VAN HALEN 1 Rare unused artwork

[katie]

From Classic Rock site -
Classic Rock » Blog Archive » …And Talking About Van Halen…

A rare album cover proof for Van Halen’s first album with their original logo has gone up for auction on eBay with a ‘buy it now’ price of a cool $2,500.


The seller, ‘da4ever’, states: ‘This is an unbelievable Van Halen collectible that I obtained from Noel Monk, Van Halen’s Manager from 1978-1985.

‘Cannot believe I am selling this, but circumstances sometimes suck, so it’s time to let go.’

Only six of these covers were ever made, the seller claims.

He adds: ‘The reputed story is that David Lee Roth spotted a Sex Pistols similar pose and requested the same for his cover. When this version was done, he rejected it as he thought it was too punky.

‘Noel also told me that Alex [Van Halen] hated his photo, it made him “look like a giant”.’

He’s got a point. Check out the auction here.
VAN HALEN Original 1st Album Artwork that was NOT USED - eBay (item 320365971114 end time May-29-09 10:22:20 PDT)

[Diamondjimi]

Lame...

[ThrillsNSpills]

Did anybody here see Van Halen the early years?


Isn't that Mark Stone's logo?

[Jesus Christ]

[FORD]

The Sex Pistols didn't pose for their album cover at all.....


.... however, it is somewhat reminiscent of the pose on The Clash's debut album


Or maybe Rocket to Russia

[WARF]

Van Halen actually had one similar to this before they were sued by Menudo!

[bueno bob]

I've never really been a fan of Van Halen I's cover art at all. Honestly, I would have preferred that...

[GAR]

Lame...

Wtf do you mean by "lame"?

This is really interesting, especially since I've seen a couple proof sheets go up already for way, way less than this!

Is it skepticism that this is not the valid, truthful proof someone made up, or are you suggesting that the art direction was of poor quality?

I wonder how many this guy has left, if he's got a dozen or as many as a hundred the price will go higher as the pile thins out. I like that it's uncut, unfolded right out of the box.

Whoever hung onto them for this long, well this is his payday for sure! That's one fantastic rarity.

[GAR]

The Sex Pistols didn't pose for their album cover at all.....

Have either of these recordings gone gold yet?

I think I read in Rolling Stone the Sex Pistols disc went gold a just a few years ago, but if you deduct the Columbia Record Club sales you wind up with a number closer to 50,000 over-the-counter cash sales.

Get real. Those are hardly comparables! We're talking the very first artwork for the first vocalist to break Diamond Sales status of 10M copies sold, cash... they didn't call christen that finish line after Diamond Sid.

[VAiN]

I wonder how many this guy has left, if he's got a dozen or as many as a hundred the price will go higher as the pile thins out. I like that it's uncut, unfolded right out of the box.

There are 6 total... he also mentions that he'll be selling the original concept for Women & Children First soon.. says it's black.

[FORD]

Have either of these recordings gone gold yet?

I think I read in Rolling Stone the Sex Pistols disc went gold a just a few years ago, but if you deduct the Columbia Record Club sales you wind up with a number closer to 50,000 over-the-counter cash sales.

Get real. Those are hardly comparables! We're talking the very first artwork for the first vocalist to break Diamond Sales status of 10M copies sold, cash... they didn't call christen that finish line after Diamond Sid.

If you want to go by sales numbers alone, you could bring in Titney Spears, N'Suck.... hell, WARF already fucking brought Menudo into the thread.

This thread was about cover art, dumbass. Not record sales. But the reason why the Pistols, the Clash, and the Ramones are worth more than all the "best selling" albums from boy bands is that they inspired so many others to pick up guitars and start their own bands.

Van HALEN just happened to do that, AND sell millions of records, but that still had nothing to do with the goddamn album cover, you Jizzy fucking library dwelling idiot.

[Nickdfresh]

That couldn't be early Van Halen cover art! Where's Wolfie?

[Diamondjimi]

Wtf do you mean by "lame"?

Wtf do I mean by "lame"? Jesus H ,It looks like a homemade flyer for gigs.
This is hardly album cover material here. Decent pic of the band ,but come on F.F.S.!!!

Gotta disagree with Bueno about the 1st. album cover. I've always thought VH looked how they sounded (especially in regards to the first cover). But that's just my opinion....

[Diamondjimi]

That couldn't be early Van Halen cover art! Where's Wolfie?

Where's Wolfie? Still swimming around Ed's ballsack...

[vaijuju]

Dave & Alex 1978

thanks simon ribeiro from classicvanhalen.com