Michael Anthony, "the other guy"

[Calderone]

hahaha
he is irrelevantirrelevant NO ONE CARES

[Panamark]

Hey thats not true, Spammy cares about him ! Theres some serious
Man-Love going down between those two.....

[MAX]

Well, it's all a fucking joke now anyway. Regardless, I just watched Largo '82 a couple of days ago. Man, he is vital to the classic VH sound. Unfortunately, he is in bed with Spam. What a waste.

Also, if M.A. reunites Bette and The Lying Dutchmen, expect a massive revolt!!!!

[Panamark]

Those farken Homosexual Munchkins need a Heterosexual Intervention ! Lord knows what sorts of sauces and tequila they are shoving up each others asses ?

[MAX]

Shit...... That's sick and wrong!!! However, so fucking true. They have a side band named after worms, they specialize in hot sauce and moonshine? Do they perform a version of "Dueling Banjos?" in Mexico at Bette's dump?

Have any of you guy's been there? It's a shithole and there were platinum Dave albums hanging in there!!!

[Panamark]

Its a long way to CABO, especially from Sydney ! (Thank GOD !!!)

[Mr Badguy]

Who?

[ZahZoo]

Of all the past/present members of Van Halen I've alway thought Michael Anthony is one of the coolest dudes of the bunch.

[Gmoney]

Originally posted by ZahZoo
Of all the past/present members of Van Halen I've alway thought Michael Anthony is one of the coolest dudes of the bunch.

A fat guy who drinks Jack Daniels and does not tell a bunch of bull shit, he's alright in my book..

[Terry]

Originally posted by ZahZoo
Of all the past/present members of Van Halen I've alway thought Michael Anthony is one of the coolest dudes of the bunch.

MA has slung just as much shit Dave's way as the Van Halens, but you don't hear about it because he doesn't do as many interviews.

Still hard to imagine classic Van Halen without him, though.

[DLR7884]

Michael Anthony is as useless as tits on a bull.

Ed played bass on Fair Warning, not Mike.

DLR7884
Now he has that lame ass Tabasco bass....what a bad ass!

[Lou]

Originally posted by DLR7884
Michael Anthony is as useless as tits on a bull.

Ed played bass on Fair Warning, not Mike.

DLR7884
Now he has that lame ass Tabasco bass....what a bad ass!

I know you can really tell on "Dirty Movies" with the phrasing and tapping in the beginning.

[DLR7884]

Originally posted by Lou
I know you can really tell on "Dirty Movies" with the phrasing and tapping in the beginning.

Yep, the bass on that album sounds like no other VH album before it or after it.

DLR7884
No other way to explain it.

[rustoffa]

Tabasco bottle-shape bass geetars are not grate.

[DLR7884]

Originally posted by rustoffa
Tabasco bottle-shape bass geetars are not grate.

Not great at all.

He's a pudgy loser.

DLR7884
Next he'll have a Twinkee shaped bass.

[Panamark]

Or a Spammy shaped Bass. (To symbolize his love)
Fuck, are there enough forests left to make such an item ??

[Bob_R]

Michael Anthony is an accessory. It's nice to have but you don't really need it.

[ZahZoo]

Originally posted by Terry
MA has slung just as much shit Dave's way as the Van Halens, but you don't hear about it because he doesn't do as many interviews.

Still hard to imagine classic Van Halen without him, though.

I don't know about that... he talks pretty highly of the good times with Dave back in the days, in person. Seemed to me he didn't harbor any hard feelings toward Dave at all.

[Terry]

Originally posted by ZahZoo
I don't know about that... he talks pretty highly of the good times with Dave back in the days, in person. Seemed to me he didn't harbor any hard feelings toward Dave at all.

Read a few interviews with him in 1996 after the reunion fiasco where he was parroting the Van Halen bros line of Dave being washed up, etc.

Was interested to read some of the other posts about Ed playing bass on Fair Warning. Not that I don't think it's possible, but are these just guesses, or are they verifiable?

[Terry]

Originally posted by EVH FANATIC
Michael Anthony is an accessory. It's nice to have but you don't really need it.

Nail on the head, EVH. Nail on the head.

