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Last edited by Va Beach VH Fan; 10-10-2015, 09:34 AM.Eat Us And Smile - The Originals
"I have a very belligerent enthusiasm or an enthusiastic belligerence. I’m an intellectual slut." - David Lee Roth
"We are part of the, not just the culture, but the geography. Van Halen music goes along with like fries with the burger." - David Lee Roth -
Cool! Loved the shot of Cains in the background.I'm Stayin' Frosty!Comment
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A little pub for the Army.....
Van Halen’s never outdone its debut disc
BY DEKE FARROW
jfarrow@modbee.com
Having Van Halen back on tour with original frontman David Lee Roth has me pulling out old discs again, enjoying favorites from “Running With the Devil” to “Beautiful Girls,” “Hot for Teacher” and “Everybody Wants Some!!”
It also has me thinking that Van Halen – not its Van Hagar incarnation – was/is a great band that never had an album to equal its debut. “Van Halen II” is a terrific sophomore effort, a close second to the debut, and subsequent albums contained several great songs – “Unchained,” “And the Cradle Will Rock,” “I’ll Wait,” “Panama” – but there’s no single disc as good as the not-a-clunker-in-the-bunch “Van Halen,” released in 1978.
Even Van Halen’s many cover songs, including “You’re No Good, “Pretty Woman” and “Dancing in the Street,” never reached the awesomeness of its debut-disc version of The Kinks’ “You Really Got Me.”
It’s rare for a rock band with the longevity of Van Halen – playing July 9 at Concord Pavilion and July 16 at Shoreline Amphitheatre – not to match or surpass its debut. I’m not going so far as to call Foreigner a great band, but it had a very solid first album unmatched by later works. Other, better classic bands and solo artists generally had at least a few albums under their belts before arriving at masterpieces such as “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “Who’s Next,” “Parallel Lines,” Rubber Soul, Pet Sounds”, etc.
Even as much as I love Talking Heads and its “Psycho Killer,” I can’t say “77” is a better album than “Remain in Light,” “Fear of Music” or “Speaking in Tongues.”
All of this is to get an exchange of thoughts going. I want to hear what readers think about other great bands that never surpassed their debuts. We may never agree on what the great artists and their best works are (I may even have lost you from the start with my assertions about Van Halen), but there has to be this ground rule: No one-hit wonders. Let’s agree the artist has to have at least four studio albums.
That just barely gets Guns N Roses in the door. I’m going to count the magnificent debut, “Appetite for Destruction,” “GN’R Lies,” “Use Your Illusion” volumes I and II and the awesome cover disc “The Spaghetti Incident?” But I won’t count “Chinese Democracy,” on which Axl Rose was the only remaining original band member. And I’m treating the “Use Your Illusion” discs as separate albums (they weren’t released as a double disc, after all).
So, have at it, let me know at jfarrow@modbee.com how on target, or way off, I am.
UPDATE: I got a lot of response from readers and from music fans reached through Facebook and Twitter.
Here’s a sampling of what they had to say:
“I’d say the Cars never surpassed their debut album,” wrote Clifton Gray. “ ‘Good Times Roll,’ ‘Just What I Needed,’ ‘My Best Friend’s Girl,’ ‘You’re All I’ve Got Tonight’ and ‘Bye Bye Love.’ One hell of a debut.”
Ron Higgins told me: “No brainer: Boston (the band) still touring. ...”
On Twitter, Sexy Surfing Couple chimed in: “I think that ‘VH1’ is without a doubt top 3 best debut albums ever, hands down, maybe top 2 or number 1.”
Trevor Taylor’s take? “I think ‘Fair Warning’ is their best album.”
The Roth Army (named in honor of David Lee, I’m figuring) tweeted: “ ‘Van Halen I’ changed the music world, while ‘1984’ was much more poppy.”
To which Greg Renoff responded: “The poppiness of ‘84’ is what made VH a household name. I think it’s certainly as good of an album as the debut.”
