History Music / VanHalen

[[caption-width-right:350:The popular "Van Hagar" lineup of Van Halen from the mid 80's to the mid 90's. From left to right: Anthony, Alex and Eddie Van Halen, and Sammy Hagar. Not pictured: Gary Cherone, the replacement for Hagar on ''Van Halen III'', and [[LegacyCharacter Wolfie.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The popular "Van Hagar" lineup of Van Halen from the mid 80's to the mid 90's. From left to right: Anthony, Alex and Eddie Van Halen, and Sammy Hagar. Not pictured: Gary Cherone, the replacement for Hagar on ''Van Halen III''.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The popular "Van Hagar" lineup of Van Halen from the mid 80's to the mid 90's. From left to right: Anthony, Alex and Eddie Van Halen, and Sammy Hagar.]]

Hagar left the band in 1996. After a temporary reunion with Roth, Gary Cherone from Extreme (and "[[BlackSheepHit More than Words]]" infamy) was recruited as their new frontman. The resulting album, ''Van Halen III'', was roundly panned by everybody, earning this short-lived era the nickname of "Van Horrible." After a hiatus, a second tenure with Hagar, and a complicated situation, Anthony was replaced by Eddie's teenaged son Wolfgang. Roth returned in 2007, and the band released what would be their final album, ''A Different Kind of Truth'', in February 2012. [[HistoryRepeats In what may strike fans as a bit of déjà vu]], ''Truth'' [[BookEnds ended up peaking at #2 on the charts, kept off the #1 spot by]] ''[[Music/{{Adele}} 21]]''. (No guest spot for Eddie this time, though.)

* ''For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge'' (1991) ([[GettingCrapPastTheRadar ged]][[FunWithAcronyms dit?]])

On October 6, 2020, Eddie Van Halen died after a long battle with cancer; Wolfgang confirmed a month later the band called it quits.

+ Music/ACDC, Music/JeffBeck, Music/BlackSabbath, Music/{{Cream}}, Music/DeepPurple, Music/TheKinks, Music/LedZeppelin, Montrose, Music/TheWho, Music/ZZTop]

+ Music/ACDC, Music/JeffBeck, Music/BlackSabbath, Music/{{Cream}}, Music/DeepPurple, Music/TheKinks, Music/LedZeppelin, Montrose, Music/TheWho, Music/ZZTop

* CoverVersion: "You Really Got Me" and "Where Have All the Good Times Gone?" by Music/TheKinks[[note]]During a ''Diver Down'' interview, Dave admitted they could play "six different Kinks songs", and would play them "into the dirt" every night when they were starting out[[/note]], "Ice Cream Man" by John Brim, "You're No Good" by Betty Everett (but popularised by Music/LindaRonstadt) "Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison, "Dancing in the Street" by Martha and the Vandellas, "Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)" by Milton Ager and Jack Yellen, "Happy Trails" by Creator/RoyRogers and Dale Evans, "A Apolitical Blues" by Music/LittleFeat (the only cover to make it on a Van Hagar album). In concert they would frequently play "Rock and Roll" by Music/LedZeppelin, "Addicted to Love" by Music/RobertPalmer, Sammy Hagar's solo hit "I Can't Drive 55" (the 2006 tour also had a few tracks from his 2000s output) and "Won't Get Fooled Again" by Music/TheWho. For many people, their versions overshadow the originals -- Ray Davies himself said their cover of "You Really Got Me" beat the original.

* AmbiguouslyBrown: Eddie and Alex are part-Dutch, part-Indonesian. Alex looks it, but with Eddie it's hard to tell because of his long hair, which looks thinner and thus lighter in color than short hair would. Of course, Eddie often being backlit also tends to make him look blond.

