RIP Eddie Van Halen

Ozzie_Isaac

Dead at 65.

Gonnaneedabiggeregg

VH was the soundtrack of my youth...and to this day.  There was none better than EVH.  RIP.

Skiddymarker

Great player, tapping pretty much changed the way many viewed the guitar. RIP. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Van Halen was best with Sammy Hagar. I said what I said. 

RIP EVH! 

JohnInCarolina

Feel privileged to have seen him live and in concert.  One of the greats for sure.   Gone too soon. 

Jcl5150

As if 2020 wasn’t bad enough!  RIP to a true master.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

JohnInCarolina said:

Feel privileged to have seen him live and in concert.  One of the greats for sure.   Gone too soon. 

I got to see them with both (Recognized) line ups and they were Both really fun. Dave was kind of at the end when I saw them and Alex was so drunk he fell
off the drum riser. Dave was Hammered too and forgot the words to several songs. Still fun. 

 I’m not counting the dude from “Live” as recognized lineup. That was like 3 minutes long. 

thetrim

Sucks.  My two favorite memories of the 80s are the album 1984 and the Heather Thomas in a pink bikini poster.

SGH

thetrim said:

Sucks.  My two favorite memories of the 80s are the album 1984 and the Heather Thomas in a pink bikini poster.

She was definitely one of my favorites. 

thetrim

That's the one.  I'm glad there's a mobile version of the forum.  honey, I'll be right back...gotta go to the bathroom

JohnInCarolina

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

JohnInCarolina said:

Feel privileged to have seen him live and in concert.  One of the greats for sure.   Gone too soon. 

I got to see them with both (Recognized) line ups and they were Both really fun. Dave was kind of at the end when I saw them and Alex was so drunk he fell
off the drum riser. Dave was Hammered too and forgot the words to several songs. Still fun. 

 I’m not counting the dude from “Live” as recognized lineup. That was like 3 minutes long. 

I had to go through their tour archive to track it down, but I saw them on October 8, 1991, in Portland Maine.  This was on the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (best album name ever?) tour.  You know who opened for them?  Alice in Chains.  That was a trip man.  

They were all pretty sober by that point.  I think Hagar cleaned that stuff up quite a bit, to where the show itself was great.   Probably one of the best rock concerts I've been to.

I used to think like you that they were better with Hagar, but my taste in music has matured and these days their older stuff with Roth appeals to me quite a bit more.  I think their first few albums were much more pure rock and roll, before they really went kind of mainstream and commercial.  They did all of these stupid ballads with Hagar that were popular in the late 80's but are really just cr@p arena music.   

gonepostal

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

JohnInCarolina said:

Feel privileged to have seen him live and in concert.  One of the greats for sure.   Gone too soon. 

I got to see them with both (Recognized) line ups and they were Both really fun. Dave was kind of at the end when I saw them and Alex was so drunk he fell
off the drum riser. Dave was Hammered too and forgot the words to several songs. Still fun. 

 I’m not counting the dude from “Live” as recognized lineup. That was like 3 minutes long. 

That was the guy from Extreme - Gary Cherone. I had to google. That was a disaster.

Wooderson

2020 sucks!!!!!

GATraveller

RIP. 

Botch

I never, ever thought I'd flag @The_Cen-Tex_Smoker, ever, but you earned it, dude.  

And I guess Heather Thomas came after I finished college, and started dating real girls (thank god a bit of money, uniform, and a nice car, slightly outweigh a heavy dose of ugly^2/acne^2).  I gained arm strength by holding up the Farrah Fawcett/Cheryl Teigs posters, with one hand.  Heather has quite the camel-toe going...    

The Cen-Tex Smoker

JohnInCarolina said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

JohnInCarolina said:

Feel privileged to have seen him live and in concert.  One of the greats for sure.   Gone too soon. 

I got to see them with both (Recognized) line ups and they were Both really fun. Dave was kind of at the end when I saw them and Alex was so drunk he fell
off the drum riser. Dave was Hammered too and forgot the words to several songs. Still fun. 

 I’m not counting the dude from “Live” as recognized lineup. That was like 3 minutes long. 

