Van Halen to perform at California Mid-State Fair - July 24th

[DLR Bridge]

Bridge, the album sales argument holds some water but maybe it's a leaky bucket; but as far as radio airplay goes, ADKOT is not being played. I have probably heard songs from all their albums on the radio many times over the last year but nothing from their latest or VH3 so I disagree that it holds up to the first 6. And I have seen posts stating its better with Wolfgang and I have listened to some not so good Youtubes on here that others are wetting their pants too. You can't deny that there's a "if it's Dave it's automatically great" undercurrent here. As much as I like VH, I still see things for what they are.

When you hear fans here, or at other sites for that matter, claim that it holds up with the six pack, that is an assessment based on it's content, not its air play or record sales. At least that's how I take it. When I hear people say "the 7 pack", I know the CD has met their personal expectations.

As far as the undercurrent goes, this is a DLR site. The general preference here is quite understandably his era of the band. To me, it makes all of the sense in the world to be pulling for the guy. I don't think anyone here who never got to see them in their prime thinks their getting the same Dave from the Montreal '84 bootleg. I certainly don't. So I would say your undercurrent is more than likely, a minority. I see way more posts praising Dave for being able to do what he does while "pushing 60" in fact, I see that phrase about 10 times a week.

[Coyote]

Fear Channel owns European radio too?

My error. So far Clear Channel is only involved in advertising/market research out here.

But most radio stations out here have had playlists since the early 90's, and around that time most stations became part of some corporation or another, except our version of the BBC. (And that one station in Helsinki.)

[Terry]

When you hear fans here, or at other sites for that matter, claim that it holds up with the six pack, that is an assessment based on it's content, not its air play or record sales. At least that's how I take it. When I hear people say "the 7 pack", I know the CD has met their personal expectations.

As far as the undercurrent goes, this is a DLR site. The general preference here is quite understandably his era of the band. To me, it makes all of the sense in the world to be pulling for the guy. I don't think anyone here who never got to see them in their prime thinks their getting the same Dave from the Montreal '84 bootleg. I certainly don't. So I would say your undercurrent is more than likely, a minority. I see way more posts praising Dave for being able to do what he does while "pushing 60" in fact, I see that phrase about 10 times a week.

I could certainly understand how some would qualify a positive opinion of ADKOT - "it's a good album considering..."

Considering Dave's last couple of solo efforts and Van Halen's last album, it's either amazing that ADKOT turned out as good as it did or not so amazing (it's just the natural chemistry of Roth and EVH that rose to the effort regardless of a long period of dormancy).

Considering that Ed seemed washed-up on the creative front and wasn't able to stay sober and play consistently well throughout the 2007/2008 your.

Considering the advanced/advancing years of the band in a general sense, along with Mike Anthony not being there.

Considering the muddled production sonics, the quality of the material still came across.

Is it up there with the 6-pack? Well, yes, when (for me) not everything on those 6 albums was to my liking (am referring to parts of Diver Down and 1984). Is it Fair Warning 2? Nah, not quite, although neither were Diver Down and 1984, either.

With ADKOT, the tunes rocked and the band made a concerted effort to recapture the sound and attitude of CVH.

Considering where the various band members were at in the wilderness years of 1996 to 2006, the loss of Anthony and Ed in a less-than-stellar condition, the ADKOT result transcended all those obstacles.

I mean, I like a lot of what Roth's done, but I'm not a Dave Acolyte who thinks every thing he's EVER done is brilliant (the Diamond Dave cd wasn't something worth putting out, nor was his contribution to Van Strumming, and more than a few tracks on YFLM are a case of applauding the effort at stylistic diversity rather than the actual results).

[Fairwrning]

Local radio here is Clear Channel...its all classic rock with a few new tunes thrown in..I have Sirius and even they never play ADKOT..I dont get it.I have heard the Romeo Delight covers more than anything off ADKOT.

