Could Edward have made it big without Dave?

[flappo]

..tell that to allan holdsworth etc

[TMR]

NO!

Dave is the reason why Ed was noticed in the first place.

Dave would of made it period because of his inner drive!

[Foozwah]

Re: Could Edward have made it big without Dave?

Originally posted by Cathedral
Could Edward have made it big without Dave?

I really don't think so.

The sheer force of Dave's talent and personality is what made VH happen in the first place. Without Dave, EVH would have wound up as just another 'local hero' guitarist with good chops, and Gene Simmons would never have even heard of him, much less tried to scam him for KISS.

[rustoffa]

He woulda been Boz Scaggs' lead guitar player....full on diabetic.

[Cathedral]

There are some great replies in this thread...

Edwards problem with not speaking up in his early days would have held him back i'm afraid.
Remember that he was a very shy kid and Dave used to have to tell him what to do. Hell, everybody told him what to do from his own admission...

That would have hurt his success.....

[Big Bad Bill]

Re: Could Edward have made it big without Dave?

Originally posted by Cathedral
Fate is a fucked up thing and the more we try to manipulate it the more unpredictable the results.

But in all honesty, would Edward Van Halen have found the success he has enjoyed on guitar prowess alone?
The singer debate has spawned all sorts of "What If" scenarios, but if you really look at Van Halens humble beginnings you cannot disagree that "humble" is the exact term that describes their climb to the top.

They opened for everyone under the sun before they became a headliner as admitted by Dave himself.
It is a well known fact that Dave sold Van Halen and basically refused to be denied, but success was not instant for them, just read Crazy From The Heat and this you will find to be true, accoring to the Diamond one.
Edward has admitted to not ever speaking his mind, he was the silent chub that was lifted to icon status from the chants of "Eddie, Eddie, Eddie" that i heard everytime i saw the original line-up.
But that is where the question comes in.

Would he really have even been on that stage if it weren't for Dave?

I know a few guitarists personally that at the time could have given Ed a run for his money that are still working a day job and enjoying modest club success.
I think that if it weren't for the bombastic attitude of DLR getting in our faces, Edward wouldn't have made it.
Dave was the first thing i ever saw about Van Halen and if it wasn't for him i wouldn't have even listened to Van Halen I........

[Terry]

Kind of difficult to speculate if Dave and Ed would have become as famous if they hadn't been in the same band.

Would be hard to imagine a talent like Ed's not being noticed, regardless of who was singing for Van Halen.

Would Roth have become a star if he had been fronting a band other than Van Halen from the beginning?

Sort of a pointless exercise. I suppose it depends on who a person thinks 'made' Van Halen, Roth or Eddie.

For me, it took the combination of Ed and Dave writing the tunes and the whole band performing them to make Van Halen a household name.

Maybe it can be answered by looking at record sales of solo Roth and Halen after Dave left. Long before grunge came along, both Van Hagar and Dave solo experienced a downturn in sales.

[Polk High]

he never ever would have made it w/o roth. I mean i guess it all depends on what you mean "made it" means. Do you consider Joe Satriani or Eric Johnson to have made it? I don't, if you were to ask random people on the streets who they were they wouldn't know. now ask them who evh or dlr is they will have at least heard of them. So I don't think ed would have been nearly as big and popular if not for roth.

and look how fast ed forgot about him

[pardo]

I agree - it depends on what your definition of "made it" is. I think Edward would have been relatively successful without Dave, but not on the scale he was with Dave. Edward wrote great tunes - thats what separates him from the Vai's and Holdsworths.

I think Dave pushed him though - Dave brought his A game, which forced Ed to bring his A game.

Look up the definition of synergy. I don't mean to sound condecending. BTW, condecending means to talk down to people.

[VH LINKS SUCKS]

The Truth from a born loser

Could Van Halen have made it big without Dave? Yes

- Brett Norton ( Van Hagar Links)



CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!
Most Idiotic comment of the Century AWARD

[DavidLeeNatra]

dave made the name VAN HALEN...he gave the band the fucking name of the lying dutchmen...otherwise ed would now be "the talented guitar player" from the once famous band "so-and-so" david lee roth was the singer then

[BigBadBrian]

No Dave - No Ed........at least not as big