Have you seen Junior's grades?! ILM Artist Poll #75 - VAN HALEN (Results thread)

I SO LOVE MY BABY'S POUNDCAKE

(there's no consensus among lyric sites about whether it's "i so love," "i sure love," or "i still love," so i'm just going with the one that amuses me most)

wow i haven't seen the 'poundcake' video in forever. the menacing woman with the drill is the model from the 'father figure' video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-bt81UBDLI

33. COULD THIS BE MAGIC?
(Women and Children First; 1980) 102 points | 5 votes | 1 first place vote

First place vote = baller move

Can we do a top five of songs titled with exclamation points at the end?

And question marks

"Outta Love Again" in particular seems ripe for some additional enthusiasm.

Outta Love Again"?"!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iofxm92XcMI

32. WOMEN IN LOVE......
(Van Halen II; 1979) 104 points | 6 votes

All the question marks, exclamation marks,apostrophes and ellipses made compiling the results a bit of a challenge.

"women in love" like "doa" was a song i realized i should've included right after i sent my ballot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F7qDUAMXpw

31. PUSH COMES TO SHOVE
(Fair Warning; 1981) 105 points | 6 votes

Push Comes to Shove...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAxOuud9zko

30. ICE CREAM MAN
(Van Halen; 1978) 117 points | 7 votes

Ice Cream, Man?

oh i voted for "push comes to shove" which is kinda both the grooviest and most haunting depth of fair warning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gacwZ5idC7I

29. SINNER'S SWING!
(Fair Warning; 1981) 123 points | 7 votes

i also voted for this! i love fair warning

g-g-g-g-get out and push!

is anyone making a spotify playlist for this?

i knew Women in Love would make my list, but was a little surprised it nabbed a top 10 spot.

(top ten spot on my list, that is)

the station i grew up listening to in Delaware played "Ice Cream Man" about as much as any VH song, still not sure if it got that much radio play elsewhere

Dr. Demento used to play it once in a while.

My hometown AOR station played it quite a bit as well.

YES to this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFMDCz6-2U0

28. LIGHT UP THE SKY
(Van Halen II; 1979) 134 points | 7 votes

was just barely knocked out of my no. 1 spot

'Sinner's Swing!' TOO LOW!

"Ice Cream Man" was big on Houston radio, which isn't surprising as we love our ice cream down here. I still remember the surprise I felt while visiting the Blockbuster Music on Farnham sometime in the mid-nineties and hearing THIS on a Chess records comp the clerks were listening to.

Fun Fact about the VH "Ice Cream Man": DLR himself plays the acoustic part!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3u6WBBUZPE

27. “DIRTY MOVIES”
(Fair Warning; 1981) 141 points | 7 votes

Eddie really shines on that one ...

^^Underrated DLR spoken part in this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI5DOBcX6ZY

26. FINISH WHAT YA STARTED
(OU812; 1988) 142 points | 8 votes

ok kinda angry I didn't vote now.

in what universe is any Van Hagar song better than Ice Cream Man

aw i love this song and, as evidenced in the voting thread, had no idea it was van halen until last week

these two hagar-era tunes make me think there's going to be a lot more. booooo.

i predict "why can't this be love" and...

"cabo wabo" ofc

right now :-/

kinda can't imagine anyone loving "right now" enough at this point to vote for it but i've been wrong before lol

this didn't make my 20-track ballot... but we got 22! would have been higher if poll had been restricted exclusively to songs about blue balls

i voted for six hagar songs

top of the world, feels so good, love walks in, CANT STOP LOVING YOU

right now someone you know is voting for "right now"

"top of the world" is so fucking great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BzmCHAiumI

25. (OH) PRETTY WOMAN
(Diver Down; 1982) 144 points | 8 votes

I don't like voting for covers so I didn't vote for "Ice Cream Man" but I do love it.

I'm not sure "(Oh) Pretty Woman" deserved to place, though.

i voted for 4 Hagar tunes, including the 2 that have placed already. would be surprised if more than 1 or 2 remained.

I like "Oh Pretty Woman." But the video is a human rights violation.

xpost

Tracks

01 Atomic Punk
02 Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
03 On Fire
04 Runnin' With The Devil
05 And The Cradle Will Rock...
06 Everybody Wants Some!!
07 I'm The One
08 Panama
09 Dance The Night Away
10 Jamie's Cryin'
11 Unchained
12 Romeo Delight
13 Sinner's Swing!
14 Beautiful Girls
15 Little Dreamer
16 Mean Street
17 Top Jimmy
18 Women In Love...
19 'Dirty Movies'
20 Feel Your Love Tonight
21 Outta Love Again
22 Loss Of Control

LPs

01 Van Halen
02 Women and Children First
03 Fair Warning
04 Van Halen II
05 1984

50. ROMEO DELIGHT
(Women and Children First; 1980) 49 points | 3 votes | 0 first place votes

Kinda surprised this didn't place higher. Solid.

Michael Anthony's bass style is similar to Dusty Hill and Cliff Williams in keeping it simple and play what is needed like a clock.