I had to go through their tour archive to track it down, but I saw them on October 8, 1991, in Portland Maine.  This was on the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (best album name ever?) tour.  You know who opened for them?  Alice in Chains.  That was a trip man.  

They were all pretty sober by that point.  I think Hagar cleaned that stuff up quite a bit, to where the show itself was great.   Probably one of the best rock concerts I've been to.

I used to think like you that they were better with Hagar, but my taste in music has matured and these days their older stuff with Roth appeals to me quite a bit more.  I think their first few albums were much more pure rock and roll, before they really went kind of mainstream and commercial.  They did all of these stupid ballads with Hagar that were popular in the late 80's but are really just cr@p arena music.   

This is all true. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

When eddie moved to the keyboards on 1984, the terrorists won. I loved Sammy’s solo stuff more than I loved Van Halen at the time so I was a bit biased. I saw them with Dave on the “Diver Down” tour and they were a hot mess. I saw the 5150 tour with Sammy and it was way more cleaned up as you noticed. Almost corporate. 

I will say that although I’ve never been a huge follower, Bon Jovi opened for VH on the 5150 tour and blew Van Halen away. And Sammy knew it. He pulled out all the tricks but they still took the silver medal that night. Was a really fun show. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

I kind of stopped following them after 5150 so whatever happened after 1986 is a mystery to me 🤟

Foghorn

I saw them open for the Rolling Stones in 1981 in Orlando.  David Lee Roth was a great vocalist but a tool.  He told a story about how a writer for the Orlando Sentinel had written a bad review of him - so he slept with the reporter's girlfriend.  Henry Paul Band was the first act.  It was a great concert.  I saw more drugs that day than on every day for the entire rest of my life. LSD stamps were being sold openly.  Some were exchanging their services at starting IVs for heroin and other drugs.  And I was supposed to have a Greek History exam 2 days later but I talked the professor out of it as she was a bit Stones fan - so she postponed it for a couple of days just for me.  I suspect she's a much cooler Duke professor than some that hang around this space.

JohnInCarolina

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

When eddie moved to the keyboards on 1984, the terrorists won. I loved Sammy’s solo stuff more than I loved Van Halen at the time so I was a bit biased. I saw them with Dave on the “Diver Down” tour and they were a hot mess. I saw the 5150 tour with Sammy and it was way more cleaned up as you noticed. Almost corporate. 

I will say that although I’ve never been a huge follower, Bon Jovi opened for VH on the 5150 tour and blew Van Halen away. And Sammy knew it. He pulled out all the tricks but they still took the silver medal that night. Was a really fun show. 

Bon Jovi will go down as the only "rock" band who recorded a song titled "Have a Nice Day" and didn't walk into a desert and disappear out of complete shame.  And if there is any justice in the universe, they'll all have to listen to it for eternity after they pass away, because it is absolutely terrible. 

I think the entire album is titled that come to think of it.  Sort of the other side of the coin from "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge".  

Botch

Follow up:  I was never a DLR fan, and when he left the band I was very excited about the possibilities, and there was only ONE singer (to my mind) that would've been worse.
VH found him.
VH hired him.

I remember watching Sammy at one of the "We Are The World" mega concerts, not sure it was here or in Europe, and their performance of "I can't drive 55" sounded like a hideous Jr. High beginner band, SOOO bad!  
And VH hired him.  
 
As an aside, DLR could do the same thing with his voice that the Tibetan Throat Singers could do (Ewetube), get two or even three separate tones out of his mouth at the same time.  I don't know how to do this with my voice (can do it through a horn) but it gave him a unique sound in heavy metal/rock.  I didn't care for him in their heyday, but find him amusing now, and his dad and his brothers all were doctors/lawyers, and Dave made more money than any of them.  Again, amusing.  

GregW

I'm probably in the minority with my views, but as far as I was concerned, Van Halen no longer existed after DLR left. I completely stopped following them.
I realize now, that Eddie and Alex were awesome, but I just couldn't stomach "I can't drive 55" Hagar. 

northGAcock

I was never a big fan of them....really either line up. I had a lot of respect for them, and love some of their stuff in a stand alone fashion. No albums or CD’s. I did love me some Valerie Burtenili though. 

