*** What If Diamond Dave Never Left Van Halen ***

[BadassMOFO]

Time and time again, i ask myself... What would of happened if Diamond Dave stayed in Van Halen where he really belongs and never left to go solo?... or at least did a solo stint and then came back to=VH=

At the time it didn't seem right to me for him to leave the band I thought they would have pumped out a few more multi- platinum status records and sell-out tours at the very least... who knows what else?

Thoughts? ideas? wisecracks?

Let's hear it!

[DavidLeeNatra]

they would have killed each other...

[moose]

Just like Neil Z sayz in his book..................
They'd be selling out the Sahara desert.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Originally posted by BadassMOFO
Time and time again, i ask myself... What would of happened if Diamond Dave stayed in Van Halen where he really belongs and never left to go solo?... or at least did a solo stint and then came back to=VH=

At the time it didn't seem right to me for him to leave the band I thought they would have pumped out a few more multi- platinum status records and sell-out tours at the very least... who knows what else?

Thoughts? ideas? wisecracks?

Let's hear it!

Well, since you're about my age, you remember what the music world was like in 1984....

It's kinda hard to describe.....

Van Halen was on top of the world (no fucking pun intended)....

Sold-out tours had been a given since the VH II tour....

But the '84 album and tour really vaulted them up to an elite status among bands.... The 1984 tour was an extravaganza.... When I saw them in San Diego in '84, the entire fucking city was wall-to-wall Van Halen for the entire weekend....

They were THIS FUCKING CLOSE to getting up into the exclusive level, where the Stones, Who, Beatles, Zeppelin reside....

I really feel if they would have stuck together for maybe even one more album, maybe two more, they could have gotten to that level, but we'll never fucking know now.....

The only thing I would say in that defense though is you can listen to dozens of rockers that were peers of theirs during that timeframe that can't give enough compliments to how powerful Van Halen was back during those times....

And it's those interviews that I always show my son to describe to him just how big Van Halen was back then....

[Nickdfresh]

All very true. Only, as Moose stated, they would have killed each other and perhaps a split was an historical inevibility at that point. The other related questions are:

What if Warner Bros. hadn't pushed Van Halen back into the studio after what was to be a one-off song to tide over fans after the FW Tour was over, "(Oh)Pretty Woman," became a hit to force out "Diver Down?" They were to all take long vacations after years of constant recording and touring together and I think they needed that time to decompress and to reduce tension...

Another "what-if" according to an interview with Dave, was: what if the band's split was like Aerosmith's and Sam and EEAS were used in a temporary side projects -- without all the feuding, vindictive shit that went down?

[BadassMOFO]

That's right, other bands knew what they were up against... =VH= ruled!

[BadassMOFO]

Originally posted by Va Beach VH Fan
.....
Van Halen was on top of the world (no fucking pun intended)....

Sold-out tours had been a given since the VH II tour....

But the '84 album and tour really vaulted them up to an elite status among bands....
They were THIS FUCKING CLOSE to getting up into the exclusive level, where the Stones, Who, Beatles, Zeppelin reside....



The only thing I would say in that defense though is you can listen to dozens of rockers that were peers of theirs during that timeframe that can't give enough compliments to how powerful Van Halen was back during those times....

That's right, other bands knew what they were up against... =VH= ruled!

[ThrillsNSpills]

Re: *** What If Diamond Dave Never Left Van Halen ***

Time and time again, i ask myself... how great an album Dave would have made with Michael Schenker.

But at the same time I know that would have ended up being sabotaged or would have imploded as well.


Taking a break from VH may have helped, but Dave would have never done keyboard based sing-a-long na na tunes.

They succeded being a hard rock band and it's a shame they sold out and did the music they initially rebelled against.

[if6was9]

Re: Re: *** What If Diamond Dave Never Left Van Halen ***

Originally posted by ThrillsNSpills
Taking a break from VH may have helped, but Dave would have never done keyboard based sing-a-long na na tunes.

Precisely!
The split was inevitable. Just listen to "1984", "Jump", "I'll Wait" and you'll know why. The direction chosen by Eddie was probably unacceptable for Dave.

[78/84 guy]

We probably wouldn't have gotten Eat em & Smile one of Dave's best albums and the WHORSHIT VH3 disc with Gary to put the sisters in their place. The bottom line is Dave fucked up !! Sad but true. A few more albums would have put them up there with Zeppelin & the Beatles. They are in our book but ..................

[Little Lamont]

It would have been like Elvis never died.

[Nickdfresh]

Re: Re: *** What If Diamond Dave Never Left Van Halen ***

Originally posted by ThrillsNSpills
Time and time again, i ask myself... how great an album Dave would have made with Michael Schenker.

...

I think you mean Randy Rhodes. Weren't they rumored to have been interested in working together out of dissatisfaction with their then current, notable musical careers?

[Terry]

Think the question should be not what if Dave never left, but how they managed to stay together as long as they did.

Van Halen were fucking HUGE in 1984. 1984 isn't exactly my favorite album, but it did take Van Halen (who were already a very successful band) and kick their multi-platinum status into even higher gear. I'll agree that maybe had they hung together for a couple more albums, they'd have been perhaps thought of universally in the same league as the Stones, Who, etc. I mean, personally, I was never huge on the track Jump, but I realize it's one of those tunes that virtually everybody has heard and knows the words to, even those who might not even know the name of the band who sung it...and had Roth stuck around a bit longer, possibly a few more of those tunes would have been created.

The 6 albums Van Halen put out are just tremendous. Rather than wish they had made a few more, I'm just content with what they DID, as opposed to what they might have done. The real shame of Roth quitting is that a talentless assclown attached himself to the band for a decade afterwards and helped Ed churn out a bunch of schmaltz, cheapening the Van Halen name in the process.

[Terry]

Think the question should be not what if Dave never left, but how they managed to stay together as long as they did.

Van Halen were fucking HUGE in 1984. 1984 isn't exactly my favorite album, but it did take Van Halen (who were already a very successful band) and kick their multi-platinum status into even higher gear. I'll agree that maybe had they hung together for a couple more albums, they'd have been perhaps thought of universally in the same league as the Stones, Who, etc. I mean, personally, I was never huge on the track Jump, but I realize it's one of those tunes that virtually everybody has heard and knows the words to, even those who might not even know the name of the band who sung it...and had Roth stuck around a bit longer, possibly a few more of those tunes would have been created.

The 6 albums Van Halen put out are just tremendous. Rather than wish they had made a few more, I'm just content with what they DID, as opposed to what they might have done. The real shame of Roth quitting is that a talentless assclown attached himself to the band for a decade afterwards and helped Ed churn out a bunch of schmaltz, cheapening the Van Halen name in the process.

[rustoffa]

Re: Re: *** What If Diamond Dave Never Left Van Halen ***

Originally posted by ThrillsNSpills
Time and time again, i ask myself... how great an album Dave would have made with Michael Schenker.

But at the same time I know that would have ended up being sabotaged or would have imploded as well.

Probably implosion before sabotage.

Dave: "Alright Mike, this one's on 2. I'm gonna go, WELLLLLLLL, then I'm thinking----hey man, are you listening?"

Michael Schenker: "aieve been awayfor zometime...vot is dat?"

Dave: "Alright man, the number is gonna go on 2 and-----what the fuck is wrong with you man? Get the fuck up off the floor!"

Michael Schenker: "I zink eyem gooing to zleep for zeewhile...MOOOMAAAA!!!"

Dave: "Vaya cunt dios Heimlich!!"