Mike Anthony...

[tojoro]

I've been a fan of these guys since. Put it this way, my brother is the oldest and I am the youngest, so I was hearing VH I short, I was 10 going on 11 in the summer of '78.
So much of my musical influence I owe to my brother.
Aside from that, I know a lot about VH, but some of the learned folks here know a great deal more.
I have heard or read here and there, that it was Ed and not Mike laying down bass tracks in the studio.
I was wondering if this were true, and if so, does this involve albums or songs within the six-pack?
Being a bass player myself, I've always admired what Mike played...I considered him a cornerstone of the band's harmony, bolstering Dave's awesome blend of storytelling, while being a solid anchor between what the brothers were getting off on, (or sisters, if you prefer.).
I was just looking for an honest opinion of Mike's abilities as a musician, despite any transgressions he may have commited against Diamond Dave, Van Halen, or The Army.
If I may be so bold, you may commence fire....

[Terry]

Well, when you're playing in a band that features two focal points like Roth and Eddie, it's pretty easy to be overshadowed. Anthony gets ragged on for his relative simplicity (the intro to RWTD being the most cited example)...compared to a Billy Sheehan, Mike Anthony's stuff was fairly rudimentary. It worked well enough, though. I mean, with everything Roth was doing and what Eddie was bringing to the table (alongside even Alex, who exhibited a busy style at times) someone had to play the anchor role. Less exotic, but necessary. All of the above is strictly in terms of musicianship and what was played on record, not referring to who took which side(s) in the soap opera theatrics.

Far as Anthony's parts being ghosted by Eddie Van Halen, the only stuff I feel fairly confident in saying that was the case was the Van Halen 3 album, the tracks off of BOBW and probably the two CVH tracks on BOV1. Most of that confidence has to do with multiple sources (including EVH's inferences in interviews) claiming this to be so.

A few years ago, there were stories going around that EVH ghosted on bass duties even as far back as the 6-Pack stuff. Who really knows?

I will say that MA acquitted himself well, bass-wise, on the FW album (presuming he played on it). Good, good stuff there. Solid, sounded great and got the job done in spades. Along with the obvious strength he had in taking the higher register vocal parts on the background harmonies: something I don't put as much emphasis on in terms of importance to the CVH sound as others might, but it was a solid bit of ammo to have in the CVH arsenal.

[tojoro]

Thanks, Terry.
Glad to hear the ghosting occured during an era I don't care for, or own.
I agree on Mike having to be the one to have to plod along, like you said, someone had to.
Assuming the Oakland stuff wasn't overdubbed, he did his best to spice up the live versions, without cluttering up the song: bust out a fill, hop back in the pocket.
I appreciate you're being direct.

[Satan]

The first three albums were basically cut live in the studio, so the earliest Eddie would have possibly played bass on anything would be "Fair Warning". There were rumors over the years that someone other than Sobolewski (i.e. Billy Sheehan) was playing on that album, but nothing has ever come out as far as verification of that, and I believe Sheehan himself denied it.

There is the fact that Michael Anthony's name was completely taken off the songwriting credits for the 1984 album, as of the 2000 remaster. Now nobody with two functioning brain cells ever believed that Mikey wrote any songs. Nor did Alex. But the policy seemed to be "go ahead and give the publishing credit to all 4 guys, since they all played on the record".

So what does that say about 1984, now that Michael Anthony is no longer credited. Which happens to be the first album recorded at 5150 studios, meaning Eddie could have overdubbed bass parts any old goddamn time he wanted, and nobody else even had to know it was happening.

[Panamark]

Mike always had good groove and timing.
Its just that a lot of what he did (and all that was required)
was keeping a root note beat in time with Al..
We are fairly confident he played on the studio albums
for the first 3, and theres some good examples of
bass in those. 1984, nup, he didnt play, Fair Warning ?
I would hate to think he didnt play on FW, but EVH can
play both stringed instruments and keyboards extremely
well.. So who knows ? Another thing we do know is
that the Van Halens were never fully faithful to Sobolewski
and courted other potential replacements during the classic
era... I would say you can listen to the first 3 and know
he is on there 100%.

