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

Love the pie charts, JF.

Can't argue with that top 5.

Thanks Johnny!

Every track of the debut placed Top 40 except "Little Dreamer" at #41

I predicted Ain't Talkin' Bout Love would win by 20% over 2. That was clearly irrationally exhuberant but its's nice to see it win.

1. I'll Wait
2. Everybody Wants Some!!
3. "Dirty Movies"
4. I'm The One
5. Unchained
6. Could This Be Magic?
7. Little Dreamer
8. Sinner's Swing!
9. Atomic Punk
10. D.O.A.
11. In A Simple Rhyme
12. Top Jimmy
13. Mean Street
14. Drop Dead Legs
15. And The Cradle Will Rock
16. Hot for Teacher
17. Women In Love...
18. Hear About It Later
19. Hang 'Em High
20. Finish What Ya Started
21. Intruder
22. (Oh) Pretty Woman

no #1 votes for Jump!

Wanna thank everyone for voting, and nate woolls for all his behind the scenes wizardry. Also, I want to apologize to Sammy Hagar because he got screwed.

Eruption
Drop Dead Legs
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
Everybody Wants Some!!
Panama
I'm the One
Atomic Punk
And the Cradle Will Rock...
Take Your Whiskey Home
(Oh) Pretty Woman
Ice Cream Man
On Fire
You Really Got Me
Runnin' with the Devil
Hot for Teacher
Jump
Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)
Jamie's Cryin'
Mean Street
Unchained
Could This Be Magic?
Beautiful Girls

...and by "Dinosaur Band" I meant that despite their youth, VH was trafficking in many of the same things--virtuoso musicianship, bottomless decadence & hedonism, huge huge shows--that older groups were into and the new groups (supposedly) weren't. Of course despite VH were skronkyier and noisier than their predecessors and and most of their contemporaries--they did sound right at home on the Over Edge s/t, didn't they?

sometimes I think my overwhelming preference for the DLR era has a lot to do with my overall preference for that era of music in general. i was coming of age during the latter half of the Sammy reign, but outside of indie bs and g-funk I was pretty obsessed with classic rock/ funk/ new wave/ disco/ post-punk

(Thanks Johnny! :-))

1. Girl Gone Bad
2. Light Up the Sky
3. Unchained
4. "5150"
5. Everybody Wants Some!!
6. Little Guitars
7. Push Comes to Shove
8. Drop Dead Legs
9. I’m the One
10. Mine All Mine
11. On Fire
12. Finish What Ya Started
13. Why Can’t This Be Love
14. Me Wise Magic
15. Romeo Delight
16. Sinner’s Swing!
17. Top of the World
18. I’ll Wait
19. You and Your Blues
20. Humans Being
21. As Is
22. Cabo Wabo

TRAX
1. Panama
2. Unchained
3. I'll Wait
4. Hot For Teacher
5. Jamie's Cryin'
6. Poundcake
7. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
8. Everybody Wants Some!!
9. Jump
10. Runnin' With The Devil
11. Atomic Punk
12. Dance The Night Away
13. Why Can't This Be Love
14. Ice Cream Man
15. Somebody Get Me A Doctor
16. Right Now
17. Finish What Ya Started
18. Beautiful Girls
19. And The Cradle Will Rock
20. Runaround
21. Standin' On Top Of The World
22. Me Wise Magic

SOLOZ
1. Eruption
2. Hot For Teacher
3. Ice Cream Man
4. Poundcake
5. Beat It

ALBUMZ
1. 1984
2. Van Halen
3. Van Halen II
4. For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
5. Women And Children First

Great top 2.

Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love is the first VH song I learned on guitar, and it's probably the easiest VH song to learn, probably because there's no tapping and speed picking anywhere in it. I'm sure I drove my parents crazy playing it in my room for hours at a time.

Maybe everyone else already arrived at this conclusion, but "Good Enough," the opening track on 5150, is basically a rewrite of "Panama" because I guess the band wanted to prove they could still do that with a new singer?

Anyway, "Good Enough" is good and should've been a single.

thanks JF!

songs:
Panama
Everybody Wants Some!!
Hot For Teacher
Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love
Somebody Get Me A Doctor
I’m The One
Dance The Night Away
Unchained
Women In Love…
In A Simple Rhyme
Runnin’ With The Devil
You Really Got Me
Eruption
Hear About It Later
D.O.A.
Why Can’t This Be Love
Jump
Finish What Ya Started
Drop Dead Legs
The Best Of Both Worlds
Poundcake
Beautiful Girls

albums:
Van Halen II
1984
Women And Children First
Van Halen
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge

1. Runnin’ with the Devil
2. Mean Street
3. Panama
4. I’ll Wait
5. You Really Got Me
6. Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love
7. I’m the One
8. Hot for Teacher
9. Everybody Wants Some!
10. Beautiful Girls
11. Atomic Punk
12. “Dirty Movies”
13. Jamie’s Cryin’
14. And the Cradle Will Rock…
15. Unchained
16. Eruption
17. Jump
18. Dance the Night Away
19. Sinner’s Swing!
20. Dancing in the Street
21. (Oh) Pretty Woman
22. Big Bad Bill (is Sweet William Now)

I didn't vote for solos or albums, but if I had, my top 5 albums would be:

Van Halen
Fair Warning
1984
Van Halen II
Women & Children First

1. Panama
2. Everybody Wants Some!!
3. Unchained
4. Runnin' With the Devil
5. And the Cradle Will Rock
6. Dance the Night Away
7. Eruption
8. Hot for Teacher
9. Take Your Whiskey Home
10. Jump
11. You Really Got Me
12. I'll Wait
13. Mean Street
14. Jamie's Cryin'
15. Light Up the Sky
16. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
17. Feel Your Love Tonight
18. Bottoms Up!
19. Sinner's Swing
20. Ice Cream Man
21. Hang 'Em High
22. Happy Trails

ALBUMS:
1. Women and Children First
2. Van Halen
3. 1984
4. Fair Warning
5. Van Halen II

New theory after listening to the songs on this thread: if Michaels Anthony had been mixed as loud live as he was in the studio, or if he had any of the amplifier overdrive that he had live in his studio tone, he'd be recognized as a bass genius worldwide. The single p-bass pickup instrument is not well-served by 80s style direct recording.

1. Could This Be Magic
2. Atomic Punk
3. Ain't Talkin' Bout Love
4. Dance The Night Away
5. Unchained
6. Little Guitars
7. Sinner's Swing!
8. Panama
9. D.O.A.
10. Outta Love Again
11. Jump
12. Mean Street
13. Top Jimmy
14. So This Is Love
15. Everybody Wants Some!!
16. I'll Wait
17. Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)
18. Dancing In The Street
19. Somebody Get Me A Doctor
20. Light Up The Sky
21. I'm The One
22. On Fire

Didn't vote for albums or solos

I was the first place vote for "When It's Love". That's all I'm going to say here.

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.