EDDIE VAN HALEN's son, WOLFGANG, slams rumours he's replacing late dad in new lineup

[Vinnie Velvet]

I am cuntsidering starting a YouTube channel for reBUTTals to Real (Dumb) Music Observer. Maybe Eddie Trunk, too.

Trunk is even worse.

That cunt is so in love with Sammy/Van Hagar its unbelievable.

[Seshmeister]

Anyway, The City of Pasadena is planning some sort of memorial fixture for Eddie. It would be nice to see that happen with a brief ceremony with Dave, Alex, Wolf an yes, even Sammy (to be fair he was in the band as long as DLR).

Nope he was in Van Halen half as long.

[Rikk]

Yes on that. Chris Cornell's funeral is a good example. Looked to me like all those celebs just wanted to be seen boo-hoo-ing for the camera's. I think the Van Halen family has way more class than that.

Chris Cornell's death is the only other music death in the last bunch of years that hit me this hard. Yes, I was upset with Bowie, Prince, etc. But Cornell...that was unexpected...and I'm a MASSIVE fan.

In the middle of his solo concert I was at in 2009 (amazing concert...really gave the fans material from every single era of his career: Soundgarden, Audioslave, solo, Temple of the Dog...amazing fucking show)...in the middle of the show, I was in front row with my at-the-time fiancé (now wife), and I caught Chris' attention as he was standing right in front of me. I passed up my CD cover of his 1st solo album (EUPHORIA MOURNING, my favorite Chris album of all time...one of my favorite albums of all time). I also passed up a pen. He looked down at me and said into the mic: "Hi. In the middle of my concert, you want me to sign your copy of my album. I'm in the middle of a concert." I called up: "Chris, you're the greatest. Please sign this." He looked at the audience, smiled, grabbed the pen and said, "You got it." He signed the album, passed it back to me, shook my hand...and the whole place erupted. Absolutely erupted. Fans were patting on my back, saying, "Amazing score. Cornell is the coolest!" A couple more times after that, he caught my eye during the show and just gave me this kind smile before continuing to sing. Amazing guy.

I was absolutely gutted that he died and that he killed himself. Saw him live solo three times (including the amazing SONGBOOK acoustic tour), twice with Soundgarden. He was one of the greatest writers and singers of my generation (well, he was quite a bit older than me...but you know what I mean).

When he died, there were some classy friends he had (Brad Pitt, Josh Brolin) and then some people seeking the limelight. His wife has also done some questionable things afterwards...but considering how tough it was to deal with certain people's bullshit in the light of the tragedy my wife & I endured, I try not to make too many judgments of people in such situations. That said, I still can't believe she's at war with Soundgarden over his vocals for the proposed FINAL Soundgarden album that really should have been out by now. I hope that shit gets cleared up. I'd love to hear it.

Goddamn, too many of my idols are dying. I was also a bit Scott Weiland/STP fan. But Scott's death was a little more...predictable.

[Rikk]

Nope he was in Van Halen half as long.

YUP!

Actually, was it even less than that? I'm a Math teacher...doing some simple math here...

DAVE
1973-1985 (was it '73 or '74?...I thought he joined the brothers in '73): 12 years
2006-2015: 9 years
(I'll be generous to Sam and not count '96 for Dave since it was only a few months...and I won't count 2015-2020 because he may have been their singer but they did nothing)

CHEESEHEAD CUNT
1985-1996: 11 years
2004: 1 year
(I'm again being generous to Sam because he wasn't in the band a full year in 2004...wasn't it like February or something to October? These were the months I came to the Army full-time and lots of sheep were heading here to try and "rub our noses in it" that their "singer" of choice was in the band...we all know how good that was)

OK...Sesh was right. Approximately half as long. 21 years to 12 years...about half for Sam, especially if you count the few months Dave was in the band in '96.

[Rikk]

Trunk is even worse.

That cunt is so in love with Sammy/Van Hagar its unbelievable.

OK, I just realized how long this reply is...but fuck it. I don't give a shit.