[DavidLeeNatra]

MA is that kind of guy you can piss in his beer and he will take a deep sip and when he realizes what he is drinking he will laugh loudest just to be among the cool guys...if I should have been replaced that often in the band I built with, I'd tell the lying dutchmen who don't pay him ANY respect at all to blow each other and leave after kicking their asses through their fucking studio...seems not to have the strongest backbone...

[rustoffa]

Originally posted by ZahZoo
I don't know about that... he talks pretty highly of the good times with Dave back in the days, in person. Seemed to me he didn't harbor any hard feelings toward Dave at all.

watch the early years dvd.....fuck ma and his effect-drowned solos.

[DLR7884]

Originally posted by Terry
Read a few interviews with him in 1996 after the reunion fiasco where he was parroting the Van Halen bros line of Dave being washed up, etc.

Was interested to read some of the other posts about Ed playing bass on Fair Warning. Not that I don't think it's possible, but are these just guesses, or are they verifiable?

No proof of it besides listening to the bass on the album.

It's been documented that Ed went to the studio at night (sometimes all night) when that album was being recorded.

Did he lay down the bass tracks?

I personally think he did. When I think of Michael Anthony and his abilty on the bass guitar, I think of "Runnin' With The Devil."

The tempo and fluidity (if that's a word) of some of the basslines on that album were done by someone who knows music and tapping well.

DLR7884
The first guy that comes to mind for me, and others is EVH.

[Cathedral]

Thats all bullshit, Mike played the Bass on the early stuff. It wasn't until Balance when Ed started laying down Bass Tracks.
I have a Guitar Player Interview where all this stuff originated from.

Ed's first stab at playing Bass on a commercially released album was for Spammy's Give to Live Bullshit when they recorded that song for Over The Top starring Sly Stallone.

Those nights Edward was sneaking into the studio was at Ted's request since Alex, Mike and Dave were not real happy with Ed's initial solo tracks. Him and Ted would go to the studio and replace the tracks so when the rest of the band showed up the next day they would think they were the same tracks but had grown on them overnight.

besides, any Bass Player with any pride to his job wouldn't take that shit from anyone. Ed may have influenced the style and progression but Mike did in fact play his own parts....Only to get buried in the mix before releasing the cuts.

[Cathedral]

As a side note....Do you all notice that the first 6 albums have alot of solo overbuds in them?

That is one reason why things didn't always transfer to the live stage perfectly.
The main reason his chops were so polished from 5150 on was because the solo tracks were basically recorded live and straighforward.
He did go back and add little things to fatten up the tracks but not to the extent that Ted took it...

Just an FYI for y'all...

[DLR7884]

So why does the style of playing differ so much on FW compared to other albums?

DLR7884
The rest of the band sounds pretty much the same.

[Cathedral]

I realy don't notice a difference in style as much as a difference in gear and production quality.

In my opinion, Ed doesn't even sound the same on each consecutive album.
Which is why i like the first album best of all for it's out there haywire, on the edge of feedback freestyle whaling.

Ed's sound, hell the whole bands sound is sort of an example of musical evolution through the first 6 albums....

When i played Bass in a band that was fronted by a virtuoso very similar to Ed's. I was always being dictated to on how to play certain parts.
The things you are noticing could simply be that Mike was at one point given creative license to design his own parts without much dictation.

I mean if Ed is the one who came up with the Bass lines and relayed to Mike what he should do it stands to reason that his playing would sound Edddie-esque in nature, lol...

[ZahZoo]

Originally posted by rustoffa
watch the early years dvd.....fuck ma and his effect-drowned solos.

Explain? I watched the early years DVD a couple of times and I don't follow your reference..?

"effect-drowned solos" ??? The only artist of note that I can recall that doesn't incorporate much, if any, effects within a solo would be BB King and few other Blues stringers of any caliber. Name me someone comparible that doesn't use effects in soloing?

[Terry]

Originally posted by Cathedral
Thats all bullshit, Mike played the Bass on the early stuff. It wasn't until Balance when Ed started laying down Bass Tracks.
I have a Guitar Player Interview where all this stuff originated from.

Ed's first stab at playing Bass on a commercially released album was for Spammy's Give to Live Bullshit when they recorded that song for Over The Top starring Sly Stallone.

