DAVE wrote "Intruder"? Who woulda thunk?

[Matt White]

I was just reading through an old CREEM mag...the one with DAVE on the cover(I know, there where many!)........

Something caught my eye that I don't remember having seen...before or since......

INTRUDER
"I wrote that. Remember what I told you about the video? We made it with no consideration for the music at all. There was no story line that we tried to fit to "Pretty Woman", we simply made a movie like MGM, Hollywood-style. None of this conceptual video stuff. When we finished the movie, it was about three minutes too long for the song, so I said, "We won't cut any of it, we'll write soundtrack music for the beginning. So we went into the studio and I played the synthesizer and I wrote it---it took about an hour to put that together. It was rerecorded for the album."

Fancy trying a whole soundtrack for a film?
"Not at all---but I did want to try. As you well know, after you've sold a million records, you become an internationally-recognized expert in everything!"



Which got me thinking......

"How much of CLASSIC VAN HALEN's music did DAVE have a direct hand in writing?

Could explain why his leaving affected the music so dramaticly.......

Let's get some opinions on this.........

[BRANDON]

dave was van halen. period

[PHOENIX]

Dave orchestrated every little detail that made CVH Grate.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Great thanks, Matt, for sharing this.

When I first read "Crazy from the heat", I expected to learn about Diamond's precise involvement in the making of CVH's music... but there is nothing really enlightening about thatin the book, unfortunately.
It is often said that he was always implied in arrangements a lot, that's for sure.
I once read that, for instance, "Take your Whiskey Home" or "Bottoms Up" are his works, but Dave himself didn't say it, only the journalist did (and we all know they don't always write stuff they are really sure about...).
Like you, I'm very curious to learn about it, and a bit surprised it hasn't been discussed here yet (at least as far as I know).

[ZahZoo]

Yeah right... Dave wrote Eruption too...

[Matt White]

Originally posted by ZahZoo
Yeah right... Dave wrote Eruption too...

Come on now ZZ.....'Ya callin' DAVE a liar?!?!:D


We know he played guitar on "Ice Cream Man" "Take your Whiskey Home" & probably BIG BAD BILL..........

AND...he had that same arranging class as one "EVH" back in the college days.........


Hmmmmmm....food for thought.................

[Dirty Duck]

Thanks matt! I believe that he wrote it....look at the songwriting after he left the band....garbage. When you're young ..hungry...and willing ,shit,you can do anything! Rock on Dave...

[ZahZoo]

Originally posted by Matt White
Come on now ZZ.....'Ya callin' DAVE a liar?!?!:D


We know he played guitar on "Ice Cream Man" "Take your Whiskey Home" & probably BIG BAD BILL..........

AND...he had that same arranging class as one "EVH" back in the college days.........


Hmmmmmm....food for thought.................

Matt I'd say Dave embellished a lot of shit back then. Liar... well let's just say the truth and what's printed in the old fan magazines weren't always attached at the hip. How many people still believe Ed boiled his strings to get the brown sound..?

Intruder was recorded right about the time when Ed was getting his deal going with Moog Synthesizers. Listen to the backing keyboard rhythms on Dancin in the Street simular sound and effects. Could be Dave wanking around on the keys may sparked the idea behind the main intruder backing riff. But it all sounds too Edward to me.

[Northern Girl]

Originally posted by ZahZoo
How many people still believe Ed boiled his strings to get the brown sound..?

One for sure, and it's his birthday today. :D

[rustoffa]

Dave's responsible for virtually all the lyrics to the originals'...lyrics dictate arrangements....yadda-yadda...noone needs an abacus.

[jhale667]

Originally posted by ZahZoo
How many people still believe Ed boiled his strings to get the brown sound..?

No, he boiled his strings to pre-stretch them, which helped stabilize his tuning with the early (non-finetunable) Floyd Roses. So there. :D (Actually, I think he did it with his old Fender bridges, too. Cool trick, but you have to dry 'em in the sun or they rust all to shit....)

[ELVIS]

Originally posted by PHOENIX
Dave orchestrated every little detail that made CVH Grate.

That's not just not true...

[ELVIS]

Originally posted by Matt White
We know he played guitar on "Take your Whiskey Home"......

No way! You can't recognize Edward ??

Dave did not play that intro, no way, no how!

[jhale667]

Pretty sure Dave played the intro to 'Ice Cream Man', but I agree with Elvis, 'Take your Whiskey Home' is all Ed.

[rustoffa]

Did Dave play Spanish fly?
Fuck, did Ed play it?