girlfriends, crew, ect. Eventually after pushing the start time back twice, they cancelled Baz, then set 10:00 as a drop dead time for Cinderella. At 10:00 it was still raining and lighting, so they cancelled the whole show. The funny part us that somehow a dugout and locker room became a tornado shelter. LOL.

http://www.bravewords.com/news/188718

The picture in this article was taken by me with Baz's cell phone.

LoungeMachine
08-17-2012, 03:10 AM
Holy Shit man......glad you're OK

:gulp:

Too many bad endings to shows from weather gone unheeded lately.

gbranton
08-17-2012, 03:15 AM
They didn't take any chances with us tonight. Problem is, UL has a nice new stadium a few blocks away, so this place had fallen into disrepair. Peeling paint, roof pouring and no place to sit. Damp and nasty.

FORD
08-17-2012, 03:16 AM
After all the previous discussion of Bach and his "trigger words", should I even ask how it was to be confined to a dugout with him for several hours??

Seriously though, glad everybody made it out safe.

gbranton
08-17-2012, 03:22 AM
After all the previous discussion of Bach and his "trigger words", should I even ask how it was to be confined to a dugout with him for several hours??

LOL, he was actually pretty cool. Not overbearing or as gregarious as I expected, kind of quiet and spent a lot of time texting/Tweeting. Generally had a good sense of humor, posed for a funny pic with some state troopers I'll post a link to when I find it. The troopers loved him. He kept saying "Duuuude it's time to rock man".

gbranton
08-17-2012, 03:25 AM
Fred Coury is an amateur storm chaser, he wanted to go out and stand in the storm and take pictures during the lighting but security would not let us out of the dugout.

LoungeMachine
08-17-2012, 03:30 AM
Fred Coury is an amateur storm chaser, he wanted to go out and stand in the storm and take pictures during the lighting but security would not let us out of the dugout.

Fucking drummers......

:gulp:

I hung with Snake once after a show here, let's just say he had nothing good to say about Bastion ;)

gbranton
08-17-2012, 03:34 AM
Fucking drummers......

:gulp:

I hung with Snake once after a show here, let's just say he had nothing good to say about Bastion ;)

One of the biggest laughs he got all night was "Skid Row........I used to LOVE that band".

The story I have heard is that the while rift started over a disagreement over whether or not Skid Row should take a gig opening for KISS. Baz (huge KISS fan) wanted to and Rachel (who sort of runs the show) didn't want to.

jhale667
08-17-2012, 03:57 AM
LOL, he was actually pretty cool. Not overbearing or as gregarious as I expected, kind of quiet and spent a lot of time texting/Tweeting. Generally had a good sense of humor, posed for a funny pic with some state troopers I'll post a link to when I find it. The troopers loved him. He kept saying "Duuuude it's time to rock man".


Think I saw the pic you're talking about in a post on his Facebook apologizing about the show cancellation, and how bummed he was but he understood that it was too dangerous to play for both the band and the audience. Then he said something that was pretty funny: "Mostly I'm upset because I was having an excellent hair day, and I couldn't wait to share my flaxen locks with all of you." :biggrin:



Fucking drummers......

:gulp:

I hung with Snake once after a show here, let's just say he had nothing good to say about Bastion ;)


I also saw a funny bit with Bas talking about the potential reunion (that's apparently now being considered according to another interview I saw a week or two ago, but this was prior) where he said "I mean, those dudes fired me. Does anybody really ever go to McDonald's and ask for their job back?" From that interview sounded like the only one he still had an issue with was Rachel. Btw, Scotti and Snake are both FU endorsees (as is Whip)...

I've only seen them once with the new singer, they were on the same bill as QR(iot)...wasn't really feelin' it. IMO he wasn't really doing the songs justice - band was still tight as hell, but love him or hate him, Bas is hard to replace... let's say it was the polar opposite of the show where Dokken with Jon Levin was on after them, and Carlos and I were standing there going "Uh, dude's nailing it..." :biggrin:
It's harder to replace a vocalist though.

LoungeMachine
08-17-2012, 04:03 AM
Jon Levin was the nicest fooking guy when I booked Dokken...... and talk about Chops

I swear to christ if there ever was a bill with Skid Marks, Quiet Riot, Dokken, WASP, and Lynchmob you and I could be there laughing telling stories about all of them that they probably don't even remember

:gulp:

gbranton
08-17-2012, 04:13 AM
Think I saw the pic you're talking about in a post on his Facebook apologizing about the show cancellation, and how bummed he was but he understood that it was too dangerous to play for both the band and the audience. Then he said something that was pretty funny: "Mostly I'm upset because I was having an excellent hair day, and I couldn't wait to share my flaxen locks with all of you." :biggrin:

Yeah, that was funny, but the picture in question was taken of a trooper pretending to handcuff him. I was standing a few feet away and it made me think of the fake DLR "arrest" footage in Panama.

As for a Skid Row reunion, I got the same impression, that only one person is holding up the whole thing. I too have seen SR with Johnny Solinger a couple of times and the band is still exceptionally tight.