Trunk is plain lying. I've heard his same tired speech about how "bored" he was at the 1984 Tour show he was maybe five times. Just shut up, Trunk. I know you prefer Sammy because you identify with him more...you both being really fat and unattractive. But seriously? 1984 Tour boring? He still claims that almost half the show was solo portions for each member of the band. It's absolute crap. Every headlining VH show in history before Wolf joined had the drum solo, bass solo, guitar solo...and then, yeah, Dave rapped to the audience an amount and did his sword-swishy thing on the 1984 Tour while Ed played synth...but Sam would (during most of his tours with the band, even, I think, the reunion tour) do his "solo spot," playing one of his boring solo songs on acoustic guitar, usually only after some part with him blathering on about what the real meaning of love is or something like that or discussing the deep, philosophical meaning of said solo shit nugget he was about to play.

Trunk just doesn't understand Dave's lyrics. He doesn't understand Dave's persona. He doesn't understand anything beyond the metal/melodic hard-rock genre. He literally listens to nothing outside said genre. I remember him talking once about having Little Steven on his show and Steven giving Trunk free tickets to the Springsteen show the next night in Jersey...Trunk went and then told Steven he didn't enjoy the show. "I just don't enjoy music that isn't based on riffs. I don't like music that isn't hard rock, songs based on just melodies and chord-progressions."

I'm not saying everyone here needs to like Springsteen. Hell no, I'm sure many of you don't. I listen to maybe 500 bands besides Van Halen. And I'm into things way outside of the VH-style music world: classical, jazz, old blues, soundtrack music, Johnny Cash, The Doors, Beastie Boys, Bowie, The Kinks, Beatles, Queens of the Stone Age, Dead Kennedys, Lynyrd Skynyrd (the original, not the Sean Hannity-inspired crap they put out these days with one original member), Grateful Dead, James Brown, Beach Boys, Iggy Pop...and on and on and on. I like KC & The Sunshine Band, for Christ's sake. Dave was highly-influenced by some of that music. I feel no shame in it. I don't attack people who listen to things outside what is considered the genre in which Van Halen resides. But knowing how limited Trunk's tastes are, it sure as shit doesn't surprise me that so much of Dave's act goes right over his fat head.

Trunk doesn't understand irony. He doesn't understand an approach that dances around saying you want to drink the drink. Or fuck the chick. Or drive the car. Dave says all those things...but he says them with style...he takes his time and people with small brains don't realize when he's actually started drinking the drink. Or fucking the chick. Or driving the car across Sammy Hagar's lawn at a high-speed, tearing up the turf.

The Dave lyrics, they go right over Trunk's inflated head (and straight into mine)...
. When I listen to LITTLE GUITARS, I marvel at how much I'm still interpreting from those lyrics, ideas I missed before. And "Can't crow before I'm out of the woods but there's exceptions to the rule" is one of the best lines ever written in rock 'n' roll.
. Every time I listen to SHE'S THE WOMAN (the new version), I still giggle when I get to the line: "She wanted something to regret, tomorrow morning."
. PANAMA is about cars. But it's written about cars with style. Sammy writes something with no depth, no irony like I CAN'T DRIVE 55. The meaning of the song does not go past the title. Sam gets an idea, usually one already sung about in rock 'n' roll a million times...and then just goes with it. He doesn't go past the idea. He just sings three verses and a chorus all saying the same thing. No depth. No wit. No new ideas. No twist. No turn. There are lots of rock 'n' roll songs that are "what you see is what you get"-style when it comes to the lyrics. That's fine. But losing a great lyricist and then getting someone devoid of style...your smart audience will notice and care. I've always noticed that whenever I meet someone who actually prefers Sam, they tend to not read books (or if they do, they're pulp-style kinda writing...quantity over quality style-writing).

When Sam sings about sex, it's BLACK 'N' BLUE. It's a very catchy song, I'll admit...but the lyrics could be bettered by a 12-year-old.

"The harder the better, let's do it 'til we're black and blue, you never know when love will come..."

Really, Sam? Seriously? You never know when love will come? I get it. You're riding bareback. Or, you have to fuck her really hard before you come. I guess that's it?

"Slip and slide, push it in. Bitch sure got the rhythm. I'm holding back, yeah, I got control."

