Did Michael Anthony play bass on every classic Van Halen song?
I know this has been talked about alot but I'd like a containment thread for it.
People have theorized that Ed played bass on some or all of Fair Warning but I've never read any article about it. Of course this was the same timeframe that Eddie was considering replacing him with Billy Sheehan. Or so I've read on the boards; I haven't seen an article on that either.
Can anyone shed light on this?
I'm of the opinion that Ed played bass here and there throughout the years. Being proficient enough at stringed instruments, one could only imagine he might have layed down tracks to get the full effect of what he was working on and they just decided to keep it. Such is the case, in my opinion, with the demo for Act Like It Hurts. That sounds nothing like Mike's playing style or note selection. Ed plays bass closer to his actual guitar melody, the way many guitarists do. If I'm right, and that's just an Ed & Al jam session, one could only imagine how many songs came into fruition that way. I also feel that Ed is playing bass on Girl Gone Bad. I dunno, so many things just don't sound like Mike. Some proof would be nice though.
Of course it's Michael Anthony...
All of the basic tracks on the six pack were recorded live in the studio by Edward, Alex and Michael...
Various guitar solo and rhythm overdubs were added later, as well as the vocal tracks...
ADKOT was recorded in much the same way...
Listen to the rehearsal tracks of Girl Gone Bad where the song repeatedly falls apart, probably due to the songs level of difficulty and Edward trying to get the right feel...
But it's clearly MA playing and it sounds nearly identical to the album version...
They always, ALWAYS recorded this way back in the day. Ed has stated as much, as has Anthony as well as Don Landee and Ted Templeman...
Assholes who strive to rewrite the history of Van Halen totally piss me off...
I feel you're a dumbass...Originally Posted by DLR Bridge
Yay!! It's official!! You called me a name!! I feel my existence here has been validated!! Thank you so much for calling me a name for having an opinion. Aaahh this is the best day ever!!!!
Whenever I call someone a name an angel gets its wings...
I dunno. On one hand, you have the admission by Billy Sheehan that he was approached by Ed and Dave to join the band sometime in 1980 or 1981. This, taken with Jeff Berlin saying he'd rehearsed with the group at David Lee Roth's home around the same time would seem to indicate a certain dissatisfaction with Anthony's playing.
Yet at the same time, the above doesn't necessarily prove that Anthony's parts were removed and/or replaced by EVH. I have my doubts about parts of Fair Warning, an album Ed has claimed to have tinkered with at night with Don Landee when Ted Templeman wasn't around. Again, he wasn't specific about just what it was he was doing, so to make a claim outright that he redid some bass parts holds no proof other than speculation.
The answer will have to wait until Mike Anthony writes his own book, but even then (given his belief that if "Hagar says something, it happened"), the man himself might not be the best barometer of the truth.
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”― Stephen Hawking
Of course he did. Conspiracy theorists have abounded by the droves around this for years without an ounce of proof. Mike's own brother, who was honest enough to say which songs he didn't play on when it came to VHIII, said he played on all previous Van Halen albums. Ed playing a bass would stick out like a sore thumb.
Not all songs were recorded live. Some were finished before Mike or Dave even heard it. Jump, Panama, DDL. come to mind.
I'm no conspiracy theorist. I absolutely love Mike's playing on demos, boots and studio albums from Gazzari's in '74 to WACF. From Fair Warning on, I simply wonder where that bass player went from time to time. I do recall him telling Jas Or(help me out here) in a guitar magazine that he wasn't happy with being told to play a certain way. This was around '82.
Interesting. I've never heard the rehearsal tracks you speak of. Can somebody post that? I do have the Quebec 1984 bootleg video and I can clearly tell Mike isn't playing near as flashy as what was on the record.
That's your imagination getting the better of you...
Even back in the day, Ed resented that MA got songwriting credit when Ed came up with all the music. In interviews, Ed was already taking jabs at MA buying expensive Porsches without contributing much to the band's music. And both Sheehan and Berlin have confirmed that Ed was recruiting them to replace MA around FW.
