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In some ways, it's a necessary term to distinguish what the band did with Roth vs. all the utter shite that came out under the name 'Van Halen' afterwards (although the music really does the job quite nicely).
But mainly it's an attitude. For me, anyways. There's plenty of rock bands and music that have come out which I liked fine enough at the time and still listen to now and then, but CVH are one of the few groups who just evoke a gut response from me when I hear the stuff...and they had the added component of synthesizing that impeccable audio assault with an incredible visual component (unlike, say, the Beatles, who did some brilliant things on record but weren't very exciting onstage - not necessarily the worse for it, but just different...hell, even Zep onstage weren't ALL that thrilling to watch, outside of Page's quirky moves...whereas someone like Poison or Bon Jovi went through all the motions of Rock 101 stage presentation, but neither recorded anything that was, is or ever will be in any way essential listening for me).
CVH are simply one of the few groups that really had it all rolled up into one killer package and were unabashedly proud to show it.
But mainly it's an attitude. For me, anyways. There's plenty of rock bands and music that have come out which I liked fine enough at the time and still listen to now and then, but CVH are one of the few groups who just evoke a gut response from me when I hear the stuff...and they had the added component of synthesizing that impeccable audio assault with an incredible visual component (unlike, say, the Beatles, who did some brilliant things on record but weren't very exciting onstage - not necessarily the worse for it, but just different...hell, even Zep onstage weren't ALL that thrilling to watch, outside of Page's quirky moves...whereas someone like Poison or Bon Jovi went through all the motions of Rock 101 stage presentation, but neither recorded anything that was, is or ever will be in any way essential listening for me).
CVH are simply one of the few groups that really had it all rolled up into one killer package and were unabashedly proud to show it.
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