1984 Fan Documentary - 5 Part Miniseries

[Nickdfresh]

FFS Nick I did not need to see that...

Just wanted to show how bad he sucked and how fucking douchebags like Eddie Trunk have no fucking taste nor clues about live music....

Eddie's drill-guitar has better tone than Hagar...

[Vinnie Velvet]

I saw that Alan posted on his youtube page the "goodbye letter" from Noel Monk I believe dated March 5th, 1985 with a month later date of his official departure.

Which of course by that point Dave was still in the band.

Nothing ever made sense in VH land, but wouldn't the band want to be searching for new management by then?
Why the stress on making a new record so soon?

Dave of course was busy receiving and looking over movie deals and scripts for CFTH.

The band didn't even have a producer as Ed didn't want to work with Ted anymore. Like seriously, how more fucked up can you get.

My question is.....before Leffler and Hagar coming in, did the band scope out anyone else who would replace Monk as manager?

[Rikk]

I saw that Alan posted on his youtube page the "goodbye letter" from Noel Monk I believe dated March 5th, 1985 with a month later date of his official departure.

Which of course by that point Dave was still in the band.

Nothing ever made sense in VH land, but wouldn't the band want to be searching for new management by then?
Why the stress on making a new record so soon?

Dave of course was busy receiving and looking over movie deals and scripts for CFTH.

The band didn't even have a producer as Ed didn't want to work with Ted anymore. Like seriously, how more fucked up can you get.

My question is.....before Leffler and Hagar coming in, did the band scope out anyone else who would replace Monk as manager?

Eddie claimed he didn't want Ted as his producer anymore. But Ted also states very descriptively in his book that the band did ask him to produce 5150. Ted even admitted that while it's been claimed that he only didn't do 5150 because of conflict-schedules with Dave, the truth was that he didn't want to do 5150. He was very clear on this. He was hoping the band would get past this insanity and get back together. He had worked with Hagar multiple times...but he didn't want him actually in Van Halen. So he turned them down.

Interestingly, Ted also says in his book that Eddie came to him when the album was mixed and then asked Ted to sequence the album as a favor...and Ted did. He chose the order of the tracks, created the sequence.

[Rikk]

Templeman also makes it clear that to this very day, he wishes that the band had stayed together and that it was still a mistake for Dave to leave and for Hagar to become their lead singer. (And, obviously, most of us at this site agree with that opinion.)

[ZahZoo]

I saw that Alan posted on his youtube page the "goodbye letter" from Noel Monk I believe dated March 5th, 1985 with a month later date of his official departure.

Which of course by that point Dave was still in the band.

Nothing ever made sense in VH land, but wouldn't the band want to be searching for new management by then?
Why the stress on making a new record so soon?

Dave of course was busy receiving and looking over movie deals and scripts for CFTH.

The band didn't even have a producer as Ed didn't want to work with Ted anymore. Like seriously, how more fucked up can you get.

My question is.....before Leffler and Hagar coming in, did the band scope out anyone else who would replace Monk as manager?

If you've ever had the unfortunate experience working with people, with money... who are at the peak of their alcohol and drug abuse... they don't exactly spend much focused time executing and following a well planned business transition model.

Even at that time period under contract to deliver product to WB... most people managing the business end of Van Halen were walking on egg-shells around the "artists" and their self-destructive bullshit just to stay on the payroll.

[Rikk]

Even at that time period under contract to deliver product to WB... most people managing the business end of Van Halen were walking on egg-shells around the "artists" and their self-destructive bullshit just to stay on the payroll.

Alan's right in his documentary. This was egos and stupidity all around. I'm pissed at the brothers for bringing this brilliant band's legacy down by bringing in a moron to sing his lyrical bile on their music. BUT...I'm also mad at Dave for getting an ego trip the size of Jupiter and quitting this brilliant band...or if he didn't quit, NOT making it work with the brothers to instead make a stupid film.

