Who was the better Van Halen frontman?

[natural al]

Al I heard that Michael Anthony didn't play when they recorded albums is this true?

Mike didn't play alot of bass on VH3, I've read established bass players analyzer every aspect of every song off of that disk.  Listen to Without You and pay attention to the bass line.....no way did Mike play that.  If you listen to Sammy's I never said goodbye cd where ed does play bass you'd know what I'm talking about.  Mike did not play on the 3 songs they released in 04, this has been cofirmed by Sam and by Mike.  I think he played on most stuff up until 95, maybe a couple of things here or there he didn't.  Ed didn't start getting really flakey until 96.

Do you know if VH has any plans to release a box set that contains old and new plus any of the unreleased stuff you've mentioned?

I've heard that Warner Bros.  Goes ot him every year and Ed won't sign off on it.  I DOUBT anything that was recorded after the band started using 5150 will ever be released.  Ed just won't do it.  I can name about 10-15 songs that they talked about as being left overs with Sam...stuff like The Wish, You Never Know, Backdoor Schuffle, Hendrix Jam, Out of the Ether....I'll have to look up the others but Alex said last year that there are NO unreleased VH tracks which is a blatant lie.  So i thnk there will be a box set but I think it will suck.

[mar10s]

Al I heard that Michael Anthony didn't play when they recorded albums is this true?

Mike didn't do any of the bass on the 3 songs that came out on BOBW.  They called Sammy in and he did the vocals and then Sammy talked them into calling Mike in to lay down backing vocals....kinda crappy for Mike.  The brothers were mad at him for touring with Sam.


Al, I have "That's Why I Love You" on cd...found it one day on Kazaa a few years back...pretty cool tune actually.  

I'd love to hear some of the old club stuff.  I have the US Festival show in full, in color saved on my computer.  Dave is hilarious on it!  So wasted on the opening song "Romeo's Delight" he forgets the words and makes it known to the crowd...great stuff.  There is NO band out there like VH or any other band of that era for that matter.  Seems like no bands today have any staying power.  I'm sure i'm missing some, but Metallica, Aerosmith, Def Leppard just to name a few...they're a dying breed unfortunately.  What else ya know Al...some good sh*t!

[Sergio Rules 77]

As a massive Van Halen fan, I love both Sammy & Dave the same which is pretty rare as most are split down the middle. I prefer Dave's voice & stage presence but I prefer slightly the music they made with Sammy. Balance is my favourite and outstrips anything they did with Dave. So sad what's happended to VH though, do you realise they have only released 4 albums of new material in over 20 years, OU812, F.U.C.K, Balance & VHIII (if you can call that an album). Now Eddie's been reduced to doing music for porno movies .

SERGIO!!!!!

[mar10s]

Ya, that porn was "shot" pun intended, at Ed's house.  I hear ya though...i'm a fan of all of their music.  I just think they are/were a great band.  The hall of fame thing...if they do get in and perform...dont they have to perform with all 3 singers??

[natural al]

Mike didn't do any of the bass on the 3 songs that came out on BOBW.  They called Sammy in and he did the vocals and then Sammy talked them into calling Mike in to lay down backing vocals....kinda crappy for Mike.  The brothers were mad at him for touring with Sam.


Al, I have "That's Why I Love You" on cd...found it one day on Kazaa a few years back...pretty cool tune actually.  

I'd love to hear some of the old club stuff.  I have the US Festival show in full, in color saved on my computer.  Dave is hilarious on it!  So wasted on the opening song "Romeo's Delight" he forgets the words and makes it known to the crowd...great stuff.  There is NO band out there like VH or any other band of that era for that matter.  Seems like no bands today have any staying power.  I'm sure i'm missing some, but Metallica, Aerosmith, Def Leppard just to name a few...they're a dying breed unfortunately.  What else ya know Al...some good sh*t!

I've got to get to bed so I'll post more tomorrow, it's been just random thoughts up until now.  Dave did that "I forgot the fuckin words" stuff all the time, it was an act.  I thought the US festival show sucked ass compared to some of the stuff I've seen.  At that point they were the highes paid band ever to do a one night show...and they came out wasted off thier ass.  I think they got paid something like 17,000 a minute for that show. 