* BandOfRelatives: Eddie and Alex from the start, and now Eddie's son Wolfgang is on bass (that's right, Diamond Dave is now the only non-Van Halen member of Van Halen!). Eddie and Alex's dad Jan Van Halen guested on ''Diver Down'', playing clarinet on "Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)".
* BigGuyLittleGuy: Alex and Dave are tall, Wolfgang is fairly tall too, Sammy is average, Ed and Mike are a few inches shorter.
* BeggarWithASignboard: the music video for the song "Right Now" features a guy holding a sign saying "I will wrestle you for food", with the caption "Right now somebody's got the wrong idea."

* DoNotCallMePaul: At points in his career, Eddie has insisted that he be referred to as ''Edward'' Van Halen.

* GadgeteerGenius: Eddie is famous for extensively modifying his gear. For starters, he is the first known player to use a "Super Strat," a guitar designed to have the features and playability of a Stratocaster and the humbucker sound of a Gibson. The Super Strat would go on to be the most used guitar design of the eighties. He also modified a Univox echo unit with a motor that ran so slow it would drop the sound by an octave, creating a divebomb effect. The effect needed to be mounted in a rack and at the time guitarists didn't use effects racks so Eddie made one out of the hull of a WWII-era bomb. He also invented the "D-Tuna," a modification for a Floyd Rose bridge which allows the player to instantly switch in and out of drop tunings, something that isn't possible without the modification (tuning the bridge is extremely fiddly).

* HiddenTrack: Women and Children First has a hidden instrumental at the very end, called Growth. It's only 19 seconds long.
** On the Japanese edition of Balance, a bonus 13th track called Crossing Over can be heard.

* InsultBackfire: A music critic once complained that all of Van Halen's songs were about either girls or cars. When David Lee Roth heard this, he realized that Van Halen didn't actually ''have'' any songs about cars, so he came up with the lyrics for "Panama." The song would go on to become one of Van Halen's most iconic songs.

* LongRunnerLineUp: Both the Dave and Sammy line-ups lasted over 10 years. The current one completes a decade in 2016.

** Now with Dave back, ''A Different Kind of Truth'' climbs the scale up again. The song "China Town" borders on an 8.

-->“Music/{{Creedence|ClearwaterRevival}} told me. Music/{{Tina|Turner}} sold me. At first I was unconvinced. Been rollin' on that river ever since"

* SpokenWordInMusic: A lot of these from the early years with Roth: "''Have you seen Junior's grades?''" (on recent tours, he likes to change Junior to "Wolfie", the bassist...)
* SpotlightStealingSquad: During their first major tour opening for Ted Nugent. Van Halen was a fresh, original band doing high energy shows supporting their debut album. Nugent, by contrast, was touring behind weak latter day material after [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere his original backing band got fed up and abandoned him]]. Big name fans like Music/HenryRollins would report "They put the Nuge to bed on that tour."

* WeUsedToBeFriends: Eddie towards Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar. At this point they both might as well have never been in the band.

* WeWantOurJerkBack: Many fans' reaction to a sober, more serious Eddie. He did, however, treat Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar with significantly less respect than they deserve. It got to the point where he barely acknowledged their existence at all.

On October 6, 2020, Eddie Van Halen died after a long battle with cancer, therefore currently landing the band's future in uncertainty.

* David Lee Roth - lead vocals, acoustic guitar (1974-1985, 1996, 2007-present)
* '''Alex Van Halen''' - drums, percussion (1972-present)
* Wolfgang Van Halen - bass guitar, backing vocals (2007-present)

* IAmTheBand: Eddie and Alex, obviously. They're the only constant members and the band is named after them.

->''"Nobody rules these streets at night but me! NOBODY!

-->-- "Atomic Punk"

->''Nobody rules these streets at night but me! NOBODY!''
->'''''THE ATOMIC PUNK!'''''

->'''''I brought my PENCIL!!''''' ''Gimme something to write on, man!''

