Some thoughts on the whole 3/4 reunion thing...

[Rikk]

Since 1996, when I began posting on Mailing Lists and eventually Van Halen and DLR forums, I've noticed a giant amount of hatred (a lot of it from me) towards the band we all grew up with. It's an interesting phenomenon.

From '85 to '96, most of us lived with a sense of sadness concerning Van Halen. It was Roth's stupid decision to leave (though it also sounds like he didn't have much choice considering the attitude of the idiots with which he was working). His decision robbed us of a follow-up to 1984 and robbed us of an all-around feeling of greatness surrounding the band that previous year. It felt like John Lennon leaving The Beatles right after SGT. PEPPER'S or Robert Plant leaving Zeppelin right after PHYSICAL GRAFFITI...or something to that effect.



But the very anger towards the situation that fans now feel could not be fully pronounced because Roth had, essentially, dug his own grave. He didn't stick with a losing situation, true, but he also believed his own hype that he could do greater things without the band. His solo career produced some amazing songs (from GOIN' CRAZY to SENSIBLE SHOES, etc.), but it was also more inconsistent. And while the band played with Hagar, some of us were almost looking for tidbits of greatness to come through the separated tenures of both artists...I found only a few in the band (all in playing...none with singing), while there were many in the solo career but not enough.

All that changed in 1996. Van Halen stopped making certain mockeries of their career, stopped pleasing dumb Bon Jovi fans pleading for power ballads and moronic lyrics and a very stupid frontman.



Van Halen got back (briefly) with Roth. Contrary to what some people say here, I think the two new songs from 1996 are unbelievable. ME WISE MAGIC remains my favorite Van Halen song of all time. It's a steamroller of great riffage and very unique, goosebump-inducing vocal melodies. And yes, Michael Anthony's backup vocals provide some of the greatness here.

Van Halen destroyed this and allowed themselves to be blamed 100% for what went wrong with their band when they decided to again attack Dave and pick Gary Cherone: a very pathetic, religion-spewing symbol of all that went wrong with glam rock.

I remember taking to the Van Halen Mailing List in 1996 to attack the band in a three-page diatribe, listing all the reasons the firing of Dave and hiring of Cherone was a mistake for all involved. I stated that even keeping Hagar would have been a smarter financial decision. Pissing all fans off by denying them what they'd been begging for since 1985 and then bringing in a third-rate "rock star" as Dave's immediate replacement is one of the dumbest business moves a rock band has ever made. I was proud of my three-page, point-by-point call to arms. I immediately received an e-mail from none other than Van Halen's tour manager, Scotty Ross (a subscriber of the Mailing List), who dismissed my essay as "zeal" and basically called me an asshole. I told him to go kindly fuck himself and also told Eddie's wife to fuck herself too when she also eventually responded to my podium-moment. I laughed at them both that Eddie was destroying his band but didn't even know it yet.

But I soon realized I was no angry single rock fan. I was surrounded by an army of angry Van Halen fans who let Eddie know just how they felt in the years to come. And Eddie eventually surrendered into his studio cave and decided that his only way of keeping power was to abandon making music and ignore everybody. He now had power again, but in a miserable way that seemingly ended almost every business relationship he had (and, arguably, even his marriage). He became a miserable human being with open disdain towards his fans. He let us know just what Dave meant when he said, "Eddie Van Halen without a guitar in his hands is a shitty human being."



Well, a lot has changed. Van Halen proved to the world in 2004 that the dumb Bon Jovi crowd was fickle and all their late 80's/early 90's media attention was partly a result of awe towards past glories. Their "reunion" with Sammy was basically a money-losing proposition, with 2 for 1 ticket deals and half-filled arenas. People still wanted to hear Eddie play (even though he wasn't playing that well), but people missed Dave. (Anyone who wants to doubt this should look at set-lists: Van Halen had to crank out some classic VH songs on their Hagar reunion tour, but didn't have to play one solitary Shambo tune on Dave's reunion tour.)

