Van Halen on Rolling Stone Greatest 100 Debut Albums List

[VHscraps]

2/2

I've had a few glasses of wine, so excuse the anal responses ... he must be referring to the '86 VH tour. He left The Smiths in 1987.

[Seshmeister]

I read a Q&A with The Smiths' Johnny Marr quite recently (well, maybe a couple of years ago now seeing as how time flies) in a UK magazine called Uncut, and it was one of those things where other well-known musicians ask questions of whoever the guest respondent is for any particular month.

Throughout the 80s The Smiths felt like they were the opposite of Van Halen.

Ignoring the music Morrisey was and is a dick so you have to sympathize with the rest of the band.

[VHscraps]

Yep - totally opposite, that would be anybody's first perception. But it is strange the way these things come out in the end - I'm pretty sure that in '86, or whatever, none of them would have publicly admitted liking Van Halen.

There's was real British thing going on when I was in my late teens and early 20s, an accepted set of what it was OK to like if you wanted to remain "cool" - it's a symptom of the post-punk era, which itself was a totally British phenomenon that has absolutely zero historical knowledge about rock music / rock'n'roll and it's sources and influences.

A closed-ears kind of stance, really, that marked all that post-punk stuff from, say, 1979 onwards. Obviously the original UK punk bands were not part of that - they, in a way, were all influenced by American rock'n'roll and 60's garage rock. But what followed them was a slew of bands, a whole generation, of British bands whose main defining feature seemed to be an antipathy towards anything American. And from there you get the stupid "Indie" ghetto - which is anything but independent, when you really think about it: more like following the rules of some hapless and badly informed idea of outsider cool.

Those were the waters The Smiths swam in, and that fed their audience.

But, no matter, i think it's cool that Marr can admit, even if it was in 2012, that he thought VH were great.

[Seshmeister]

We didn't realize then when we were ripping into The Smiths that music would get to the stage when compared to nowadays they would seem absolutely remarkable musicians.

[Seshmeister]

Morrissey is such a fucking dick though...

[DLR Bridge]

Interesting point Scraps. I'm fairly certain the Stone Roses and the Manic Street Preachers hated or hate America. Anyone else?

[Kristy]

Ignoring the music Morrisey was and is a dick so you have to sympathize with the rest of the band.

That he was and for the most part still is. The Smiths were probably one of the best coasted bands to ever form (excluding dickface Morrissey). Marr's last record was a stinker.

[Kristy]

Interesting point Scraps. I'm fairly certain the Stone Roses and the Manic Street Preachers hated or hate America. Anyone else?

The Shamen

[VHscraps]

Interesting point Scraps. I'm fairly certain the Stone Roses and the Manic Street Preachers hated or hate America. Anyone else?

Yeah - loads of 'em. There's a book about post-punk titled Rip It Up and Start Again by a guy called Simon Reynolds - interesting book in that it comprehensively charts the emergence of all these bands who were inspired by 76-77 UK punk. What they all seemed to have in common was avoiding what they called "rockist" postures and cliches, etc. Not a one of them, the UK bands, I think, had any affinity for American music.



I have never really listened to the Manic Street Preachers, but I did once read an interview with them in a newspaper where they said some new album they had just released was intended to be "a cross between Motown and Van Halen". I guess they probably don't share the dislike of anything American creeping into their music.

[VHscraps]

We didn't realize then when we were ripping into The Smiths that music would get to the stage when compared to nowadays they would seem absolutely remarkable musicians.

I believe that Morrissey had Jeff Beck playing on one of his recent albums. I read a story about it in one of those music monthlies that I used to buy - Chrissie Hynde hooked them up in, of all places The Rainbow Bar and Grill on Sunset Strip, and Morrissey gushed about how much a fan he was of Beck's work, and would he please play on the new album, etc.

[VHscraps]

Scans? Links? I really don't remember reading that one. Until I read it and say, "Oh, I remember this one!!"

Thanks.

OK. Scans - 1/10. I believe I can only insert one per post now. I hope when it gets to the pages with a lot of text that these are readable.

[VHscraps]

Scans 2/10 - I may as well include all the pages, several just have pics. Looks like shoulder pads, Dave ...

[VHscraps]

Scans 3/10

[VHscraps]

Scans 4/10

[VHscraps]

Scans 5/10