Favorite Track from Van Halen's Debut

'Ain't Talkin Bout Love' got the vote, however, the one/two punch of 'Eruption' right into 'You Really Got Me' was mind blowing the first hundreds of times I heard it. Still is actually.

Not a bad tune on there though.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

'Ain't Talkin Bout Love' got the vote, however, the one/two punch of 'Eruption' right into 'You Really Got Me' was mind blowing the first hundreds of times I heard it. Still is actually.

Not a bad tune on there though.

I still have to hear those two together. I hated how the Best of Birth Worlds comp opened with Eruption but went straight into one of the new (quite awful) tunes. It's enough to actually derail my entire day haha.

Yea, those 2 tracks are forever linked together in my mind. 'Eruption' without 'You Really Got Me' is like an Asian massage without the happy ending.

Since I was just a wee lad when that album came out, I can only imagine what guys must've thought when they heard 'Eruption' for the first time. Heads were exploding for sure.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Since I was just a wee lad when that album came out, I can only imagine what guys must've thought when they heard 'Eruption' for the first time. Heads were exploding for sure.

I am reading a very entertaining book about the early days of VH ("Van Halen Rising: How a Southern California Backyard Party Band Saved Heavy Metal") and it sez that yep, Ed was blowing audience's minds for several years with that solo, way before he committed it to tape.

George Lynch and Tracy G (later of Dio) both describe seeing him play it at early VH gigs and having an out of body experience, i.e. "What the @#$% is this? What the @#$% is he doing? How the @#$% is he doing it? How the @#$% can *I* learn to do it too?"

Fat Freddy wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Since I was just a wee lad when that album came out, I can only imagine what guys must've thought when they heard 'Eruption' for the first time. Heads were exploding for sure.

I am reading a very entertaining book about the early days of VH ("Van Halen Rising: How a Southern California Backyard Party Band Saved Heavy Metal") and it sez that yep, Ed was blowing audience's minds for several years with that solo, way before he committed it to tape.

George Lynch and Tracy G (later of Dio) both describe seeing him play it at early VH gigs and having an out of body experience, i.e. "What the @#$% is this? What the @#$% is he doing? How the @#$% is he doing it? How the @#$% can *I* learn to do it too?"

Yea, I've also heard that back in the early days, Eddie would play that with his back to the audience so they couldn't see what he was doing. Turns out, people couldn't figure it out when he faced them either.

Eruption. An incredible album I never get tired of.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Since I was just a wee lad when that album came out, I can only imagine what guys must've thought when they heard 'Eruption' for the first time. Heads were exploding for sure.

I am reading a very entertaining book about the early days of VH ("Van Halen Rising: How a Southern California Backyard Party Band Saved Heavy Metal") and it sez that yep, Ed was blowing audience's minds for several years with that solo, way before he committed it to tape.

George Lynch and Tracy G (later of Dio) both describe seeing him play it at early VH gigs and having an out of body experience, i.e. "What the @#$% is this? What the @#$% is he doing? How the @#$% is he doing it? How the @#$% can *I* learn to do it too?"

Yea, I've also heard that back in the early days, Eddie would play that with his back to the audience so they couldn't see what he was doing. Turns out, people couldn't figure it out when he faced them either.

Even the earlier stuff before he started tapping was wtf. And all the tab books I've seen can't seem to get his lead work right.

Btw Keith how is that book? I just noticed it at the book store. I've read Everybody Wants Some twice now, getting hungry for more.

Feel Your Love Tonight

On Fire!
I got this when it first came out..I have owned and played several copies of the vinyl white..Now I have a new 180 gram vinyl I am working on..Love this album..

Quote :

Btw Keith how is that book? I just noticed it at the book store. I've read Everybody Wants Some twice now, getting hungry for more.

I just finished it the other day... it was great! Very enjoyable read with a lot of good stories. Plus it inspired me to fill in the gaps in my early VH collection next time I go out CD scrounging.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Quote :

Btw Keith how is that book? I just noticed it at the book store. I've read Everybody Wants Some twice now, getting hungry for more.

I just finished it the other day... it was great! Very enjoyable read with a lot of good stories. Plus it inspired me to fill in the gaps in my early VH collection next time I go out CD scrounging.

Very cool thx, me gonna get a copy next week.

^^ Cool man. I think you'll dig it.

Fun fact that I learned: Gene Simmons is widely credited with "discovering" VH but in fact he kinda stumbled across them by accident. The night he first saw VH live in an L.A. club, he was actually there to see the headlining band "The Boyz" (feat. a pre-Dokken George Lynch) cuz he had an interest in possibly managing/producing them.

However, VH utterly blew George & co. off the stage that night, and Gene was so bowled over by them that he left The Boyz in the dust and went after VH instead.

...that story might actually be common knowledge among VH fandom for all I know, but it was the first I'd ever heard it.

I think "Runnin' With the Devil"???

I could be wrong but I remember the cassette having a different track listing (regarding the placement of "On Fire") than the CD. I only have a handful of my VH tapes left, and sadly the debut is not one of them, so I cannot reference.

the sentinel wrote:

I could be wrong but I remember the cassette having a different track listing (regarding the placement of "On Fire") than the CD. I only have a handful of my VH tapes left, and sadly the debut is not one of them, so I cannot reference.

You are correct. This is the cassette track listing:

A1 Runnin' With The Devil
A2 Eruption
A3 You Really Got Me
A4 Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
A5 I'm The One
A6 On Fire
B1 Jamie's Cryin'
B2 Atomic Punk
B3 Feel Your Love Tonight
B4 Little Dreamer
B5 Ice Cream Man

Fat Freddy wrote:

^^ Cool man. I think you'll dig it.

Fun fact that I learned: Gene Simmons is widely credited with "discovering" VH but in fact he kinda stumbled across them by accident. The night he first saw VH live in an L.A. club, he was actually there to see the headlining band "The Boyz" (feat. a pre-Dokken George Lynch) cuz he had an interest in possibly managing/producing them.

However, VH utterly blew George & co. off the stage that night, and Gene was so bowled over by them that he left The Boyz in the dust and went after VH instead.

...that story might actually be common knowledge among VH fandom for all I know, but it was the first I'd ever heard it.

Pure Gene, there! I remember a few years ago Gene trying to pass-off a story on how EVH "wanted to join KISS" due to being unhappy working with Dave...

http://www.vhnd.com/2014/03/11/kiss-vh-rumors/

Eddie's response to all this was pretty funny - "Wow!" "Not that I know of." "Unless I was so f*cked-up I don't remember...? They might have asked me...?"

http://www.vhnd.com/2014/03/14/eddie-responds-to-kiss-rumor/

I remember reading a few books about Zep -
And how Jimmy Page did over-layers and over-dubs -
There was a lot of complexity and beauty....
The one thing about this Van Halen debut -
is the sheer ferocity of the one guitar attack -
It all seemed so fast and loose and chaotic - audibly.
Add to it all the David Lee Roth singular yells ...
Ahhyeah , ohhheee, eyeeyeeeooo...instant stardom !