[chuckjitsu]

For me, the most puzzling aspect of ADKOT is the promotion, or lack there of. I remember reading an article about why they picked Interscope and it seemed like they chose them in part because they were "hipper", at least as it pertained to marketing and media in the 21st century music biz. So, that said, the lack of promotion for this album is puzzling, but I suppose it's not entirely Interscope's fault as the band clearly made some promotional decisions of their own (minimal interviews (or anything else for that matter) in any media form, no tv appearances, etc.), which begs the question of why pick a media savvy label in the first place if you aren't going to exploit that strength and let them do what they do. (I personally have no idea if Interscope is considered particularly media savvy within the industry)

I can only guess, but it just looks like the band wasn't very concerned with sales figures, which i can understand, but guys, you put out an awesome record. What's wrong with letting the world know about it?

[DLR Bridge]

Well, they did cover the side of a building with a picture of the CD cover.

[DLR Bridge]

And didn't Interscope swoop in at the eleventh hour and steal VH away from another label? It does seem a bit odd how little was actually done in the promotion department. I remember when the first Chickenpoop CD came out, there were big cardboard displays in all of the Best Buys and they were actually getting some air play around here. The lack of push certainly is tough to figure out.

Was it ever stated what the terms are of the contract? Do they even owe Interscope another CD, or was this all on VH's temperamental terms?

[FORD]

The promotion seemed to start off strong... they did press, they did the video releases, had the posters up all over the place with the modified album cover and the 2-7-12 date. The one area they seemed to neglect was the most obvious...... RADIO.

Oh sure, the trendy Top 40 stations would have been a hard sell. They don't play anything that involves actual musical instruments... just autotuned voices "singing" over somebody else's 30 year old records.

But classic rock radio? The stations that still play songs from the 6 pack DAILY??? Interscope should have slammed them HARD with promotion. Fuck... a little good old fashioned Alan Freed style payola, if that's what it takes. (Oh, come on, like they DON'T do it for Justin Bubblegummer or Nicklehack, for fucks sake??)

Especially your classic rock stations who play the "block party weekend" formats (three songs in a row from your favorite band). No reason why they couldn't throw a new tune in between RWTD and Panama (or whatever two they played. Hopefully no Van Hagar shit)

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Give them SOME credit, they did do some pretty cool things....

- Advertised ADKOT on New Year's Eve on Times Square.....

- Played "Stay Frosty" on "CSI"....

- And last but certainly not least, gave EXCLUSIVE band content to the 3 main fan websites after decades of silence....

[DLR Bridge]

True indeed. I just thought that that stuff was only the beginning of the band climbing back towards the top of the rock. Turns out, that's not a goal of theirs, else we'd have seen a whole lot more. It has been a fantastic ride so far for die hards, but not quite enough to convert the casual fans into nutbars like us.

[chuckjitsu]

And didn't Interscope swoop in at the eleventh hour and still VH away from another label? It does seem a bit odd how little was actually done in the promotion department. I remember when the first Chickenpoop CD came out, there were big cardboard displays in all of the Best Buys and they were actually getting some air play around here. The lack of push certainly is tough to figure out.

Was it ever stated what the terms are of the contract? Do they even owe Interscope another CD, or was this all on VH's temperamental terms?

Good question. I don't remember much about the circumstances of how Interscope landed them or what the deal was.

Interscope promotion dept. guy to other promotion people: So, the Van Halen album cover is up on that building. Great work everybody!! God knows the 1 phone call it took to make that happen was exhausting, so give yourself a round of applause and take the rest of the day off!!

[Va Beach VH Fan]

True indeed. I just thought that that stuff was only the beginning of the band climbing back towards the top of the rock. Turns out, that's not a goal of theirs, else we'd have seen a whole lot more. It has been a fantastic ride so far for die hards, but not quite enough to convert the casual fans into nutbars like us.

Oh I agree, they could have done MUCH, MUCH more on social media....

[PETE'S BROTHER]

The promotion seemed to start off strong... they did press, they did the video releases, had the posters up all over the place with the modified album cover and the 2-7-12 date. The one area they seemed to neglect was the most obvious...... RADIO.

Oh sure, the trendy Top 40 stations would have been a hard sell. They don't play anything that involves actual musical instruments... just autotuned voices "singing" over somebody else's 30 year old records.

