Sammy Called Alex on his Birthday and Dave for a Car Show

[Terry]

I'm kinda amazed at this point people will put this much passion into talking about these guys anymore. Shit Terry you should write a book. The life of a frustrated Van Halen fan ! LOL ! I just can't bother with it much anymore. Release the vaults please, or something new that's decent. I think there was like another 20 demos recorded for A.D.K.O.T. ? If it's not Roth at the mic it's not worth my time. And I have zero interest in a $ 15,000 striped guitar. Or yoga pants. Fucking embarrassing man......

Yeah, I'm kinda...well, less amazed and more disgusted at myself with my constant blathering about these guys after all these years. Makes me feel like I give more of a shit about them than they do, which is odd because after the 2012 tour I checked out in terms of interest in what they were doing. Like, why do I even care enough to bother? Must be some compulsion on my part, trying to figure out how it all went so wrong for one of my all-time favorite bands, perhaps because I was actually around when they were peaking and can remember back to when they could do no wrong.

I'd like to hear a new album and see what Roth and the Van Halens could come up with, but if one never materializes I won't feel like it's a shame it never happened.

[Nickdfresh]

This nonsense is now on Youtube but I'm not linking this shit. One of the first lines is how "Dave was a staggering drunk that could barely make it through a show". I mean for fucking fuck's sake! That's ONE show and a complete mischaracterization and poorly sourced. They "furious at Daves' drunken performance?" They were all fucking drunk! Dave's erratic behavior? They were all drunks and on coke!!..

[ZahZoo]

The passion stems from the power and inspiration their music provided as a sound track to the lives of those of us who experienced that greatness at the peak of our own younger lives. The thing that fuels continued interest is the fact that the source of this is still alive and by all known accounts able to still produce their music...

To abandon the hope of more Van Halen music means accepting it's end. Not a happy prospect in my opinion. I'm not done... I see no good reason they should be either!!

To quote some sappy Peanuts thing I saw recently... Charlie Brown says to Snoopy: "You know Snoopy, some day we're all going to die..." The mutt replies... "Until that day we will all live..." ponder that a minute...

[Terry]

This nonsense is now on Youtube but I'm not linking this shit. One of the first lines is how "Dave was a staggering drunk that could barely make it through a show". I mean for fucking fuck's sake! That's ONE show and a complete mischaracterization and poorly sourced. They "furious at Daves' drunken performance?" They were all fucking drunk! Dave's erratic behavior? They were all drunks and on coke!!..

I mean, doubtless Dave was a little fucked up at the US Festival, but it has never appeared to me that he "barely made it through" that particular show. It was an uneven/erratic gig, but there were plenty of bum notes from Eddie and Alex at the show if you listen to it carefully. I'm assuming the youtube nonsense you're referring to is the Reelz program, which, from everything I've read on this site, was on the whole an overly generalized take on the group.

[Terry]

The passion stems from the power and inspiration their music provided as a sound track to the lives of those of us who experienced that greatness at the peak of our own younger lives. The thing that fuels continued interest is the fact that the source of this is still alive and by all known accounts able to still produce their music...

To abandon the hope of more Van Halen music means accepting it's end. Not a happy prospect in my opinion. I'm not done... I see no good reason they should be either!!

To quote some sappy Peanuts thing I saw recently... Charlie Brown says to Snoopy: "You know Snoopy, some day we're all going to die..." The mutt replies... "Until that day we will all live..." ponder that a minute...

I mean, what you said is really the essence of it, in terms of the continued interest for fans of the band who were around at that particular age.

For that age group, Van Halen were "our" band. The Beatles broke up not too long after I was born. The Who had already past their peak by the time I was entering middle school. The Rolling Stones had put out at their last good album, Tattoo You, around the same period. Led Zeppelin were gone by the time that same period rolled around. These bands at the time seemed like they were the groups of my older siblings (or, in the case of The Beatles, my parents), so I wasn't particularly distraught back then at the notion that these groups were broken up never to reunite or disbanded or inactive.

Honestly, as absurd as it sounds today, back then I was more bummed out when Peter Criss left KISS than I was at the fact The Beatles could never reunite after Lennon's assassination: by the time Lennon was shot, The Beatles had been disbanded for virtually my entire life and even in 1980 the group seemed like some sort of historical artifact to me.

Van Halen was "our" band. They were peaking, tearing it up live, putting out one great record after another. Cracks were beginning to appear in the surface with the synth-driven tunes on Diver Down and 1984, but they were still blazing along. Roth leaving in 1985 was a shock to me. Even back then when CVH were working and probably 50% or better of my interest in the band was concentrated on what EVH was doing, Roth leaving was just a bummer...because this was "my" band, you know? Same thing when Criss, followed a couple years later by Frehley, left KISS: KISS was also "my band". KISS splits apart, Van Halen splits apart and I'm left with...Van Hagar and Bon Jovi in the wake of their demise to fill the gap?

And as you also say, as long as [the members of CVH] remained vertical and able to play, it seemed that one day they could put the pieces back together and bring it back home again. That's what made 1996 so thrilling for me. NOT the soap opera bullshit of the Hagar/Roth/Cherone (and God knows how many other contenders...Mitch Malloy? Billy Squier? David Coverdale? 3 of the last 4 front men of Menudo?) lead singer musical chairs behind the scenes intrigue. The thrill was the anticipation of the new music from CVH, and them picking back up from where they left off 12 years before.

Christ, when I think of what transpired in terms of the rock scene from 1984 to 1995, with all that pop 40 hair metal cheese balladry combined with groups I liked (Priest, Maiden) cratering, by the time 1996 rolled around who WOULDN'T have been excited with the prospect of CVH revving that engine up again?


