Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:00 pm Post subject: Van Halen Fresno concert film, 78 and 79
These in person films by a Fresno rock concert recorder (whose content has been reup'd by a bunch of people, so I dunno if he's pulled his channel or not), but he did Van Halen among other timely rock bands in Fresno. This footage here is tantamount to Bigfoot footage. Halen wasn't like KISS. They were woefully, shamefully ignorant of recording their concert footage for posterity. KISS filmed too much of their stuff by comparison. And mind you, it was Gene Simmons who paid for VH's demo in 77 and they couldn't get picked up until Warner Bros found out about them. They broke into the biz when the soundtrack to Grease and The Bee Gees were kicking ass on the music charts. Not easy to do. Anyway, the 78 and 79 stuff? Here they go. They're choppy because dude had to fuss with film during the concert. In 78, VH was the backup band to Black Sabbath and the legend everyone states is that the lads blew Sabbath away every night. Probable at that stage of Sabbath. Coincidentally, Sabbath had problems w/ Ozzy at the time which would in 85 mirror the Roth departure from VH. Dave said he was fired, Ed said he left.
(1978)
(1979)
Any comments about VH would be cool. I know there are VH fans in here. One dude has 5150 in his nym. _________________ GOAT MAGIC REEL SEDALE TRIBUTE EDDIE DONX!
i am certainly not get off my lawn guy, but its sad when it comes to music and movies that kids today dont really have it good.
I know music styles and tastes change but Van Halen growing up was a staple, especially having an older brother.
I notice a lot of kids (Millennials and whatever other generational names) are fascinated by the 80s and 90s. That kinda dorky charm of 80s stuff currently seems to be in. I think they're smart enough that they realize that music and movies and even sports suck today, to be honest. _________________ GOAT MAGIC REEL SEDALE TRIBUTE EDDIE DONX!
Imagine following Van Halen on stage during this time. Wouldn't wish that on my worst enemies.
Also, DLR was an amazing singer. He had a cool rasp and great tone. He didn't always stay in pitch, but for those songs he didn't need to. Plus Mike Anthony always had his back (that dude had/has great pitch). If you check out Dave's isolated tracks from those days (Runnin', Dance the Night, In a Simple Rhyme, etc.) he's singing with tons of swagger and presence, even breaking character occasionally. Love him or hate him, he's a character.
Also, for anyone wondering, that shark guitar was an Ibanez Destroyer that Eddie had painted and cut the bottom section to include the shark teeth. That guitar doesn't get enough credit; it's all over the early club pics (pre-shark teeth) and legend has it that Eddie cut a good portion of the debut album using that guitar. Both the shark guitar and the white Frankie pre-date the red striped guitar that later became synonymous with EVH in the 80s.
Also, AVH is a fantastic drummer and can hold his own technically with just about anybody. Ever wonder why every cover of Hot For Teacher sucks? Nobody can quite nail that insane opening.
Imagine following Van Halen on stage during this time. Wouldn't wish that on my worst enemies.
Also, DLR was an amazing singer. He had a cool rasp and great tone. He didn't always stay in pitch, but for those songs he didn't need to. Plus Mike Anthony always had his back (that dude had/has great pitch). If you check out Dave's isolated tracks from those days (Runnin', Dance the Night, In a Simple Rhyme, etc.) he's singing with tons of swagger and presence, even breaking character occasionally. Love him or hate him, he's a character.
Also, for anyone wondering, that shark guitar was an Ibanez Destroyer that Eddie had painted and cut the bottom section to include the shark teeth. That guitar doesn't get enough credit; it's all over the early club pics (pre-shark teeth) and legend has it that Eddie cut a good portion of the debut album using that guitar. Both the shark guitar and the white Frankie pre-date the red striped guitar that later became synonymous with EVH in the 80s.
Also, AVH is a fantastic drummer and can hold his own technically with just about anybody. Ever wonder why every cover of Hot For Teacher sucks? Nobody can quite nail that insane opening.
