The little things...

[Dave's PA Rental]

Another story from me...a little thing...

Summer of 83 or 84. My older brother and me used to get up in the morning and walk to a friends place to make model cars. We would walk through a field, some woods, a gravel pit and go to the upstairs part of this kids huge barn. The kid had a boom box and my brother would bring a cassette of VH II and we would listen to both sides and build cars all morning. I remember the feel and the smell of the plywood floors. I remember how the upstairs of the barn would get really hot in the early afternoon, and that's when we knew it was time to go.

I can't listen to VH II without being taken back in time to that barn, with my brother and that kid on those endless summer days.

[INeedYou]

My VH indoctrination was kinda bass-ackwards... No older siblings or rockin' buds to show me the way, had to find it myself! Dance The Night Away caught my ear on the radio, I was 13 or 14 years old at the time. Got myself VHII. Was totally primed when WACF was released, and it, too, was ingrained as insinct. Then, I made my way back and discovered Van Halen! By early '81, I was ready in April when Fair Warning was released, in that loose cellophane, the only vinyl I remember ever coming like that. Anybody else remember that loose packaging? So, VH announces a show in Dayton, Hara Arena, Saturday, May 23rd. Nowhere else but Hara! The on-sale Saturday, I'm at baseball practice, and Mom does her enabling by goin' to the Salem Mall and pickin' up the tix for me and 3 buds at the Sears. Pre-printed in those days, I took #0089. Still have it to this day, as well as all of my stubs! This is history that nobody can be blessed to repeat! First show ever, it completely blew me away, and I've been a dedicated fan ever since.
This new onslaught brings back those memories of having to listen to the stuff over and over and over, as my simple mind cannot just grasp the genius that is VH in a few listens... It begs of a slow boil, constant attention until you sense that, BAM!, I finally may be worthy of really hearing what they have given us...
And then you see them live, and they take it to another level entirely! A gift that keeps on giving...

[Carmine]

Loving the hell out of this thread. I could bore you to death with endless VH stories. Soundtrack of my life, that's for sure. Went to to my 20 year class reunion a couple years ago and the question I got asked the most by everybody was: "You still love Van Halen?"

Same here!! Except, thanks to the ole Facebook page...I got "I see you're still obsessed with Van Halen"

and the fact that I was wearing a Van Halen t-shirt the first night of our reunion weekend...

Great thread, PA...

[Dave's PA Rental]

I'm waiting for some of Carmine's "little things" stories...

[Dave's PA Rental]

Also, I love the direction that this thread has taken...and I am hoping that more and more people will chime in with the little things that come back to them as they listen to this new Van Halen CD over and over and over...

[Green Manalishi]

Wow - this supercool thread really takes me back to the good ol' daze . Let's see here - Spring of 1978 , I'm all of 15 years young and a freshmeat in high school . This was the year that I really sank my teeth and claws into serious hard rock . See where this is goin' ? I knew a good number of the already established classic hard rock bands . It was a musical education in the process . Thanx to the local rock station - the now legendary K-SHE 95 , my rock music tastes were all over the map , no regrets , but it was definitely leaning toward more guitar oriented hard rock - still does . The band name " Van Halen " kept popping up on the radio , in the rock magazines , and in conversation between us young stoners . Led Zeppelin had grinded to a stop , Lynyrd Skynyrd had just crashed into flames , KISS had become silly and irrelevant , and Black Sabbath were on their last legs . Speaking of Black Sabbath , everyone was talking about this new " Van Halen " band that just kicked Black Sabbaths ass sideways as an opening band at the old Checkerdome . Sure as shit , this new Van Halen band were for real and here to stay .
Fast forward to the Spring / Summer of 1979 . I'm 16 years young , driving , working odd jobs , and partying my brains loose like most 16 year olds in the late '70's . Van Halen are the new top dog in our ever growing musical worlds . I can remember that hot summer day standing in the music section of the local K-Mart trying to decide between the newly released Van Halen II or the ass kicking debut album . Man , what a dilemna , huh ? Oh , to be that young again . Anyways , the debut album won out and I've been a die-hard fan of classic Van Halen ever since . Saw them for the first time in '81 on the Fair Warning tour - 10th. row muthafuckas ! I swear , the huge lit up =VH= light rig is still emblamized on my face - still emblamized in my mind for sure . Cool stuff - good times !

[Carmine]

I'm waiting for some of Carmine's "little things" stories...

Alright, brother...here ya go...

1980...My buddy Marty and I had just turned 9...our birthdays are 1 day apart...for his birthday, he got Van Halen, Van Halen II and WACF...

I got a HUGE Boombox...

I had never heard Van Halen before. Marty has 2 older brothers..who were both in their late teens then, so he had...