Ironically, I don't think Ed would have been happy with complicated bass lines competing with his guitar. I remember him giving MA the ultimate backhanded compliment when he said something along the lines that he preferred MA (over someone like Cream-era Jack Bruce) for VH because MA "just plays bass."
Having said all that, I don't think Ed started playing the bass lines on the records until the Hagar years.
Over the past couple of months, I have been digging into the South American Diver Down boots (thanks Momshell!) and I was suprised how adventuresome MA was during those shows -- his lines were a lot busier and he was not just laying down single note grooves. While his solo always was the low point in a CVH show for me, I don't remember MA playing that freely at the concerts I saw in the US. I wonder if Ed more or less insisted that MA keep his lines simple as it turns out that MA had more chops than he got credit for while he was in VH.
Mike, quite simply, played what fit the music of Van Halen. It was all about EVH and you wouldn't want to overshadow him. Templeman knew what he had and showcased him. I personally am glad that the Sheehan thing never materialized, because then you would have a "lead style" bass player competing with Ed and it never would have worked. I think it would have sounded "too busy" and less stellar.
If you listen to Mike now (I know many won't because of you know who being in the same band) you can tell he has no constraints and definitely does have chops. To say he's a simple eighth note player is absurd.
Yeah me too. Like that one time somebody tried to rewrite the bass playing credits to ADKOT before the cd even came out over a 9 page thread.
I know that took me all day, but this is a characteristically crazy Friday.
There's no telling, ultimately, unless Donn Landee or Ted Templeman come out and say it, but I think it was Mike Anthony on all that stuff.
Yeah, I agree, that when Ed was tinkering around in the studio after hours on the Fair Warning sessions it might have given him an opportunity to do some bass. The funky bass on 'Push Comes to Shove' - for some folks that probably sounds like un-Mike bass playing, but I do remember at the time Mike saying that Ed was getting him to listen to Percy Jones of Brand X, and saying 'try playing a bit like that for this tune'.
C'mon - MA had been a bass player for a long time by the time VH came to record the six-pack. He subordinated himself to the needs of the band. He's probably got way more chops than he was ever allowed to show in VH.
I've said it before and I say it again now - one of the first things we KNOW for sure that Ed played bass on was that Hagar solo album around 1986. For me, the guy was simply not a bass player on the evidence of that - the bass playing on that album stood out to me as a guitar player trying to play bass.
THINK LIKE THE WAVES
You can't blame me for not putting anything past Edward Van Heineken...
Mmm hmm.
That explains why there are no wing-less angels.Whenever I call someone a name an angel gets its wings...
I always enjoyed Mike's vocals, but damn....Sheehan would have been great with VH.
I don't think so bro. I read this from an interview from the band. Don't forget there is NO bass in Jump anyway so that one is a given.
Agreed. However Dirty Movies sounds like the Hagar bass to me the most.
The Van Hagar chapter in the Spam book does claim that Ed played a lot of the bass in the studio. But then again that guy is also a fucking two faced full of shit liar so it is hard to say.
Which isn't always a bad thing in and of itself. Not necessarily on the Hagar album, but when it comes to folks like Geezer Butler, Ronnie Lane, John Entwistle, Ronnie Wood, etc. All guitarists who took a back seat to another guitar player and ended up playing something that might be called "lead bass" on occasion.
Problem is, when Eddie played bass behind Hagar, it was the polar opposite of this.... a crap guitarist with a bass player who was better than him.
Eternally Under the Authority of Satan
When I listen to parts of Fair Warning, some of it does sound a bit unlike anything Anthony had played on previous records...
However, when I listen to what Anthony is doing on those 3 Oakland 1981 live tracks (particularly on So This Is Love?), it's clear what was played on Fair Warning was easily within Anthony's capabilities.
I suppose the counter-claim would be that Eddie obviously went back and redubbed the bass tracks to the Oakland audio as well
Scramby eggs and bacon.
