Van Halen

I don't like david lee roth, but eddy more than makes up for this. Their music is a bit cheesy, and I can't take myself seriously listening to them, but god damn, they might just have the greatest rock guitarist ever (besides hendrix)

Being the grandfathers of the LA hair metal scene doesn’t do the band justice. Sure, they begat the blondish bombastic frontman and the harmonic/semiharmonic-chiming guitar solos, but in their prime of 1978 to 1981, no band rocked harder than VH.

Had arguably the greatest guitarist in rock history whose innovations on the axe provided the blueprint for a thousand lesser players. Eddie’s rhythm guitar work is so vastly underrated that no one discusses in any forum. Rhythm section was stout with Michael Anthony and Alex Van Halen and Eddie and Michael provided overlooked harmonies on many great songs.

Early studio work is almost a joke as they spent fewer than two weeks recording each of their first three albums. Women and Children First was recorded in 6 days and includes many humorous “errors” during production easily heard upon a closer listen.

Party atmosphere on first two studio albums gives way to a darker, richer sound on WandCF and especially Fair Warning and on older songs on 1984 (Drop Dead Legs and House of Pain).

Don’t bother with the commercial stylings of recordings with Sammy Hagar.

Probably one of the most influential bands in ruining mainstream rock and roll.

From Fischman 01/05/2019 13:11 | #229004

Some talented musicians often playing sophomoic/juvenile songs. All too often, more flash than substance. Fun on occasion, but hardly sustainable. Personally, I'll take Hagar over Roth any day. That supposed five octave range is only because of his screaming and theres a big gap between what he sings and what he screams, so theres a chunk of that range is missing.

The first Roth era is legitimately excellent stuff with consistent albums. Roth has a 5 1/2 octave range, so I don't get why people knock him for his vocal ability. Him and Eddie in their primes were the thunder. 1984, Women and Children First and their debut are great albums. All their songs then were messy and unfocused and sounded like they could collapse at any moment (but in a good way than only Van Halen could do).

Van Hagar had some good songs, but never any consistent good albums.

My favorite band at one point, VH will always have a place in my favorites, they had a great run with DLR with a string of classic albums on which they showed their ability to write great songs, reinvent themselves, and maintain consistently great musicianship. With DLR, they only had two bad albums (II, Diver Down)

Van Halen with DLRoth = 90
Van Hagar = 25

From hoyquarlow 08/24/2016 03:33 | #173358

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From Brandon8 01/26/2015 01:13 | #132613

I am a huge fan of the original lineup. I believe their debut is one of the best albums of all time. Van Halen II, And Women and Children First have some great songs but I prefer the Fair Warning and Diver Down. With 1984 they blew up and broke up. They were very much of their time.

From AAL2014 05/04/2014 18:25 | #110760

Van Halen is one of the most influential rock bands of their time. Of course that means without Van Halen there probably wouldn't have been that god awful hair metal scene throughout the 80's. However, I forgive them for that because I enjoy their work with Roth and a number of tracks from the Hagar era. Very talented band with a couple classic albums.