MTV: An Open Letter To Van Halen: Please Do Not Make An Album

[Terry]

Well, admittedly it's not the best situation when you have a band that hasn't made an album in 27 years, haven't recorded together at all in 14 years, and neither of the two principal songwriters involved have written a full album since 1998 (DLR Band and VDIII)

Since then, Eddie's done three Van Hagar songs which were complete shit, even by Van Hagar "standards" and two porno soundtrack instrumentals.

Dave did a full album in 2003, but there was only one original song on it. (Thug Pop). And the Bluegrass thing.

So you don't just have two guys here who haven't written together for a long time. You have two guys who really haven't done much writing, period.

Can the old chemistry come back? The chemistry that fueled 4 goddamn perfect albums, and then two more that weren't bad either, despite their flaws (one with too many covers, the other with too many keyboards)

Jesus, we ask you for this miracle in Your name, Amen.

The old chemistry probably had much to do with the youth of the band and the desire to make it. The band ain't young no more, and when you can sell out a tour of sizable arenas without a lick of new music recorded, it's all too easy to go that route.

Just trying to live up to those first 6 albums...I mean, and you're 100% right that even the last two albums of the 6-pack displayed signs that the band had already slightly peaked back in 1981...gotta be tough to live up to a legend, agreed.

Then again, if they're gonna flog that legend to make a cash grab the questions of "when are they gonna record new stuff" will persist...fuck, as long as Roth and Eddie are still vertical the questions are gonna persist. Even when Ed was at his meth-mouthed worst in 2006 and Roth had tanked commerically with his radio show stint and was doing bluegrass versions of Jump, people still would ask them when they were getting back together.

[BITEYOASS]

I made the mistake of watching about 10 minutes of Jersey Shore with my son last week....

I was so miserable, besides the dumbass show..... I told my son, "you realize how GREAT MTV used to be ?? We'd watch MTV for hours and hours, sometimes all night, just watching great videos !!"

His response, "yeah, but you're old".....

Well here's a few comeback lines you could try:

Yeah, but you have no balls.

Yep I'm old, but I've have more pussy than you've had square meals. The only pussy you've had is the one you came out of.

No I'm just wise, and your just gay.

[Unchainme]

You're not going to be able to touch any of the six pack, period.

however, it's not out of the question that they could still make a decent rock record. Just depends on the angle..

Guns N' Roses were able to pull it off, the record sounded very UYI-esque, and turned out great. It's all but an Axl-solo project, but still it didn't

Aerosmith did okay when they went for a blues-based sound on "Honkin' on bobo".

AC/DC was terrible, though I think that can be said about every other album they've made since "On the Razor's Edge".

And Nikki Sixx's solo project is the case and point of what to avoid. The bitchy "open your eyes" song was fucking pathetic, trying to hard to sound like the whine-rock nickelback/three days grace shit.

The key is just to stick to a record that would be something they would make, not to cater to the masses.

[redblkwht]

First and formost, MTV IS NOT MTV anymore..
2ndly, If the asshole doesn't want music, don't buy the fucking Cd!

Remember its 1 person's opinion & ya'll know what opinions are..lol
MTV is nonsense Television, & not musicically interested in anything they used to be
except survivor, & kardashian plastic superficial people shit on the tube..they suck IMO
next thread!

thx Va..

[DaveTheScott]

This whole discussion assumes, of course, that the album rumors are true...now that we've pushed the "I Believe" button...

I think one of the biggest questions in everyone's mind is how these fuckers are going to present themselves. On one hand, they might try to recreate the aura of CVH. Beer drinkin', limosine ridin, jet-plane flyin', fuck yer gurlfriend rock n roll. BAD IDEA. They haven't been that kind of band in 20 years. They have a 17 year-old kid in the band that would probably rather be playing Farmville on Facebook and jamming with Kings of Leon or some other whiney shit. They ditched one of their original members that, like it or not, was a staple of their sound AND their persona. Woofie can run around the stage sucking down Jack in a wife beater, and even though he's as sloppy (Hot Topic sloppy, not rock n roll sloppy) as Mike, it aint Mike and I aint buying it. Piped vocals or not.

They could "reinvent" themselves into some boutique, mod-indie-socially-conscious corporate machine (think U2 meets metallica) and throw a bunch of electronic overdubs, sound effects (hell, throw in some autotune too) and other shit on the record to make everything sound slick and cover up the shit they just can't do anymore. BAD IDEA. They're old. They're known for old shit. Didn't work for Aerosmith, and hasn't worked for anyone else. Hardcore fans don't wanna hear that shit, won't like that shit, and after the first listen we'll all be on here bitching about waiting around for so long only to be shit on. I think Dave could pull it off on his own, but not with the rest of the band.

