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I must admit, he has some valid points....
Understand this: I love Van Halen. Like, seriously adore them. Whereas I have a deep understanding of bands like Radiohead and the Hold Steady and Soundgarden, my feelings for Van Halen are entirely visceral. Whatever chemical reaction happens when you really like a song happens thirty times stronger every time I queue up "Panama" or "Hot for Teacher." According to my pleasure centers, those first few Van Halen albums are absolutely perfect. I recognize that they are sort of empty (frontman David Lee Roth really only sang about his sexual conquests and his potential sexual conquests), but they make me feel good anyway. Let me put it this way: If I were to rank my 20 favorite songs of all time, there would probably be three Van Halen songs in there ("Panama" and "Runnin' With the Devil" would be shoo-ins, with "Everybody Wants Some!!" probably sneaking in there towards the end).
So it would be logical that I would be excited about the concept of the band hitting the studio for a new album with David Lee Roth at the helm. But really, it just fills me with dread. And it fills me with dread because even though I love Van Halen, their batting average with new music is way, way down over the past, oh, 20 years or so.
Let's make another thing clear: As soon as Roth left the band to pursue solo work, Van Halen ceased being Van Halen. They became Van Hagar, and they became infinitely less interesting. Sure, they had moments of occasional transcendence (OU812 has some reasonable moments, and "Poundcake" pretty much rules), but they mostly trafficked in stuff like "Why Can't This Be Love" and "Right Now" — huge hits, to be sure, but lacking in the fierceness of their early work.
But with Roth back on vocals, shouldn't that be cause for rejoicing? Not necessarily. Back in 1996, Van Halen released Best Of Volume I, which contained a bunch of the band's hits and a pair of new tracks with Roth on vocals (this was after they had that one disastrous album with Extreme's Gary Cherone singing lead). They made a big deal out of Roth's (short-lived) return (the "reunion" lasted only a little longer than their appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1996), but one thing that sort of got overlooked was the fact those two new songs — "Can't Get This Stuff No More" and "Me Wise Magic" — aren't any good at all. "Me Wise Magic" definitely tries to hit the heights of the earlier work, but ultimately the stuff comes up short. It's possible that Roth wasn't really ready to work at the time, or it's possible that the band was still in the mindset of writing for Cherone, or it's possible that they just forgot what made them great in the first place.
So you could approach this one of two ways. Either you think that Eddie Van Halen has been writing continuously for a decade-and-a-half and will have his pick of hundreds of compositions for a great album, or you think that Eddie lost his touch years ago and has no hope. Either way, I only want to live with Van Halen II and Fair Warning and Diver Down. Roth and Eddie are both icons, so making new music will only diminish their legacy. Because once you're written "Jump," all you can do is fall.
What do you think of an idea of a new Van Halen album? Let us know in the comments!
Understand this: I love Van Halen. Like, seriously adore them. Whereas I have a deep understanding of bands like Radiohead and the Hold Steady and Soundgarden, my feelings for Van Halen are entirely visceral. Whatever chemical reaction happens when you really like a song happens thirty times stronger every time I queue up "Panama" or "Hot for Teacher." According to my pleasure centers, those first few Van Halen albums are absolutely perfect. I recognize that they are sort of empty (frontman David Lee Roth really only sang about his sexual conquests and his potential sexual conquests), but they make me feel good anyway. Let me put it this way: If I were to rank my 20 favorite songs of all time, there would probably be three Van Halen songs in there ("Panama" and "Runnin' With the Devil" would be shoo-ins, with "Everybody Wants Some!!" probably sneaking in there towards the end).
So it would be logical that I would be excited about the concept of the band hitting the studio for a new album with David Lee Roth at the helm. But really, it just fills me with dread. And it fills me with dread because even though I love Van Halen, their batting average with new music is way, way down over the past, oh, 20 years or so.
Let's make another thing clear: As soon as Roth left the band to pursue solo work, Van Halen ceased being Van Halen. They became Van Hagar, and they became infinitely less interesting. Sure, they had moments of occasional transcendence (OU812 has some reasonable moments, and "Poundcake" pretty much rules), but they mostly trafficked in stuff like "Why Can't This Be Love" and "Right Now" — huge hits, to be sure, but lacking in the fierceness of their early work.
But with Roth back on vocals, shouldn't that be cause for rejoicing? Not necessarily. Back in 1996, Van Halen released Best Of Volume I, which contained a bunch of the band's hits and a pair of new tracks with Roth on vocals (this was after they had that one disastrous album with Extreme's Gary Cherone singing lead). They made a big deal out of Roth's (short-lived) return (the "reunion" lasted only a little longer than their appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1996), but one thing that sort of got overlooked was the fact those two new songs — "Can't Get This Stuff No More" and "Me Wise Magic" — aren't any good at all. "Me Wise Magic" definitely tries to hit the heights of the earlier work, but ultimately the stuff comes up short. It's possible that Roth wasn't really ready to work at the time, or it's possible that the band was still in the mindset of writing for Cherone, or it's possible that they just forgot what made them great in the first place.
So you could approach this one of two ways. Either you think that Eddie Van Halen has been writing continuously for a decade-and-a-half and will have his pick of hundreds of compositions for a great album, or you think that Eddie lost his touch years ago and has no hope. Either way, I only want to live with Van Halen II and Fair Warning and Diver Down. Roth and Eddie are both icons, so making new music will only diminish their legacy. Because once you're written "Jump," all you can do is fall.
What do you think of an idea of a new Van Halen album? Let us know in the comments!
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