[[RunningGag (Guitar Solo)]]

(EpicRiff)

'''"OH YEEEAAAH"'''

* TakeThat: It is a well-documented legend that the title of ''[=OU812=]''[[note]]"Oh, you ate one too?"[[/note]] was one at David Lee Roth's debut solo album, ''Eat 'em and Smile''.
** Another spin on the above legend is that there was a kind of "back and forth" between DLR and VH over the course of several albums: DLR's "Crazy From the Heat" -- VH's "5150" (police code for the criminally insane[[note]]and also the name of Eddie's personal studio[[/note]]) followed by DLR's "Eat 'Em and Smile" -- VH's "[=OU812=]" (as mentioned above). Then there was VH's "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" followed by DLR's "Your Filthy Little Mouth".

* TeacherStudentRomance: "Hot For Teacher", which is even quoted atop the page.

** Recently averted in regards to Michael and Alex Van Halen, who [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwO02Lr_ny0 stated in a recent interview]] with [[ThatMetalShow Eddie Trunk]] that he managed to get Alex on the phone, and they chatted for about 20 minutes. Michael has always stated that he and Alex never really "fell out," but were never able to speak because of Eddie.

* TakeThat: Diamond Dave has had a few unkind words to say about the Glam Metal bands that sprung up in Van Halen's wake. In one interview he particularly singles out Quiet Riot, though given they were long-time rivals before Van Halen's big break, that could just be Dave slinging some mud for the sake of it.

* GeniusDitz: According to Noel Monk, the band's manager during the Roth years, Eddie was a genius guitarist and tinkerer, but hopelessly naive in most other areas. At one point he was concerned that a woman who had given him a blow job might have become pregnant as a result.

* LighterAndSofter: Van Hagar. From sex and partying to love and relationships, for the most part. Dave even jabbed at it in a 2004 interview, saying that "Van Halen used to be about sex, drinking and driving; now it's about making love, drinking milk and driving a Nissan."

On October 6, 2020, Eddie Van Halen died after a long battle with cancer, therefore permanently ending the band.

* David Lee Roth - lead vocals, acoustic guitar (1974-1985, 1996, 2007-2020)
* '''Alex Van Halen''' - drums, percussion (1972-2020)
* Wolfgang Van Halen - bass guitar, backing vocals (2007-2020)

[[caption-width-right:350:The popular "Van Hagar" lineup of Van Halen from the mid 80's to the mid 90's. From left to right: Michael Anthony, Alex Van Halen, Eddie Van Halen, and Sammy Hagar.]]

If Music/TheRollingStones had Eddie Van Halen as their guitarist and a hyperactive, insane combination of Music/FreddieMercury and Music/RonnieJamesDio as their frontman (Music/DavidLeeRoth). [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg And a really good drummer.]] [[RunningGag And whoever's on bass.]] Probably the most fun HardRock band you'll ever hear. They even got their own VideoGame/GuitarHero game!

Van Halen began their path towards super-fun rocking in Pasadena in 1972, with its initial lineup containing the Van Halen brothers (Eddie on guitar and backing vocals, Alex on drums), Music/DavidLeeRoth on vocals and Mark Stone on bass. Stone was thrown out in 1974 and the band's "classic lineup" took shape, with the Van Halens, Roth and Michael Anthony on bass and backing vocals.

After being seen by two Creator/WarnerBrosRecords executives at a concert, the band got a contract with WB and started working on its debut album. [[RecordProducer Produced]] by Ted Templeman (who stayed with the band for its first six albums), ''Van Halen'' became a smash success thanks to the combination of Eddie's hyperactive, lightning-fast fretwork and Dave's flamboyant, {{Large Ham}}my [[TheAce Ace]] persona. It contained a few classic songs, such as the band's headbanging cover of "You Really Got Me" by Music/TheKinks, the ImageSong "Runnin' with the Devil" and Eddie's mindblowing solo "Eruption". They toured nearly a year in support of the album, notably opening for Music/BlackSabbath and completely blowing them out of the water in a time when Sabbath were going through their first DorkAge. Come to think of it, rock music itself was in a DorkAge at a time when disco was still dominant (if you believe the old narrative), and Van Halen is seen as one of the bands that stopped it from collapsing under its own weight (along with, you guessed it, PunkRock, natch). You could even say they co-opted Punk Rock, thus preventing the genre from taking over the mainstream (at least for a time).

