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

[Anonymous]

after forcing myself to listen to it again and again

When you could've been listening to good music.

At your age, Chef. It's not like you still have your whole life in front of you. And you wasted precious hours listening to that crap.

By the way, I LOVE CGTSNM. I really do, ever since my first listen to it. Not quite sure about MWM, but I don't skip it when it comes up.

Cheers! :bottle:

[ThrillsNSpills]

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This video is like trying to eat a Hostess "Snowball" and then coughing it up and finally vomiting violently.

[chefcraig]

When you could've been listening to good music.

At your age, Chef. It's not like you still have your whole life in front of you. And you wasted precious hours listening to that crap.

No kidding, but it was 1998, and gray hairs were something I had not yet found in my hairbrush. However, don't think for a moment the lesson was lost on me, or is something that I'd be willing to repeat today. Some experiences, along with some people, simply are not worth wasting time over.

[Anonymous]

Yes, well, the important thing is that you feel bad about it.

As you should. I would.

Cheers! :bottle:

[chefcraig]

Live and learn, bro. Live and learn.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Ya know Va, the more I think about it, the more I believe this "crackers to a starving man" theory of yours could be applied to those people that inexplicably think VH III is a great, let alone valid Van Halen album. For years I've shaken my head at folks expressing the belief at other VH sites, and I still am astounded by it. Look, I desperately wanted to like the damned thing, but after forcing myself to listen to it again and again in hopes that it would reveal some charms not entirely evident on some casual listening, I came to my senses and gave up: It just ain't happening.

Yet there are those that seem to have convinced themselves (after apparently doing the same tedious listening that I did) that there somehow has to be something there. I won't go so far as to state that the thinking is completely delusional, but there is a certain amount of seeing a forest instead of a tree. These people simply can not bring themselves to admit that the album does stink, and their investment of time listening to it (along with all of the pie in the sky hopes it would be amazing) has left them without the option of admitting the truth.

As for the two Roth tracks on the BOV1 album, I'll admit to hoping for great things because of "MWM", as it signaled a possible (albeit strained) new direction for the band. (Perhaps that hope is what fueled my own - along with other folk's - expectations of the Cherone album.) By the same token, one listen to "CGTSNM" was enough proof for anyone truly paying attention to not set their expectations quite so high.

Anybody who sincerely liked VH III, as Dave said in the US Festival, is on heavy narcotics.....

I mean, "How Many Say I", is a real tear-jerker... Not because it's so good, but because it's so bad....

[Terry]

The crackers analogy certainly applies to why I bought a ticket to see the 2008 VH show.

Nope, Mike Anthony wasn't there.

Nope, there wasn't any new music to promote.

Nope, Eddie wasn't playing at 100%.

It was the desire to see Ed and Roth together again that dwarfed all those hesitations listed above, and if I rated the show along the lines of the lowest common denominator, I suppose considering all the physical and personal impediments, the show was possibly better than I thought the band were capable of by that point.

This doesn't, in turn, mean it was a particularly astounding reunion.

The same could be said about the two 1996 tracks to a degree re: the astounding factor, although I like both of them.

[ThatArtGuy]

"How Many Say I" is just slightly less bearable than Dave's infamous Leno performance. I remember Leno showing it to Ed, and Ed almost cried. I'm sure Dave had the same emotional reaction to that horrible moment as well.

[GAR]

"How Many Say I" is just slightly less bearable than Dave's infamous Leno performance. I remember Leno showing it to Ed, and Ed almost cried. I'm sure Dave had the same emotional reaction to that horrible moment as well.

Wha - you mean this? You didn't get it?

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... cmon man "Point of No Return" by Kansas.

That's called sending a shot across the bow: you know Ed saw that or was told of it immediately, amazing nobody else here got that.

Maybe Ed's been hiding his recurring chemo sessions then tunes in to see DLR giving out hints. That's gonna make anyone like that cry.

[ThatArtGuy]

Not the country thing that he did as a favor for his sister that was producing the record. I'm talking about the California Girls segment he did based of his Vegas show.

[neuralfraud]

The crackers analogy certainly applies to why I bought a ticket to see the 2008 VH show.

Nope, Mike Anthony wasn't there.

Nope, there wasn't any new music to promote.

Nope, Eddie wasn't playing at 100%.

Not a big deal. Consider my case. I had only seen VH once - with Spam. I was a teenager and I thought that was it man.

That show was definitely a Oakland 1981 caliber performance! It was better right? Shit? Well, damn' that's a pretty good show then! ... Can we have some more?



Did you see the 2/18 or the 2/20 show? I watched for the entire duration of the 2k7 tour all kinds of clips on youtube, and I had a lot of "hope" for that show, but it definitely seemed ed wasn't firing on all 8 cylinders.. The overall show though was pretty good though. NEVER bored or underwhelmed, although he did kind of go into lala land during his solo for a while, but came back

After hearing about the Fort Lauderdale incident, it was much more clear. Everyone was quick to jump on the alcohol bandwagon, all I know is that on that night, Ed's knuckles were swollen up like golf balls. It looked painful. If everyone wants to play the drunk card, that's cool, probably not the right thread to go into speculation here, but anyway, thats all.

I think they can and definitely should make another album. Now, playing 100+ shows with arthritis is a whole other ball of shit. Here's hoping that surgery has helped.

[joe d'amato]

Shit, I was in Italy reading it in the frickin' Stars and Stripes and I was going nuts....

... in italy? very impressive. wish i was in some exotic location when i heard the news. i was in my car flying down the freeway on my way to work ...

... thanks to gar for the leno clip. quite amusing. so that's what that song sounds like. hell yeah! i still think dave's foray into swing should have been more succesful. songs like just a gigolo, i ain't got nobody, that's life, land's edge, sensible shoes and night life prove beyond any doubt dave has what it takes for that style of music ...

... there's an oldies station on the am dial that i listen to all the time. it's an interesting mix of classy oldies, '70s gold, swing, etc. lots of elvis and sinatra. every few songs or so they throw in a modern track. just a gigolo or sensible shoes would fit the format perfectly ...

[Etienne]

Let it sound english, like 2 japanese reminders or sum up the story further on