drgong
12-13-2007, 08:16 AM
Neil Zlozower among others has some pretty intersting points here:
Can Van Halen come back from mediocrity?
Rockers acknowledged as one of the best bands ever are attempting to rehabilitate their tattered image, writes Heath McCoy.
Heath McCoy, The Calgary Herald
Published: Thursday, December 13, 2007
CALGARY - By all rights it should have been a shining moment for Van Halen last March when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
At last they were being vindicated, acknowledged as one of the greats by that elite club of critics and music industry highbrows who had written them off for so long as just another Los Angeles metal band -- the lowest form of hard rock trash.
Van Halen should have ruled the day. Instead they had their umpteenth meltdown. A wasted Eddie Van Halen checked himself into rehab days before the ceremony and if the legendary guitarist wasn't making an appearance, neither would his brother, drummer Alex Van Halen.
View Larger Image
David Lee Roth, left, and Eddie Van Halen are back together again after the original band was torn asunder during the 1980s in a raging battle of egos.
The band's reinstated original vocalist, flamboyant David Lee Roth, also backed out over a conflict with the Hall as to what song he was going to sing at the ceremony.
Instead, the group's likable but recently fired everyman of a bassist Michael Anthony showed up along with his pal, singer Sammy Hagar, who led the band down a commercially successful but largely generic road after Roth left in 1985.
Pop culture critic Chuck Klosterman echoed the sentiments of many a bummed-out fan when he stated: "I used to think Van Halen would have a legacy like Led Zeppelin in that Zeppelin was not critically accepted in the '70s, but a new generation of critics came of age and understood them as one of the best bands of all time. The exact opposite has happened with Van Halen."
After more than two decades of mostly lacklustre albums, infighting, vocalist firings, bizarre behaviour, and, more recently, complete inactivity, Van Halen had become a joke.
A new generation was hardly even aware of Van Halen's glory days when its high-velocity visions of endless summers, willing babes, debauched fun and belligerent optimism made their music stand out as a sort of hard rock promised land for teenage males across North America.
Van Halen's new tour then, with Roth, is the band's last shot at reclaiming their turf among rock's finest.
"(It's about) stopping the hemorrhaging," says Ian Christe, author of Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga. "It's really all about them preserving their legacy right now.
"The good ship Van Halen is in danger of becoming the Titanic and they're responding to the emergency in style. I just wish they thought about it years ago."
Rock photographer Neil Zlozower, who was a close friend of the group in its prime, as well as their unofficial photographer, is releasing a book next year called Van Halen, A Visual History: 1978 to 1984.
"I think they were one of the greatest rock 'n' roll bands of the 20th century," Zlozower says. "The songs they wrote, the visuals, their sense of humour, I don't think there was any other band quite like them.
"In the David Lee Roth years that is. I think Dave is the greatest frontman that ever lived."
But today?
"This isn't Van Halen," Zlozower gripes. "It's three-quarters of the original band. I'm 100 per cent disappointed that Michael Anthony isn't with them. Michael was an integral part of that band. He did all the high harmony background vocals."
Anthony has been replaced by Eddie's 16-year-old son with actress Valerie Bertinelli, Wolfgang Van Halen. "I can see Ed wanting his kid in there ... but no one wanted that, as far I'm concerned," says Zlozower. "I look at it as Ed and Al being selfish."
But despite the skepticism that faced Van Halen as they went on the road with Roth for the first time in 23 years, the tour has been garnering rave reviews.
Even Zlozower has to admit he's liked what he's heard.
"Don't get me wrong," he says, "I saw one rehearsal at the L.A. Forum, before they left town to go on the road, and Dave probably sounded better than I've heard him in my whole life. Eddie sounded great ... and Wolfie was fine. Musically it was great, but to me there was something not right about this."
The Van Halen brothers were neurotic control junkies who micro-managed the band to a standstill in the last decade, he says.
"I hate to say it, but it seems like Ed and Al are always pissed off at someone," Zlozower says. And even though he remained close to Roth after the split, Zlozower acknowledges that being in a band with spotlight-hogging Diamond Dave had its challenges. "There's Dave, who's the greatest guy in the world, and then there's David Lee Roth," he says. "David Lee Roth can be hard to be around. (Eddie and Alex) hated him for years."
The original Van Halen was torn asunder in a raging battle of egos. Zlozower doesn't buy the public face Van Halen's putting on today that they've mended fences for this tour. "You can't fix the past," he says.
That said, returning with Roth was the only way Van Halen could regain a fraction of their former magic. "The last Van Halen tour was a monstrosity," says Zlozower of the band's acrimonious 2004 tour with Hagar and a heavily drinking Eddie at the helm. "What were they gonna do if they didn't get Dave back? Get Gavin Rossdale from Bush? That guy from Soundgarden, Chris Cornell, I heard they were looking at him. But I think Dave held the cards."
