The little things...

[Dave's PA Rental]

I think that for many of us, listening to these songs has evoked lots of long-lost memories of what it was like back in the days before iTunes or Amazon, back to when we actually went into a record store and purchased a physical record. There was a synergy in a record when listening to the songs back-to-back-to-back, instead of buying a song here-and-there for 99 cents and listening to them in a playlist on shuffle.

Last night my 48 year old brother, the guy who introduced VH to me, sent me this simple text: "On Tuesday i'm going to go buy a CD for the first time in 15 years." On Tuesday after he buys the CD and starts listening to it on his ride home, i'm sure that there will be memories and feelings that he hasn't touched in many years. Many of you will be in that same boat.

Lets make this thread the place where we jot down the little things that pop back into our minds as we listen to and experience this new Van Halen record. This record is truly epic, and many people have admitted to not being able to express how huge an impact it has on them. Myself included. Let's concentrate on the little things to help paint a big picture.

I'll start: I had forgotten what it was like as one song was finishing up, to anticipate the beginning of the next song. As each song is finishing, my mind is trying to fast-forward to the next one.

I look forward to reading what little things you all come up with...

[Momshell]

I remember the one and only time I bought a Van Halen album - actually the one day I went to the record store at age 13 with my grandparents and bought the 6-pack on vinyl. Then I went back to their house and proceeded to listen to all 6 repeatedly with my grandfather, who was dancing around the living room with me!
I'm also liking trying to figure out the lyrics to a Van Halen song, something I haven't done in almost 28 years! I love catching a Dave lyric for the first time and the feeling of pure joy in admiring his humor and genius! I'm now trying to re-listen to lyrics I've sung a million times to realize just how amazing they are. Lines like "semi-good looking", "getting funny in the back of my car", even "and the cradle will rock" are just brilliant when you think they all came from nowhere out of Dave's mind. Too many to even list!

[Zing!]

I can say one thing for sure: This is the first time in who knows how long - decades - that I've not only looked forward to the album, but the album artwork! One of the things that set Van Halen apart back in the day was their attention to detail (which is to say Dave's attention to detail). The albums always had the coolest look to the them, from the iconic first album, to the logo doing the talking on the second, to the rowdy photo on WACF, to the WTF? of Fair Warning, to the simplicity of DD, to the era defining 1984. Each Van Halen release was something special. You never knew what you were going to find inside. That's how I feel about ADKOT. Dave's attention to detail - his effort to make this release something special for the fans - is all over this record - and makes me seriously consider forking out the cash to get a vinyl copy to see it properly. Remember how lame the BOV1 album art was? This is Van Halen done right - the way it's supposed to be. It's the entire package, which is what a record is supposed to be in my opinion. It's a shame the digital age has made this art form obsolete. Who knows - maybe A Different Kind of Truth will be the record that ushers in a new era (which is to say an OLD era) of music done right!

[vandeleur]

I was 18 and it was the hay day of video juke box's and my friend knew i had been learning to play guitar for a while and i had said i was cool with all the maiden stuff i was learning but looking for a bit of a challenge and he asked me did i like Van halen and i said i hadnt heard much of him , actually hadnt heard any of them lol
He went over to the juke box put in his money and played panama .. i nearly shit .... it was like what the fuck thats not a guitar ...what am i doing .... so i bombed the machine with money watching that over and over again ... pissing off the pub clientel . The only way i can honestly discribe it was like the wizard of oz .. before its all black and white and then boom its all in techno colour .
Any how on the way home full of booze .. pubs shut at 3 in those days so the shops were open i went to woolworths and bought the 7'inch single of panama and went home with it .
Weird stuff about that day first ... i realise i was always gonna be a pedestrian guitarist at best and even more obvious although i loved the guitarist it was the crazy ass front man who resonated with me .. he wasnt like bruce or ozzy or any bodyelse i was into .. he didnt sing about serious shite he wanted me to party and fun stuff in a very tongue in cheek wink wink sort of way ...i thought shit this is the band for me ............................... er still is ...........And blood and fire when i first heard it reminded me of that feeling .