Those nights Edward was sneaking into the studio was at Ted's request since Alex, Mike and Dave were not real happy with Ed's initial solo tracks. Him and Ted would go to the studio and replace the tracks so when the rest of the band showed up the next day they would think they were the same tracks but had grown on them overnight.

besides, any Bass Player with any pride to his job wouldn't take that shit from anyone. Ed may have influenced the style and progression but Mike did in fact play his own parts....Only to get buried in the mix before releasing the cuts.

Wasn't Ed sneaking in there with Don Landee late at night during the Fair Warning sessions? I seem to recall that was the way Ed's mid 1980s interviews read, although Ed has a lack of consistency with what comes out of his mouth. But the line he was giving was that Ted wasn't happy with his solo stabs for Push Comes To Shove and some other tracks, so he snuck in with the engineer when after everyone else had went home.

I can see where Ed may have dictated bass parts to Mike Anthony.....like on tracks such as Meanstreet, but to have went in and recorded over what Anthony had played? Tend to doubt it. If you listen to live Fair Warning tour boots, Mike is playing Unchained, Sinner's Swing, Hear About It Later, Meanstreet and So This Is Love as well as what was on the record.

As for Anthony's live bass solos, according to Roth he designed them for Mike in terms of the rolling around onstage and the physicality of it. Yeah, musically they weren't Mozart, but in terms of showmanship, they got the job done.

Wouldn't miss it if classic Van Halen reunited and the bass and drum solos were left out altogether. Ed could still have his 15 minute Eruption/Spanish Fly/Meantsreet Intro/Cathedral/Little Guitars Intro solo spot. Would be a good opportunity to grab a beer.

[Cathedral]

Hmmmm, i don't recall it being Don Landee, but i can't say it isn't possible either.
The one thing i clearly recall is that his first solo attempts didn't impress them all that much.

Or so a majority of his interviews read.

I reckon if we read between the lines the truth is there, lol.

[rustoffa]

Originally posted by ZahZoo
Explain? I watched the early years DVD a couple of times and I don't follow your reference..?

"effect-drowned solos" ??? The only artist of note that I can recall that doesn't incorporate much, if any, effects within a solo would be BB King and few other Blues stringers of any caliber. Name me someone comparible that doesn't use effects in soloing?

I was referring to ma's quote about dave dancing up to him onstage and going, "what are you trying to entertain me now"...sounded pretty hateful to me.As far as the effects,I agree with what you're saying...it was just my subjective opinion on the swooshy,spacey type stuff like the us fest solo.Always seemed a bit hokey to me.

[ZahZoo]

ok rustoffa I recall the reference... well the way I look at it a band wouldn't be a band if someone didn't make some snide remark about about another band member. At least that's my experience... musicians have a tendency to mouth of at each other and get pissy about it all at times... comes with the territory so I don't tend to read too much into it. It's business as usual in the music industry.

[Terry]

Originally posted by Cathedral
Hmmmm, i don't recall it being Don Landee, but i can't say it isn't possible either.
The one thing i clearly recall is that his first solo attempts didn't impress them all that much.

Or so a majority of his interviews read.

I reckon if we read between the lines the truth is there, lol.

Fair Warning was the apex of Van Halen. Who played what where and how is almost beside the point. Diver Down and 1984 have their moments, but I can't say I listen to either from start to finish anymore without slipping a few tracks. really don't even need to read what Ed has to say about it. Everything I need to know is in the playing. Great, great album, even in spite of Dave's LSD, hee hee.

[rustoffa]

Originally posted by ZahZoo
ok rustoffa I recall the reference... well the way I look at it a band wouldn't be a band if someone didn't make some snide remark about about another band member. At least that's my experience... musicians have a tendency to mouth of at each other and get pissy about it all at times... comes with the territory so I don't tend to read too much into it. It's business as usual in the music industry.

Can't argue with that.

[redballjet]

I disagree with anyone who thinks that Michael Anthony isn't important to the classic Van Halen sound. While his bass playing may not be the stuff of legends, his high poppy background vocals are a HUGE part of the Van Halen sound. Try to imagine a song like "Jamie's Crying" without them. Alex is the replacable one. Is he really better than an average drummer? Plug in any decent drummer and who would notice. Of course, he has the benefit of being named "Van Halen", so he'll ride his brother's coattails to the very end.

[DavidLeeNatra]

no one is replacable...that is the point at that point...it's the very original lineup or the end...

fuck alex anyway...