Dave and his fans got their revenge. Either Van Halen was a losing proposition as a whole at this point, or people would only accept them fully with Dave at this point...hindsight is 20/20. Either situation would be a vindication of hatred fans felt towards Eddie.

Then Mike started proving that he and Sammy were really the kinda gay item everyone thought they were in the first place. He became Sam's lovelight, and this infuriated the brothers and gave them an excuse to finally get Wolfgang in the band.



When the reunion with Dave finally happened in 2007 (after a quick hiccup at the Hall of Fame and Eddie's rehab stint), the majority cheered. A small minority, still clamoring for a Van Halen reunion of the original four, jeered. And that's why I've written this long-winded diatribe of 2010. I guess, after all is said and done, I respectfully understand those fans who say the moment has passed or they still want the original four...but I really don't get it.

Yes, I like the idea of the original band more...a little. But at the moment, I kind of think Michael Anthony is both a victim and a shithead. He's out of the band because Eddie is selfish, but also because he loves Sammy. And I never forget the fact that he openly admitted many times that he was the one who most resisted Dave returning in 1996. Any loyalty I have for that fat, mullet-wearing buffoon leaves with that fact. His negativity possibly contributed to Eddie's final power trip at the MTV Awards. Instead of being loyal to what fans wanted, he was loyal to his own ego over what the band was. He probably thought he was more important than Dave. Eddie has thought so too, and he's wrong, but at least his case is stronger than the bass player's. Fuck Michael Anthony. I'll miss his vocals (a la ME WISE MAGIC), but not enough to refuse supporting David Lee Roth making another album with Eddie and Alex Van Halen.

I loved the 2007-2008 tour. I saw it twice, went home well-satisfied, thought Wolfgang was a competent bass player, Dave was great (actually sang most of the words, partly because he doesn't have the energy to be the dynamic stage-dancer he was 25 years ago), and Eddie generally played amazingly. Those were two of the best nights of my life...not up there with my wedding or other such important events, but still wonderful times. I was almost in tears listening to Dave's monologue before ICE CREAM MAN that night at the United Center in October 2007.



Listen. This guy is my frontman idol. He's back with Eddie. The band has sucked out so much of my joy for being a fan of theirs, but now that they pretty much did it right (not perfect, but right), I support 'em. I'm dying for the new album. I'm dying for another tour.

I don't criticize the naysayers. I applaud them. They're probably more loyal to their convictions that I am. But dammit...Eddie and Dave are in a studio at this very moment making a full-length album. I never thought I'd live to know that.

Thoughts?

[Va Beach VH Fan]

One of the better posts I've read here in recent years, Rikk....

[joe d'amato]

... interesting thoughts. the van halen shows weren't as memorable as your wedding day?

[sonrisa salvaje]

Hey Rikk, bottoms up brother.

And please tell Sue Ellen hello for me.

[Terry]

One of the better posts I've read here in recent years, Rikk....

Spot on in a lot of ways.

The biz with Van Halen these days...well, I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that 1996 was both an opportunity that wasn't utilized as much as it should have been, and was probably the last, best shot that CVH had at resuming their career and moving forward on the creative front.

In 1996, Ed could still play and perform on par with his early days, and while I wouldn't quite say MWM and CGTSNM were phenominal (although considering the circumstances they were created under, the results were impressive), they bode well as a taste of what a reconstituted CVH could offer.

14 years later, Ed has physical difficulties playing. The output of the last 14 years (what little of it there has been) isn't exactly encouraging, either. Mike Anthony isn't a songwriter, and the damage of the last decade and a half won't be repaired by him rejoining the band at this point. Hey, regardless of him being buddy-buddy with Hagar, it would have been cool for him to at least have been asked to rejoin the band for the 2007-2008 tour. That probably wouldn't have made any real difference regarding the quality of those shows, but...well, whatever.

