Originally Posted by
Zing!
Epilogue
A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH (cont.)
Van Halen, as a band, had used up eight of their nine lives. This was it. Sure, Ed has the vault of music with ten albums worth (epically plundered now), but that music would never see the light of day without first giving the fans what they wanted. This has been a sticking point with the Van Halen brothers for nearly thirty years. As professional musicians, who can blame them? You want to live in the current, in the now – record and document what is relevant in your life today, not eons ago. But first things first. You need the fans before you can have the music. The fans wanted ‘A Different Kind of Truth,’ and this band, our band, delivered. We can now have closure for the last 28 years of silence. We can properly appreciate and validate all those long-suffering years where we were convinced nothing – short of the two ’96 tracks – would ever happen again. We forgive you. We love you like we did all those years ago. I know it’s not manly to admit your love for something – but let’s be honest here. We’re family, right? We can say ‘I love you’ without blushing.
To Alex Van Halen: thank you for the thunder. You’ve never wavered, through good times and bad, and have proven that even rock stars, including drummers, can have class. To Eddie Van Halen: I’m proud of you for conquering your demons. You are an example to all, musically inclined or not, and your fret-work on ‘A Different Kind of Truth’ will be studied like Mozart. Sounds like schmaltz, right? It’s not. You raised the bar. Again. When we chant “Eddie! Eddie!” at your concerts, we mean it with all our collective hearts. To David Lee Roth: thank you for your undying devotion to this band. You never gave up, you never stopped believing, even when many of us did. Your lyrics are like poetry, and your lifestyle is worthy of an action hero. You’ll always be my hero – and some day my kid’s hero as well, and you can take that to the bank. And finally, to the most important member of this quartet: Wolfgang Van Halen. Thanks kid, for loving your dad. I believe without a shadow of a doubt that that is why we’re even having this conversation at all. You resurrected the greatest American rock and roll band of all time and saved a good soul worth saving. I know you will live in the shadow of a former member to some, but in my book your playing was epic, and your dedication to your father even more so. You have earned our respect. Take a bow, kid.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you…the mighty VAN HALEN!
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