Fair Warning.....

Justincase said:
5150 and F.U.C.K
Both albums are phenomenal.
Eddie's guitar playing and arranging on 5150 is amazing and the song writing on F.U.C.K. is also amazing.
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5150 is hi on my favlist also. DLR was in many fans' badbook then, with all that wacky "just a gigolo" stuff. Sammy fit right in - one a the boys - and another guitar in the band - cool! Listenimg to FW now though, gotta forgive Dave - he was awesome in the early days.
 
sprint said:
5150 is hi on my favlist also. DLR was in many fans' badbook then, with all that wacky "just a gigolo" stuff. Sammy fit right in - one a the boys - and another guitar in the band - cool! Listenimg to FW now though, gotta forgive Dave - he was awesome in the early days.
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I loved the Sammy era when it was happening for the reasons you state. DLR went schmaltzy. Sammy
brought in some fresh energy.

30+ years later, though, and I don't find that the Sammy era ages as well for me. Those 1st 4 albums are
truly timeless and historic.
 
I love reading everyone's perspectives on this; having come way late to the game, it's interesting to see it through others' eyes, or ears, as it were. All I know is, from a certain point forward, I read every issue of Guitar For The Practicing Musician cover to cover, several times, and the number of people who said Eruption was what inspired them was truly insane. But still I relented on Van Halen until maybe a year before The Man died. It's so hard to gain perspective without having been a fan at the time, but reading this stuff helps, and is very cool.
 
Eddie was truly awesome in so many ways.
Guy practices from morning til night, comes up with a truly innovative way to expound upon something he heard Page do with bending behind the nut, builds his own guitars and modifies his amps without knowing what he was doing at first, and in the process comes up with one of the most awesome, recognizable tones ever, and writes some of the most swingin' riffs and awesome songs, plays blinding fast blues-based solos, coupled with a certain way of throwing in patterns that give his playing that extra something that just sounds so cool, and through it all he never rested, always trying to push himself into ever-broadening areas of true guitar innovation. He was just the whole freakin' package! And yeah that was a long sentence, but it takes a lot to describe him!
 
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What I hear is what I would describe as playing with swagger. Like the guy that's playing that stuff is more badass, just plain cooler, than any person you could ever meet in the real world; like, larger than life. It's like the swagger some blues players have, but in the context of innovative rock.

I liken the difference with EVH to actors: I think about how historically actors shot to fame based on personality and feel, but somewhere things started to shift where peoples showed up with less and less personality, and no real character. It was replaced eventually by dudes showing up after six hours in the gym, treating acting as an afterthought, and with no real life experience or personality to add on their own. EVH was the ultimate of personality and feel, and it's like the Gregorian calendar, you have guitar before VH and "Anno VH," but I've heard plenty of stuff AVH, if you will, where it's the equivalent of a million pushups with nothing really to say. So I look at Eddie Van Halen doing what he did when he did, and innovating in so many damn ways, and I feel a true sense of wonder and awe about it, even in hindsight.
 
Another thing about Eddie was he wasn't out to "be the best" or had something to prove. His attitude was, This is just how I play. He'd pull back when interviewers would ask him about how he "invented tapping", and he'd say that he didn't even call it that, that again, it was just how he played, and how he expressed himself on guitar. He always came across to me as being quite humble.
I mean, he knew he had something quite new and innovative at the time, because of how he'd turn around during certain parts of his shows, but hey, if I was blazing a different path like he was, I too would want to hang onto it for as long as I could, guitar players being what they are, in taking what came before them and using it in their own stuff.
And don't forget, he did it when disco was in full force too!
I don't know if it can really be said that no one will ever come along in the future and do as much for guitar and music that Eddie did, but if it ever does happen, he raised that bar to a height that it's gonna take a LOT to do it. He's my pick for GOAT.
 
On another note, I know Diver Down isn’t one of the best liked albums, but ”The Full Bug” is one of my favorite songs ever. I read last night
that Dave, yes Dave played the acoustic guitar intro on that song, as well as harmonica! If that is true, I have a new found respect for Dave!
What a band they were!
 
randyvanmartini said:
On another note, I know Diver Down isn’t one of the best liked albums, but ”The Full Bug” is one of my favorite songs ever. I read last night
that Dave, yes Dave played the acoustic guitar intro on that song, as well as harmonica! If that is true, I have a new found respect for Dave!
What a band they were!
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I think Dave also played the acoustic intro to Ice Cream Man, but I might be misremembering.

I am also I big fan of The Full Bug.
 
randyvanmartini said:
On another note, I know Diver Down isn’t one of the best liked albums, but ”The Full Bug” is one of my favorite songs ever. I read last night
that Dave, yes Dave played the acoustic guitar intro on that song, as well as harmonica! If that is true, I have a new found respect for Dave!
What a band they were!
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Love "Little Guitars" ftom DD and the whole actual little guitar thing that went along with it - yes Ed was "swagger" but also, Ed was also like a curious mechanically minded kid having fun finding out about stuff: variacs, partscasters, try it and see amp mods, drills, ... little guitars...he seemed never to lose that genuine interest and sense of fun that was a trademark of the whole band:
 
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Always eagerly anticipate the solo'd ending riff when listening to "little guitars" - so cool - genius:
 
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TSJMajesty said:
Eddie was truly awesome in so many ways.
Guy practices from morning til night, comes up a truly innovative way to expound upon something he heard Page do with bending behind the nut, builds his own guitars and modifies his amps without knowing what he was doing at first, and in the process comes up with one of the most awesome, recognizable tones ever, and writes some of the most swingin' riffs and awesome songs ever, plays blinding fast blues-based solos, coupled with a certain way of throwing in patterns that give his playing that extra something that just sounds so cool, and through it all he never rested, always trying to push himself into ever-broadening areas of true guitar innovation. He was just the whole freakin' package! And yeah that was a long sentence, but it takes a lot to describe him!
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That sentence was definitely Eddie inspired. Well said. :)
 
sprint said:
Always eagerly anticipate the solo'd ending riff when listening to "little guitars" - so cool - genius:
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Yikes! That Diver Down album cover still pisses me off. I just seem to have an immediate allergic reaction to it.

Still VH. Still Eddie. But that entire album has a phoned in vibe that just bugs the shit out of me.

Probably just me, though. ;)
 
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