About the 04 songs.  Waht you said was true but Ed and Al made Mike sign a waiver so he now has no rights to the VH name and he took a big pay cut to go out on the 04 tour.  Mike cannot do an appearance as "Van Halens Mike Anthony" at this point....he has no rights to the name and no say so to anything the band does.

let's see what's some good shit......the band were gonna record a live album of the fair warnings tour but...supposedly Dave slept with Alex's wife and Ed confronted dave and tried to slug him and dave moved..ed ended up hitting the wall and breaking his hand...that's a rumor that I've read about in a book and seen talked about on the net.

here's some songs from the 76 demo I talked about earlier:

you really got me
last child-aerosmith cover
live for the music
runnin with the devil
the rover
sweet emotion
waitin for the bus
walk this way
superstition
still alive and well
twist and shout

and it goes on and on...I don't even know who did most of that stuff originally..

[natural al]

Ya, that porn was "shot" pun intended, at Ed's house.  I hear ya though...i'm a fan of all of their music.  I just think they are/were a great band.  The hall of fame thing...if they do get in and perform...dont they have to perform with all 3 singers??

I think Gary's already said he won't show up....I'm not sure about that.  It's gonna be a mess no matter what.  Ed hates everybody these days but Alex and Al might be walking a thin line these days.  Al and Sam still talk from what I hear...that could land Al in outsville with everyone else.

[AVBG]

For all the fans. This is one of my guitars!

[natural al]

20 years old.  Yes I know they're clothes suck and I know Sam's hair is terrible but check out the guitar solo.....incredible.

[mar10s]

Sweet Guitar pic!! 

Nice video post too Al!  Live Without a Net from "New Halen" CT!!

Alex is by far very unrespected as one of the best drummers ever.  Ed said he's tried playing "Hot for Teacher" with a lot of drummers and no one could make it through the song.  Anyway, talent all round the table.  Thanks for the vid post Al.

[mar10s]

Here's a clip of Ed from the 1995 Balance Tour...

[Grundle]

Natural Al,


I will admit you are a formidable adversary when it comes to Van Halen history and trivia! Just an update however, Van Halen and Warner Bros. have officially parted ways. 

[AVBG]

hey.. how do you convert a word doc to jpg? I got an awesome pic to share of Wolfgang and Eddie jamming.

[natural al]

Natural Al,


I will admit you are a formidable adversary when it comes to Van Halen history and trivia! Just an update however, Van Halen and Warner Bros. have officially parted ways. 

yeah but if they do a box set it will be with warner or wih Rhino which owned by warner.

[njflex]

vh have and will alway's be one of my favorite's from my teen year's,i have every cd and like dlr and sammy for different reason's as you have all pointed out.it scare's me to think of a tour with roth now he act's like a total imbecile now,back in the day it was a controlled cockiness and he backed it up.the same brashness today come's of as comical.eddie will go down as the gretest rock guitarist ever seen and it is a cause of debate due to clapton,hendrix,fans i don't care for their music so it's just an opinion,but he revolutionized the way to play guitar from tapping,to bending,and distortion effects with melodic playing.i'm am no guitar player nor musician,just good ear's that were entranced by his unique sound.his best work was defintely fair warning,women and children first,balance great comeback album.5150 was a masterpiece all around.i saw the lst tour with sammy and it was halfhearted ,i liked enough to go though,and his guitar solo was a showstoppa.his son came out too,interesting to say the least ,kid can play.we'll see if this roth tour comes to fruition but with eddie and roth their only a fight away from it becoming just a bad idea.

[Mr. Intenseone]

I grew up in the Pasadena area and used to see Van Halen before they were "Van Halen" at local backyard parties, David couldn't sing worth a crap back then but they were still awesome, after David Lee Roth left the band everyone thought that was the end and when Sammy Hagar came along we also thought that it would never be the same, but personally I have been a huge fan of Sammy since his days with "Montrose" plus he was another local boy (West Covina).

Every once in a while Eddie and Michael Anthoney will come into this local bar in Arcadia (First Cabin) and sit in with the band and when people realized who it was the place obviously goes nuts!