Yes, you're such a man. Seriously, do guys really think women hear this shit and cream themselves? Fuck, I don't know. I wasn't having sex yet in 1988. Maybe women creamed themselves when men said that their bitch knew how to keep up a good rhythm when their man was fucking them really hard inside their vagina. Maybe women would cream themselves at a man making sure they knew that the men has got control, but if I tried saying some of this shit to my wife, she'd fucking laugh at me.

UP FOR BREAKFAST: "She treat me like a personal Jesus!"

OK, so you're quoting Depeche Mode, thinking it makes you sound well-read or something just because Johnny Cash also recorded it? Well, first off, that song is not about a woman treating her man really well, like he's a god and can have all the sex (and food) that he wants because he's so fucking awesome!! It's about someone being Jesus in someone else's eyes because the mortal supposed-messiah gives said messiah-seeker the hope and care they may be lacking in the rest of his or her life. Sam seems to read it as his becoming a sort of Jeffrey Epstein, a man-God to whom a woman will give said "Jesus" all the sex and power the receiver could ever desire...and it's really fucking awesome.

"Got the finger, put it right there on the trigger, well, pump it up, pump it up, baby make it bigger."

OK, Sam...she will make it bigger for you and then you will be really hard before you begin to fuck her.

"Well, I'll go crazy, pumping it up, pumping it up...it's gonna heal you!"

Dude, you were like 56-years-old when you wrote this shite!!

"Put that butter on my biscuit (honey to my melons), cherries on bananas, gonna need a second helping..."

HOW THE FUCK CAN ANYONE LISTEN TO THIS SHIT NOW AND THINK THE WORLD IS MISSING IT???

"I don't need the back door open, hot tub loosen up, baby's been soaking, been tokin', been sippin', slip flop slippin up, got me dripping..."

SERIOUSLY, I'M GOING TO FUCKING THROW UP!! THE IMAGES THIS SONG IS GIVING ME ARE MAKING WE WANT TO FUCKING VOMIT ALL OVER MY LIVING ROOM!!!

"Keeping it up pumping it up, pumping it up...it's gonna KILL YOU!" WHAT THE FUCK?? Your dick is gonna KILL her??? What do you do with that tiny thing? Sharpen it? Holy shit! HOLY SHIT!!

When Dave sings about sex, it's SINNER'S SWING.

"You'd be sitting pretty, but you try to take the Fifth."

Or when you think he's getting to the point (when Dave swears, he means it and it sounds dangerous), singing, "She looks so fucking good," he then follows it up with "so sexy and so frail."

So frail? Holy shit! I mean, he's describing the look in her eyes, his own perceived strength and yet his own insecurity. And her frailty is a lie. It's just a song about sex...but you can actually read the lyrics and in several spots try and guess what the narrator is really thinking...what's the actual relationship or game between the narrator and his object of desire. It's got style. It looks like something he actually worked on. He's creative.

This all goes over Trunk's head (and Redheads' heads.)

Trunk criticizes Roth the same way cheesehead-fans do: he criticizes Roth not looking or sounding the way he used to. That's all they have.

"Roth is balding."

"Roth can't sing anymore!"

I could give a shit if he's balding. Cheesehead was thin in LWAN, now he's fat as the walrus in Track 6 of the MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR album. That doesn't speak to the quality difference between the two singers. It's just a physical description of Sam's increasing ugliness. Cheesehead-fans tend to look for such things when comparing the singers. They claim that Dave can't sing anymore...but I'm sorry, he still can sing. His voice has diminished at about the same rate as other singers in rock 'n' roll (Robert Plant over 40 years has changed so much...but when people tell me he can't sing anymore, I just roll my eyes...he's in his older bluesman stage now and it works for me). Watching some of the 2004 VH tour (and this was 16 years ago), Sam could NOT sing anywhere near where he did in 1986. Not even close.

