The little things...

[Momshell]

A new 'little thing' that I am loving now.....waking up every morning with a different NEW Van Halen song in my head. I must be going through the album in my sleep!

[ashstralia]

May I ask you all what was it that first triggered your enthusiasm for this band?

my intro to =VH= is a little unusual... in my early teens i got into CB radio as a hobby. this dude kept playing this otherworldly sounding shrieking guitar over the CB.

i finally asked him one day 'what the hell is that?'
yup. eruption. this would've been 82 or 83.. so bought 1984 when it came out, then the previous 5.

[Dave's Bitch]

May I ask you all what was it that first triggered your enthusiasm for this band?

You guys here did it for me .I was into Sammy first,got swallowed into all the us and them stuff and never really gave Van Halen a chance.Played Aint Talkin Bout Love and the rest as they say is history

[ToraToraTora]

The little things...... Y/day i was listening to the album full volume and the wife gets a phonecall, so i quickly throw on the headphones and carry on listening. After about 15 minutes, she's still jabbering away on the phone, and i'm headbanging with my headphones on trying to be quiet and not sing whilst she's on the phone, honybabysweetiedoll is playing,then the slight pause comes, on the cd, and as fate would have it on the phonecall too, cue russell the dog, woof says russell, WOOF shouts Tora as you do when your wearing headphones, the person on the other end of the phones says.....did you guys get a dog???

[rockhead]

mine was a bit different.It was the song "jump" for me.I remember owning a hits album in the later half of 84 called "Throbbin 84" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throbbin%27_%2784) and i was 9.I loved the song and i loved the california surf look of dave, plus i thought the album cover was baddass.....plus they looked like a rocknroll version of slapshot!.It wasnt until i was into my early teens that i delved into the cvh catalogue.....never cared for van hager and just loved the cvh look and attitude, plus 1984 would be my favourite.Ive gone through 4 of those CD's in my lifetime.To me theres nothing like driving to the beach on a weekend in the summer with the windows down and 1984 blasting out of the speakers.

[Carmine]

You guys here did it for me .I was into Sammy first,got swallowed into all the us and them stuff and never really gave Van Halen a chance.Played Aint Talkin Bout Love and the rest as they say is history

I remember your original name here...and the name change that followed...

[Dave's Bitch]

I remember your original name here...and the name change that followed...

Sweet jaysus the drama I caused.The majority of that is probably lost for ever with the rest of the old posts (thankfully)

[fryingdutchman]

Sweet jaysus the drama I caused.The majority of that is probably lost for ever with the rest of the old posts (thankfully)

Yeah...I remember the name change too.

I also remember that you and I slugged it out a few times because you came in here with that "old name" (which I shall not say....)

In fact, that name is now like Voldemort.....it should not be spoken.

[Dave's Bitch]

Yeah...I remember the name change too.

I also remember that you and I slugged it out a few times because you came in here with that "old name" (which I shall not say....)

In fact, that name is now like Voldemort.....it should not be spoken.

Talk about me fighting an uphill battle eh.Young and stupid is all i can say.But hay the past is just that and you are cool in my book.I honestly cannot remember who gave me the name change but once again a big thank you to them and i love you dearly .

[Carmine]

Sweet jaysus the drama I caused.The majority of that is probably lost for ever with the rest of the old posts (thankfully)

You accepted Roth into your soul...and there was the peace...lol...

[Hardrock69]

The little things .... In the mid nineties van Hagar played with Bon jovi at our local stadium ... All the local rock fans were buzzed... Me and a group of friends had an all day party drinking session... We refused to go and called ourselves the real van halen appreciation society ( this was pre the phrase cvh)We had tee shirts the lot .... We got pissed and insulted the van Hagar Ben Jarvis fans in the pub before and after the gig ..... It was like being in a gang ... Bit like this place ... Like pa says its the little things

[Hardrock69]

Early September 1978. In the Army, just a few weeks away from discharge (which actually occurred the day before I saw VH).

Found out Black Sabbath was coming to Seattle on the 29th AND 30th. Some of my buddies in my unit were going up there for the show on the 29th.

Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love was on KISW around then, and I heard this new band Van Halen was opening for Black Sabbath. That was all I knew at the time.

Driving up on I-5, Van Halen was at KISW doing an interview that had us all laughing so hard we almost wrecked the car.

General admission tickets...8 bucks...I still have the receipt...and the lady I bought the ticket from at the ticket outlet at Ft. Lewis, WA signed her name on the receipt....Mrs. Osborne, lol.

Being a GA ticket, I was right up close.

Holy mother of god......one thing amazes me to this day...Van Halen had several racks of par cans behind them on the stage....never before or since have I ever seen a headliner allow an opening act to have that sort of thing....here...the photo...you can see for yourself....

VH-9-29-78.jpg

Needless to say, I was blown away. It was thrilling to see Black Sabbath as well, but I had been hearing their music for years....and of course, Doom Metal was this slow, plodding, lumbering dinosaur thing.......and Van Halen was a radioactive explosion as their opening act.

So the next morning when I woke up.....I grabbed a guitar and started messing with this "tapping" thing I had seen that guitarist do.....my roommate, who was also the leader of my band, had not gone with me, and so I showed him what I had seen Ed do.

The following summer, I was back in Kansas, and Van Halen came to Wichita to play a 6,000-seat convention hall downtown.

They had played a 2,000 seat club on an off night while they were out with Sabbath in 1978, and of course, with the release of the first 2 albums, everyone knew about them.....the show was sold out within a day or two of tickets going onsale.....people were fighting with the little old ladies who were sitting on their folding chairs guarding the side doors....someone would run up and shove the door open, and before the lady could drag the door shut, there would be a dozen people through it. Everyone was THAT desperate to see Van Halen.

Saw them again on WACF, then again on Diver Down. Was on the road when they came to town for 1984.

I just got lucky and found out about them on their very first tour. 33 1/2 years ago now.

1986.....Dave had left...was touring solo.....5150 came to town, I bought a ticket.....yeah it was 'Van Halen', but it just was not the same.....the songs just were not REAL......then August 30, Dave came to town.

Fuck.

I realized then Van Halen was fucked without Dave.

Couple of years later OU812 tour came to town. My roommate could not believe I was going to miss the show. He was going to the venue that evening, and asking me...."Are you SURE you don't want to go?" And I replied like I have replied to everyone since then......van hagar is a lame fucking pop band and I want nothing to do with them.

Saw them again slightly on Monsters of Rock tour. Walked out during Ed's solo. Saw Dave solo in 1999 at a 1200-seat club in Wichita. 2002 on Sam and Dave.

Now.....in 2 months....I get to see the REAL Van Halen once again.

Lotsa you peeps have read all of the above too many times....but hey......

And the morning after seeing them on the II tour, WACF, and DD....I was hoarse.....at the end of one of the early 80s tours...the giant VH logo with Rane lights descended out of the lighting rig (WACF? Can't recall...either that one or Diver Down......I was soo fucking blown away.......I walked out of the building screaming my fucking head off

MOTHERFUCKING VAN HALEN!

And I was not the only one......12,000 other people were doing the same thing......have never seen any other band cause 12,000 people to go absolutely apeshit berserk like that....

Ok...next! Been up all night...time for me to get some shuteye, lol.

[Zing!]

A new 'little thing' that I am loving now.....waking up every morning with a different NEW Van Halen song in my head. I must be going through the album in my sleep!

YES! Just how I woke up this morning. 'Big River' running through my head. Love it! Humming bits and pieces of other songs throughout the day, but my brain is locked in on Van Halen even while unconscious.

[jhale667]

...my brain is locked in on Van Halen even while unconscious.

As well it should be...!

[Angel]

VH trip down memory lane....lost my virginity after a VH show in '84, need not to say anymore haha!!! I bet you can't top that....

Yes I can. I gave two roadies blowjobs in an attempt to get backstage in '80. Unfortunately, at the time I didn't know about local "day" crew... TOP THAT ONE!!!!