[SilvioDante]

Two things:

First, I remember getting MTV for Christmas when I was 13. Watched it night and day. It was December of 1982 and I heard those 9 magic words:

"Got me a brand new Oakland scarf right here...."

I noticed and watched that video and looked forward to seeing it again, and again, and again. I got the back catalog and I had my band.

Second, I remember why I learned to play guitar. I wanted to do THAT. I wanted to sound like THAT. I wanted a girlfriend that looked like Valerie Bertinelli. The other day I looked, as I listened, and noticed my Strat and my Marshall sitting in the corner. They are tired playing the same Zep, Van Halen and classic rock licks over and over for 28 years. They need a new sound. Now I can finally give it to them.

[relliot]

I was 13 in 1978. Kiss Alive II, Ted Nugent Double Live Gonzo, Foghat Live, Toys In The Attic, Another Mother Further (Mothers Finest) were my favorite things. Then Van Halen happened and along with it that year was first dance, kiss, stupid grope and heartache. Little things.

[vandeleur]

cool post

[moose]

1978.....late march early April
Older cousins come over, they bring some of their
albums with em.....open the lid to the big ass furniture
stereo(all Italians had one of them bad boys)
they look at me and say "listen to this".....
Needless to say the rest is fakkkkkin history,
From the into to RWTD....to the finishing note of On Fire I was like
holy fuck.....
On Tuesday I will be at HMV first thing in the
morning grab the cd's.... Come home
load it in my player and crank it to 10

Then when the vinyl arrives I will go to mum and dads
Open that old player up and play the album
the same way I listened to VAN FUCKIN HALEN
back in 1978
34 long fuckin years ago!!!!!!

[vandeleur]

Loving this thread ..... kudos to Dave's PA rental

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Never forget it, early 1978, I'm 14, go to my best friend's house, he has this album with four dudes on it...

He puts the record on, plays what turns out to be RWTD, shit that's heavy....

But then, I hear Eruption, and we stare at each other, what the fuck is THAT ??

We put the needle back to the beginning and replay it at least 10 times.... We both picked up yard rulers and commenced to air guitaring, of course not knowing what the fuck we were doing....

Eventually, played the rest of Van Halen I, and told myself, that was the best album I've ever heard....

[wiseguy]

I became friends with David Lee Roth in 1984. What I forgot was that he that he had already been delivered to me years before in the form of that red and white Van Halen album (you know the one). My brother (now 52) bought the cassette for me for my birthday and introduced me to (oh) pretty woman. I thought it was cool but only because my big brother liked it. I sold it to a friend later on because I was a BREAK DANCER and needed nothing to do with that rock music. My brother again introduced me to some older Van Halen years later, "you really got me". It clicked a bit but nothin'. I found out later on that my brother had VH 1 on cassette and he took it everywhere and the stories from his friends about how that cassette would have to play at all the parties were many. I still have that cassette and The Diver Down he bought me (I stole it back). Both have the words rubbed off due to excessive plays. In 1984 he finally convinced me that it was time to grow up (I was 15) and get a clue. I did. Van Halen was the one thing that I could own and be proud of. My brother joined the navy and I rarely saw him most of my life but I knew I always had THAT with him.
I thank my brother for what he did today because as you all know, it's not just music...it's a way thinking and living.
On Tuesday, I will be buying 2 copies of ADKOT from the record store. One will go to my mom and dads house for my brother to pick up when he is in the city next. On a sticky attached to it will be simply, "thank you".

This is a great thread as I have a zillion David Lee Roth/Van Halen "getting me through life stories."

Thanks
.

[ELVIS]

When I was 13 I won an art contest on TV which led me to a job of painting Edwards Frankenstrats and sucking the air out of Dave's cuffs and pant legs...

The next year, Van Halen's management sent me m&m's by the truck load to sort out the brown ones. I still have some left, although they turned white over the years...

As I listened to my signed gold copies of each album with Dave and the midgets over the years, Dave would tell me how Edward kept hinting at him to sleep with Valerie while Ed got wasted, in hopes of producing a future bass player so he could fire Michael Anthony...