I'd give anything to have had that awesome follow-up to 1984. No matter some of the music Eddie was writing at the time, I truly believe that a follow-up would have worked. Imagine Dave singing on GET UP and some of the other tracks...and hopefully throwing away THE INSIDE and DREAMS.

[AlanCBerry]

I started watermarking my personal VH photo's because of people using them. But of course, in this day and age, the watermarks can be edited out fairly easily. I saw one of my personal pics being used in an ad for Al's '80 Invasion drum set that was being sold. I wrote the dude selling it and told him he could have at least asked my permission. In his defense it wasn't watermarked and he didn't know how to get hold of me or find me. Turns out he's the owner of Modern Drummer and is a cool dude. He told me he'd remove it, but at that point, what was the difference? I thought it was pretty cool to see my personal photo chosen for the ad.

For sure! If you own the copyright, a watermark makes more sense. But like you said, it's pretty easy to photoshop that out.

[AlanCBerry]

Alan's right in his documentary. This was egos and stupidity all around. I'm pissed at the brothers for bringing this brilliant band's legacy down by bringing in a moron to sing his lyrical bile on their music. BUT...I'm also mad at Dave for getting an ego trip the size of Jupiter and quitting this brilliant band...or if he didn't quit, NOT making it work with the brothers to instead make a stupid film.

I'd give anything to have had that awesome follow-up to 1984. No matter some of the music Eddie was writing at the time, I truly believe that a follow-up would have worked. Imagine Dave singing on GET UP and some of the other tracks...and hopefully throwing away THE INSIDE and DREAMS.

The thing I keep going back to is I doubt I would have been any diff. I know my ego fucked me many times in my 20s/30s. Hell even sometimes today at 54. The temptation to be full of yourself on either side was pretty sky-high.

BTW Rikk, you will not be a fan of what I'm dropping tomorrow. haha, an unreleased Hagar interview from 1997. I think it has some interesting VH content in it.

[Rikk]

BTW Rikk, you will not be a fan of what I'm dropping tomorrow. haha, an unreleased Hagar interview from 1997. I think it has some interesting VH content in it.

LOL...that's ok. I still find any VH content interesting. I'll definitely check it out. I remember being glued to my T.V. in 1996/97 for any news on, first, the reunion...and then, why the reunion didn't work out.

There was a strange period in late-1996 and 1997 where I felt sorry for Sammy as well...the brothers had fucked over Dave. And I remember thinking, they fucked over both singers, really. How stupid...piss off your entire fanbase (Dave fans AND Sammy fans) in just a few months...then get a rather lame singer to take both guys' places.

I remember in the fall of 1996, I wrote a LONG diatribe to the Van Halen Mailing List (which was viewed by both Valerie Bertinelli and their tour manager Scotty Ross). I basically congratulated Van Halen for completely fucking up and screwing themselves over. I went on about how this was the stupidest move a band had ever made...pissing off both fanbases. And I predicted that Van Halen's album with Gary Cherone would not only fail but that the line-up would not last.

Scotty Ross, within a day or so, replied to my long email with an angry two-sentence reply, basically saying, "Ridiculous! Zeal! Pure zeal!" He was so angry (I'm not making this up). And I replied: "S.R...FUCK YOU!!!"

And then Valerie Bertinelli replied. I can't remember what she said...but I distinctly remember telling her to "fuck off!" I also remember telling her something like, "Tell your husband he pissed off a TON of fans and they're not going to forget."

I distinctly remember a car ride with a couple of my friends. We'd just come from a tavern and my friend in the backseat said something like, "Is there any timeline yet on how long this album with Dave is supposed to take?" And I told him, "Shit, you didn't hear? They fucking called it off and got Gary fucking Cherone!!" And my friend sat in the back seat, steaming the entire ride home. He actually said, "I want to fucking kill Eddie Van Halen!!"

June 1996. A great time to be a Van Halen fan.