And I gotta tell you, what has happened in the rock music scene SINCE 1996 hasn't on the whole been thrilling to me, either. Just an endless cabaret of old groups with fractions of their definitive lineups on endless reunion tours, along with newer rock groups that have all the necessary components (the right clothes, the right gear, the right onstage poses) to make great rock music save for the most important one: the songs. In this climate, am I still holding out hope that CVH will come back with a bang instead of going out with a whimper?

Ab-so-fucking-LOOOOT-leeee.


Considering the totality of the last 20 years of the band, and in particular the last 5 years, I'd be lying if I told you the chances of that hope coming to fruition are good. Long fucking odds. Accepting the end of that hope ISN'T a happy prospect from where I sit, and I'll still hold out some degree of optimism CVH will rise again - and rise for something beyond merely a farewell Greatest Hits tour (although realistically maybe said tour is the best one can hope for at this point, because the notion of them reuniting for another great album of new material and a tour and a future after that seems beyond any of their ambitions now), but emotionally I'm prepared for it all to end: the last 20 years have assisted in cushioning that eventual blow.

[Nickdfresh]

Wrong thread IAMO. I meant that for the Reelz thread and their shitty "docudrama" complete with a fuckwit psychologist with strong suit of redundantly stating the obvious...

[Terry]

Ed has EVH Gear which is always coming out with new stuff. He’s now a pretty substantial player in the guitar and amp market. He did that smart by franchising his brand to other manufactures. I’m sure that is a profitable business. Then who knows what else he owns. He could own commercial real estate which he’s getting the rent on. Once you have the money the smart people put it to work. The reason Van Halen isn’t out there is they don’t need the money. One manager joked and said the main thing behind these reunion tours is the band members need money. Other than that they don’t want to see each other. Kind of like seeing your ex wife or people from high school you couldn’t stand. Meet them at the 30 year reunion and find they still are the same pricks they were in high school.

Sort of along the lines of when Facebook first got really big about a decade ago. Joined it, reconnected with former classmates I hadn't seen in 20-odd years. Haven't lived in my old hometown/state in ages, but plenty of my former classmates still do. After the initial exchange of greetings and catching up, there isn't all that much to talk about with most of them. I'd say out of 150 old classmates I reconnected with online, there were maybe 4 of them where both I and they actually wanted to re-establish on offline/realworld relationship going forward. Am still FB friends with the other 146, but when I do go back to my old hometown/homestate to visit my parents, it never even occurs to me to tell any of the 146 that I'll be in town if they want to hook up for a visit.

Not a particular shock that Roth and the Van Halens, despite reuniting, don't see much of each other these days when they're not doing a tour: Van Halen is a business arrangement. By the end of CVH's initial run, Roth and the Van Halens weren't spending much time with each other when they weren't working out of a pure desire to just hang back and socialize, so why would that necessarily change now?

[FORD]

I mean, doubtless Dave was a little fucked up at the US Festival, but it has never appeared to me that he "barely made it through" that particular show. It was an uneven/erratic gig, but there were plenty of bum notes from Eddie and Alex at the show if you listen to it carefully. I'm assuming the youtube nonsense you're referring to is the Reelz program, which, from everything I've read on this site, was on the whole an overly generalized take on the group.

All 4 of them were fucked up at the US Festival.... and yet it was still a far better performance than anything they did post 1984, either individually or together. (well, 3 of the 4 together anyway)

[FORD]

Hell, even in the three song excerpt from the show which was released to ... some cable TV channel (Showtime?? eMpTyV?? I forget who broadcasted the edited version of the show) All the audio overdubs don't hide the alcohol..... but I'll take it over Sammy bleating out "Where Eagles Die" or Cherone finger fucking himself on stage anytime.

[ZahZoo]

Wrong thread IAMO. I meant that for the Reelz thread and their shitty "docudrama" complete with a fuckwit psychologist with strong suit of redundantly stating the obvious...

No worries... this place is kinda like a retirement home where someone always wanders down the hall mumbling some incoherent shit only they have a clue what they are babbling about... maybe. LOL

[Nitro Express]

No worries... this place is kinda like a retirement home where someone always wanders down the hall mumbling some incoherent shit only they have a clue what they are babbling about... maybe. LOL

I occasionally stumble down the halls with my dick hanging out hitting on staff members if they want to have sex.

[ZahZoo]

You're a sick man, Nitro...

[Nitro Express]

You're a sick man, Nitro...

Naw. I just pinch the nurses on the ass because after I do that they sedate me and the drugs are good!

[chuckjitsu]

Why is Sam even bothering to call Dave? Sam's said the '02 tour didn't go well as he thought Dave was a prick on that tour and in general. They're not friends. Is it really that surprising Dave didn't want to hang out and "jam"? If somebody who I didn't like and wasn't a friend called and left a message about partying and hanging out, I ain't returning that call, especially if there is a lot of negative history like Sam and Dave have.

As far as the Van Halens go, they said repeatedly and adamantly over the years that they would never do anything with Dave again and look how that played out. Stick with those High Hopes Sam! If they can reunite with the devil himself, then maybe, just maybe, you'll get your chance to whip up another batch of Poundcake!

As a mental exercise, if Ed told Sam that he'd reunite for a tour on one condition, no MA, does Sam throw Mike under the bus and accept, even if Mike gave his blessing on that arrangement?

[Seshmeister]

Why is Sam even bothering to call Dave? Sam's said the '02 tour didn't go well as he thought Dave was a prick on that tour and in general. They're not friends. Is it really that surprising Dave didn't want to hang out and "jam"? If somebody who I didn't like and wasn't a friend called and left a message about partying and hanging out, I ain't returning that call, especially if there is a lot of negative history like Sam and Dave have.

Probably just so he could have something to say in his next set of interviews.