Van Halen Rising any good ?

I've been slowing down my rock book buying....
My last book was Malmsteen
Is VH Rising worth 15-20 bucks ?

I didn't pay 20 bucks for it, but I borrowed that book from the library recently and enjoyed the hell out of it. Very entertaining read, with a lot of good stories.

As soon as I was done with it, I started filling in the gaps in my DLR-era VH CD collection!!

A good read for any Van Halen fan. Many of the stories are familiar and some are not. Quite a lot of detail of the gig's before the club days. There is some things in the book even the hard core fans will go wow, didn't know that.

There's some cool things in this book.
They should of dropped the after-thought chapter.
Eddie knowing it wasn't going to be a cake-walk to follow AC DC in a concert.
Them opening for Sabbath...Ozzy and Roth 3 days doing coke....where's Ozzy !
VH using KISS stage and equipment ! For an audition !
Roth...spray painted " no milk " on his dad's kitchen cabinet.
Dog chain guitar strap, gas mask drum solo, parachuting....
Just how they put together the debut....
This book was just a tip of the iceberg for sure.

An absolute page turner, purchased it after FF's recommendation and couldn't put it down. The Everybody Wants Some bio is also a good read despite its romantic, padded prose. This book, however, has a welcome academic bent to it, and the footnotes are a welcome benefit.

The whole book is a slow motion, fly on the wall account of the Genesis (haha) of the band up through the end of 78. The chapter "The Battle of Pasadena," about the infamous Imler house party-turned-riot is worth the price of admission alone. I actually read that chapter twice, as funny and zany as the whole affair was (I was actually able to locate the house on Google Earth and piece everything together with the added visual, which was a delight).

I plan on reading it a second time. It's quite brilliant and exceeded my expectations, furthering my adoration for the greatest band in Earth's history.

Zany - is a great word for them One important club early gig....as crowds began showing up...I was surprised....when it was said that they opened with" Man on the Silver Mountain " and shocked and delighted the unfamiliar rabid crowd.Imagine them, at that age, doing that, how it must of sounded.When they got signed, they would open with -" On Fire " and then immediately " I'm the One "Imagine the loud crazy crowd vibe -after that one two punch !
I hope the writer does another book on the 2nd album....and tour.
And Eddie upstaging UFO's Michael Schenker as opener...
and UFO afterwards smashing their equipment in anger.