I mean, agreed 100% that the prospect of Roth recording with the Van Halens, regardless of Anthony not being in the band, is certainly good news. In theory, anyway.

Now, let's hear what they can come up with. Fuck, man, life is short. It took another decade after the 1996 debacle for these guys to get it together. They've been together now for four years, give or take a few months. They did the oldies cash grab. Now it's time to up the ante, take what they got, raise it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes it. I hope they knock out a killer album. Anything's possible.

[Diamondjimi]

That probably wouldn't have made any real difference regarding the quality of those shows, but...well, whatever.

I disagree. Mike Anthony still brings it. He's still puttin out the energy and presence live. Unfortunately with the wrong people...

Regardless if the other 3 aren't his BFF's, he would still be 100 times better up there than Ed's load.. ( Wolfie )

Christ, I've seen more movement from a wooden Indian!

[Southpaw]

great post...everyone is entitled to their opinion...I agree with youres...Fuck MA...Sammys personal cum dumpster

[DaveTheScott]

First of all, let me be clear. If there is a new album with Ed and Dave on it, I'm fucking buying it. If there's a tour to support said album with Dave and Ed on the same stage, I'm fucking going. Multiple times, if possible.

Now, that said, I'd pay double for the album and double for the tour if it were the original line up. Since we know (do we?) they're already recording without Mike, we know he ain't playing on the album. There's a snowball's chance in hell he could do a tour instead of woofboy. Chance of recapturing the original magic is pretty much nil.

I think in reality, that's what all of us are after, is even a small fucking taste of the original excitement we got from watching and listening to these guys. After all the bullshit we've been through as (what I would consider, anyway) the most loyal fucking fan base in the world, we've learned to fucking settle. We havent' seen The Original since MTV music awards, haven't heard The Original since MWM and CGTSNM, and haven't really felt The Orignial since 1984.

To me, we're just settling. Given the alternative, I guess I'll take it.

[rockhead]

It would have been interesting if they did tour back in 96, it would have given
KISS a run for their money.

[ZahZoo]

Nice article Rikk!!

You forgot to cover your love of Matador Jackets though... saving it for chapter two..?

[GAR]

Gimme something that ROCKS.

Gimme something I can bury the gas pedal to.

Gimme something that says "Van Halen" on that I wouldn't be embarrassed to blast out the car window to strangers.

Gimme something I can hold up in my hands and say "this is what I was talking about" back when I said Van Halen.

I really don't want to hear any fucking VH keyboards either - because if I wanted keyboards, there's probably 25 years of Bach, Chopin and Tchaikovsky more worthy I hadn't gotten 'round to yet, but certainly will if the next? one takes a dump.

[GAR]

First of all, let me be clear. If there is a new album with Ed and Dave on it, I'm fucking buying it.

I think we all make conscious mistakes at the time we do them, for example, when I bought that Diamond Dave piece of shit CD even though I knew it was a piece of shit - just trying to be supportive.

In hindsight I'd rather have the memory of a Domino's Pizza than that Diamond Dave disc.

[Terry]

It would have been interesting if they did tour back in 96, it would have given
KISS a run for their money.

See, for all the reservations I have about the state of 'KISS' these days, they DID get the reunion thing right in 1996, far as getting all the original members back.

One of the few reunited bands in recent memory to do so.

[chefcraig]

The thing that left a lousy taste in my mouth was the "3/4 original, 1/4 inevitable" tag line that went along with this deal. There was something callously dismissive in that statement, and it had parallels to the way the band's private affairs were handled publicly back in 1986, and have been pretty much ever since. All of those shots at Dave Roth's expense that came primarily from the band's (then) new singer seemed totally unnecessary, (particularly when the other three bozos in the group started chiming in) mainly because they were a gigantic slap in the face to the fans that supported the band up until then. To compound matters, material from the CVH incarnation of the band was outright ignored, and even when it was performed the band did so in a half-assed, sloppy manner. Shit, the lead singer even refused to sing the band's biggest hit "Jump", preferring to drag some kid out of the audience or a local celebrity of dubious status to chortle through it. That in and of itself should tell you all you need to know about that singer's bizarre inferiority, let alone complete ineptitude at following Roth, let alone stepping into his shoes.

