Hey, this is Eric Senech from the Van Halen News
Desk and host of the Booked on Rock podcast,
and you are listening to one of my favorite podcasts
of all time, My Weekly Mixtape with Brian Colburn.
Let's mix it up. Welcome to My Weekly Mixtape,
a podcast that takes the classic mixtape approach
to building a modern playlist. I'm your host,
Brian Colburn. Joining me tonight for the first
time are two guests and a slightly revised format
to accommodate the change. First up is Eric Senech
from the Van Halen News Desk, as well as the
host of the Booked on Rock podcast. Eric, thank
you so much for joining me today, man. Brian,
this is an honor. I told you, I love your show.
Love it. So this is so great to be on. I can't
get enough of your podcast, man. I'm telling
you. So it's great to be here, man. Thanks. Well,
I appreciate you being here and I'm excited to
talk some Van Halen with you tonight. And joining
the two of us tonight is Patreon mixtaper Cactus
Pete, who I have mentioned his name a ton of
times since the show launched. So Pete, thank
you so much for joining the show tonight, man.
Thanks for having me on. Like Eric said, it's
an honor to be here. Ready to go. This will be
a lot of fun. He's got the radio name, Brian.
Cactus Pete. I know. Old school radio. Yeah,
I can touch on that. In broadcast school, we
had to pick a name, and we were encouraged to
do so back then. So I chose, I did a little copy
and paste, and I chose Eddie Anthony was my on
-air name that I used for three years on radio.
And it made it a lot of fun. That's hilarious
because my first radio name was Eric Anderson.
And then I was Fletch. I worked at WCCC in Hartford.
Ah, Howard. Yeah, the old home of Howard Stern.
And they said, what are your favorite TV? This
is the day before I'm going on the air. And I
mentioned Fletch. That's it. You're Fletch. Okay.
And this is tomorrow I'm going on the air with
this. Yeah, I love the radio names. Should we
refer to you tonight as Fletch then, moving forward?
Hey, by all means. Greatest comedy movie ever.
Chevy Chase. Absolutely love it. Well, with every
first time guest tonight, I get to ask my opening
question twice. So Eric, we'll start with you.
What does the word mixtape mean to you? Oh, man.
You know, it takes me back to really two important
periods of my life. First is high school. And
there were two mixtapes that I had that I always
listened to. My older brother had a vinyl record
player where you could record. what was on vinyl
onto cassette. And then I would take that cassette
and I would go for rides around town and listen
to it nonstop. And my older brother, my oldest
brother, I should say, had a ton of vinyl. And
he had, you know, The Dark Side of the Moon,
Zeppelin, you name it, one, two, three, four,
right up through the outdoor. I think he had
presents too. He had Genesis Three Sides Live
in there, I remember. So I would pluck out all
these songs that I loved that I would hear on
the radio and I would record them from vinyl
onto cassette. And they sounded just as good
as if you're listening straight off vinyl. Sharp,
you know. So anyway, I listened to those two
tapes so much to the point where, as I'm sure
you guys know, whenever you hear a certain song
nowadays, you're waiting for the next song to
be what was on your mixtape, you know? Oh, yeah.
And so there was that. And then when I was in...
college and I was interning at a radio station,
there was CDs all over the place where you could
just, anything you wanted was there. And I used
to go into the production room and just put in
all of my favorite songs. And I had, I remember
CSNY, Southern Cross, and I would play that cassette
over and over and over again. So mixtapes, a
lost art. That it was something I talk about
a lot on this show. Pete, same question to you.
A lot of what Eric said to it. Takes me back
specifically more to my junior high days to get
the Memrix tape and put that in the old Magnavox
cassette player. And whether or not you were
waiting for something to come on on the radio,
which was a real pain. And I learned later why
you had to wait so long. After I waited for Bobby
McFerrin's Don't Worry, Be Happy for an hour
and a half before I heard it. I sat there with
my finger on the record button when he said,
you play it soon. But yeah, it was making music
for friends. Sometimes even throwing in something
maybe that they didn't expect, something new.