September 1996. A terrible time to be a Van Halen fan.

I actually enjoyed Sam's LITTLE WHITE LIES when it came out. I thought the video was funny, I thought the song wasn't bad and I thought the brothers really deserved it.

[Vinnie Velvet]

LOL...that's ok. I still find any VH content interesting. I'll definitely check it out. I remember being glued to my T.V. in 1996/97 for any news on, first, the reunion...and then, why the reunion didn't work out.

There was a strange period in late-1996 and 1997 where I felt sorry for Sammy as well...the brothers had fucked over Dave. And I remember thinking, they fucked over both singers, really. How stupid...piss off your entire fanbase (Dave fans AND Sammy fans) in just a few months...then get a rather lame singer to take both guys' places.

I remember in the fall of 1996, I wrote a LONG diatribe to the Van Halen Mailing List (which was viewed by both Valerie Bertinelli and their tour manager Scotty Ross). I basically congratulated Van Halen for completely fucking up and screwing themselves over. I went on about how this was the stupidest move a band had ever made...pissing off both fanbases. And I predicted that Van Halen's album with Gary Cherone would not only fail but that the line-up would not last.

Scotty Ross, within a day or so, replied to my long email with an angry two-sentence reply, basically saying, "Ridiculous! Zeal! Pure zeal!" He was so angry (I'm not making this up). And I replied: "S.R...FUCK YOU!!!"

And then Valerie Bertinelli replied. I can't remember what she said...but I distinctly remember telling her to "fuck off!" I also remember telling her something like, "Tell your husband he pissed off a TON of fans and they're not going to forget."

I distinctly remember a car ride with a couple of my friends. We'd just come from a tavern and my friend in the backseat said something like, "Is there any timeline yet on how long this album with Dave is supposed to take?" And I told him, "Shit, you didn't hear? They fucking called it off and got Gary fucking Cherone!!" And my friend sat in the back seat, steaming the entire ride home. He actually said, "I want to fucking kill Eddie Van Halen!!"

June 1996. A great time to be a Van Halen fan.

September 1996. A terrible time to be a Van Halen fan.

I actually enjoyed Sam's LITTLE WHITE LIES when it came out. I thought the video was funny, I thought the song wasn't bad and I thought the brothers really deserved it.

June 1996 was the perfect time to right the wrongs of the 1985 breakup.

But again Ed fucked that up.

[Rikk]

June 1996 was the perfect time to right the wrongs of the 1985 breakup.

But again Ed fucked that up.

I remember turning on my radio in 1996 and literally hearing the rock radio DJ immediately say the words, "...so, from what we can gather from the camp...Sam is out, Dave is in. Dave is coming back to Van Halen."

I literally jumped up and started screaming and dancing around my room. I had been waiting since I had been nine to hear this news. I remember running around the house, going, "YES!!! YES!!!" I called my buddy to tell him, but he wasn't home. Then I tried another buddy. He wasn't home. I ended up calling my brother (who wasn't even much of a Van Halen fan) and he wasn't home. His wife answered and I just stammered and then shouted, "Dave is back in Van Halen!!" And she sort of paused and said, "Uh...okay." I was just SO excited!!

I remember watching the MTV Music Video Awards...that shot of Chris Rock and Eddie Vedder clapping and cheering with the standing ovation. I watched the clip and was so high on the moment. It never occurred to me that they weren't happy on that stage. I thought it all looked great.

I was in shock when a week or two later, being at University in the computer lab and just browsing the web and seeing on the Van Halen News Desk the rumors that the band was going to hire Gary Cherone. I did not believe it. I distinctly remembering thinking, "There is no way. Just no way. No way could the band be this stupid. This is one of the most-hyped reunions in history." MTV was showing those "WELCOME BACK DAVE" commercials and everyone in the music world was going on about how awesome it was that Dave was coming back.