I have seen Levin with Dokken as well and that dude can effin PLAY.

gbranton
08-17-2012, 10:19 PM
LOL, he was actually pretty cool. Not overbearing or as gregarious as I expected, kind of quiet and spent a lot of time texting/Tweeting. Generally had a good sense of humor, posed for a funny pic with some state troopers I'll post a link to when I find it. The troopers loved him. He kept saying "Duuuude it's time to rock man".

Just got home. Didn't want to ask for a picture and look like a fan, I want to get invited to do the backstage thing again, so I snuck one.

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/621200_3765089845622_1242517621_o.jpg

78/84 guy
08-17-2012, 11:13 PM
"Masterpiece" my Ass. Van Halen had already made their masterpiece. It's called Fair Warning.

hagar really thinks his shit is "intellectual"... VH's version of pretty woman is more intellectual than anything that fuckhead ever shat out of his mouth

Thank you ! Gee how about 1984 ! Over 10 million sold. Panama, Teacher, Girl Gone Bad & even Jump. That might have really been the real VH masterpiece ! F.U.C.K. is a masterpiece of shit ! I can handle some Van Hagar but other than the heavy bass sound on it that I liked, the band is in a rut big time ! And I'm not even talking about Sam's lamest lyric's he ever wrote. Spanked ? Man On A Mission ? LAME ! In & Out makes Dave's lyrics on Everybody Want's Some look BRILLIANT ! The only good songs on it are Judgement Day & Dream Is Over.

Seshmeister
08-18-2012, 07:04 AM
http://number1albums.com/2008/07/10/for-unlawful-carnal-knowledge--van-halen-july-6-1991.aspx

"...For once, we were going to get together as a band and work hard."

...Song by song, each song was pretty good, but no one was there to beat me up on the lyrics, so I just sang the first thing I wrote."


Hagar is so fucking dumb he can't keep his bullshit together for 3 sentences.

Whoever edited his book of lies must have had a hell of a time...

Nickdfresh
08-18-2012, 07:37 AM
I wish I was there to beat him up over his lyrics...

So this is love
08-18-2012, 08:11 AM
Thank you ! Gee how about 1984 ! Over 10 million sold. Panama, Teacher, Girl Gone Bad & even Jump. That might have really been the real VH masterpiece ! F.U.C.K. is a masterpiece of shit ! I can handle some Van Hagar but other than the heavy bass sound on it that I liked, the band is in a rut big time ! And I'm not even talking about Sam's lamest lyric's he ever wrote. Spanked ? Man On A Mission ? LAME ! In & Out makes Dave's lyrics on Everybody Want's Some look BRILLIANT ! The only good songs on it are Judgement Day & Dream Is Over.

Spammy's voice gives me a headache....it's cheap beer to me

Yount
08-21-2012, 07:30 AM
Alright a bot'l o red dead and i'm hearing FUCK

Poundcake - 6.5/10 - Let me on that... Solid opener that goes for too long. Too many choruses of "She's home grown and down home" for me. VH used to be to the point. Not on this one.
Judgment day - 9/10 - One little fault. The scream after the solo and before the repeated chorus. Typifies Sammy in a way. But I like this tune.
Spanked - 7.5/10 - The whoahohohoh and the chorus are again grating to the ears. The intro is very nice and the lyrics hang you in for a while 'til it becomes painfully obvious what he's singing about. Boring.
Runaround - 7.5/10 - Great pre from Sammy, with Ed and boys working some magic in the background. But the riff and chorus are boring. This song should have been 3.30 instead of 4:30.
Pleasuredome - 9/10 - God I get sick of those vocs. Lost, lost, lost.... his lyrics to this song. I loved the jam before the solo they used to do live. I'll give Sammy respect for staying out of this song as much as possible. A little IS enough. Great jam though.
In 'n' out/ man on a mission - 5.5/10 Ah, the filler starts. These songs are the same. Average.
The dream is over - 6/10 - C'mon Van Halen fans, wake up!
Right now - 7/10 - A guy who sits in his mansion in Hawaii doing blow for most the 80's with the odd tour here and there should not send a message with his music. Ed too. I hated the "serious Edward Van Halen musician" crap that the Hagar years represented. The song and album are missing balls.
316 - 9.5/10 - Pretty nice innit?
Top of the world - 9/10 - Great solo, good song. A lot of subtle references here (my fave muse.) At least Hagar could admit he was on Easy Street and that is why this song is ok for me. Toes in the sand, 'til the self-aggrandized chorus with lyrics only Dave could pull off (Just like paradise.)

Those ratings are nice and generous. But Ed and Al are just amazing. One of the few combos that can withstand a change of vocs. Sammy would never have lasted with anyone else, he would have been buried in '85.
---------------------------
A retrospective review by Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine was still mixed. He stated that the title "indicates the true nature of For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge [...] Backing away from the diversity of OU812, the band turns in some of the most basic, straightforward rock & roll of its career." However, he also stated that it was "undeniable that [Sammy Hagar's] limited vocal power had a great deal to do with the obvious nature of most of this music." He concluded that, even though the band continued to be tight and professional, the songwriting "is, by and large, undistinguished, with the anthemic 'Right Now' standing out as the most memorable song of the batch, mainly because of its incessant chorus.
---------------------------
Watch this!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epUK95_Il18