The little things...

[sadaist]

Just think how many guitar teachers got fed up with students asking to learn how to play 'Eruption.' I know mine thought tapping was just a passing fad and I should stick to Clapton and David Gilmore.

Oh, I just learned how to tune my new guitar and Eruption was way out of anything I could dream of. Plus anyways, I actually like the intro to Aint Talkin Bout Love almost more than life itself. Fucking most incredible riff ever written....EVER! And ya know what? I CAN PLAY IT!!!!



*That's about all I can play....but God damn if I can't play that intro riff every time I pick up a guitar.

[Momshell]

Just another quick memory that came to me. Now that this thread is here, it's great how the old memories keep trickling in. I remember being amazed by Cathedral. Some guy told me the 'big secret' that it was actually recorded backwards, because no one could really make a guitar sound like that. It took years for me to learn the real truth.....that you can Abso-fuckin-lutely make a guitar sound like that.....if your name is Edward Van Halen!

[Zing!]

May of 1985. Van Halen had just announced that Dave was leaving the band. I was majorly bummed - but there was an air of disbelief behind it all. It just seemed temporary - you knew they would work things out and Dave would make his movie or whatever and he'd be back. I mean... they were VAN HALEN for god's sake - they couldn't break up. So even though they had announced it, me and my VH buddies didn't really believe it. Anyway, I was working my butt off doing chores trying to earn money to build my Van Halen cassette collection. It was kind of a hodge-podge mix - each cassette looked different because I bought them from buddies at school who would rip off Columbia House doing the mail order thing. I bought the first Van Halen album (which had the last two tracks mixed around, so my tape always ended with Ice Cream Man - which is how I always think it should go still to this day). Then traded a pack of blank Memorex tapes for 1984. For my birthday in May of '85 - my best bud bought me Van Halen II. Still one of the best summer nights of my life. We rode our bikes up to the high school prom that night so that we might hear a Van Halen tune being blasted by the dj. Listened to that tape until it wouldn't play anymore.

More chores and I picked up every album except Fair Warning. The same buddy that turned me on to VH in the first place said: "Don't bother with Fair Warning. It's their worst album." Man - love the guy for turning me on to the world's greatest band... but WTF? Of course I had to have it - so I finally talked mom into driving me 20 miles to the nearest Musicland at the mall. Plopped down my $10 - the first real NEW cassette I ever bought - and my life changed forever. I immediately tracked down my friend and said: "Remember how you said that if I loved 'Jump' I should listen to 'Eruption?' Well... listen to THIS!

So began an endless process of buying and re-buying the original six pack. Had to buy all the tapes from Musicland so that all the black bars on the side of the tapes (with the white VAN HALEN and the name of the album underneath) looked the same in my tape rack. Had to buy all the albums for the cover-art and sleeves. Had to buy them all over again when cd's came out, etc., etc. From the time I first heard of Van Halen back in the summer of '83 through the glorious year of 1984, and that sort of unreal time in '85 when you hoped like hell that Dave and Eddie would work out their differences - those were some of the best years of my life. Listened to Van Halen and ONLY Van Halen for about four years straight. They were MY band - and we all had bands. One guy in our group of friends was the KISS freak. One was Motley. One was Ozzy. I was Van Halen - and still am to this day!

[Zing!]

Damn - double post again! Well, might as well fill it up with another VH trip down memory lane. Staying up all night to catch 'Jump' on Friday Night Videos (or a short-lived video show called 'Rock 'N America... anyone remember that one?) You had to watch MTV religiously back then because no one had VCRs, and it was sort of a badge of honor to have seen certain videos. "You haven't seen 'Hot For Teacher' yet? Dude..." Remember the Lost Weekend with Van Halen and thinking what a lucky SOB that guy was to party with Dave and Eddie! I came from a strict Catholic family, so Dave and the boys were definitely frowned upon by mom and dad. We didn't get cable until I was like 16 - so for about 5 years it was a round robin of friends houses to get my MTV fix and catch Van Halen. I eventually saw all three Oakland vids, pulled an all nighter when they had a three-pack of all the 1984 videos back to back to back. Pretty Woman was the holy grail - and didn't see that until years later when I bought a bootleg VHS tape of Van Halen vids. Hard to believe how important MTV was back then compared to the soul-sucking, mindless garbage it is now.

[ELVIS]

You should post that mess a third time...

[wiseguy]

You should post that mess a third time...

Ha ha ha...you're such an asshole but I fucking love it.

[ELVIS]

Someone has to be entertaining around here...

[Zing!]

Ha ha ha...you're such an asshole but I fucking love it.

Who are you talking about?

[wiseguy]

who are you talking about?

e.a.p

[Zing!]

e.a.p

Like I said...

[ELVIS]

Who are you talking about?

You should change your username to hairyredrocker...

[So this is love]

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....

[ELVIS]

Have you sought counseling ??

[Sensible Shoes]

e.a.p

There are too many acronyms here. I can't keep up.

[ELVIS]

Eat All Pussy