I remember a few whiny sheep at the Van Halen Mailing List, crying about what an atrocity it was that Van Halen was breaking up the, in their eyes, only good line-up of the band ever. And I remember rubbing it in their faces, laughing at them and telling them, "No more shitty lyrics or half-assed clichéd cock rock melodies on Van Halen albums!" And I remember those same sons of bitches laughing at me on the Mailing List when it was announced, by Dave, that the reunion wasn't happening...I actually remember telling one sheep that I would find him and beat the shit out of him.

To this day, I am still pissed off at the brothers for the bullshit of 1996.

They let the world get excited and then pulled the rug out from under the fans.

Eddie claimed: "We never intended to bring Dave back into the fold. It was just for two songs."

Bullshit. Eddie was bringing back Dave because he got desperate over the future of his band after firing Sammy. And once they worked together and Eddie realized that the band wasn't going to just be his thing over which he could be dictator and rule the band any way he wanted, he pulled the plug. Simple as that. He realized that he was going to have to have some push-and-pull to make good music.

And the worst part of it all: WHEN THE BAND TEASED THE FANS WITH IT, LETTING THE NEWS BREAK OUT, LETTING PEOPLE GET EXCITED, MAKING TWO NEW SONGS...AND THEN CALLING IT OFF, SOME FANS NEVER FORGAVE EDDIE OR ALEX FOR THAT.

...AND THEY TOOK THE EXCITEMENT OUT OF IT EVER HAPPENING FOR REAL.

When Dave finally did come back in 2006-2007, it was what fans wanted. But the excitement was not even 50% of what it had been before. So much time had passed. Fans kept waiting for it to be called off again. (At one point, the band even postponed the tour and I remember myself and other fans rolling our eyes, saying, "Yup, I knew it would never actually happen.") And even though it went through, it was just NOT as exciting because Van Halen had given us 10 years of shit...Gary Cherone, the cancelled 2000 Dave album, the shitty Sam reunion of 2004...and Dave finally coming back in 2006 felt more like the band finally giving in...instead of the true reunion (4 original members). The momentum they built up in 1996 would never again be recaptured.

I loved the reunion tours. I enjoyed all three shows I saw between 2007 and 2012. And I still love A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH.

But Dave coming back in 1996 felt like it was finally a fixing of the last 11 years of shitty Van Hagar and Van Halen truly returning. And since 1996, I have never felt quite the same about this band. I still love Van Halen...but 1996 was the year I started truly disliking the members of the band.

I hate Michael Anthony too. I remember reading a Dutch interview with him in the late summer of 1996...and he was talking about Dave coming back and said something to the effect of, "It wasn't my choice. If it were up to me, we'd keep Sammy in this band. But it didn't work out that way. So I guess I just have to accept Dave coming back." He was all disappointed. And I remember thinking: "You're the fucking bass player who has written nothing in this band. How dare you open your mouth and try to ruin this?" So even though the 2006-2007 reunion didn't include him, I remember feeling a bit of satisfaction that the son of a bitch was now the one left out in the cold.

[AlanCBerry]

Posted this one today.

[AlanCBerry]

Just dropped a never-published interview with Sammy from 1997. He talks a lot about his split from VH.

[Rikk]

Just dropped a never-published interview with Sammy from 1997. He talks a lot about his split from VH.

I enjoyed the interview in terms of hearing about the insanity that was Van Halen around that time. I found it kind of amusing as he talked about songs from his album being masterpieces...and I got pissed off when he insinuated that the band got MORE popular after he joined. This simply isn't true.

[ZahZoo]

I enjoyed the interview in terms of hearing about the insanity that was Van Halen around that time. I found it kind of amusing as he talked about songs from his album being masterpieces...and I got pissed off when he insinuated that the band got MORE popular after he joined. This simply isn't true.

The most famous Obi Wan Kenobi quote from Star Wars applies nicely...

“Luke, you’re going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.” / “The truth is often what we make of it; you heard what you wanted to hear, believed what you wanted to believe.”