There's a good vid on a channel that has a "Why (blank) is so good." format. It did the production of I think You Really Got Me and Dave's singing and why it was better than critics gave him credit for. That was obviously when he had his voice. He had a distinctive voice if he wasn't a technically excellent singer like Steve Perry. But in rock, and especially hard rock, being tech excellent as a singer isn't really all that important. And his combination of splits and all that stuff which he borrowed from Jim Dandy from Black Oak Arkansas and just ramped it up til he was doing splits off the hi-riser and such. People say he was a clone of Jim Dandy in terms of looks and movement, but he was way further along and Dandy has always professed to enjoy Dave's work and was happy to be modeled after in any respect.
A lot of rock drummers have AVH in their top 10s. I used to watch that defunct metal show on VH1 w/ Eddie Trunk and Jim Florentine. There were numerous current and former rock stars who were still fanatic about Van Halen, the DLR era. The full Pantera band were VH freaks til the death of both brothers, who you would expect to really relate to VH w/ the brother guitarist/drummer thing. Zakk Wylde and John5 (White Zombie's guitarist) have vids raving about Eddie on YT and such. Henry Rollins has a video about them, he was a fan tho he was a disparate punk star as Pantera was a disparate heavy/heavy rock band. Dimebag got Eddie's black/yellow bumblebee guitar in his casket, supposedly the original one from 79. Then the glam LA bands all were fans. VH of that time period had the widest possible net. VH were basically for everybody. That can be a bad thing for a rock band, but it didn't affect their street cred, so to speak. They were big enough to handle having a label like that. The band from that early period was so Godlike in terms of technical skill and the tunes that some of the death thrash metal guys watch their film on tour, I've seen such a vid awhile back on YT. Kerry King of Slayer used to go to their concerts and watch Eddie w/ binoculars. Slayer is obviously a diff kind of truth/rock. Nancy Wilson of Heart did a nice acoustic tribute to Eddie on her site. He had a lot of friends in the biz. Tributes to the lad poured out from everywhere when he died. Nancy said in the 80s she was touched by him complimenting her acoustic playing and she said he should play more, but he didn't have an acoustic so she gave him one and he called her late at night and played a piece for her on it.
I think Eddie said he messed up the tone of that Ibanez by making it into the shark guitar, but who knows. He could make a cheap semi-toy guitar from Target sound a lot better than it was. In that 79 footage, he was playing the dragon guitar that he supposedly broke years later. That's the only footage existing of him playing that particular one. I've yet to see any footage of the bumblebee.
One thing I appreciate about Dave is he wasn’t trying to be Robert Plant. All the hard rock bands had that workmanlike singer that would put his foot on the monitor and sing in a bluesy bellow, with great pitch and vibrato. Not that that’s a bad thing; I’m a music fan and I dig it all. But Dave was different, he was more vaudevillian and theatrical, and had an unpredictability that made the band exciting. Much like Eddies guitar playing. You really can’t point to a predecessor to Dave and his archetype as a frontman, at least not in the rock scene at that time. He was unique.
The early Van Halen albums also had an interesting and unique approach to vocals, with Michael Anthony delivering the melody and tunefulness on choruses and Dave providing the grit during the verses. You almost got ‘the best of both worlds’. Once Hagar joined, some of that grit was gone. I’m not a Van Hagar hater, but even I will admit those later albums lack the street smarts of the first couple. Sammy is alright (musically speaking), but he gets on my nerves lately. Anytime he opens his mouth during interviews he’s doing this revisionist history diatribe on how Van Hagar “took the band to a new level”. Completely dismissing the fact that everybody except gen x soccer moms prefer the previous incarnation of the band over his. Pretty much every Van Halen fan I know hates his guts. I actually respect Hagar’s musical output , but he’s starting to wear thin on me. He’s been more chill about it after Eddies passing, naturally, but let’s see if that holds up.