Now that Roth's back in the fold though, some say he's been tamed. "You've got three Van Halens against one Roth and I don't think he's in a position to make waves," says Zlozower.
Christe agrees.
"Roth definitely seems more subdued," he says. "You're still watching a world-class showman, but there's not as much of that animal energy anymore. I think there must be some very clear communication to him that this is not his radio show and the microphone is simply used to deliver a few lines and get into the next song."
While he's doubtful that Van Halen will be able to recapture "the fury of a bunch of frizzy-haired 20-year-olds from Pasadena," Christe believes the original band is still capable of musical magic.
"The simple route they're taking now, not talking to the press, just playing music one night after the next with minimal frills or production, I see that as very healthy," Christe says. "If that's what it takes to continue without getting in each other's hair and hating each other's guts -- I'm all for that."
The way Christe sees it, the infectious spirit of original Van Halen has nearly been forgotten, overshadowed by years of mediocrity -- after 1986, when the band essentially became Van Hagar, achieving pop success but also compromising its rock credibility.
"With Hagar, (Van Halen's fan base) moved from the corner outside the school where the kids cut class and smoked cigarettes, to the gym class. (Van Hagar) is the kind of music your gym coach puts on while you're running laps."
The Van Halen brothers also seemed to do all they could to suppress the Roth years, as if they wanted to pretend the band never existed before Hagar. It didn't help Dave's case that by the 1990s his solo career had tanked.
There was always a substantial core of rock fans who longed for Roth's return. The vaults are full of long-lost videos and live footage of Van Halen in their glory, but for years the brothers seemed determined that these treasures would go unreleased. They surfaced instead on the Internet, where they were devoured by the fans.
If it's successful, and thus far it has been, Christe says the new Van Halen tour will remind the world, and a new generation of fans, about what made this band special so long ago.
"In their first act, this band was like the sporty American version of Led Zeppelin," Christe states. "There was so much more to them (than people realize) with the shmaltz and the textures in the music. The energy was so positive and life affirming. That's what attracted people. Where do they stand today? They need a bit of refurbishment and they'll be on that Mount Rushmore of rock with the likes of (Jimi) Hendrix and Zeppelin."
Van Halen is expected to play Ottawa but a date has yet to be announced.
Here´s the link
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/arts/story.html?id=989ee6ac-b023-460c-8b09-a8b7275a5f4b
Can Van Halen come back from mediocrity?
Rockers acknowledged as one of the best bands ever are attempting to rehabilitate their tattered image, writes Heath McCoy.
Heath McCoy, The Calgary Herald
Published: Thursday, December 13, 2007
CALGARY - By all rights it should have been a shining moment for Van Halen last March when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
At last they were being vindicated, acknowledged as one of the greats by that elite club of critics and music industry highbrows who had written them off for so long as just another Los Angeles metal band -- the lowest form of hard rock trash.
Van Halen should have ruled the day. Instead they had their umpteenth meltdown. A wasted Eddie Van Halen checked himself into rehab days before the ceremony and if the legendary guitarist wasn't making an appearance, neither would his brother, drummer Alex Van Halen.
View Larger Image
David Lee Roth, left, and Eddie Van Halen are back together again after the original band was torn asunder during the 1980s in a raging battle of egos.
The band's reinstated original vocalist, flamboyant David Lee Roth, also backed out over a conflict with the Hall as to what song he was going to sing at the ceremony.
Instead, the group's likable but recently fired everyman of a bassist Michael Anthony showed up along with his pal, singer Sammy Hagar, who led the band down a commercially successful but largely generic road after Roth left in 1985.
Pop culture critic Chuck Klosterman echoed the sentiments of many a bummed-out fan when he stated: "I used to think Van Halen would have a legacy like Led Zeppelin in that Zeppelin was not critically accepted in the '70s, but a new generation of critics came of age and understood them as one of the best bands of all time. The exact opposite has happened with Van Halen."
After more than two decades of mostly lacklustre albums, infighting, vocalist firings, bizarre behaviour, and, more recently, complete inactivity, Van Halen had become a joke.
A new generation was hardly even aware of Van Halen's glory days when its high-velocity visions of endless summers, willing babes, debauched fun and belligerent optimism made their music stand out as a sort of hard rock promised land for teenage males across North America.
Van Halen's new tour then, with Roth, is the band's last shot at reclaiming their turf among rock's finest.
"(It's about) stopping the hemorrhaging," says Ian Christe, author of Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga. "It's really all about them preserving their legacy right now.
"The good ship Van Halen is in danger of becoming the Titanic and they're responding to the emergency in style. I just wish they thought about it years ago."