We spent the next 3 hours in my room at my parents house listening to all the tapes. I was blown away. Up to that point, I was probably still rockin out to the Grease soundtrack or some shit...lmao

I had never heard anything so cool in my life. From that day forward, I was a Van Halen fan. I mowed, raked and shoveled my way to the purchase of those 3 albums through allowances and every old lady on my block. I had to have them. I never looked back....they were MY band. The bedroom was soon plastered with posters and cut outs from all the rock mags...every square inch...Van Halen. The school folders had the logo, the books had the logo, the locker had the logo...I bought pins, iron-ons, patches at the Downtown Hippie store every time I had a buck. I wore VH, ate VH and slept VH...I even got an ass kickin from my Dad once for spray painting "WDFA" and the VH logo on the wall in the garage. Pop was none to happy when I told him what it stood for: Van Halen : We dont fuck around! Not cool, I guess when you're 10 years old!

I didnt listen to anything else, I didnt talk about anything else. I thought David Lee Roth was the coolest man on earth. I grew the hair out, I dressed like him ( well, as best I could without ever owning a pair of spandex) , nothing else mattered but Van Halen.

I'll never forget that afternoon in 1980...

I went back there 2 days ago upon hearing A Different Kind of Truth...

In fact, I'm still there...I never really left...I'm still that 9 year old kid when it comes to Van Halen...

I always will be...

[Yount]

It's not much, but at high school in the 90's there was a VH symbol in the showers of the gym hall. Must have converted a few kids over the years.

[vanshipman]

I remember first hearing the VH I album, or I should say 8 track sitting in a friend of mines car. I was a Junior in high school and had been playing the guitar for about a year. My influences were Eric Clapton, mainly his Cream stuff. I was just getting to where I could play bits and pieces of some of his solos, and was pretty proud of myself. Then I hear "Eruption"...that just about made me take up a different instrument. But in the end it just inspired and horrified me all at the same time. This was long before there were tabs available to help you decipher all the latest solos, and no VCR's were around yet, so I couldnt get a Star Licks tape to show me the way. I just listened to it all of the time until it was printed in my brain. Every lick and neat noise Eddie made, along with Roth's incredible yelps and screams. I was hooked. After that my life was basically waiting on the next VH album to come out. Each one was a revelation, and the beautiful part was I had to imagine everything. No MTV to show you how they were doing everything, or what they were wearing, or even what they sounded like when they spoke. These guys were larger than life. By the time the Diver Down album came out, I finally got to see them live and in the flesh. All of the licks that I fantasized about playing were being executed right in front of me, and Eddie made it look as easy as popping the top of a cold one. Roth was larger than life with his swagger and kung fu dancing. Attitude for days, but doing it with a wink and a smile. These guys were the real deal, making music that was so huge that it moved you in so many directions you could barely keep up even in your imagination.

Now MTV comes along and I finally get to see glimpses of my heroes on video. The Fair Warning live clips gave me something to look forward to. I became fanatical about watching MTV because you never knew when some VH would appear. No VCR yet, so if you did see it, you had to live on that fix until the next time they decided to show it. The Pretty Woman video...and then I read about the next VH album that was soon to come out. Those days take me back to the feeling of excitement and hope of hearing what Eddie was going to unleash next. When 1984 came out, I drove to the record store when I got off of work at 8 am that morning. I parked my car in the parking lot and waited until the store opened up hours later. I run inside only to find that the album would be there as soon as the UPS guy arrived. I wait there until 1 oclock, (I was on almost no sleep and had worked the graveyard shift all night) It finally gets there, I purchase the LP and the cassette. I get in my car and head home, refusing to listen on my crappy car stereo. I make it home 45 minutes later and run in the house and put it on my record player. I am so blown away that I get no sleep until that evening, and only a couple of hours. I then go to work that night so hyped up that Im not even tired. Im telling everyone I work with about the greatness of the new VH album, and just dont understand why they do not share my over the top enthusiasm. They break up and my life is just crushed...no more Dave. Well now 28 years later, I feel like that 23 year old guy again. Life is good folks.

[wiseguy]

16 years old, sent to student exchange with a family in Quebec for 2 fucking weeks. They didn't speak a lick of english. Thank god Dave did. Van Halen II and my shitty CASIO walkman and numerous batteries got me through that hell.

[Whorehey]

LaBagh Woods in NW side of Chicago. Railroad tracks over the North Branch of the Chicago River. Used to sit on that bridge with friends and smoke my dad's cigarettes and drink his beer.
The area around this bridge was a shithole of broken glass, cans,garbage, the occasional burned-out car. Some crazy bastard hung over the side of the concrete embankment and painted the VH II cover
on it. Would stare at it for hours while VH was blasting out of a boom-box.