As it turns out (according to Dave) It was Alex that slept with Val while Dave slept with Al's wife...

And the finak result is A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH !!

[TJMKID]

First time I ever got exposed to the Mighty Halen.....

Spring 1982 ---- my aunt invites me and my sister to stay over at her house for the weekend because she got this new cable channel called "MTV". My parents lived in the boonies so no cable TV for us poor country bumkins. I was 9 yrs. old and just bought my very first album --- Styx's "Paradise Theater" and was hoping to see one of their videos. I was also into REO Speedwagon and Pat Benatar.

So I'm on the couch in my jammies getting sleepy around 11pm and all of a sudden I hear this rumble coming from the TV and I see a flashing blue light. The spotlights all focus on this crazy-looking dude with long blond hair and he screams "EVERYBODY UP" like a banshee into his microphone and launches the most insane split leap I'd ever seen. The guitarist was this skinny dude who loved to smile a lot. Blew my fuckin' mind. My young naive eyes and ears were suddenly being roasted. I didnt know the name of this band ---- but they fucking dug their claws into my soul and wouldnt let go. This was the coolest fuckin' thing I had ever seen and heard. I was a music nut now and there was no turning back.

Strangely enough, I didnt know it was VH until couple years later when my parents bought their first VCR and I recorded "Friday Night Videos" in Jan. 1984. I watched the tape and see this new video by Van Halen featuring their song "Jump". I suddenly recall it was the same band that had that crazy concert video where the singer does spectacular jumps off drum risers and the guitarist is smiling like a cherub while churning out smoking hot riffage. I loved all the posturing and preening --- this was setting the stage for 80's hard rock. These guys were the coolest dudes on the planet and my pubescent mind was reeling at how much pussy they were getting by being this cool and famous! I even thought the blond lead singer Roth was married to Valerie Bertinelli since I heard about it on the ET show earlier.

In the years that followed, I managed to buy every Roth-era VH album on cassette and fell in love with the greatest rock band on Earth. I was sad to hear Roth left the band in 1985, but I was already really into Ratt and Motley Crue so the impact of that event didnt affect me until later on as I realized how much Van Hagar sucked ass. When I was in college in the late 80's, I went to the library and started digging up old articles about Roth-era VH and I quickly saw how smart David Lee Roth was with his witty quotes and unique perspective on life and entertainment. I fell "back in love" with CVH and have never let it go since then. They are my band for life --- my heroes --- and it's gonna be like that until they spread my dusty ashes over a forest stream.

[Matt White]

1978....1o years old...playing on my Grand-Parents front lawn & listening to an old transistor radio.............

Hear "YOU REALLY GOT ME" for the 1st time.....sounded like an INVASION!!!

Brings back memories of a sunny Summer afternoon....with my siblings.....my Grand-Parents who are both in Heaven now....the Pear tress in their front yeard we climbed..which are gone....GPs house sold to some stranger......doesn't matter...DAMN GOOD TIMES!!!

[Pushcomes2Shove]

Long time lurker first time poster - First heard of VH from a family friend that was in the Navy and stationed in California. He had seen them at one of the epic backyard parties we have all heard about and told me i had to get the new album. Picked up VH II while taking a vacation out to California and drove the old people crazy with it. While traveling to Ga to visit my parents on a friday night, the local Atlanta hard rock station had a midnight preview of Fair Warning as i was hitting the city limits on S 75 jamming to Mean Street. I had just installed a new SuperTuner with a 7band Tancredi EQ with new 6x9s for the long trip. Calling Phils Records for two weeks straight before the release of 1984 and bugging the piss out of them. Six years ago i made a promise to my 12 year old son who is a VH nut that if the original lineup ever got back together i would take him. I introduced him to what is a real rock concert in Cincinnati in 2008 after they resumed their tour. This morning i got confirmation that the 4th row tickets for the Louisville show should be here on Tuesday. Last night i told my son that we were going but i couldnt get very good seats. I cannot wait to see his expression when we take our seats.