Rock photographer Neil Zlozower, who was a close friend of the group in its prime, as well as their unofficial photographer, is releasing a book next year called Van Halen, A Visual History: 1978 to 1984.
"I think they were one of the greatest rock 'n' roll bands of the 20th century," Zlozower says. "The songs they wrote, the visuals, their sense of humour, I don't think there was any other band quite like them.
"In the David Lee Roth years that is. I think Dave is the greatest frontman that ever lived."
But today?
"This isn't Van Halen," Zlozower gripes. "It's three-quarters of the original band. I'm 100 per cent disappointed that Michael Anthony isn't with them. Michael was an integral part of that band. He did all the high harmony background vocals."
Anthony has been replaced by Eddie's 16-year-old son with actress Valerie Bertinelli, Wolfgang Van Halen. "I can see Ed wanting his kid in there ... but no one wanted that, as far I'm concerned," says Zlozower. "I look at it as Ed and Al being selfish."
But despite the skepticism that faced Van Halen as they went on the road with Roth for the first time in 23 years, the tour has been garnering rave reviews.
Even Zlozower has to admit he's liked what he's heard.
"Don't get me wrong," he says, "I saw one rehearsal at the L.A. Forum, before they left town to go on the road, and Dave probably sounded better than I've heard him in my whole life. Eddie sounded great ... and Wolfie was fine. Musically it was great, but to me there was something not right about this."
The Van Halen brothers were neurotic control junkies who micro-managed the band to a standstill in the last decade, he says.
"I hate to say it, but it seems like Ed and Al are always pissed off at someone," Zlozower says. And even though he remained close to Roth after the split, Zlozower acknowledges that being in a band with spotlight-hogging Diamond Dave had its challenges. "There's Dave, who's the greatest guy in the world, and then there's David Lee Roth," he says. "David Lee Roth can be hard to be around. (Eddie and Alex) hated him for years."
The original Van Halen was torn asunder in a raging battle of egos. Zlozower doesn't buy the public face Van Halen's putting on today that they've mended fences for this tour. "You can't fix the past," he says.
That said, returning with Roth was the only way Van Halen could regain a fraction of their former magic. "The last Van Halen tour was a monstrosity," says Zlozower of the band's acrimonious 2004 tour with Hagar and a heavily drinking Eddie at the helm. "What were they gonna do if they didn't get Dave back? Get Gavin Rossdale from Bush? That guy from Soundgarden, Chris Cornell, I heard they were looking at him. But I think Dave held the cards."
Now that Roth's back in the fold though, some say he's been tamed. "You've got three Van Halens against one Roth and I don't think he's in a position to make waves," says Zlozower.
Christe agrees.
"Roth definitely seems more subdued," he says. "You're still watching a world-class showman, but there's not as much of that animal energy anymore. I think there must be some very clear communication to him that this is not his radio show and the microphone is simply used to deliver a few lines and get into the next song."
While he's doubtful that Van Halen will be able to recapture "the fury of a bunch of frizzy-haired 20-year-olds from Pasadena," Christe believes the original band is still capable of musical magic.
"The simple route they're taking now, not talking to the press, just playing music one night after the next with minimal frills or production, I see that as very healthy," Christe says. "If that's what it takes to continue without getting in each other's hair and hating each other's guts -- I'm all for that."
The way Christe sees it, the infectious spirit of original Van Halen has nearly been forgotten, overshadowed by years of mediocrity -- after 1986, when the band essentially became Van Hagar, achieving pop success but also compromising its rock credibility.
"With Hagar, (Van Halen's fan base) moved from the corner outside the school where the kids cut class and smoked cigarettes, to the gym class. (Van Hagar) is the kind of music your gym coach puts on while you're running laps."
The Van Halen brothers also seemed to do all they could to suppress the Roth years, as if they wanted to pretend the band never existed before Hagar. It didn't help Dave's case that by the 1990s his solo career had tanked.
There was always a substantial core of rock fans who longed for Roth's return. The vaults are full of long-lost videos and live footage of Van Halen in their glory, but for years the brothers seemed determined that these treasures would go unreleased. They surfaced instead on the Internet, where they were devoured by the fans.
If it's successful, and thus far it has been, Christe says the new Van Halen tour will remind the world, and a new generation of fans, about what made this band special so long ago.
"In their first act, this band was like the sporty American version of Led Zeppelin," Christe states. "There was so much more to them (than people realize) with the shmaltz and the textures in the music. The energy was so positive and life affirming. That's what attracted people. Where do they stand today? They need a bit of refurbishment and they'll be on that Mount Rushmore of rock with the likes of (Jimi) Hendrix and Zeppelin."
Van Halen is expected to play Ottawa but a date has yet to be announced.
Here´s the link
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/arts/story.html?id=989ee6ac-b023-460c-8b09-a8b7275a5f4b