Now one of the reasons I was drawn to this outfit to begin with was the playing of it's hot shot guitar player. But as this band continued, that once brilliant guitarist seemed to fade into the background, to be replaced by keyboards, moronic, chest-beating bluster and worst of all, insipid power ballads. There wasn't a damned thing I or any other fan could do about the situation other than to pretty much ignore the band, which is something that a great percentage of other fans started to do as well. (Check the band's RIAA figures regarding the other singer's tenure in the band. You'll note that each album sold progressively worse than the one that preceded it.)

So when it was mentioned on MTV that Roth was returning in 1996, I (and untold others) felt the first true rays of sunshine from this band in about a decade...only to once again be slapped in the face by the very public fiasco that followed the MTV awards and the announcement of Gary Cherone. What fresh hell was this? The album sucked, the tour was actually not bad, yet it didn't matter: For all intents and purposes, other than breaking the hearts of the faithful once again with another rumored stab at getting Roth back, Van Halen was done for another six years.

The 2004 Re-Hagar sham meant as little to the audience as it did to Edward Van Halen, who appears not to have bothered to sober up once for the occasion. Considering how false the whole enterprise was from the beginning (as well as who he had to share the stage with), I can't say that I blame him for phoning in his performances from the hotel bar, but it once again was a sign of the (by now) standard approach to not giving a flying crap about the fans, only turning to them when the cash flow seems to be faltering.

So finally in 2007, the moment most had been waiting for since the mid-eighties comes along, yet with the caveat that Mike Anthony would not be part of the proceedings. I won't even go into that can of worms, other than to say if you paid cash for the shows and enjoyed them, then good for you. Yet here we sit years later, and the only new VH products to surface have been a bunch of guitars and gizmos that have never even been featured on a Van Halen album. Ed states "It's what I use", to which the only logical response can be "Use on what?"

I don't find it cynical to be highly skeptical of this outfit given it's history of indifference to it's fan base, regardless of era. It has been nebulously reported recently that the Van Halen brothers are working with Roth on a new studio release. Personally, I see no reason for anyone to get their hopes up until they have the album in their hands. Until that day occurs, it will simply be "business as usual" in the land of Van Halen, a place that is second only to a third world dictatorship in it's indifference to the suffering of it's citizenry.

[slimdon]

Great post. I've been flyer of Dave's flag the whole time of his being. The man can not do any wrong. He is his instrument, and there is none better at it.

I believe I've seen him solo nine times since '86: Vancouver x 3, Vegas x 2, Seattle x 2, Spokane and Gorge, WA. Then I took in Detroit and Vancouver for the VH reunion.

The original 6 are timeless. It's blue skies and sunshine whenever any of those albums are playing. As I get older, they still make me feel like a kid. My soul is young to the brown sound. Twas a real bummer that we only got two songs in 1996, but man, what an appetizer it was/is to a potential full album fifteen years later.

I hold firm on my belief that they're constructing their masterpiece. AND I will always thank them for the original 6. My life would not have been the same without them. AND one day... one f**king day, I will interview Dave on my show.