[conmee]

Brethren and Sistren,

I grew up listening to The Beatles (Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds is the first song I remember hearing), Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Steely Dan, Pink Floyd, all stuff my Vietnam vet father and flower child mother would listen to. I was 13 years old living on 125 Parrish Lane in Las Vegas in 1981 when I first heard Jamie's Cryin' and The Cradle Will Rock back-to-back (Two For Tuesday). I was going over to a friend's house to work on our dirt bikes when we passed some guy's house with the garage open working on his car. He had Van Halen playing and it immediately caught my attention and imagination. At the time, my mother and father were divorced and I was dealing with the whole step-father thing, and truth be told ol' step-dad at the time was pretty damn cool. He bought my affection (new bikes, TI-99/4a computer, boom box, jet ski, etc) but what I really liked was that he had an incredible Playboy and vinyl collection. I remember he would turn me on to different music from Kurtis Blow and Herbie Hancock to Boston and of course Van Halen. He had Van Halen II in his collection and when he and mom broke up I asked if I could have the album, and I can still remember him saying, "Sure, kid, Dance The Night Away is the only good song on there anyway." Oh boy…

So anyway, back to the little things…

I'm listening to VH more than any other band but I hadn't consciously thought to myself "This is my favorite band." Anyhow, I'm in 8th grade at this time, and I'm going on a weekend trip with the school to Disneyland. And the only reason I'm going is because things between me and Gail Davis, the principal's niece, are heating up. So all us 7th and 8th graders get loaded onto buses to head from Las Vegas to LA (the first "long distance" trip sans parental units). I can still remember listening to my Walkman and of course I have a mix tape of various tunes including some VH. The fun ensues after we check in to the hotel. Me and four friends end up in Gail's room and us boys match up with Gail and her friends. We're doing whatever kids that age do, when the principal busts in to tell us to quiet down and get back to our proper rooms. And Gail, with a sweetness that still resonates in my psyche, "Just a few more minutes please!" And the principal totally melts at the sound of his niece's voice and says we have 30 more minutes but then need to get to sleep. Before those 30 minutes are up, I experience my first kiss with Gail, a hesitant, lingering peck on the lips! My head is spinning! Bear with me, brethren and sistren, I'm about to make a point…. the little things….

I'm euphoric the next two days of the trip, as Gail and I are on every ride together… Pirates of The Caribbean and Space Mountain… Sweet Christ it has to still be the best weekend of my life! How could it get any better? Well…. We're back on the bus, Gail and I, sitting side-by-side, her head resting on my shoulder, and I'm thinking, I have died and gone to heaven. I have those Walkman headphones on, you know the ones that are basically a piece of metal with two foamy things on each earphone… you dig? Anyhow, I'm listening to the local FM station, probably KLOS, when the DJ comes on and says, and here's new music from Van Halen's latest Diver Down… and he spins up Intruder/(Oh)Pretty Woman… and I swear as the sun shines that Gail reaches over and works her fingers between mine and gives my hand a squeeze! Are you serious?!?!?! There is a god for this 13 year old! And at that moment, I thought I'm going to marry this girl and Van Halen is my favorite fucking band EVER!!!!! And though we didn't get married, Van Halen is still my favorite fucking band EVER!!!!!

Sometimes you're the dog, sometimes the hydrant. In 1982 I was definitely the dog… and 30 years later… the dog again!

GOD BLESS VAN FUCKING HALEN BABY!!!!!!!

That is all.

Icon™©®

[Uncle Crappy]

Remember how new cassettes smelled? That chemically, plastic smell? That's what I remember most. 14 years old, riding back home with my mom driving after having bought the cassette at Sears, I think. And as we were driving back, I was trying to take that damn cellophane wrapper off the cassette, you know the cellophane that I think was not only shrunk wrapped but superglued together so you couldn't get it off until after working a fingernail under a seam for 15 minutes? Anyway, as I was working the cellophane, the DJ on the radio said, "As you know, Van Halen tickets went on sale this morning, but good luck getting them because they sold out in 5 minutes!" That just built the anticipation for me. I finally got the cellophane off the case, and couldn't do anything with the cassette because we didn't have a player in the car. So I just read the track listing over and over while the smell of the plastic rolled up to my nostrils. When we got home I rushed into the bedroom, jammed the cassette into the boom box and heard my first taste of 1984. I was blown away.

I kinda feel the same way today. I couldn't get the cellophane off the jewel case off of Truth fast enough. And that same amazement hit me again. Stunning.

[sadaist]

Damn shrink wrapped cassettes. LOL. Hated that shit but loved it all at once. Fresh tuneage!

[Carmine]

...open the lid to the big ass furniture
stereo(all Italians had one of them bad boys)

LMFAO...

Yep...