Do you think Sheehan would have helped VH avoid the late 80's fade into parody, and move towards the styles of ADKOT but obviously years earlier? The move could have pleased all members if you consider, but who knows about the personalities?
Agree on that.When I listen to parts of Fair Warning, some of it does sound a bit unlike anything Anthony had played on previous records...
However, when I listen to what Anthony is doing on those 3 Oakland 1981 live tracks (particularly on So This Is Love?), it's clear what was played on Fair Warning was easily within Anthony's capabilities.
I suppose the counter-claim would be that Eddie obviously went back and redubbed the bass tracks to the Oakland audio as well
On the albums, I can think of the bass on 'Romeo Delight' - when Ed hits the solo, listen to that right there. MA also takes off at the same time, and plays some hot shit right there.
I hate to admit it, but I saw some Chickensh!t in the studio video clip when the band, minus Hagar, were jamming / in rehearsal - it might have just been MA and the Chad the drummer dude. MA was definitely showing some chops on that.
I don't have a link ...
I don't. I saw Sheehan on the EEAS tour with Dave along with Steve Vai attempt VH songs and it just did not sound right. Understandably, it wasn't their music and they did what they could with it, and, as good of players as they both are, it came off phony. Sheehan's aggressiveness just couldn't fit in with EVH's style as well. I don't think Sheehan would have wanted to be "restrained" just to appease the Master. His creative differences with Dave during Skyscraper is evidence of that too. Dave had the final word and Sheehan bailed.
Agree
Absolutely it did. I've heard it too. It was Hagar's final obligation to then Geffen Records I think, and Ed stepped in and played bass to help out.
No
I like Mike, but can you really say you liked his balls-in-a-vice screams that were part and parcel of every live show before 1981-82?
He may have been restrained in the studio, but Mike didn't seem to have any governor in the live show until later.
Roth Army Canada
I am glad Sheehan never got in. It would have not been the same FW DD and 84 as we know it. Plus I don't think he would have stayed long term and VH would have had many other bass players over the years. As I think Billy is more of a band hopper and likes to do many projects. Not to mention we would also not have EEAS as we know it as Dave most likely would have picked up another player. History would have been all fucked up. ..Just my 2 cents. But I have felt this way for a couple decades now. Boy I need to get a life.
Last edited by SNIPER; 06-02-2012 at 11:53 AM.
Ed doesn't sound like a bass player. You need fat greasy fingers for bass.
Why? He wasn't that great playing CVH with EAS...
What are you trying to say sir?
I bet even Flea always chooses to upsize, except he chows into heaps of drugs to even it out. Mikey would be a drinker and a pastry man. Perfectly suited. Not even Mikey cared whether he played bass on Eddie's records, as long as fudge was on room service everything's hunky dory.What are you trying to say sir?
haha! yount vs sniper!!
you guys crack me up..
i'll go on record and say i reckon it is mikey on the 6 pack, 98% at least.
also think the reason the eeas band (and every other DLR solo band, for that matter) didn't play the =CVH= songs verbatim is because, well, why would they?? i'd want to bring something fresh and exciting to the music, change it up and re-interpret it for a new sound... which is exactly what they did.
$0.02
It wasn't until I started playing bass that I found the secret to playing the Mean Streets into. It's slap funk on a guitar. So Ed was using popping and slapping on a six string electrical guitar. That's all it is but you need strong hands and you need to be accurate to pull it off.
I don't think so, I don't think Ed even played on that.
Last edited by Seshmeister; 06-04-2012 at 08:23 AM.
yes you do.
Exactly. If you want to gauge Ed's ability on bass, you need only listen to Haggar's crap-fest or the Cherone debacle, if you have the stomach for either.
My karma just ran over your dogma.
Yep. Where it is known for certain that he played bass on a VH recording is the shitty '04 Best of Both Worlds new songs. The aweful It's About Time is basically Ed doubling every single guitar part to the T. Same thing he did with Cherone VH's Without You. Booooorrrriinnnnggg.
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