Is DLR era Van Halen Metal?

Simple question, is early Van Halen metal? I say yes and I think many of you agree but I want to get a consensus on this for a possible argument I may have with someone (I will direct them to this thread).

No

I think it is. Eddie Van Halen changed the landscape of heavy metal. Not only were they metal, they were very important for the survival of heavy metal. At the time, the Big 3 were dying or doing whatever weird experimental prog or funk.

DLR himself was also a huge inspiration for 80's glam metal frontmen (along with Robert Plant).

^^You're both right.

As DLR once stated, it's "metallic." Especially considering the riffs for songs like Romeo's Delight and Light Up the Sky. They were certainly metal riffs, and Eddie was deeply influenced by Iommi's playing. But the aim was never metal; it was a hard rock canvas from the start. Metal was pretty much an influence more than a target.

I brought this up in a youtube comment and went ahead and edited it to explain that it's a debatable subject based on individual opinion. Though being youtube I can still imagine someone telling me I'm wrong (if they're being nice, they will probably tell me I'm an idiot too stupid to tell the difference between music genres then probably make some reference to my mother ).

Tough to say. I'd say they are a metallic tinged hard rock band. That's a definite maybe from me.

It's also one of the cool things that made them stand out so much and transcend genres.

Why even enter into a debate like this?  You know it's a quagmire...

DallasBlack wrote:

I brought this up in a youtube comment

That's your mistake right there.

corplhicks wrote:

It's also one of the cool things that made them stand out so much and transcend genres.

Just like Led Zeppelin. They were much more than "just" a heavy metal band, even if that was basically what they played.

Lari wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

I brought this up in a youtube comment

That's your mistake right there.

IMO it's a mistake to bring up this stupid argument/discussion in any venue.  It's just silly, subjective and totally pointless.

tohostudios wrote:

Lari wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

I brought this up in a youtube comment

That's your mistake right there.

IMO it's a mistake to bring up this stupid argument/discussion in any venue. 

Yes, but Youtube comments section is one of those venues where discussion does not stay civil. At all. And it's a magnet for idiots looking to just insult other people, with no intention of arguing a point.

tohostudios wrote:

Lari wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

I brought this up in a youtube comment

That's your mistake right there.

IMO it's a mistake to bring up this stupid argument/discussion in any venue.  It's just silly, subjective and totally pointless.

I wasn't trying to get in a debate. Someone commented on the Hot For Teacher video, "What did I just watch?"

I replied, "one of the best music videos in heavy metal history IMO."

Somebody replied, "Van Halen isn't metal"

I just replied to that person, "actually, it is. At least with DLR era Van Halen." then added what I mentioned above.

I would say hard rock.

tohostudios wrote:

IMO it's a mistake to bring up this stupid argument/discussion in any venue.  It's just silly, subjective and totally pointless.

SD ?  Is that you ?

007 wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

IMO it's a mistake to bring up this stupid argument/discussion in any venue.  It's just silly, subjective and totally pointless.

SD ?  Is that you ?

   Nope but I think genre debates are so useless.  Why bother?  I wouldn't have even replied to someone who said VH isn't metal.

Lari wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

Lari wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

I brought this up in a youtube comment

That's your mistake right there.

IMO it's a mistake to bring up this stupid argument/discussion in any venue. 

Yes, but Youtube comments section is one of those venues where discussion does not stay civil. At all. And it's a magnet for idiots looking to just insult other people, with no intention of arguing a point.

I said "any venue".  Much less one like you just described.

DallasBlack wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

Lari wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

I brought this up in a youtube comment

That's your mistake right there.

IMO it's a mistake to bring up this stupid argument/discussion in any venue.  It's just silly, subjective and totally pointless.

I wasn't trying to get in a debate. Someone commented on the Hot For Teacher video, "What did I just watch?"

I replied, "one of the best music videos in heavy metal history IMO."

Somebody replied, "Van Halen isn't metal"

I just replied to that person, "actually, it is. At least with DLR era Van Halen." then added what I mentioned above.

For my money, a better response to "What did I just watch" would have been "A music video I like".

I ABSOLUTELY HATE the whole concept of genre arguments.  As the cliché goes, "it's like herding cats"; genre definition change constantly and are totally subjective to begin with so it's completely futile to get into a debate about them.

I just consider them Heavy Rock.

I think of them as a band who totally, completely and utterly sucked with Sammy Hagar.  To me that's the more interesting debate; Sammy's solo stuff is excellent in my book, Van Halen with DLR is excellent in my book.  How the hell did the combination of those two manage to suck so hard?

tohostudios wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

Lari wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

I brought this up in a youtube comment

That's your mistake right there.

IMO it's a mistake to bring up this stupid argument/discussion in any venue.  It's just silly, subjective and totally pointless.

I wasn't trying to get in a debate. Someone commented on the Hot For Teacher video, "What did I just watch?"

I replied, "one of the best music videos in heavy metal history IMO."

Somebody replied, "Van Halen isn't metal"

I just replied to that person, "actually, it is. At least with DLR era Van Halen." then added what I mentioned above.

For my money, a better response to "What did I just watch" would have been "A music video I like".

I ABSOLUTELY HATE the whole concept of genre arguments.  As the cliché goes, "it's like herding cats"; genre definition change constantly and are totally subjective to begin with so it's completely futile to get into a debate about them.

Well, normally I'm a troll on youtube comments but I figured maybe they're a young kid that didn't know that hard rock is considered metal by some people so I figured I'd enlighten them. If it turns south I'll just abandon them and leave them hanging in the wind. I avoid assholes and only converse with civil people.

I must clarify, I only troll the trolls.

Tell that person to read this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Van-Halen-Rising-Southern-California/dp/1770412638

I was born in 1980, but I've read enough 70's rock journalism to understand "heavy music", "hard rock" and "heavy metal" were used pretty much interchangeably. Heavy Metal in itself is a way to describe the harder style of rock music.

And rock'n'roll, well, that's just a type of popular (or "pop") music. Kind of depends on what you compare it to. Compared to classical music, rock is "popular music". Compared to Elton John, Deep Purple is heavy metal. Compared to Judas Priest, Mayhem is just a very marginal type of extreme metal band, not the norm. Van Halen sounds more like Judas Priest than Mayhem does.

As a side note, I read a book written in Finnish about heavy metal, and it was published in the 70s. Van Halen certainly fits that bill. They were heavy metal. Among many other things.

I'd say that by 1978 standards, VH was pretty damn metal... Lord knows that Eddie inspired pretty much every hard rock dude who picked up a guitar after hearing VH's debut.

So if early VH doesn't qualify as "metal," I'd hope that most peeps would at least agree that they were a major influence on it.  

...and now that I've said my piece, I'm gonna pull the rip cord and get out now cuz threads like these inevitably turn into a Chinese clusterf*ck.

I hope this doesn't turn into an argument. All I want to know is everyone's personal opinion on DLR Van Halen being metal.