http://ultimateclassicrock.com/michael-anthony-praises-wolfgang-van-halen/

Michael Anthony continues to "hold school" on how to handle a difficult, public situation when you're in one of rock's great bands. I've honestly never had an issue with the decision to fire Anthony and hire Wolfgang. If Eddie, Alex and Dave think it's more important to have Eddie's son/Alex's nephew in the band...than that's their right. And if I was in a band with my brother and my son took up an instrument, I'd want him in the band, too. It's also my right as a fan to say that Michael Anthony has been playing bass longer than Wolfgang Van Halen's been alive and will always be a better player than Wolfie.

My real problem with this whole situation is HOW it was handled. You don't let a guy who was there when the band was formed in 1974 and played with you as your ONLY bass player for 32 years "FIND OUT" he's fired second-hand at a fucking press conference.

Anthony has every reason to be bitter and talk smack and he doesn't. (Dave Mustaine, are you paying attention here?) Regardless of what you think of his ability, his career, the state of things for him now...THAT is how you deal with a situation like that.

Listened to the interview with Sammy and Anthony on Howard stern the other day...The guy has class. No doubt about it.

Is anything about Van Halen even relevant in 2013?

http://concertful.com/concert/van-halen/

Yes, Stabs...they played 7 concerts in 2013.

I was refering to the current music scene. Van Halen is touring to fatten their bank accounts.

Stabitha Wrote:
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> Is anything about Van Halen even relevant in 2013?


No.

The first 4 Van Halen albums are the only ones that matter, and he's still collecting a check every time ANY of their cds sell, even the crappy ones,,,

Van Halen is basically a cover band of their own material at this point,,,

Micheal Anthony has moved on and gets to play bass for someone who appreciates him: Sammy Hagar's band Chickenfoot. They'll never be a giant hit band like VH but they are old school rock and roll and they don't have to deal with Eddie's douchebaggery.

I loved EVH growing up, the guy was an amazing guitarist and songwriter, but he has made bad decision after bad, starting with turning VH into a love song band and then by shafting Mike.

Hagar on the other hand has always come off as a cool guy, even if his music is often mediocre. The stuff he did before he joined VH was better. I saw him play at the old JFK stadium in Philly back in the 80s at some summer concert jam, and he put on the best show of all the big names there that day. Played through a thunderstorm and smashed his guitar into a speaker cabinet Who-style at the end.

Good for Mike for being a class act.

I'm going to be the odd man out here and put forth the EVH was NOT a great guitar player. Though technically proficient, his solos rarely had ANY context with the rest of the song and were totally soleless. He never did anything rhythmically to impress me either. He is WAY over rated to me and mostly the cause for the future rash of "Wonder Scale" guitarist (you know, the ones trying to break the worlds record for the fastest scale". It was the Wonder Scalers who burnt everyone one out on guitar in the 80's leading to the even more hideous 90s era of "guitar solos are evil".

It's good to know the Michael Anthony has a bit of class, because no one else in Val Halen does. Eddy and Dave are complete douchbags and Alex is just along for the ride.

Fair enough. EVH's solo on Michael Jackson's Beat It was pretty good IMO. He was outside of his genre and it fit the song well.

I agree with the speed demon overblown guitar hero syndrome. The problem was that a few decent bands like VH sold a lot of records, became the "next big thing", and the record companies starting signing every douchebag hair metal band they could find until the public got burned out by it.

You can blame Motley Crue, too, I guess.

At least some 90s bands like Alice in Chains didn't give up on guitar for soloing and heavy riffing. Funny thing is that there is a video of AIC from like 1990 playing in a club, and in the break between songs Cantrell breaks out with the riff from Ain't Talking 'Bout Love.

One of the worst guitar solos I've ever heard was the one in "Jump". It was clearly "punched in" and if you listen close, you can even hear the punch. The solo made no sense, had no context whatsoever and just horrible.

When he did the solo for Beat It, which I think is pretty decent, I have no doubt the producer had him do it several times, until he toned it down and matched the song.

No doubt EVH was capable of almost anything on electric guitar, but as evidenced from his personality, he has no soul and it's reflected in the way he plays.

It's like your psychic tomahawk, I was going to bring up the opening riff to "Ain't talkin about love" also,,,

As to being over rated, EVH WAS great on the FIRST 4 VH albums, it's just not debatable. AFTER those albums he's just been living on the reputation he built on those records.

Yeah, once he started getting obsessed with playing synthesizers he lost his mojo. At least we'll always have the awesomeness that is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2R2KXNQR1M

Numbers Wrote:
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> he has no soul and it's reflected in
> the way he plays.

He's certainly no David Gilmour, that's a fact.

tomahawk Wrote:
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> Numbers Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > he has no soul and it's reflected in
> > the way he plays.
>
> He's certainly no David Gilmour, that's a fact.

+1 for Gilmour here, too. While I'll always have Lifeson at P1, Gilmour is a very, very close P2. I've been listening to both of these guys for about 30 years now and what continues to amaze me about Gilmour is how in an era of power chords and speed, he excelled with his tone and sustain. When you listen to 'Dogs' on "Animals", listen to the note at 3:41. The rest before it and then it just wails out...