01 Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
02 Everybody Wants Some!!
03 I'll Wait
04 Mean Street
05 And the Cradle Will Rock
06 Runnin' with the Devil
07 Eruption/You Really Got Me
08 Intruder/(Oh) Pretty Woman
09 Jump
10 Hot for Teacher
11 Beautiful Girls
12 Panama
13 On Fire
14 D.O.A.
15 Unchained
16 Ice Cream Man
17 Drop Dead Legs
18 Atomic Punk
19 Fools
20 Sunday Afternoon in the Park
21 Cathedral
22 Tora! Tora!

last two were joeks, really

Cathedral's cool. My favorite EVH instrumental that isn't Eruption.

I want to believe that somewhere in Eddie Van Halen's archive of home recordings is him jamming with some analog sequencer sounding like late 70s/early 80s Tangerine Dream. A dude that could play tap lines so repetitive and clean with a delay could sound like a one man Steve Reich. Add in some Berlin style electronic repeating sequences and you probably would have eargasm on your hands. I'd imagine the lure of easy money on the road probably kept him from ever having time, but I would have thought at one time with his L.A. proximity he could have done more movie and tv music if he wanted.

Michael Anthony's bass style is similar to Dusty Hill and Cliff Williams in keeping it simple and play what is needed like a clock.

― earlnash, Wednesday, May 25, 2016 6:46 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah...i can't imagine Eddie's sound would work as well if the bassist was trying to be as flashy as him, especially in a band with no 2nd guitarist.

i like cathedral fine, i just remember guitar dudes creaming themselves over it

I want to believe that somewhere in Eddie Van Halen's archive of home recordings is him jamming with some analog sequencer

It's the groovetastic combo of gtr/synth/cowbell that led me to vote for their Martha and the Vandellas cover

"Outta Love Again" was my other choice determined largely by groove alone. And my #1, "Could This Be Magic" I wouldn't have ranked so highly without the rain-dependent recording circumstances or Nicolette Larson's contribution or Dave's rhythm guitar contribution. And as for "Big Bad Bill", I can't regard highly enough a hard rock/metal band that allows 2 bandmembers' dad to tootle along on clarinet on a swing-jazz novelty cover.

Thanks for doing the poll, JF!

Anthony makes for a better Bill Berry than Bill Berry, in terms of a somewhat unheralded band member making the difference between a good and GREAT band.

Lot of the time there's no rhythm guitar track at all when Eddie goes off on one, so Anthony covers a lot of ground himself, plus, obviously, the vocals.

I seem to recall in an article about the recording of the first record with Ted Templeton they had to work that out. Originally Templeton was wanting him to cut basic rhythm parts then over dub leads, but he really couldn't take them apart in a way that sounded better. The stripped down setup without much over dubs gives those early studio records a very live feel.

Another unique sonic element in Van Halen's early sound is how Alex Van Halen tuned up his kit. He's kinda known for having his snare pitched really high which makes it pierce through the mix. They also used the toms quite a bit in the arrangements of tunes.

Probably from growing up around their Dad's jazz, they could swing pretty well for a hard rock band and they put it in the act. It gives them a bit of Vaudeville.

"Michael Anthony's bass style is similar to Dusty Hill and Cliff Williams in keeping it simple and play what is needed like a clock."

Right, that's the cliche -- but listen carefully. He plays these crazy funk-style octaves and perfect little runs all the time -- he's high in the recorded mix but the sound of his instrument is not as aggressive as it is live (where he's ironically less audible). He's not a 8th-notes-and-that's-it player. He's doing something similar to Chris Squire -- Squire adapted Motown to prog, Anthony is playing a lot of fingerstyle funk -- but without the aggressive timbre, Anthony doesn't get noticed for it.

^^^

To wit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu8RpcChZrw

Listen to the chorus!!!

Fuuck so bummed I missed this one.

Def wouldve voted for Bottoms Up, Runaround, Me Wise Magic & In A Simple Rhyme.

Yeah, I really should have voted. I would have repped for the unfairly maligned Diver Down. In my book, Hang 'em High, Secrets, and The Full Bug are all classics.

Might as well Jump!. My favorite tracks. Well do I remember the world premiere of DLR's "Just Like Paradise."

VH rulez

AIN'T TALKIN BOUT POLL

maron interviewing DLR kicked off my first full catalog listen. Lots of stuff between Van Halen and 1984 sounds good in a way it never did before. and most of what's good is absent in van hagar. holy shit, i didn't even know any of these recognizable-from-old-radio van hagar songs were them.

Dance the Night Away might have been my #1. <3 that chorus with those backing vocals. Ultimate party music. Gettin' shit done music. Cruisin' music. Music.

I just put this on and DLR's "come on" scream might be the apex of their catalog.

VH is grrrreat but don’t feel like you can’t also show VHagar some love too. Dreams, Why Can’t this be Love, Summer Nights are all pretty sweet. You don’t have to choose between Dave and Sammy- only Eddie has that burden.

Van Halen was both more fun and (when they needed to be) heavier. Van Hagar was competent (he's a great belter) but AOR dumber, and not in a smart way. However, Hagar has its moments. For example, "Finish What Ya Started" may be the most subtle the band has ever sounded, and I've always liked the pure cheese of "When It's Love." "Black & Blue" might be as ugly as lyrics get this side of AC/DC at its grossest, though.

"Dance the Night Away" is an utter gem.

I will fuck with some 5150 and "Finish What Ya Started" but nothing later than that.

The production on F/U/C/K largely ruins it for me, but Balance has a few dope things. And that song from the Twister movie was alright.