They could release an album with a few remakes (TYWH or Romeo Delight get my vote), three or four new songs (MWM-esque is fine, but they can't hit those vocals anymore anyway) and maybe an attempt at another solo track from Ed, or better yet, give Woof a shot at a bass solo (which will be played by Ed on the album) - or howabout an acoustic number from Dave? NOT A GOOD IDEA, BUT PROBABLY THE SAFEST IDEA.

Bottom line, my fellow forum fuckers, fuckheads, fuck-offs and fucktards - if they don't knock whatever they decide to do completely out of the park, they're done. And they won't get any sympathy from me. Dave can go solo, the rest of the band can vanish for all I care and life will go on.

Cheers.

[GAR]

I hope they release Van Halen Guitar Hero 2 and piss everybody off with a MWM-2 type inclusion, then tour on the strength of that, pissing everyones expectations and ruining it for the remaining fans in 2011

No mikey- me no likey. I ain't goin.

[conmee]

Brethren and Sistren,

I just listened my way through OU812 and I rate it a "nine on a ten scale..." I'll often go to the OU812 well and play it loud enough to keep small children and stray animals out of the front yard.

That is all.

Icon©®™

[Halen High]

MWM and CGTSNM are not classics but I like them. Eddie had a fire in his playing that had been missing since 1984 and with Dave back they at least sounded like Van Halen again.

I think a new VH album will take a more mature approach with a couple of heavy rockin party tunes to really announce CVH is back, minus the bass player.

And remember - they made 6 great albums with Dave. A 100% success rate. So why think they won't give us a 7th?

[Halen High]

I believe Andrew at Melodicrock has credible sources and he has stated that VH have been recording with Dave on and off for months, working with several producers. I don't believe this means a new album is a sure thing - they almost finished an album about 10 years ago and we never heard it - but the signs are positive.

[ZahZoo]

Fuck the open letter... they got it all wrong.

Look, the legacy of the classic 6-pack is firmly cemented in histroy and our brains. It ain't goin no where!! No matter what Ed, Al & Dave can churn out today it can't take away the magic created in 78-84.

I don't expect today's VH to turn out another Panama, or Everybody Wants Some... I did see/hear some very fine magic from the 07/08 tour though that could produce some excellent results for new material. Take that 3-4 minutes of improv in the middle of the set in which Ed and Dave just farted around with Harley noises, a stiff shot of blues and some classic blues based covers. Take that stuff and throw it in the creative pot to be used as your base broth... then make some fucking soup.

That starting point to me and working within that gravel mouth blues register for Dave seems like the perfect springboard to launch some VH hits in 2010. We don't need them singing sappy love songs and creepy middle-aged sexual conquests with our daughters... Sing some happy blues like a man who knows it and lived it... then add some of Dave's humor and debatchary into the lyrics... make it fun and light... that's when VH is at it's best!!

[Mr Walker]

They are over thinking everything... they have been since they got back together.
Pick a producer, go into a studio for 3-4 weeks tops, and shit out an album.
That's pretty much what KISS did with Sonic Boom... did it stand up to their classic six-pack of albums (KISS, HTH, DTK, Destroyer, RARO & Love Gun)? No... but it's sold almost 500,000 copies in the US alone, which is pretty much considered a success by today's standards and there's already talk of them going into the studio in February to shit out another one.
Just fucking do it.
And as far as Dave's voice goes... the right producer could get Dave's upper register sounding good and strong. 'Black Ice' is no 'For Those About To Rock'... but Brendan O'Brien got Brian Johnson sounding pretty damn good again.

[Mr Walker]

I think that stupid open letter completely feeds into why Ed has been draggin' his feet on releasing new music... fear that he can't meet unrealistic expectations.
Get the fuck over it already.

[chefcraig]

I found it interesting the site chose to delete my post, as it was certainly innocuous compared to the ones that followed it (at the time, there were only 5 comments made when I initially offered it, just before Dan's). So a while later, I reposted the comment, and it has remained, along with other statements somewhat derogatory to the writer and to MTV itself. Mine reads as follows...

Next time, try some perfunctory fact checking. The album recorded with Gary Cherone (Van Halen III) came out in 1998, two years after the Best Of Volume 1 album. This makes your theory "that the band was still in the mindset of writing for Cherone" hold water as well as a cheese grater. Here's an idea: Stick to subjects that you might actually have a clue about as to what you are writing. For instance, don't you have a piece on Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber that you need to pump out?

http://newsroom.mtv.com/2010/08/11/van-halen-new-album/

[diamondsgirl]

In a perfect world, VH would finish the album and then let all of us (CVH/Roth fans) listen to it first, and let us put in our .02 cents and then tweek the thing before it goes out for public consumption.

That would be cool.

Not that I don't trust them or anything...LOL!!

[Golden AWe]

I was going to write here but BITEYOASS and ZahZoo really already said it all...CHEERS!!!