The Mighty Van Halen is back and hitting NJ with this summer show at the PNC Bank Arts Center. Kenny Wayne Sheperd will start things off for their fans.
Tag Archives: dave lee roth
Van Halen’s “1984”: Big Brother’s Still Watching @ 30 Years (1984-2014)
January was a great month for Hard Rock and Metal bands releasing iconic albums as it was only the other day that Judas Priest celebrated thirty years of “Defenders Of The Faith” (which was toasted HERE) and now it was Van Halen’s turn to soak up the rays of praise as “1984” hit the record store shelves thirty years ago today. I have to admit that the money I was making as a Wall Street messenger back then was being put to good use and the record shop was a regular place to visit and walk out with something. Van Halen was one of those bands that I was listening to since the very first album and they were one of my top three bands of all time. The other two are KISS and Judas Priest and each has had works covered on the core PiercingMetal website in addition to these blogs. The anticipation was high about “1984” because friends and I had been hearing the single “Jump” for a few weeks and while the memory has faded on when we all first saw the video for the tune, I would like to think that this was not too long after the album hit the street if not before. One should realize that in this time in music the video drove added sales to the album.
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Van Halen: Live Photos @ Madison Square Garden (3/1/2012)
Van Halen was performing at the venerated Madison Square Garden for two nights and I discussed my time at one of these shows at the narrative found on THIS LINK. Now please enjoy the photos that I was able to capture during this time.
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“Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga” by Ian Christe
Author: Ian Christe
Title: “Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga”
Publisher: Wiley Publishing
Release Date: 8/24/2007
Genre: Biography
Rating: 3.5/5
During the final months of 2007 an event that Hard Rock and Metal fans had been waiting for decades to occur finally had come to pass and this of course was the reunion of the brothers Van Halen with their former singer David Lee Roth. I felt it best to begin our commentary with that bit of knowledge for the book itself leaves us wondering if this will indeed happen. “Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga” by Ian Christe is a journey back in time to the beginning of the band and how its members met and while the more noted Van Halen experts might balk at some of its contents there is really a lot of cool information to absorb when it comes down to it. We journey back to Holland and first meet the Van Halen brothers who were young musicians who performed with their Father and we learn first hand about the sparks being lit by budding guitar genius Edward Van Halen. I won’t recant every chapter but it explains how the band met up and jammed at outdoor parties and simply grew and grew during a time when Hard Rock and Heavy Metal music was being forced out the door by the likes of Disco. We meet a young David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony and learn how they joined the group and each of them offered a unique perspective to the mix as the band struggled for scene dominance and eventually secured their recording contact. Had you been a regular reader of the music magazines that saw publication during the bands early years a lot of this information might not surprise you but with the bands continued impact on modern music today there are clearly more than enough readers who will come away with mountains of detail because of what is lined out in its pages.
Continue reading “Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga” by Ian Christe