How far back does your worship go?

[Momshell]

I didn't get turned on to VH until hearing them on my own on my tiny little alarm clock radio in 1984. I so wish I had a cool sibling, uncle, or something, but no such luck. Was listening to pop until hearing Jump on that little radio. Then I started putting 2 and 2 together - the guy singing that song is the same guy I've been seeing in all the magazines? Didn't take much more that that. Went to the record store with my grandparents soon after and bought the entire 6-pack in one shot. Never looked back after that. Didn't get to see them live til 2007, which sucked. Tried Spammy live, which was not good. Saw Dave live lots, which was very good, but was not VH. Actually saw Dave live a couple of times in 2006 - once at Nokia Theater in NYC and once at Foxwoods. Both were general admission, which meant my poor hubby had to stand on line with me for about 8 hours - but we were front row. Dave took my hand during Unchained in NYC and lifted his shirt for me a couple of times. At Foxwoods there was no security in front of the stage, so we were actually able to rest our elbows on the stage! I think I may have been slightly inappropriate with my hands at that show
It really is amazing when I think about hearing Jump that first time - 28 years ago - and I remember it vividly!!

[Momshell]

Didn't get to see them live til 2007, which sucked.

Just realized how that sounded - the show did not suck, the wait sucked!!

[Light Em' Up!]

I grew up on metal, however, while I got hit with the "popular" songs like "Jump" and "Panama", I never bought an album or anything. I was probably more familiar with all the Sammy songs. In 2007, I met my soon to be husband, "Sniper", and I guess when you are engaged to the biggest Van Halen fan in the world, you are bound to get educated. We took a road trip to Jackpot, Nevada, and he played EVERY Van Halen album for the drive there and back. Needless to say, the second I heard "Light Up the Sky", I was sold. In 2008, "Sniper" took me on the best date EVER! Front row, VIP package/tickets to see Dave and the boys in Reno, Nevada. I was absolutely blown away! Since then, I have been a Roth-Van Halen die hard. I try to keep up on all the news, buy WAY too much stuff for "Sniper" and I from the VH store, etc...then in March, I made the big step of joining the Army. I guess you can say, the rest is history.

[loucap81]

I was born in 1981. The first rock music I really heard was grunge/alternative in 1991 or so. I didn't know what classic rock really was other than the Beatles. I used to only listen to "alternative" music and whatever was on MTV. There used to be a great independently-owned radio station in Philly called WDRE, which branded themselves as "modern rock." They played the more mainstream stuff that was current at the time like all the Seattle bands, they played a lot of "retro alternative" from the late '70s to the late '80s, and then they played many obscure bands just starting out. I think it was one of the greatest radio stations that ever existed and I listened to them religiously. But they didn't play anything prior to the late '70s and only a handful of those bands at that so I still had a pretty narrow perspective of music.

WDRE went off the air in Feb. 1997; they changed ownership and became a rap station. I didn't know it yet but this was also right around the time music would begin an unthinkably steep decline. So I turned to WMMR and WYSP, the two rock stations that played current music but also mixed in a healthy dose of classic rock. At that point my eyes were opened and all the great bands were exposed to me, and it was all new music to my ears. Van Halen were one of the bands that struck me and I bought all the classic albums as well as the first three Van Hagar ones. But I was more drawn to the hits, the radio songs, and not so much the deep cuts. I used to hate WACF and Fair Warning (moreso WACF) as my taste in music hadn't gotten sophisticated yet. When the Gary era was going on I was tempted to see them (basically to see Eddie) but decided against it just because the songs I had heard off that album were so awful.

Then something happened in my freshman year of college around 2000 where I started to take my interest in VH to another level. Napster helped too as I discovered all these bootlegs and full concerts and that's really what did it for me. WACF and FW finally "clicked" for me, and I began to realize that the Hagar era wasn't very good. You have to understand that not having grown up with the DLR era, the draw of VH was simply Eddie to me. I didn't understand just how much DLR brought to the band, and how the Hagar years were just generic, boring fad music. It's the same way with other generic bands like Foreigner that I used to think were pretty good but later realized how lame they actually were. What's sad to me are the people older than me, and who even saw the real VH, and still dismiss DLR's talents. It's a shame. I hope the Links isn't representative of what most VH fans believe.