I raise my glass to a great rocker tonight. 

dmchicago

1979 (June 9) – Texxas Music Festival, Cotton Bowl, Dallas, Texas (General Admission – $15.00)

• TKO
• Sammy Hagar
• Nazareth
• Van Halen
• Boston
• Heart
• Blue Öyster Cult

I took these crappy pictures. Between getting stoned AF, I used to enjoy dragging a camera to rock shows back then.

What struck me today is that EVH is only 5 years older than me. I was 19 at this concert, he was 24. Weird to me that we were so close in age.

gonepostal

@JohnInCarolina I found this tonight in my boxes of CD’s and cassettes. 😀
I think I have a little bit of everybody. Probably thousands. I just haven’t reached the point of tossing them all yet. 

northGAcock

gonepostal said:

@JohnInCarolina I found this tonight in my boxes of CD’s and cassettes. 😀
I think I have a little bit of everybody. Probably thousands. I just haven’t reached the point of tossing them all yet. 

Sad thing about CD’s, is the have little value these days on the resale market. Saw an article the other day that vinyl has outsold CD’s for the first time since 1985. Don’t quote me on the year......it’s been a long time though. 

SonVolt

dmchicago said:

1979 (June 9) – Texxas Music Festival, Cotton Bowl, Dallas, Texas (General Admission – $15.00)

• TKO
• Sammy Hagar
• Nazareth
• Van Halen
• Boston
• Heart
• Blue Öyster Cult

I took these crappy pictures. Between getting stoned AF, I used to enjoy dragging a camera to rock shows back then.

What struck me today is that EVH is only 5 years older than me. I was 19 at this concert, he was 24. Weird to me that we were so close in age.

Man you should send those photos to his son on Twitter. I know there's millions of VH photos out there, but seeing rare fan-taken photos that have been sitting a shoe box for the last 30 years is pretty cool. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

gonepostal said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

JohnInCarolina said:

Feel privileged to have seen him live and in concert.  One of the greats for sure.   Gone too soon. 

I got to see them with both (Recognized) line ups and they were Both really fun. Dave was kind of at the end when I saw them and Alex was so drunk he fell
off the drum riser. Dave was Hammered too and forgot the words to several songs. Still fun. 

 I’m not counting the dude from “Live” as recognized lineup. That was like 3 minutes long. 

That was the guy from Extreme - Gary Cherone. I had to google. That was a disaster.

that's it! I knew it was one of those one name bands form the 90's.

WeberWho

northGAcock said:

gonepostal said:

@JohnInCarolina I found this tonight in my boxes of CD’s and cassettes. 😀
I think I have a little bit of everybody. Probably thousands. I just haven’t reached the point of tossing them all yet. 

Sad thing about CD’s, is the have little value these days on the resale market. Saw an article the other day that vinyl has outsold CD’s for the first time since 1985. Don’t quote me on the year......it’s been a long time though. 

One of my favorite past times as a teen was going up to Minneapolis with friends and flipping through a big warehouse full of used CD's. The store has since moved and is now 1/4 it's original size. I stopped in there last Christmas looking for a certain album for my mom. The sound of plastic CD's being flipped through brought back all kinds of fond memories.  

The Cen-Tex Smoker

dmchicago said:

1979 (June 9) – Texxas Music Festival, Cotton Bowl, Dallas, Texas (General Admission – $15.00)

• TKO
• Sammy Hagar
• Nazareth
• Van Halen
• Boston
• Heart
• Blue Öyster Cult

I took these crappy pictures. Between getting stoned AF, I used to enjoy dragging a camera to rock shows back then.

What struck me today is that EVH is only 5 years older than me. I was 19 at this concert, he was 24. Weird to me that we were so close in age.

awesome pics Dennis. That concert became The Texas Jam held every year in the cotton bowl. I saw several of these bands there in the years following. Think I probably started going in 84-ish. Sammy, BOC, Nugent, Triumph, Styx, Boston and tons of others. VH was too big for that show by the time I started going. I think Sammy played it almost every year I went so I became a fan.