One thing I appreciate about Dave is he wasn’t trying to be Robert Plant. All the hard rock bands had that workmanlike singer that would put his foot on the monitor and sing in a bluesy bellow, with great pitch and vibrato. Not that that’s a bad thing; I’m a music fan and I dig it all. But Dave was different, he was more vaudevillian and theatrical, and had an unpredictability that made the band exciting. Much like Eddies guitar playing. You really can’t point to a predecessor to Dave and his archetype as a frontman, at least not in the rock scene at that time. He was unique. He was already 30 in 1980 when his first album was released, which is old for a debut of a rock singer who lasts long. He could've also spent longer to get as close to Plant's range as he could cus we have nothing from his early mid 20s to estimate his voice then.
The early Van Halen albums also had an interesting and unique approach to vocals, with Michael Anthony delivering the melody and tunefulness on choruses and Dave providing the grit during the verses. You almost got ‘the best of both worlds’. Once Hagar joined, some of that grit was gone. I’m not a Van Hagar hater, but even I will admit those later albums lack the street smarts of the first couple. Sammy is alright (musically speaking), but he gets on my nerves lately. Anytime he opens his mouth during interviews he’s doing this revisionist history diatribe on how Van Hagar “took the band to a new level”. Completely dismissing the fact that everybody except gen x soccer moms prefer the previous incarnation of the band over his. Pretty much every Van Halen fan I know hates his guts. I actually respect Hagar’s musical output , but he’s starting to wear thin on me. He’s been more chill about it after Eddies passing, naturally, but let’s see if that holds up.
Billy Squier was the Plantiest of Plants. He sounded so much like Robert Plant that his 1981 song In The Dark (great song of his) was confused by listeners on rock stations who thought it was a Plant or Zep song and would call the DJ and ask for that new Zep song In The Dark. Now that coulda been Billy's natural voice, but I wouldn't doubt if he tried to clone Robert even IF that was the case.
I tolerate Hagar, proving you right just in terms of me, but I agree that's the norm for Gen 1 fans, espec those who started out as G1 fans. I only like a few of their harder edged tunes which Sammy, of course, hated the most. Humans Being, the last song they did, which Hagar hated, is one of my faves. That's proof enough to me that his instincts are for sh. I liked the studio fiddlefart version of Won't Get Fooled Again, which suited Hagar better than it would have Roth. I kinda like I Don't Wanna Hear What Love Can Do, tho they were trying very hard to be grungy. Poundcake and Runaround from 91 were aite. Poundcake video is quite good, tbh. Finish What Ya Started was likeable simply because it was a tight production and an admittedly good concept. I liked the It's About Time song a little, tho it was messy. I don't like Right Now, their biggest Hagar hit, tho I agree w/ Sammy that it was some of his best lyric writing, tho I ironically don't like the lyrics. Not my cup of tea. They weren't U2. I remember in 86 when their first single Why Can't This Be Love? came out and everyone thot the beginning sound was guitar instead of bass (what it really was). It left most people goin "Meh...maybe" from Jumpstreet. I thot that wasn't the one they shoulda lead with from the very first choice of theirs onward. At best, people then were willing to listen to it a bunch of times in the hopes of growing affinity for it.
End of the day, there are Roth era demo songs, multiple ones, that are to me better than the best of the Hagar joints. We Die Bold, Young And Wild ( a song that was passed around, Cherie Currie later did it), Big Troubles, She's The Woman (orig), Let's Get Rockin, not to mention the ones that made the actual studio album. They were just dicking around on the Simmons demo w/ Ed playing a Gene guitar (I think a Les Paul, w/ no whammy bar). But I guess that the great majority of music acts that are successful are more vital, young, dangerous at the start. They only get more bloated and commercial as they go on. That's the case w/ Zep, Ozzy, Aerosmith, VH, you name it. You don't get better that often with gray hair, bald spots, guts, and arthritis. Some of our fellow LG posters do, but not rock stars.
Great step progression in We Die Bold. Why that didn't make the album who knows. Prolly Dave didn't write it so they couldn't get paid for the writing credits (the biggest money maker, bigger than touring and album sales).
These lads did a totally RAD version of We Die Bold, too, if you dare to listen. They remind me of Wyld Stallionz from those Keanu time travel movies. They were VH fans in the movie.
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