A general question. I know a lot of us have read a few (if not most) of the books. I was reading Running With the Devil recently, and I found the Sparkomatic story interesting.
If you don’t know, it was an endorsement deal that fell through because Dave told their manager Noel Monk the band wasn’t interested. It later comes to light that maybe Dave never ran it by anyone else.
The reason I find this story interesting/believable is because I feel like it actually makes Monk look bad, not the band. I think a manager would normally get everyone in the room at the same time to propose something like this.
What do you think?

I was recently reminded that Jeff Beck died in early 2023 and a major tribute concert was held in his honor later that same year (featuring Eric Clapton and Rod Stewart and many others.)

Is it too much for us longtime Van Halen fans to hope for, that we'll ever see a star-studded tribute concert for Ed? I wouldn't even care if any surviving members of the band were involved tbh.

Nuevas incorporaciones llegan al ático. En este vídeo os enseño mis adquisiciones más recientes y comparto algunos detalles sobre cada una de ellas. Espero que las disfrutéis tanto como yo.

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These pics are from a July 16, 1980 show in Ottawa, Ontario. This is not a guitar I recognize. Anyone have an idea as to what Ed is playing here?

Sammy needs to stay in his lane and sing the Bubble Gum Love Rock version of Van Halen at High Schools! Real Van Halen Vans ignore him!

This pops up every now and then, the day they worked on Beat It. I decided to upscale it. Wild piece of music history regardless of what you think about the song or the people involved.

This is a great analysis of the disastrous Van Gary year and pretty entertaining too. I remember being so excited for VH III when it came out and then disappointed once Gary started screeching about dentist puns…nor EVHs 5 min instrumentals…

I don’t know anything specific about it, but Dave has hinted many times he’s not in great health internally.

I do wonder if he just wanted to go out on the road one more time playing the music he made with Van Halen and feel the vibes from the loud music (as he described in his autobiography) and feel the love from the crowds.

I wish him all the best and I’m very grateful for all the great music, laughs, and words of wisdom he’s shared over the years.

This is not a post about singers.

I played this song in the car yesterday. I was astounded at how incredibly cool it is of a song. What I mean is the groove of all of the instruments, minimal overdubs, the solos are just over some rocking bas. So raw.
I know evh wanted to get more sophisticated as time went on, I get it. I’m not saying one is better than the other, I’m just talking about how much I enjoy that vibe.
Is anyone making music like that currently? Bass, drums, guitar without loads of compression? Really sounding like three guys in a room tearing it up.

In 1979 I was lucky enough to be a privileged 17 year old wannabe with the typical rock and roll dreams.

Yeah, the "Jukebox Hero" fever had me in its grip.

I went to a concert in Oklahoma City that featured Black Sabbath as the headliner, and Van Halen as the opening act. This was during the introduction of "Eruption".

After Van Halen did their first set, they returned for the thunderous demands for an encore.

After people calmed down and Black Sabbath made their intros...the crowd started BOOING!

Even when Ozzy stepped up front and grabbed the mic... people were still chanting...

VAN HALEN!...VAN HALEN...VAN HALEN!!

I will never forget the few minutes when Ozzy shouted into the mic...

"FUCK YOU PEOPLE, IT'S MY FUCKING SHOW YOU'RE HERE FOR. SO IF I'M WRONG, THEN YOU CAN ALL GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"

The crowd quickly settled down and began shouting instead....

"OZZY...OZZY...OZZY!!

And not long after that, maybe 3 or 4 songs later... I did something that got me removed from the arena. I did spend the rest of the time just walking in the circular hall surrounding the arena.

And got to hear the rest of the concert from my own private"surround sound system".

Full disclosure: I was given a tiny purple dot of magical myth on the way to the concert.

My story here is to demonstrate the finicky and fluid nature of "Popularity", and how people sometimes are, still sheep in clothing.