People claiming that Dave can't sing anymore are plain lying. I've heard plenty of examples of him singing with style and attitude and hitting many notes. TOKYO DOME is not perfect, but some of his performances, he kicks ass and pulls off the lyrics/melodies/rhythms just fine (yes, I know...he fucks up HEAR ABOUT IT LATER). Sham fans use this as their main attack. It's all they have. They know they can't attack Dave's lyrics...certainly not when compared to Sham's. Trunk will claim Dave is the one who doesn't sing his lyrics and just dances. Bullshit. Sham hands off half the lyrics to the audience or to Mikey. He sang less and less every tour. Clearly, Trunk has never heard live tapes of the old band. Dave made it a show. I would actually argue that Dave sang more lyrics in his three Wolf/reunion tours than he did in many of the tours in the old days. NO. It's a bullshit argument. If Cheesehead fans try and argue that Cheesehead had the better lyrics, it shows their education level or mentality. Sham is the Junior High School kids laughing in the locker room. Dave is the guy in the locker room making the others laugh, often with several books taking up room in his locker. If they try and argue who looked cooler on stage, they lose. Dave knows how to dance. Sham looks like a drunk, white guy trying to dance (for the first time in ten years) at his own wedding...at best. THE WAR IS OVER. WE WON.

Trunk continues his schtick. He's pissed off many bands. Some fans are tired of his opinions. I've said it before: If this is what you do for a living, how are you helping your career by STILL trying to convince people that Sam is better than Dave when that's become pretty much an over argument to the majority, including the band? I bet we're going to reach a point at which the average Joe on the street who remembers Van Halen or knows there was a band called Van Halen only remembers some singer named Dave. The other years are fading from the public consciousness because they really have no staying power.

[sonrisa salvaje]

It will be fun to watch how the Red Retread proceeds since his main source for getting into the news is gone. This has to leave a huge void.

[sonrisa salvaje]

This has to leave a huge void.

Kind of like the gap between the teeth of that fake DLR guy up in Canada. Anyone remember that jack leg who kept popping up in bars claiming to be Dave? He got pulled over too and claimed he had an allergic reaction to nuts.

[Seshmeister]

OK...Sesh was right. Approximately half as long. 21 years to 12 years...about half for Sam, especially if you count the few months Dave was in the band in '96.

I would argue Dave was the singer of Van Halen until the end in 2019.

[twonabomber]

It will be fun to watch how the Red Retread proceeds since his main source for getting into the news is gone. This has to leave a huge void.

Nah. Now Hagar can say whatever he wants about Ed, with no chance of Ed refuting Sam's claims.

[Nickdfresh]

His is the most disgusting music "channel" I've seen on YouTube in years. Constant lies, no opportunity to contradict anything he says or criticize him because he turns off comments (before that he would erase comments he didn't like). He also turns off THUMBS DOWN. Seriously! And his stuff is all lies: actually claiming that Ed & Al were only silent these years because Dave's tour that started in 2019/2020 was embarrassing them. He posted this as news maybe 9 months ago...plus (I think I mentioned) the picture of Ed at the car dealership cropped to remove the fan with a claim then that it was a pic of Ed at the doctor. And his claim (from a quote last year) that Wolfgang hates Dave. No evidence. Complete bullshit. How does he know? He's even fanned the flames that Wolfgang has invited Sam back to the band to reform because this guy doesn't believe in ANY evidence and hates Dave that much. He is the worst thing on YouTube.



I was wary of her based on her previous comments about gay rights. But I gave her a chance. I can't believe the complete piece of shit she turned out to be. A complete politician and a true conservative asshole in hiding. She never had a chance, but can you imagine how frightening she would have been had she tricked us all and then won?? I hate her now too. You're right: her career is over!! Ain't karma a bitch?



This will surprise you, considering how pro-Dave I come out...but the truth is, I agree with you. Sam should be there. I don't pretend he was never in the band.

I watched LIVE WITHOUT A NET last weekend (after getting through so many of my other VH concerts in our basement home theater) and (attack me, I don't give a fuck) really enjoyed it. Sam comes off as really stupid in parts, but nothing compared to how stupid he would get as the years went on. That home video has some amazing Ed playing on it. Plus, it was the band's first official home video (though they sure missed the fucking boat by not releasing the VAN HALEN II or FAIR WARNING concerts shot on film...and REALLY should have released a concert, shot on film, of the amazing 1984 tour). Anyway, Sam recorded on four albums. So many stupid lyrics. Some really lame-sounding melodies. But not everything he did was unlistenable. There were moments here and there. There are a few songs Dave would have simply refused to sing (e.g. LOVE WALKS IN) and Sam did a very typical (successful for the time) power ballad vocal. What he pulled off on "5150" (the song) actually works for me. For most of the Sam's time with the band, though, there's barely a song I hear that I don't sit and wonder how Dave would have bettered it. But yes, Sam was there for four albums. I never felt like protesting when he got in the HALL OF SHAME with the band (Mikey sure as hell deserved to get in there). Sam should be there when they unveil a statue. It would be interesting to see him standing there with Dave (if he bothers showing, who knows?), Wolf, Alex...