Like if you'd say set a drift on Memory Bliss,
well, let's throw in something else. Let's throw
in Paper Doll because maybe they're not familiar
with that. Maybe that'll get them to become more
interested in PM Dawn or whatever the case may
be. And then you could go on swings. You could
go from more of a heavy rocker down to more of
a poppy song down to a ballad and then pick it
up again. But a musical roller coaster is what
it always seemed like. And how much could you
fit on that tape was always the... There's always
a question. Oh, yes. Hey, Pete, did you ever
have where you had to take a song because it
wouldn't fit and you'd have to like cut it down
and shorten the song? Because I had to do that
with ACDCs. It's a long way to the top. I had
to literally cut out that great bagpipe ending
and I was like, this sucks, but I can't fit it
on sidewalk. Give me a minute. Yeah, or you'd
look for something shorter. What I always ended
up doing when a song ended and I knew I only
had a minute or so left on the side, I had this
collection of what I called short songs. So it
was stuff like S .O .D., The Ballad of Jimi Hendrix,
all by the Descendants, all songs that were anywhere
from 30 seconds to two seconds. And no matter
what kind of mixtape I made, whether it was.
a bunch of slow songs for a girlfriend or a bunch
of heavy stuff or a bunch of hip hop. These five
or six songs would always end every side. And
sometimes I would just go in a rotation just
to fill the space. It's like an art form though.
It really is, man. It's so, it's just a lost
art. You know, a lot of the younger people that
are listening right now, they, they missed out.
You know, they really did. Mixtapes were just
so fun. Well, hopefully tonight we're going to
turn some people on to some cool new music because
tonight we are talking about the legendary Van
Halen. I really hope we're not turning anybody
on to Van Halen tonight. But regardless, we're
celebrating the legendary Van Halen tonight.
And Eric, I'd like to start by asking you how
you got involved with the Van Halen News Desk.
Oh, the News Desk. Yeah, I was working in radio.
This is probably six, seven years ago. And I
was working at a radio station in Fairfield County,
Connecticut, and they had a new website and they
invited all the jocks to write blogs. And so
I would write a lot of different articles on
different things. And every now and then I would
do a Van Halen article. That was funny because
the program director says, don't write about
Van Halen every time. I said, don't worry, I
won't. He knew. But I would write about Van Halen
and then I would share those articles on a website,
which Pete may know about. VH links, which is
where all the fans would go, right? He'd go there
and people just post various things, whatever
they feel like they're in the mood to post. And,
um, I would post my articles there and people
would read them and they seem to enjoy them.
And all of a sudden on the blue, I get a message
from Jeff Hausman from the Van Halen news desk.
And he said, Hey, you know, I see your articles,
man. They're cool. Would you like to write for
us? And, uh, I said, let me think about it. Yes.
And that was it, you know? And then, From there,
in the beginning, I would submit an article or
two here and there. And then I started helping
just to put content up, you know, on an almost
daily basis, which to this day we're doing. So
it became one of those things where I would help
Jeff to, and still do, scour the internet, look
for, so we sign up for subscription sites that
send us anything that's on the web related to
Van Halen. So we check it daily and it's just
become a part of my life. You know, I get back
from my... daytime job and it's like okay what
do we got what can we find on van halen and you
know and when eddie passed it was kind of like
you know what's going to happen now but you know
the news keeps coming in there's always stuff
and we try to find fun things it doesn't have
to be newsworthy it's it's it could be just fun
videos that somebody makes or whatever so yeah
i've been doing it for about six seven years
how does working with the van halen news desk
impact your song selection tonight Well, interesting
question, Brian, because, yeah, there are songs
that, you know, I think of Van Halen one and
it's just it's the definitive classic Van Halen
album that everybody should listen to. Right.
But there are songs on there that you just you
get burned out on, especially working your radio.
So running with the devil and talk about love
and these bonafide classics that sometimes, you
know, they might get pushed down my list only
because it's songs like and I'm going to mention
a few tonight that aren't on the radio. that
I love more so just because they weren't on the
radio a lot. However, there's songs like Dance
of the Night Away, which I can't get enough of.
You know, I've heard it a million times, but
yet I have not burned down on it. But working
for the Van Halen News Desk, I think it's a similar
thing as being in radio. But to add to that,
though, working for the News Desk has given me
a whole slew of new information behind these
songs, behind the albums, behind the band members.
And suddenly you listen to these songs in a whole
different light because you learn things. You
get information from the inside source, people
who were there, how a song was recorded, what
was the original title. Dave had different lyrics
to start. He changed them. Or just throwing one
out there, like Hoffer Teacher. Initially, Eddie
had recorded where he was doing the bass and
guitar intro at the same time, kind of like what
he and Wolfie did on the song Chinatown from
2012. It's a different kind of truth, right?
And the producer, Ted Templeman, he said, well.
It's going to be hard to do live, you know? So
Eddie said, oh, okay. So then now you just hear
what we hear, right? And you wonder if that stuff's
in the vaults. But, you know, all those little
stories, you know, they just, and the whole process
of the Fair Warning album from 1981 is just fascinating
because that's really Eddie's high point as an
artist. So, yeah, it definitely opens it up to
a whole new world when you listen to these songs.