Wolfgang may be in the band now because EVH has had health issues for years and may expire in the next decade. They can keep the band alive with AVH and DLR in it, but if Alex leaves, it's going to hard to justify calling it Van Halen. In 2035, Wolfgang will probably own the Van Halen name and be touring 400 seat clubs and theatres with a band of ringers who are still in their diapers now.


@tomahawk- I agree on Hagar, I never liked his solo stuff, his VH or his vocals, but he is a journeyman performer. I just watched a tribute concert to Ronnie Montrose with Hagar, the Montrose band rhythm section and Joe Satriani on guitar.

@Numbers- "Jump" is a shitty song I never liked, and I never thought about how much that solo sounds like obligatory space filler. I will give him the benefit of doubt and say that part of the reason there is so much bleh EVH stuff out there is that VH was so hot after the first album they really had to put out a lot of product quickly to capitalize.

idontlikebeingrightaboutshitlikethisbutiam



Edited 21 time(s). Last edit at 5/31/1967 05:57AM by WingNut.

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Last edit at 6/29/2013 11:18PM Last edit at 3/19/2011 01:02PM Last edit at 3/26/2012 09:07PM

Here is what we were heading towards in the 80's with the wonder scales.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=cd6_1383081693


You'll love this guy.

I've never been a VH fan. I've always thought their revolving door of singers, and now bass player has been a symptom of a serious personality...issue...in the band.

EVH is an AMAZING guitarist...technically. Just like a lot of these other virtuoso-type guitarists; Vai, Malmsteem, whoever else...they're great, technically. They can do anything, aside from, like others have said, play with some soul. Knowing that, I'd put Hendrix and Page, maybe Gilmour...hell, maybe even John Frusciante, ahead of EVH when it comes to guitarists.

And Wingnut probably got it right. Eddie's on the way out. For all we know his cancer's back and he wants to play til the end and spend some time with his son all at once. Michael Anthony's not gonna be hurting for cash anytime soon. Good on him for taking the high road regardless.

I know you can go back in forth with the David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar debate. Who’s better and who’s worst. I actually like them both. I think Roth is the more ideal front man. He jumps, he screams, he yells, kicks and he shakes his ass all over the stage. Not so much anymore. I don’t think Roth is the greatest songwriter. Has anyone ever read the lyrics to “Jump”? Plus I think Hagar is a better songwriter, musician, and singer than Roth.
I think EVH’s work after Roth was great . He went into a different direction. He coudn’t copy everything he did on Van Halen 1. I think some of you haven"t listened to too many songs from the Hagar/Van Halen era. Has anyone listen to the track “5150”, Baluchitherium inst, or the album For Unlawful C.K.? I think he did some exemplary work. I also the songwriting became better as a unit than the Roth era.

jayberwanger Wrote:
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> Has anyone ever read the lyrics to “Jump”? Plus I think Hagar is a better songwriter,

Yeah i like totally agree mang. Just take a look at the lyrics to "Pound Cake". Very profound and moving, I think anyone can relate to what Hagar is trying to evoke there.

I remember watching That Metal Show a few years ago and they had a poll question with the panel about the albums 1984 and 5150. Which was the better alubum was the question with the panel. The album 5150 came out on top. But of corse, I guess Hagar is horrible to almost everyone on this board except for me. This guy Hagar was never sucessful, never sold any albums, or any arenas with Van Halen. Gary Cherone is clearly better than Hagar.

As far as bass playing goes, though, Mike is more solid than Wolfie, and he can sing great backing vocals, which actually made a huge difference in a lot of VH tunes.

jayberwanger Wrote:
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> I remember watching That Metal Show a few years
> ago and they had a poll question with the panel
> about the albums 1984 and 5150. Which was the
> better alubum was the question with the panel. The
> album 5150 came out on top. But of corse, I guess
> Hagar is horrible to almost everyone on this board
> except for me. This guy Hagar was never
> sucessful, never sold any albums, or any arenas
> with Van Halen. Gary Cherone is clearly better
> than Hagar.

This debate (Sammy vs. Dave) has been raging since 1986, when '5150' was released. Or possibly slightly longer when the announcement of Dave out/Sammy in was made.

Over the years, I have found this to be generally a generational issue. I'm old enough to remember when the Dave-era albums were being released. I have a good friend who is 6 years younger than me who is the biggest VanHalen fan I know...and he's a Sammy guy. If you asked me to pick one...I like Dave. But, as has been mentioned here...there's nuance. I own all their albums and there's songs I like that Sammy sings and songs I like that Dave sings and songs that I dislike by both.

What was also difficult for the Dave fans was when Sammy was named the new lead and they recorded '5150' and went on tour...they played Dave-era tracks with Sammy on lead. This is by no means a unique situation...AC/DC still perform Bon Scott-era songs with Brian Johnson on lead vocals. RJD performed Black Sabbath tracks live that were recorded with Ozzy on lead...and some have said that RJD was (in some cases) BETTER on some Ozzy songs.