The one thing that worries me is if Sam shows up to something like the Pasadena tribute and Dave doesn't...and Sam is standing there with Alex and Wolf. That's a bad sign. That's a sign that if Alex & Wolf actually do go about eventually trying to construct a posthumous Ed album from the absolutely shit-ton of outtakes the band has (I've been doing a LOT of research on this the last three weeks...and the amount of even MINIMUM leftover songs with finished Ed guitar on them in staggering...let alone all the shit he was doing holed up with Alex when the band WASN'T cutting full albums in 5150) is staggering. I would absolutely be devastated if Dave doesn't resume a good relationship with the Van Halens and ends up either disinterested or not invited to put vocals on new old Van Halen tracks to make up a new album. Ed chose the singer he wanted to keep working with. It was Dave. He outright said so many times the last 13 years. If they do further albums (and it's sure looking like that's the plan...and Rolling Stones and other mags keep pointing out from sources and quotes by Ed himself how much is left), I pray it's Dave on those albums. If not, I'd almost rather instrumental albums than some hodge-podge of shit with Sam coming down to sing about how big (small) his penis is, how much he likes the shape of worms in his tequila and how much fun it is to eat Mexican food before taking a shit and...gee...isn't it fun and dandy to be in love? Just shut the fuck up, old man...you have NO IMAGINATION.

Wasn't there a rumor that VH had filmed a complete 1984 show and was planning to release it during the next tour before the whole shithouse burned up in 85'? And LWAN replaced it?

[FORD]

Perhaps the entire show at the 1984 Donnington Festival is sitting in a vault somewhere?

[Baby's On Fire]

The Dave lyrics, they go right over Trunk's inflated head (and straight into mine)...
. When I listen to LITTLE GUITARS, I marvel at how much I'm still interpreting from those lyrics, ideas I missed before. And "Can't crow before I'm out of the woods but there's exceptions to the rule" is one of the best lines ever written in rock 'n' roll.
. Every time I listen to SHE'S THE WOMAN (the new version), I still giggle when I get to the line: "She wanted something to regret, tomorrow morning."
. PANAMA is about cars. But it's written about cars with style.

Panama is not about cars. The references to driving a car are analogies to bagging a chick.

Right over Trunk's head and straight into yours huh?

[Nickdfresh]

Eddie Trunk is a blundering fucking dumbshit that thinks Rad Motor Scooter is poetry...

[Seshmeister]

Perhaps the entire show at the 1984 Donnington Festival is sitting in a vault somewhere?

It would be a BBC vault not at 5150 though.

[VHscraps]

From what I know - gleaned many years ago from sources not clearly remembered now - the 1984 Donnington clip was filmed from the press pit in front of the stage, and only during the first couple of numbers. Usually the general press who don't have stage access are allowed in to shoot for a limited time. I think that the BBC crew who reported on the event was only allowed to film briefly from there. Somebody from the BBC might have told me this after I made inquiries about it more than ten years ago. I can't quite remember and probably no longer have the evidence.

My memory of the event is a bit hazy, but I think the cheapo video screen by the side of the stage (there might only have been one screen, on one side of the stage, can't remember) only came to life towards the end of Van Halen's set. During the last song, I think, by which time it was starting to get a bit darker. It was a very makeshift set-up with video effectively projected onto a giant sheet that was tethered to scaffolding. So not the kind of video screens that you can see in daylight. It was so flimsy that it looked like it could have been blown away by a strong wind etc.

But, it means that there were cameras onstage running for part of the VH set at least, and for the whole AC/DC performance that followed VH.