So anyway that's how it happened, I took to them completely on my own, well after their heyday. Also I have no older siblings and my dad wasn't really into VH, so thank God for the classic, radio-friendly songs that got me interested to explore them further. I tried getting into DLR solo (thanks to this website) but I'm sorry, those songs just don't do it for me other than DLR Band, which was the closest he ever got to sounding like VH without singing for VH. I'll never be a person that supports him no matter what (e.g. the ill-fated radio show). I know he has more interests than hard rock music but I don't share those interests. But classic Van Halen...I can't imagine my life without that music in it. There is no music that hits my soul harder.

[Nitro Express]

I thought Ace Frehley was a guitar god until I heard EVH. Then it was goodbye Ace. LOL! You have to remember I was young and disco and soft rock was ruling the airwaves. There wasn't much hard rock on the radio. You had Ted Nugent, KiSS and a few southern rock bands and they hardly got any air play. Then VH rolled in.

[JenniferM]

First heard Van Halen I on the school bus in early 1979. I was hooked immediately. I entered in a bike-a-thon thing to raise money for downs syndrome and if you got over $35 in sponsors, you got a free album at Caldors. Of course, I grabbed VH I! I had it bad after listening to it all the way through. I bought II, WACF, and FW when they came out with my allowance money. My Dad got re-married in 1981 and I ended up having to share my room with a step-sister I HATED. We were also living with my grandparents at the time, and my grandpa was a hardcore alcoholic who would come home and verbally abuse everyone. If it weren't for a record player, headphones, and Van Halen posters all over my half of the room, I wouldn't have made it through this period of my life without serious mental issues. I don't say this lightly, either. I spent a lot of hours with the headphones on trying to block out my life. Van Halen was one of the best things to happen to me. I could slip on those headphones and let the riffs and lyrics take me away!! So, I guess my love of Van halen is a really personal thing. It truly saved me!

[mug]

My buddy found vh 1 at kmart in 1978. He said listen to this and WOW! I was fucking in love. Seen them live aug,79. And that was it. Every tour since.

[Catfish]

Tough poll. I'm a DLR fan first and a VH fan second.

Regardless, it's tough to forge a lifelong 'worship' of anything that included Sammy Haggar for so many years.

[Catfish]

Though I always enjoyed VH as a small child, my love of VH really started with DLR in 1986. I couldn't get enough of the Yankee Rose video on MTV. We gathered around the TV every afternoon for the Top 5 at 3 that summer to see it, and those chicks' boobs hanging out. So, I guess my worship of VH began, technically, during the Sammy Years, LOL.

[Sensible Shoes]

So when did you cross over into an obsessive DLR/VH fan?

I don't know what you mean. Obsessive fan?

[Yount]

I don't know what you mean. Obsessive fan?

You know, go through the garbage, binoculars in tinted cars, accidentally bumping into him at the corner store dropping a folder with lyrics you have written.

[Sensible Shoes]

There are no obsessive fans here.

[fifth element]

I remember listen to Van Halen I with my older brother 1978/79.

I can remember listening to themin those years, as well, but it took a friend (you know who you are) to come along and show me how TRULY stupendous the music of VH is.

[katina]

So, I guess my love of Van halen is a really personal thing. It truly saved me!

You were very wise.

[TwoFoolsAMinute]

I bought 1984 sometime between Crazy From The Heat and Eat Em and Smile after I heard it at a party. It was love at first listen. that was pretty much the moment I went from listening to Jr. High pop to grown up rock. By the time EEAS came out, I had four VH tapes and bought EEAS without having heard anything from it. So that pretty much makes it during the Samm years, but I will not click on that button.