Man in 1996..It seems as if Ed was seeing the light..

[Vinnie Velvet]

Thing is, realtions between Sam and the Van Halens really started to get strained around 1991.

If it hadn't been for Ed Leffler (Sam's manager which became Van Hagar manager), Hagar would've been gone sometime before '96.

They barely made 4 studio albums, the last two, especially Balance, being the most difficult to get done.

[lztom]

Great find on that interview. I never saw that before. Eddie seems stoned or something on it. I think it's clear the slide had already begun for him.

Look at MA. The 'nice guy' of the band. He wasn't scared to rat on his so called best buddy for his dinner tickets here was he??

Humans Being is by a distance the best track Van Hagar ever cut.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here but IMO Eddie's playing was already improving again on the Balance record.If you have a CD player with channel cancelling you can blank out Fat Boy Roy's singing and there's some great playing on there.

[Loons The Great]

Humans Bean...the riff was stolen from a classic Van Halen cover tune...any of you mofos know which one, youngins?

[Casemeister]

"When you're in a band, it's a democracy, so to speak."

Is it, Ed? I guess Mike was voted out of the band. Well, when two of the three members who could vote are Van Halens, Mike never stood a chance.

Ed doesn't see that because of all the BS he has fed us, his reputation as a guitar god is diminishing by the day. It's a shame, but it's nobody's fault but his.

[Eyes of the Night]

Re: Man in 1996..It seems as if Ed was seeing the light..

Originally posted by Unchainme
According to various interviews with Eddie Van Halen states the he wrote most of the lyrics.

The song is considered Van Halen's most obscure and darkest song. The lyrics are aggressively sung in a tumbling manner, almost similar to a chant, with the chorus being inspired by John Lennon's "Instant Karma!".

HA!..It seems when Ed was putting it all together and about to reunite with Dave, He started to put the pieces together. [/B]

Killer post Chainme ...

Wella, you learn something new everyday n' shit ...

[Speed Of White]

I agree with 1996 being a bright burst of hope after being let down for many years by the sub-par quality of music they had been putting out for some time. I will say F.U.C.K. had a couple take notice moments, but nothing like their former selves when Diamond Dave was at the helm. This may sound lame, but I thought sober Eddie Van Halen in the Balance area was a complete whining pussy. He really seemed arrogant around then. Not everybody knows this, but Eddie actually was drinking again throughout the "Human's Being"/Sammy's departure and look what happened. It was as if the alcohol gave him a much needed kick in the ass. His playing on HB was his best in 12 years in my opinion. He seemed hungry again. Then all of a sudden Dave is back. Shortly after that 2 very solid tunes (even by CVH standards) with Dave were in the can. I think if Me Wise had been released on any of the old Dave records it would be considered in their top 10 best. They were gaining momentum that summer and then FFFFFffffffffffff. All yanked from a very primed public in a flash because Eddie went back to being a whiner again when he saw that he wasn't the sole appeal of "his" band anymore. My thoughts are a potentially great venture was crushed that year. It should have happened then man. That was the right time.