But classic rock radio? The stations that still play songs from the 6 pack DAILY??? Interscope should have slammed them HARD with promotion. Fuck... a little good old fashioned Alan Freed style payola, if that's what it takes. (Oh, come on, like they DON'T do it for Justin Bubblegummer or Nicklehack, for fucks sake??)

Especially your classic rock stations who play the "block party weekend" formats (three songs in a row from your favorite band). No reason why they couldn't throw a new tune in between RWTD and Panama (or whatever two they played. Hopefully no Van Hagar shit)

very grateful for neanderpaul down here, local dj that loves cvh. he was playin' the cd , most of the songs, for two weeks, then...not even tattoo no mo

[PETE'S BROTHER]

True indeed. I just thought that that stuff was only the beginning of the band climbing back towards the top of the rock. Turns out, that's not a goal of theirs, else we'd have seen a whole lot more. It has been a fantastic ride so far for die hards, but not quite enough to convert the casual fans into nutbars like us.

nutbars

[Halen High]

Bridge, the album sales argument holds some water but maybe it's a leaky bucket; but as far as radio airplay goes, ADKOT is not being played. I have probably heard songs from all their albums on the radio many times over the last year but nothing from their latest or VH3 so I disagree that it holds up to the first 6. And I have seen posts stating its better with Wolfgang and I have listened to some not so good Youtubes on here that others are wetting their pants too. You can't deny that there's a "if it's Dave it's automatically great" undercurrent here. As much as I like VH, I still see things for what they are.

First, I find the Roth Army to be the most objective of all the Van Halen fan sites, a place where fair and honest criticism of Dave and Van Halen is welcomed. So I can’t see how you have come to the conclusion that people here don’t judge them harshly. Second, I’ve been a Van Halen fan since 1981, but when Classic Van Halen broke up I was 19 years old and living in Australia. So I never saw VH with Dave live until earlier this year. That doesn’t mean I can’t be objective about Dave’s performances, as well as Van Halen’s both live and in the studio since 2007. Now I’m a purist. Van Halen will always be Eddie, Alex, Dave and Mike and that band hasn’t existed since 1985. I like to call what we have now, ‘Classic Van Halen 2’, as this line-up is true to the spirit of CVH and that includes Wolfie. He is not Mike but he has won me over due to his motivation to bring a sense of the ‘real Van Halen’ back and his talent. As for their live performances…obviously we have to put them in the context of the ages of the original members. Yes, Dave can’t sing like he did in 1981. But Alex is not the monster he was in 1981 either, while Eddie occasionally misses a note here and there. They are many years beyond their heyday. They are getting old. But in my opinion, their live performances are as good as can be expected from a band at their stage in life. I saw them in Sydney and I would have no hesitation in paying $179 again to see them. They are doing a great service to the band’s legacy after years of mediocrity with Hagar, which killed their cred with many hard rock fans.

As for ADKOT…I honestly think it’s a masterpiece. It comfortably lives with the Six-Pack and tracks like Big River, As Is, HBSD, Blood and Fire, Stay Frosty and Outta Space represent some of their best work ever - period. It is easily the strongest hardrock album I’ve heard in 20 years and obviously their best since 1984. I would place it ahead of Diver Down and VH2. As for sales…clearly you have to put them in the context of 2012/13. Not only is it the era of illegal downloading, but Van Halen’s demographic tend not to buy new music – CDs or download. As well as that, hard rock is also well past its day as a ‘popular’ genre among younger people, as we’ve seen with other recent releases from more current bands. Actually, from what I’ve seen of sales, ADKOT was one of THE most successful hard rock releases of 2012/13. It was also critically acclaimed by most so it will continue to sell over time due to its reputation. So what has ADKOT sold in the US? I believe about 420,000. What are 420,000 units in 2012/13 worth in 1985 or 1988? I’m sure there is an industry formula somewhere to work that out. I don’t know what it is.

Radio airplay? Are you kidding? Nothing new gets played in Australia. For classic bands, radio sticks to the 70s and 80s top 40 hits, no matter how strong a new release is. That has nothing to do with the merits of ADKOT. It’s the era we are currently living in.