What Do you like?!

[VanHalener]

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I constantly see people posting things regarding their disappointment with some facet of Van Halen.
That's cool; some opinions can be interesting, even when they are negative.
However, I would love to read about your favorite thing about Van Halen.
Personally, I love the strength and energy poured into their collective works and how they poured it right back onto us on when they were on stage.
I think my all time favorite thing about VH has always, from the beginning, been how much fun Eddie always looks like he's having when he's jamming their awesome tunes.
What the hell Do you like most?

[Bo Nozos]

One of my favorite things is the moment when, after a minute of tribal drums and chunky guitars, the band kicks into "Everybody Wants Some" full on.

Pure rock and roll bombast. Gets me every time.

[VanHalener]

Everybody Wants Some...



I Want Some Too...

[Diamondjimi]

The power , the energy, melody and musicianship/showmanship. Also the honesty and attitude in the music . The only fuckin band that mattered!
The planets aligned in the mid 70's and brought these group of guys together and it became fuckin nuclear power'd ,muthafucka's ! This is why Van Halen(NOT Van Hagar) was/is one of the greatest rock bands to ever walk the planet. For that I am greatful to grow up with VH as my soundtrack. Long live VAN HALEN '76-'84 ........

ALL PRAISE THEE !

[Terry]

When CVH was running full-tilt (Sinner's Swing!, Romeo Delight...fuck, too many of them to bother listing)...even after having heard that stuff 10 billion times over, it still gives me a wallop right in the solar plexus. Yet they were so diverse, too (Secrets, Big Bad Bill, In A Simple Rhyme, Could This Be Magic?).

Just a world-class band that I put right up there with any rock group, past or present, as among the best of the best, IMO.

That's why some of us are so particular about what we'd like to see from a reunion (if some of us even wanna SEE a reunion), and why we give Ed so much shit here about his many dead-end ventures taken under the Van Halen name (for me, mostly since 1996, although 1985-1996 wasn't anything worthy of what CVH did either); it's because we know he's capable of better.

[VanHalener]

Terry brings up a good point. There are some out there that love Van Halen but may not want to see a reunion tour. I have had this thought myself; wondering if the spark would be there, will they be as as kick ass as they were when the planets aligned back in the 70's and VH became the Heavyweight champs. Will it be all I expect it to be?
I find the answers to be vague at best.
They are a lot older for starters. They are not as tight as they were, and by that I mean they are not as close to one another as they once were. This can effect performance, drive and charisma on stage. There are many reasons why they may not show up as a power house and many why they may.
My favorite thing about VH is hard to pinpoint, though it's Diamond Dave's vocals and Ed's playing that I look forward to most when I hit play.
Will they show? I think yes. Will it be what it was long ago. I doubt it, but I think it will be pretty kick ass. Who knows, MAYBE they are about to blow our minds. I think they and we deserve it.

[binnie]

I don't know how to express what I mean really, but what I love most about there music is its organised spontaneity, thats the best term I've got.

I also love the way they could snap from playing loose to ultra tight, gets me evey time.

The FUN, the rock, the passion....

[Coyote]

Re: What Do you like?!

Originally posted by vanhalener
What the hell Do you like most?

-That "je n'sais quoi" they had...
-Ed's tone. Like caramel chocolate oozin' down your speakers.
-Their studio work-ethic. Fast, loose, yet prepared. (Culled from all the interviews I've read...)
-THE SONGS!!!
-Overall musicianship

[DrMaddVibe]

What do I like about Van Halen?

Classic Van Halen...not Van Hagar or Ga y Halen...CVH! All of it.

The swagger...the bravado...the talent...the self-effacing humor...the rockgod imagery...EVERYTHING CVH.

[Jimmy Jingles]

Ditto what everyone else said here...


They were just the greatest motherfuckers of all time!!!

[SilvioDante]

Originally posted by binnie


The FUN, the rock, the passion....

The only thing I would add to that it is the "hide your women and liquor 'cause were coming to town" attitude.

"Big Rock" rules...

[m_dixon1984]

Pure, unadulterated FUN!!!

The music, the lyrics, the sound, the act...nothing but fun!

...putting it succinctly.

M

[lztom]

Terry made a great post above ^^^^

Yeah, a lot of topics on here do gripe about stuff but I think that's because you take for granted that ANYONE on here appreciates CVH for the pure, total magic that it is. Really, you can never hope to see those 6 records topped- they're just a part of your life, a companion absolutely to be cherished.

A list of what any of us like about Van Halen could be almost endlessly long. Just off the top of my head:

The Brown Sound
Eddie's customised guitars
The group picture on WACF
The intro to Mean Street
The whole of Mean Street
The breakdown in SGMAD with all the applause and then the riff kicks back in
The way Eruption segues into YRGM
AVH's crappy out of time dancing in the HFT video
Eddie walkin down the library desk in the HFT video

Any of us could go all night but I just wanted to add one thing that I don't think gets mentioned a lot about CVH and Eddie's playing in particular. CVH is portrayed as the ultimate FUN, party time music and of course it is. Yet, I don't know if I'm the only one but even in their funnest moments, I feel like Eddie's playing is imbued with pure blues style playing in a way that's so much more authentic to the spirit of that music than some white boy trying to play a 12 bar like a black man could (and inevitably failing miserably). There's seems to me to be a strange melancholy to Eddie's playing even at its most seemingly joyous. That's one of the things I treasure most about Eddie's playing.

[diamondsgirl]

Excellent thread.

I love what everyone says here and I agree a million times over.

What do I like?...

- Dave's unadulterated sexiness (sorry...had to say it, because I know you guys won't) :p
- the timelessness of 99.5% of their tunes
-the in-your-face debut album. I still can't believe how perfect it is.
-the "damn we're good for a bunch of fuck ups" attitude
-the look that comes over folks faces when CVH comes over the speakers ANYWHERE!

- Two words. "Fair Warning".

[Bo Nozos]

The person who mentioned spontaneity/looseness is exactly right. The early albums are simultaneously polished and yet raw. The playing is ridiculously tight, but not at all UP-tight. My favorite example -- during the break in "Bottoms Up," where Dave starts laughing in the middle of a line and they all just keep going, and they left it on the record that way.

Some more things:

The happy Ed of the 70s and 80s -- the guitar prodigy who played savage, but always had a smile on his face.

The cockiness -- those dudes acted like they were the best, and backed it up. The Sisters, Bass Player and Bette tried to keep that attitude going, but that was a check that the shit music those guys made together could not cash.

The way those mofos could play ANYTHING and it sounded cool. Every album had something that came totally out of left field -- e.g., "Could This Be Magic," "Happy Trails" -- but it was still Van Halen.

The way the 6-Pack has stood the test of time. I put Van Halen II on my stereo today and that bad-boy sounds FRESH, more than 25 years later. I actually liked 5150 when it came out -- if I give that shit a listen now, it sounds dated, cramped and forced.

The classic logo. It's iconic. That curvy Van Hagar "Batman" logo is pure cheese.

Knowing that the 4 of them came up together -- high school, playing backyard parties, attending community college where most people go nowhere, gigging on the strip, telling Gene Simmons to fuck off, and then taking no prisoners until 1985. It was organic.

How when you meet someone and start talking music, if you find out they own and love albums like Women and Children First there's that recognition like you know something a lot of people don't, like you're part of an exclusive club.