Why are there so many Dave haters and Van Halen haters?

[dave_is_vh]

Why are there so many Dave haters and Van Halen haters?

I consider Roth era Van Halen to be right up there with The Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin in terms of the greatest bands of all time.

I consider Dave to be right up there with Mick Jagger and Robert Plant in terms of the greatest rock frontmen of all time.

To me bands and people at this level deserve a certain amount of respect. On Amazon and other review sites you see people saying things about Dave and Van Halen that they would never say in a million years about Jagger and the Stones or McCartney and The Beatles.

I think Dave and Van Halen deserve a hell of a lot more respect from people.

Perhaps the Dave hating has to do with his over the top behavior and sense of humor. But what is wrong with combining music and humor? Rock is supposed to be fun after all.

[Jetstream]

everyone hates #1 and most importantly a person like Roth and what Van Halen becomes with him is a threat to what the current society deems as safe and politically correct in the music industry. As Roth said in a recent interview, that they never were considered the 'cool' band because they bucked the norm. A group like Van Halen causes a ripple effect, and people are scared of change. Some hacks are saying that this new lp is just Van Halen resurrecting some demos and waddling in the past. Well, they have always done this with demos and like fashion if you wait long enough a fashion once out of popularity comes back again...that qualifies as change as much as something completely new (and hell, they were the innovators of this unique style of theirs in the past that started it, so they are legit). People get uneasy with Roth because the dude is not scared to point out the virtues and vices of popular culture and will then even will throw himself in the parody of life and say I'm just as guilty and their is sincerity when one does not exclude themselves...hey sinners, let's swing. Dave has fun being cynical and most people treat cynicism as something serious for their own intellectual aims devoid of humor. A guy like Dave exposes a lot of people's insecurities, and what really gets people upset is that he has a sounding board on the radio in the expression of a song that they cannot ignore when he does it. And on a lesser note of appearances, removed from the message and music, sure some are laughing in frustration at his new persona of overalls, derby cap and show tune inspired dancing...but watch, before you know it, there will be clones just as when he walked out spandex , buttless chaps (did not include the martial arts stuff because a guy like Vince Neil or Brett Michaels would kill themselves attempting it) and bleached blonde long hair.

[VHscraps]

Yeah, I've seen some of those slammin' Amazon reviews, clearly people who have just gone on to give the album a low rating. I mean, if I think something is really crummy, I just kinda ignore it. It's the Hagaritas, I'd guess - largely. Or folks who have caught the buzz on the album when they are online, and they start posting without having listened.

We live in the age when everyone thinks their opinion counts, which is fair enough, and they have adequate means to express it online. When 'Tattoo' came out they played it here on Planet Rock radio station - I heard it on the Nicky Horne show. By and by I had picked up that he didn't like VH with Dave, because anytime he played them it was clearly because they were on the station playlist, and not his choice. While he would praise to the hilt absolute turd rockers who traffic in the most mundane rock cliches (like UK band Thunder - their limited appeal always escaped me, cliche upon cliche) he would never say anything after playing VH, unless it was with Spammy.

Anyway, he asked listeners to post their opinions to Facebook on 'Tattoo', and I swear all he did was read out the negative comments. Bored twits sitting listening to the radio and spewing out their assessment after half a listen, or less.

Interesting to look at Henry Rollins' book Black Coffee Blues - he writes about being a Dave and VH fan in the late 70s, and says at one point he was astonished how many people hated Dave's guts - probably 'cos Dave looked great, and could sail through the air like a samurai warrior - yet be the kind of guy who got wasted most of the time ... and seemed to get serious female action:

"People I knew who didn't usually voice their opinions, always had an opinion about that guy. Either they were into Dave, or they wanted to punch that grin right off his face."

And didn't Dave once say himself, 'if someone really, really hates you to the extent that they actually love to hate you, then at least they're paying attention - and in a way, they kind of love you, too.'

I think a lot of rock fans who don't like Dave just don't get him - he's too smart for them, or something.

Dave is a jive-ass motherfo, and long may he rule.

[bantonelli]

I think we're pretty used to hearing such pessimism. It's laughable - and all the way to the bank for Dave & the Bros. This is no different than the crapola spread in the media regarding his Radio gig. Stern put it down because Dave was entertaining, thought-provoking and full of great Rothisms.
As JetStream says, Dave exposes alot of people's insecurities about themselves, making them uneasy, like Bette and the naysayers. Got intimidation?

[ELVIS]

Fuck 'em...

Van Halen is ridin' high in the charts...

[ashstralia]

the Tiger Woods effect circa 2000;

he knows he's the best, he knows you know he's the best. even on a bad day he'll make you look a right fucking pillock.

[Yount]

"I can tell you don't like me. Do me a favor. Spread it around."

[ODShowtime]

There are millions of internet haters in the world who hate for the sake of hating. Many are robots.

[ELVIS]

Who gives a fuck about the internet ??

[Chong Li]

Its cool to hate classic rock. If you are a hipster douchebag, you can only like it in an "ironic" way. Artsy faggot bands like Franz Ferdinand, The Strokes, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Elvis Costello etc are way cooler.

ITS ALWAYS BEEN THIS WAY. There were VH haters 30 years ago. They called it "dinosaur rock" back then.

FUCK THE LITTLE DICKED CRITICS. I fucked their current wives back in high school.

[ELVIS]

No, one reviewer called it "dinosaur rock" and now we have all this...

[78/84 guy]

Dave, I thing rubs people the wrong way with his sense of humor. Thats because they don't have one !! Fuck em' ! They were always their own thing anyway.

[ELVIS]

You're drunk!

[hain23x]

I get into it with a couple of friends of mine from time to time over Van Halen. Hell, even my wife hates Dave. She hates the "scream' he does, she hates the fact that he sings about banging chicks.

A couple of other friends of mine think they're just a mullethead band and are in the same category as Poison.

I think it's been so long since Van Halen were world champions and they were just too young and all they know is the Sammy bullshit and all the fighting and then they know they hate "hair bands" and they like Depeche Mode and Erasure.

One guy drives me nuts. He's a big Dead head (I like the Dead too, but I like a lot of other music) and he puts Van Halen into the "they had one year 1978 after that they're just a hair band".

Van Halen and Roth did themselves no favors when they broke up

[Hardrock69]

This thread needs to be retitled "Why Are There So Many Stupid People In The World?".

Sure....everyone is entitled to their own opinion.....but some people are just fucking tools, that's all. They have been sucking the Spamulus pin-dick for so long they have become permanently brain-dead when it comes to recognizing (or even caring about) musical integrity.

That is why they are retarded sheeple motherfuckers. They take up valuable oxygen that could better be used by earthworms.