Renoff later reached out to me via email. He’s the author of the forthcoming book “Van Halen Rising: How a Southern California Backyard Party Band Saved Heavy Metal.” He said he has “dedicated the last six years to making this book the last word on the band’s rise to fame.”
He added, “For the record, the debut is my favorite but it’s hard for me not to think that ‘1984’ matched it.”Eat Us And Smile - The Originals
"I have a very belligerent enthusiasm or an enthusiastic belligerence. I’m an intellectual slut." - David Lee Roth
"We are part of the, not just the culture, but the geography. Van Halen music goes along with like fries with the burger." - David Lee RothComment
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A lot of bands start with a great debut album because they have a large pool of material they have been playing live, and they choose the best songs from that material for the record. Van Halen basically took their 10 best "club days" songs, added "Jamie's Crying" (obviously written to be a radio hit) and the rest is history. Of course VH II were the songs that didn't make the cut the first time around, though at least they had tweaked them a little by the time they recorded, so it didn't sound like the reject bin. By the time WACF was recorded, they were down to the "third string" level of their own material, including songs like "Take Your Whiskey Home" and "In a Simple Rhyme", which they wrote and recorded as demo material way back in the Mark Stone days. No other band (except maybe the Stones with the Tatoo You album) has ever made their "rejects" sound so damn good.Eat Us And Smile
Cenk For America 2024!!
Justice Democrats
"If the American people had ever known the truth about what we (the BCE) have done to this nation, we would be chased down in the streets and lynched." - Poppy Bush, 1992Comment
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Had a short chat today with Greg, he mentioned that Ted Templeman wrote a blurb for the book, you can see it on the Amazon page for it....
“I really loved reading Van Halen Rising. I couldn’t believe the insight Renoff has into the production process behind the making of Van Halen’s debut. He truly gets it! The book is fantastic.” — Ted Templeman, Grammy-winning music producer for Van Halen and David Lee RothEat Us And Smile - The Originals
"I have a very belligerent enthusiasm or an enthusiastic belligerence. I’m an intellectual slut." - David Lee Roth
"We are part of the, not just the culture, but the geography. Van Halen music goes along with like fries with the burger." - David Lee RothComment
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The day I get that book, I'm probably going to call in sick and read the whole damn thing in one shot.Comment
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Happy to announce that Greg has agreed to do a live chat with us about his highly successful book, "Van Halen Rising - How a Southern California Backyard Party Band Saved Heavy Metal".
It will be held on Saturday, Oct. 17th at 9pm ET.
So think of the questions you'd like to ask, and maybe if you're good boys and girls, there may be a surprise for one of you.
If anyone has any questions before then, feel free to throw them here.
Thanks,
VALast edited by Va Beach VH Fan; 10-06-2015, 07:31 PM.Eat Us And Smile - The Originals
"I have a very belligerent enthusiasm or an enthusiastic belligerence. I’m an intellectual slut." - David Lee Roth
"We are part of the, not just the culture, but the geography. Van Halen music goes along with like fries with the burger." - David Lee RothComment
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greg, how tall is the empire state building?Another one of those classic genius posts, sure to generate responses. You log on the next day to see what your witty gem has produced to find no one gets it and 2 knotheads want to stick their dicks in it... Well played, sir!!Comment
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I suppose it would be sacrliege to post the archived Q&A session from the Links?Comment
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I don't see why....
Eat Us And Smile - The Originals
"I have a very belligerent enthusiasm or an enthusiastic belligerence. I’m an intellectual slut." - David Lee Roth
"We are part of the, not just the culture, but the geography. Van Halen music goes along with like fries with the burger." - David Lee RothComment
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Another one of those classic genius posts, sure to generate responses. You log on the next day to see what your witty gem has produced to find no one gets it and 2 knotheads want to stick their dicks in it... Well played, sir!!Comment
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Did Brett ask him if there was going to be a "Van Hagar Rising" follow up?Comment
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