The little things...

[vandeleur]

Losing our virginity stories cool .,, when was the last time you did something for the first time

[hain23x]

1981 my sister had a tape with the name "April Wine" written on it. I put it in her stereo and proceed to have my head blown off for about 30 mins.

Fast forward a couple of weeks later and I see that April Wine is playing on Mtv's Saturday night concert. I watch the whole thing and never hear one song from that tape
I go bitching to my sister about it and she laughed and said "that tape is labeled wrong. That was."Fair Warning" by Van Halen.

From that moment on, Van Halen was my favorite band

[ZahZoo]

Early February 1978... I'm 19 and working to clean up Studio A for a recording session that afternoon at the Record Plant in Sausalito, Ca after some marathon jam/party the night before. In strolls my best friend and bass player with a record in his hand. He goes... "remember all that shit we've been hearing about that party band down in southern California?" Yeah sure, what do ya know? Hands me the record and says... "Check this shit out."

We head off into the control room and I throw the record on a turn table and pipe it to the main monitors. Out blasts Runnin With the Devil... were like ok, that's pretty cool. As the song is finishing my buddy says... "crank this next one up!!" So I slide the volume up to about 8... Out blasts Eruption... all I can think is What the Fuck is that..?

While this is going we had the doors open and soon everyone in the place was coming into the control room and asking who the hell is that? Played the album at least 3 times that afternoon. On the way home I swung by Tower Record and grabbed a copy. That night my landlord threatened to evict me for playing loud music past midnight. I was hooked from that day on...

[AccidentalAngel]

The little things...

Remember the complete silence in the room after 4 or 5 songs and getting up to turn your vinyl over....

[Dave's PA Rental]

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!!!!!!

This is the stuff, right here.

Thanks for embracing this thread. Such good stories...

[fourthcoming]

I was lucky enough to have all older kids growing up on my block when I was a young tike. First time I heard VH was 1979...I was six years old and the only thing I knew about music was Kiss because they were marketing the piss out of themselves at that point. We had a kid on our block who was 12 years old and already big and intimidating. My friends were all a few years older than me and as we're riding our banana seat bicylcles by this kids house he pretty much orders us into his garage. His sister was listening to Michael Jackson "off the wall" untill he kicked her out and proceeded to put VHII on the record player. I was six so what the hell did I know....the only thing I remember from that day was hearing "Dance the night Away" and I remember my friends and I being told by the older kid "If you wanna be cool you gotta walk like Danny Zuco from Grease, and listen to Van Halen". Luckily my parents were pretty hip and still young. I went home and asked my pops to buy me VHII which he gladly did. The only other record I had was Kiss: Dressed To Kill which my mom bought me a few months before and my dad couldn't stand Kiss so he was happy with me listening to VH. I remember hearing that album constantly not cuz I always played it, I was six friggin years old....but cuz my parents wore that shit out.

[johneric8]

Man where do I start? For me Van Halen changed my life! Born in 68 I was of the perfect age to be influenced by them. I was a child with a severe issue with hyperactivity and ADD, in fact I was one of the first kids ever on Ritilan! Okay, I remember listening to van halen on my turntable because a friend loaned me the record this was most likely in or around 81. When I heard eruption it started a fire in me I couldn't put out. I had my dad who was a guitar player get me a guitar so I could play that way. After about a year of practicing my ass off we discovered I was an amazing guitar player! I ended up going through school from that point on with ton's of confidence in myself and it helped me settle down and be able to focus! I actually got through school because of Van Halen. That music stirred something up in me that had healing powers.

Second part of the story is an example of how I remember 1984. I knew Q102 was going to play Jump for the first time on the radio and I was at school. I was sitting on my ass in athletics with my headphones on and fm tuner rearing to go. The anticipation of just possibly hearing the tune was almost too much for me to take.. This is what I remember the most the anticipation and the wait! Finally when it played I was confused because of the keyboards but just like Tattoo I eventually learned to love it because it was my boys! Unless you lived through it I can understand people not getting it but Van Halen was the best band around hands down. They were the best players, best songs, best looking, best attitude, most entertaining. They fucking had it all, and everybody wanted to be them or with them.... Still haven't seen any band come close...

[Onofrio]

I was a 14 turning 15 in 1991 when I went Van Halen crazy. I remember getting the six pack one by one over the course of two years ( 15 bucks for a CD is hard to come by at 14!) and when I'd get a new one I'd put the headphones on in my bed and just get blasted into space every night. Pick apart the new songs, "listen to that breakdown! the drums in that one are killer! is that a guitar? what's Dave saying here?" And that is one of my favorite things to do. And I haven't got to do it in about twenty years. And now, all of a sudden, at age 35, I get to do it again. The other night, listening to the album straight through for the first time while once again wearing headphones in my bed, I heard how China Town ended I just erupted into a cross between maniacal laughter and childlike giggling. "listen to that breakdown! the drums in that one are killer! is that a guitar? what's Dave saying here?" I am in Fucking Heaven.

[Dave's PA Rental]

Second part of the story is an example of how I remember 1984. I knew Q102 was going to play Jump for the first time on the radio and I was at school. I was sitting on my ass in athletics with my headphones on and fm tuner rearing to go. The anticipation of just possibly hearing the tune was almost too much for me to take.. This is what I remember the most the anticipation and the wait! Finally when it played I was confused because of the keyboards but just like Tattoo I eventually learned to love it because it was my boys! Unless you lived through it I can understand people not getting it but Van Halen was the best band around hands down. They were the best players, best songs, best looking, best attitude, most entertaining. They fucking had it all, and everybody wanted to be them or with them.... Still haven't seen any band come close...