Amen,
The Reverend
www.rocknrollbreakfast.com

[Terry]

The thing that left a lousy taste in my mouth was the "3/4 original, 1/4 inevitable" tag line that went along with this deal. There was something callously dismissive in that statement, and it had parallels to the way the band's private affairs were handled publicly back in 1986, and have been pretty much ever since. All of those shots at Dave Roth's expense that came primarily from the band's (then) new singer seemed totally unnecessary, (particularly when the other three bozos in the group started chiming in) mainly because they were a gigantic slap in the face to the fans that supported the band up until then. To compound matters, material from the CVH incarnation of the band was outright ignored, and even when it was performed the band did so in a half-assed, sloppy manner. Shit, the lead singer even refused to sing the band's biggest hit "Jump", preferring to drag some kid out of the audience or a local celebrity of dubious status to chortle through it. That in and of itself should tell you all you need to know about that singer's bizarre inferiority, let alone complete ineptitude at following Roth, let alone stepping into his shoes.

Now one of the reasons I was drawn to this outfit to begin with was the playing of it's hot shot guitar player. But as this band continued, that once brilliant guitarist seemed to fade into the background, to be replaced by keyboards, moronic, chest-beating bluster and worst of all, insipid power ballads. There wasn't a damned thing I or any other fan could do about the situation other than to pretty much ignore the band, which is something that a great percentage of other fans started to do as well. (Check the band's RIAA figures regarding the other singer's tenure in the band. You'll note that each album sold progressively worse than the one that preceded it.)

So when it was mentioned on MTV that Roth was returning in 1996, I (and untold others) felt the first true rays of sunshine from this band in about a decade...only to once again be slapped in the face by the very public fiasco that followed the MTV awards and the announcement of Gary Cherone. What fresh hell was this? The album sucked, the tour was actually not bad, yet it didn't matter: For all intents and purposes, other than breaking the hearts of the faithful once again with another rumored stab at getting Roth back, Van Halen was done for another six years.

The 2004 Re-Hagar sham meant as little to the audience as it did to Edward Van Halen, who appears not to have bothered to sober up once for the occasion. Considering how false the whole enterprise was from the beginning (as well as who he had to share the stage with), I can't say that I blame him for phoning in his performances from the hotel bar, but it once again was a sign of the (by now) standard approach to not giving a flying crap about the fans, only turning to them when the cash flow seems to be faltering.

So finally in 2007, the moment most had been waiting for since the mid-eighties comes along, yet with the caveat that Mike Anthony would not be part of the proceedings. I won't even go into that can of worms, other than to say if you paid cash for the shows and enjoyed them, then good for you. Yet here we sit years later, and the only new VH products to surface have been a bunch of guitars and gizmos that have never even been featured on a Van Halen album. Ed states "It's what I use", to which the only logical response can be "Use on what?"

I don't find it cynical to be highly skeptical of this outfit given it's history of indifference to it's fan base, regardless of era. It has been nebulously reported recently that the Van Halen brothers are working with Roth on a new studio release. Personally, I see no reason for anyone to get their hopes up until they have the album in their hands. Until that day occurs, it will simply be "business as usual" in the land of Van Halen, a place that is second only to a third world dictatorship in it's indifference to the suffering of it's citizenry.

Well, I think Dave's comment about the lineup in the 2007 pre-tour press conference was just his way of throwing out a tart one-liner that would cover the topic. I presume Roth must have intimated that Ed didn't want Anthony around, and that it could have been a deal-breaker for [Roth] to have pushed the issue. Probably a measure of how much Roth wanted the reunion to happen that he wouldn't insist, as he had previously claimed, that all the CVH members participate ("all or nothing").

Would agree 100% that the amount of EVH-licensed guitar gear currently on the market would make sense if the band were still releasing records. Seems like the band exists so Ed can plug the VH logo merchandise line, rather than the merchandise being secondary to the music.

[ZahZoo]

Would agree 100% that the amount of EVH-licensed guitar gear currently on the market would make sense if the band were still releasing records. Seems like the band exists so Ed can plug the VH logo merchandise line, rather than the merchandise being secondary to the music.

Makes sense in that Ed has retired to building bird houses in his garage... sounds like a good segway into a reprise of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest...

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[ThatArtGuy]

Or raising Shetland Ponies for racing, or creating a folding wine glass like Nigel Tufnel.