Dreams is the most important Van Halen song. That's the one that made the Power Rangers Movie soundtrack.
I always thought that song's title was "Higher and Higher".
Panama and Hot for Teacher are other fairly well known ones. I liked Running with the Devil too.
I always found it somewhat ironic that the most famous song of an artist known for his virtuoso hard rock guitar chops is the poppy keyboard driven one.
Same. I actually don't even like most of his music, but there's no denying he and the slews of talented musicians he inspired played a role in redefining what guitar playing can be. In this respect he occupies a similar space in my mind as Jimmy Hendrix or Steve Vai.
They had a pretty long list of radio hits. I will say I don't hear them much, even on the classic rock radio stations, but I don't listen to those very much myself, so they might get played more
Funny thing, he's also the keyboardist, so that poppy keyboard one you mentioned, is STILL a sign of his overall musical talent. xD
Because they smoked like fucking chimneys back then. Eddie was kind of infamous for his smoking habits for a long time.
He was a real innovator with guitar effects like flangers and he popularized the technique of breaking up chord progressions with single-note melodies. Tapping was not his invention, but he did bring it to the mainstream. Steve Hackett of Genesis was an earlier pioneer of the technique. Eddie was really unique in that he brought a lot of classical music theory to rock but took it in much more free-wheeling direction.
Indeed. Perhaps as a result of this and not really knowing anything much more by them, I never really thought of Van Halen as hard rock.
If it's any consolation, something about Axl rubs me the wrong way and I'm a classic rock snob.
A life of sex, drugs and rock n roll takes its toll.
I know. That's what makes it extra juicy.
It should. Dude's a massive fucking prick, even by diva rock star standards.
Rock star ailments can get weird though. Sammy Hagar once ran out of sperm from too many groupies in his off-stage sex tent (yes, really) and had a dry-gasm. Which is apparently extraordinarily painful.
I mean his voice, too, not just the fact that he's a cartoonish dildo. Talented, but something about the tone turns me off and I couldn't tell you why. Knowing that he's a walking catastrofuck of drama is just further incentive to stay back.
Yeah it's pretty typical for that era for the band members to be huge pricks. It's kind of a staple of the 80s rock band trope really, that they are so volatile that over a long duration, they just become huge douchebags and become more hassle than entertainment.
Yeah vocals can be a bit hit or miss, especially with the higher range male vocalists. Like, I LOVE RUSH, but a lot of people can't stand Geddy Lee's voice. Which I do find a bit odd, since the most common criticism I see about his singing, is the high pitch of it. But these will be people who equally love OTHER metal/rock bands of the same era, that have high pitched singers. *shrugs* to each their own I guess.
Perhaps he needed some grease.