The anticipation of hearing it on the radio...yes!

[sadaist]

I am in Fucking Heaven.

Woot! Room on these Van Halen clouds for everyone. Grab a couple cold ones, that cute angel over there is winking at YOU my boy! And PLAY IT LOUD & PROUD!

[Dave's PA Rental]

...once again wearing headphones in my bed, I heard how China Town ended I just erupted into a cross between maniacal laughter and childlike giggling. "listen to that breakdown! the drums in that one are killer! is that a guitar? what's Dave saying here?" I am in Fucking Heaven.

Yup! The "maniacal laughter and childlike giggling" is something that many of us are experiencing...

Very well said brotha!

[Momshell]

I am totally loving this thread! Thanks Dave's PA rental!! I've been caught giggling as well - my kids keep asking me "what's so funny about that?" Hopefully with all of my teachings they'll get it someday too!

[george]

ah the memories..

I grew up in the DC area and my first VH show was Diver Down at the Capitol Center. Was only 13 years old and lucky enough to go with my brother and his friends. No idea what I was in for... my ears and brain were in overload. The before show, the show and after show were insane. I wish I had pictures..

My first, very first, exposure to VH was in my parents basement looking at and listening to VH2. I vividly recall the pictures of DLR, EVH, MA and AVH that were on the record. For some reason I didn't believe the sounds Ed was getting out of his guitar were coming from a guitar. I remember arguing with a friend that "no way that can be a guitar!!". Oh how was I wrong. Eruption - I had no idea WTF that was.. it was just awesome..

I wasn't the best kid in high school ... I found myself in military school for a year. I brought my guitar, AMP and all of my favorite tapes (complete VH 6 pack as well as other bands). This school had some rough characters - like who should be in military school anyway? A bunch of goody two shoes? This was not my experience. I had guys from NYC, NJ and the rest of the country that were some rough mother fuckers. I remember rap being something a lot of the guys from NYC and NJ were into and my guitar amp was something they wanted to beat the shit out of me to use to rap into. I could really only play the rhythm parts of YRGM, Ain't Talkin' 'Bout and the full song Dance the Night Away and these thugs could hear me in my room practicing. One night they came in, all fucked up on "love boat", and in the mood to beat a white boy and steal his amp. I had VH cranking when they came in and I think that was the only thing that saved my white ass... they were totally into VH and wanted to keep listening to Ice Cream Man. They told me to play it and I said I couldn't (no idea what drop D was a the time - that song confused me for a long time) and they said they wouldn't "take me for bad" (steal my amp) because they wanted to hear this white boy play that song. Thank you VH for saving my bacon that night. They never really messed with me after we hung out and listened to VH that night.

whew - never told that to anyone before...

Now, much older and hopefully wiser. Really looking forward to the new VH. I'm getting chills listening to the new tunes. The shit wakes me up at night!!

[slimdon]

During the summer of 1978 I turned 6. I had two older brothers that got me into rock n' roll at a very young age. However, my neighbour's oldest brother used to hang out in his bedroom all day painting and making those old fuzzy black light posters (he was a wicked artist). He used to crank 'Feel Your Love Tonight' repeatedly everyday, and with the sunshine squinting my eyes, I'd look over from my backyard up to his second story window and think, "That's the coolest sound ever."

I've been hooked ever since. I can vivdly remember me and my bro's hanging in the back of my parents van listening to 'Beautiful Girls' on his tapedeck while going camping with our folks. I recall my buddy getting 'Women And Children First' and hangin' out in his basement playing spoon hockey listening to that record for hours on end.

Those little things wound up being pretty monumental in shaping my life as a rock n' roll drummer.

[Zing!]

Remember back in '84 when 'Jump' was climbing the charts and timing your day so you could tune in to Kasey Kasem's countdown to see how much it had climbed on the charts. And then one week it was at like #3 and you would pace around the room as Kasem dragged out the suspense - but you KNEW it had to be #1 - unless it dropped a bunch of spots and you missed it - but no... the number one single in the land: Van Halen, with Jump! I was so excited and so happy for 'my band' that it's hard to put into words. They were kings of the world and I just knew that they were going to rule the universe in 1985...

Another one: Remember stealing every role of mom and dad's tape (didn't matter what kind - just so it was sticky!) to plaster your room with Van Halen posters? I had every square inch covered except for the ceiling, and I even had some on the ceiling (that's where Michael Anthony's poster went, because I didn't want to waste prime real estate on the bass player). Sadly, only have one of the posters left - the one of Ed in the tiger striped pants with his 5150 guitar turned up like a piano. It's a little worse for wear and tear, but it's still hanging. It's now up in the Garage Majal as we speak.

Just one more: Remember carrying a boom-box everywhere you went? My first introduction to Van Halen was one of my older brothers saying they would bring a boom-box on the bus after a high school track meet. They were a great team and won a lot - so their tradition was to blast a song called 'Happy Trails' out the window of the bus as they left each meet. It was by some guy with long blond hair called Van Halen. They would play it over and over, everyone singing at the top of their lungs: "Bum ba dee da, bum ba dee da, bum ba dee da..." until the coaches got sick of it and would tell them to turn it off. I finally snuck into his room to swipe the cassette tape and listen to this song for myself. Just like that I was hooked.

I keep thinking we need to open a thread over in the PicturePalooza dedicated to stuff like this. There's got to be tons of pics of Roth Army members at VH concerts, wearing VH t-shirts, rooms with VH posters, hell - I have one of a Eddie Van Halen guitar birthday cake from the 80's in a box somewhere.