[natural al]

here's some old school VH stuff.  first when Dave joined the band they were known as mammoth.  Ed handled alot of the singing up to that point.  One of the main reasons Dave was asked to join the band was because he had a PA system.  The band at that time was made up of Ed, Al, Dave and bassist mark stone.  Stone either quit or was asked to leave and now works as a plumber in the pasadena area.  VH were initially "discovered" by Gene Simmons.  Simmons was at a show to see Dokken's guitarist George lynch's band at the time "The Boyz" but ended up getting VH to do a demo.  The simmons demo had..I think...6 songs on it.  Runnin with the devil was on it as was an early version of House of Pain which would show up in a different form on 1984, I'll have to check my copy for the other songs but I know one of them was named Babe don't leave me alone and another is Voodoo Queen which would later turn up as the music for Mean street.  The simmons demo was given to the head of casablanca records-kiss' old record label and he passed on it to sign Billy Squir's band. 

One of the coolest songs on balance-IMO-is Take me Back.  If you can get an early bootleg of the band from around 75 or 76 and get a song called No More Waiting you'll notice that the intro is the same for both songs except TMB is on an acoustic guitar.

Ed built his guitars for most of the early stuff he did.  The guitar on the cover of women and children first was on loan from WASP's Blackie Lawless...ed loved that guitar but decided it would look better if he modified it and took a chainsaw to it and ruined the sound of it.

[AVBG]

Ed built his guitars for most of the early stuff he did.  The guitar on the cover of women and children first was on loan from WASP's Blackie Lawless...ed loved that guitar but decided it would look better if he modified it and took a chainsaw to it and ruined the sound of it.

Ibanez destroyer 

[Man of Steel]

Roth

[natural al]

Ibanez destroyer 

yes, yes, yes.  I've got an old issue of "the inside" magazine with a bunch of eddies guitars in it, lots of cool stuff the flying V he used for hot for teacher and best of both worlds, the old black and yellow strat, a bunch of red and white guitars, a double neck bass guitar combo he used to play "spanked" with in concert, lots of cool stuff.  I read once when he was talking with the guy who made the stienberg guitars that he brought some prototypes to eddie...this was right about the time they were working on Carnal knowledge and Ed was thinking of endorsing them..anyway he gives Ed the guitar and he said Ed sat down and started playing it, after a couple of minutes it was like Ed was in a trance...the guy said it was some of the greatest guitar work he'd ever seen. 

If anyone gets a chance check out for unlawful carnal knowledge...it's an incredible cd.  That's the first time they really nailed thier production.  Andy Johns did a ton of stuff with Zepplin and he brought alot of those elements with him to VH's sound.  Everyone kicks ass on that disk...check out Judgement Day and Pleasure Dome...totally incredible.  I still think that's one of the best "hard rock" cd's of the 90's.

[Grundle]

I consider myself the number one Van Halen fan of all time, but once Sammy joined the band, the live show became a canned, predictable and stale product.  Tour after tour, Sammy would sing the same 4 or 5 Roth era songs and then subject the crowd to his awful acoustic set (eagles fly ) Van Halen I through 1984 are all perfect albums, results with Sammy varied, with some good material on F.U.C.K and ou812.  Sammy couldnt give Roth's power to "the brown sound".  Long live Dave.  Check out DLRARMY.com

[bmacsys]

Sammy Hagar or David lee roth?

Van Halen was great. Van Hagar SUCKED. Without Diamond Dave Van Halen ceased to exist.

[bmacsys]

best song?

panama?

Unchained, So this is Love, Little Dreamer, Atomic Punk, Outta Love, Dance the Night Away. The list goes on....

[bmacsys]

 Greatest vocalist? sebastian bach.

I hope you are kidding on this one?

[bmacsys]

u like judas priest or saxon?

You like songs like Heading out to the Highway or Hot Rockin?

[bmacsys]

Sammy is not in the band anymore.  He tours on his own and I've been to all of his solo tours since the departure from VH in 06.  He can still put on a great show and does his shows with Michael Anthony for at least half the show.  The band is ready to tour in 2007 with DLR as the lead singer.  Michael Anthony, the bass player, as of now will not tour with the band.  Eddie's son, so far, is slated to be the bass player for the tour.  They may also have a "guest" tour also as another bass player.

As far as which singer is the best...matter of opinion.  Sammy had better range but Dave could really entertain the crowd.  However, VH never debuted at #1 on the album charts till Sammy came along and 5150 was released.  Dave can't sing worth shit now, mostly talkes through all the songs (saw him this past summer).  But the tour will be entertaining.

They blew it with Dave when they fucked him over in 1996. I read DLR did say not too long ago he saw a reunion in the future. Why is Anthony out? Because he is buddies with hagar?