Van Halen quickly made a followup, the aptly-titled ''Van Halen II'', which was another success and gave the band its first hit, "Dance the Night Away". ''Women and Children First'' also followed a year later, containing more kickarse hard rock but also showing Eddie's first and most definitely not last use of keyboards on a VH album (on "And the Cradle Will Rock...").

Tensions started rising around the time of ''Fair Warning'' between Eddie, who wanted to write more serious and complex stuff, and Roth, who didn't have patience for this and wanted to carry on with the fun rocking. Combined with cocaine and alcohol abuse on Eddie's behalf, ''Warning'' was a DarkerAndEdgier album that was much less fun than the previous three and, unsurprisingly, was met with much less commercial success, though it did get good reviews and spawned a hit with "Unchained". They rebounded with the [[CoverVersion cover-heavy]] ''Diver Down'' a short while later.

Van Halen hit their indisputable peak with ''1984''. Their highest-selling and most critically acclaimed album, ''1984'' saw the band reconcile their anthemic rock with Eddie's love of keyboards, and gave them their most enduring hits: the keyboard-powered "Jump", the hyper-speed hilarity of "Hot for Teacher" and the EpicRiff-driven "Panama". As a testament to how good it was, ''1984'' was [[WorthyOpponent only kept off the #1 position in the US because of]] ''[[Music/MichaelJackson Thriller]]''. (Coincidentally enough, Eddie also made a cameo appearance on ''Music/{{Thriller}}'', playing the solo on "Beat It".)

Roth left Van Halen on April 1, 1985, replaced by former Montrose vocalist Sammy Hagar. Drastic changes took place: Templeman left along with Roth, their logo was slightly changed (the lines extending from the "VH" letters now formed a sphere) and their sound changed. While ''5150'' retained some of the party rock sound they had become famous for ("Summer Nights", "Get Up"), Van Hagar slowly drifted away from fast, rockin' fun and became a mainstream, pop-rock band with lots of keyboards and {{Power Ballad}}s. (A smart move, since this was when HairMetal was really hitting its stride.)

Hagar left the band in 1996. After a temporary reunion with Roth, Gary Cherone from Extreme (and "[[BlackSheepHit More than Words]]" infamy) was recruited as their new frontman. The resulting album, ''Van Halen III'', was roundly panned by everybody. After a hiatus, a second tenure with Hagar and a complicated situation, Anthony was forced out of the band, replaced by Eddie's teenaged son Wolfgang, and Roth returned in 2007. The band has released a new album, titled ''A Different Kind of Truth'', in February 2012. [[HistoryRepeats In what may strike fans as a bit of déjà vu]], ''Truth'' [[BookEnds ended up peaking at #2 on the charts, kept off the #1 spot by]] ''[[Music/{{Adele}} 21]]''. (No guest spot for Eddie this time, though.)

* HeterosexualLifePartners: Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar. Not only did they form Chickenfoot together, Mikey also joined Sammy's solo band as well. They're also the only two members of Van Halen (former, ironically enough) to attend its own UsefeulNotes/RockAndRollHallOfFame induction.

* DualMeaningChorus: "Runnin' With the Devil"

* TheEighties: Though they rose to prominence in 1978, Van Halen set the tone for the final Cold War decade possibly better than anyone else.

* HeterosexualLifePartners: Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar. Not only did they form Chickenfoot together, Mikey also joined Sammy's solo band as well. They're also the only two members of Van Halen (former, ironically enough) to attend its own Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction.

* RockstarSong: A few of them, with the latest, "As Is", dealing with what fame does:

* {{Instrumentals}}: "Eruption", "Spanish Fly", "Sunday Afternoon in the Park", "Cathedral", "Intruder", "1984", "Strung Out".

* WeWantOurJerkBack: Many fans' reaction to a sober, more serious Eddie.
** He does, however, still treat Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar with significantly less respect than they deserve. It's to the point where he barely acknowledges their existence at all.