[GAR]

The better singer of the four.

*not the better vocalist mind you - half of what Dave does isn't what I'd call singing.

But: 100 percent of what Mike does is "singing" singing. And he doesn't fuck up the lyrics and forget stuff.

[Bill Lumbergh]

Mike is a fucking prick, never has anything positive to say about Dave....just like Ed used to, he acts like it was 11 years of PURE misery. Solid bassist, good "backup singer". Now, just like Sam, he has the rep of being a "good guy", yet does nothing but bash the shit outta VH. Mind you, Ed deserves every fucking bit of it. But it's time to shut the fuck up Mike....if Mike and Sam are SO happy, why does every interview include them talking at length about the current state of the band, or yet ANOTHER recap of what happened in 96 and 2004. I genuinely HOPE that Mike didnt play on FW, DD, and 1984....why the hell is he so fucking bitter?! Yes, Ed's a drunken prick, and Dave was your boss. MOVE ON ALREADY....

[Bill Lumbergh]

Mike is a fucking prick, never has anything positive to say about Dave....just like Ed used to, he acts like it was 11 years of PURE misery. Solid bassist, good "backup singer". Now, just like Sam, he has the rep of being a "good guy", yet does nothing but bash the shit outta VH. Mind you, Ed deserves every fucking bit of it. But it's time to shut the fuck up Mike....if Mike and Sam are SO happy, why does every interview include them talking at length about the current state of the band, or yet ANOTHER recap of what happened in 96 and 2004. I genuinely HOPE that Mike didnt play on FW, DD, and 1984....why the hell is he so fucking bitter?! Yes, Ed's a drunken prick, and Dave was your boss. MOVE ON ALREADY....

WAY off fucking topic, but I havent ranted about this in a while, so I needed to get my fix.

[rustoffa]

A decently absurd analogy is Michael Anthony's life as a dog. A dog's life in VH or whatever. Not a shiteater....more like a yellow lab out of the classifieds. Like, not hunting waterfowl. He took to sitting when told to sit, and wondered why two of the tall things kicked his ass harder than the tall thing in the tight clothes. Eventually, a shorter tall thing with baggy clothes replaced the tall thing with tight clothes......the other two things became happier and beat the shit out of him less. It's a dogs life.

[Panamark]

Nice, Mr Lumbergh, getting back into fine form !

[Bill Lumbergh]

Nice, Mr Lumbergh, getting back into fine form !

Haha, thanks bro, getting into the swing of things after a couple of weeks back in the fray. I'm getting addicted to this place again after a long absence.

[Panamark]

Indeed ! Didnt want to diss Mikey too much coz of the OP's angle.
But I think we are quite respectable considering he is Hagar's
puppy dog now and shitcans Van Halen at any chance.
I have to say airbrushing him off the original album covers
was a fucked up thing to do, no matter what your take is
on the whole situation.

But the Van Hagar Munchkins buddies seem happy in their world
of chicken feet, (and we all know what those feet walk around
in all day...) SO good luck to them with all that chickenshit...
Hopefully they go away like every other project Sammy has been
involved in, or they start talking about their own band more
than Van Halen ??

[Bill Lumbergh]

Yeah, the airbrushing thing was pathetic no matter how you look at it. No one in the whole VH "saga" is entirely innocent, but the bitching and moaning was old years ago....and they'll never go away. If Chickenfoot continues its "solid" sales or goes in the shitter, the Chubby Duo will amp up the bitchiness and VH bashing and pontificating about 96 and 04 YET AGAIN. If they somehow get really big(sales wise that is, and yeah right that aint happening), they'll talk about their sales being on the level of VH, and other such BS that Sam has mastered over the years.

[Bill Lumbergh]

I'm waiting for Sammy to start talking about how if the record industry wasnt in the toilet, Chickenfoot "would have done 7 or 8 million".

[GAR]

Mike is a fucking prick

.. and you blame him for this attitude knowing how he's been treated?

That's harsh.