Van Halen copycat bands of the 80's.

[SheAintWaiting]

Okay, two cents from an old lady.

Honestly, I don't think Motley and Poison and those bands
were very influenced by VH. They were trying to separate
themselves from VH by adding what at the time was more
*punk* stuff to their metal which ended up becoming glam.

Back in the day, (mid 80s?,) down on the Sunset Strip, VH
were getting to be the "old guys". The newer bands who
hadn't made it yet were trying to look different and sound
different than VH. Just like how musicians now try to
separate themselves from last year's flava to say that
they are the "new school". Same crap was happening
back then.

I remember the old fogies at the Rainbow back then were
Alice Cooper, Greg Guiffria (sp?), Coverdale, all those guys.
The new guys were Guns 'n' Roses, and heck, Poison was
still playing freakin' LA Street (block) parties back then.
They prolly couldn't even get IN the Rainbow yet by then.
LOL! They were probably flyering Dave's car in the lot!

From what I could tell, the glam guys were more influenced
by bands like The New York Dolls, Siouxsie and the Banshees
(when Sioux was punk b4 she was really "goth", ) and that's
why the glam guys were wearing the really crazy makeup
and not just spandex like what Dave had been wearing, but
the bright pink flourescent and stuff like that. Like they
were more influenced by Bowie and King's Road than anything
that had been happening with VH in California.

I remember going to parties back then and the new guys
were NOT listening to VH and Foreigner and Triumph and
stuff like that. I remember hearing lots of Bowie and T-Rex,
but not VH. I'm sure the guys had listened to VH in their
time, but who TF hadn't? My point is that they were trying
to distance themselves from VH and so probably would not
have cited them as influences. They probably would have
cited Johnny Rotten or Billy Idol and Gen-X before they
would have said Eddie and DLR.

Anyway that's my take. Just cause I was there doesn't mean
I know a darned thing. I was 19 and I was drunk. What
can I say?

SheAintWaiting

[madraoul]

Hey old lady, I'm an old 39 as well. Anyway, these '80's guys may have been trying to make their own way at The Whiskey, but by the time the record companies got them it was "can't you be a bit more like VH?" C'mon, everybody was trying to do a Dave style video.

[Big Troubles]

No I think she is right on the money. I will say though, that Van Halen in the 80's started a great video making trend and bands emulated that concept. Thats a certain.

[Wayne L.]

Van Halen is one of the last great 70's rock bands who made it on their music, their shows, their image & their attitude before MTV which is why calling them something that has to do with 80's rock is an insult to begin with because there weren't too many 80's rock bands with explosive & influential debut rock albums last time I checked. There were millions & millions of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Kiss, AC/DC & VH copycat rock bands who abused the inspiration during the 80's with only a few that stood out at the time with " some " originality as in Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Ratt, Metallica & Megadeth

[BrownSound1]

Dave's stage persona was heavily influenced by Big Jim Dandy, frontman for Black Oak Arkansas. Vocally, I hear James Brown, Billy Gibbons(!), Ian Gillan, and whoever else Dave listened to in his youth. :D


Dave imitators? Marq Torien immediately pops up, Brett Michaels, Mike Tramp....hell all of these bands followed the VH formula...which in a way was the Led Zeppelin formula.

[Big Troubles]

Originally posted by Wayne L.
Van Halen is one of the last great 70's rock bands who made it on their music, their shows, their image & their attitude before MTV which is why calling them something that has to do with 80's rock is an insult to begin with because there weren't too many 80's rock bands with explosive & influential debut rock albums last time I checked. There were millions & millions of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Kiss, AC/DC & VH copycat rock bands who abused the inspiration during the 80's with only a few that stood out at the time with " some " originality as in Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Ratt, Metallica & Megadeth

How do you figure Van Halen is one of the last great 70's bands? 78, 79, they were off to a flying great start. But the 80's is where they made their money my friend. Dont be fooled. They were a great club band pre 78 I'll give you that, but to say they are the last great bands of the 70's? Careful careful.
And how do you figure there was any originality at all in Crue, Bon Jovi or Ratt? Thats like saying Poison, Cindarella and Slaughter were original. No way. Everyone copied from everyone. I dont care what band your talking about. Some bands copied more than others, thus making it obvious. I would say at best Zepplin and the Doors along with Hendrix and James Brown were pretty fuckin' original. Everyone after that had shades of those bands I just mentioned.

[Big Troubles]

and don't go telling me there's creativity inside the minds of ac/dc or kiss. yuck. they are all just like the rest of the music industry. following record co. orders. Bread, fed and machined to produce the next radio hit. All ac/dc sounds the same to me from 1980 on. Kiss is the same. Garbage. Black Sabbath was unique for the stage shows. But just music alone? They'd be broke and unheard of. Same with Alice Cooper, Peter Frampton or Pink Floyd. Without the razzle dazzle, your left with shit. Like Dave say's if you can't pull off a show with just a stool to sit on, a light bulb and an acoustic guitar, then you shouldn't be doing it. (Im sure I fucked that up somehow )

[Orgazmo]

I wouldn't call alot of those late 80's cock rock bands like Bulletboys, Tora Tora, Salty Dog, Faster Pussycat... copycats. But they were definately inspired by VH & Dave. Tora Tora named themselves after the W&CF song, but what's wrong with that??!! I consider it another way VH contributed to the music scene, most of those bands were awesome.

Tribute bands like Atomic Punks & Fair Warning that do nothing but imitate old VH are the copycats.