Well, Pete, you and I have been messaging back
and forth over months over this episode in Van
Halen. And as a longtime fan, what are you looking
to bring to the discussion tonight in terms of
song selection? Kind of like what Eric said,
I've heard Ain't Talking About Love. I've heard
it a million times. Some of the same songs, Panama
and Jump, they're excellent, but everybody and
their mother knows those. I always tend to look
for a little more, not a deeper cut per se, but
a little more variety than that to show someone
that may not be as familiar with the deeper cuts
of the catalog and whatnot. Like, hey, try this
on, see what you think of this. Maybe they might
download the album. Now we say download the album
instead of go out and buy the cassette tape or
whatnot for the first time. And they'll hear
a whole bunch of songs that they've really never
heard before that maybe they like and can give
to their kids or something to share with their
children. Kind of keep growing the fan base.
This is not a singles band. Not at all. That's
for sure. There's more to Van Halen than singles.
And then in my humble opinion, I don't feel there
are many quote unquote deep cuts for Van Halen.
If you think about their run between Van Halen
one through balance. Because to me, I always
listen to them as complete albums. So there's
no song that you're going to pull from any one
of those that I'm going to go, wow, that's a
deeper cut. But to the radio fans that know the
hits, it might be considered that way. In my
world, the deeper cuts come from 1998's Van Halen
3 with Gary Cherone on vocals. And maybe to some
extent, 2012's a different kind of truth just
because. They're kind of outside of the band's
main catalog just in time past. But my goal for
tonight is to hopefully strike a hem balance
between the David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar years
and hopefully throw in a few fun surprises for
the Van Halen fans that are tuning in. It's interesting.
Deep cut. What is a deep cut? right because you're
so familiar with the songs like you say if you
listen to the albums but you know deep cut is
i guess technically it's it wasn't released as
a single it wasn't released as a promotional
type of device and so it was just left for those
who bought the album to listen to so there's
a that's interesting because van halen one is
like greatest hits right but some of those songs
weren't technically released as singles but yet
we hear them all the time exactly Well, let's
get down to business tonight. As I mentioned
at the top of the show, Eric, Pete, and I will
be creating the ultimate Van Halen mixtape and
we'll still use the old cassette deck approach.
Only this time there's a slight twist. Since
this is the first time I've had two guests on
the show, this episode will have a slightly different
rotation versus the usual back and forth discussion.
Pete's going to begin side A with his first song
choice, followed by Eric, and then by myself.
And we'll rinse, lather, and repeat that cycle
four times until we've mapped out 12 songs for
side A. Dirty dozen, if you will. We'll then
give our mixtape a proverbial flip, and we'll
map out side B. Only this time, Eric will kick
things off, followed by myself. and then Pete
for four more round robins. So if you consider
a regular My Weekly Mixtape episode to be a 90
-minute cassette, let's just consider today a
120. Our overall goal for this episode is to
craft the best Van Halen mixtape possible through
our 24 song choices. At the end of the show,
you can take our conversation to the next level
by visiting the episode page at myweeklymixtape
.com to give our final mixtape a listen via the
embedded playlist. And finally, if you like what
you're hearing on the show, you can help me out
by either telling a friend, leaving the show
a five -star review wherever you're tuning in,
or by becoming a Patreon mixtaper at patreon
.com forward slash myweeklymixtape. And a few
of the Patreon mixtapers chimed in with the songs
they would use to kick off their Van Halen mix.
And I want to give a quick shout out to a few
of those. David Lee Smith chimed in with I'm
the One. Sean Faust chimed in with two different
options, 1984 to set a huge mood and dance the
night away to get the party started. Ben from
the Too Vague podcast chimed in saying that first,
my question was actually rhetorical. And then
he asked himself, how could I not start with
Hot for Teacher? I just can't. Hashtag, I don't
feel tardy. Seeker agrees with Ben saying that
if Hot for Teacher doesn't start side A and a
one -two punch of Eruption and You Really Got
Me starts side B, then we're doing it all wrong.
And finally, brand new Patreon mixtaper Philip
Bergman chimed in saying he would start with
Eruption. Although not necessarily leading into
You Really Got Me, because in his opinion, it's
a perfect simmering up to a full boil to start
things off. And I'd like to take this moment
to welcome Philip to the Patreon Mixtaper family,
and I look forward to our musical discussions
in the forum. So Pete, as the official representative
of the Patreon Mixtapers for this episode, I'm
officially pressing the record button on our
mixtape, and I'm giving you the pleasure. or
stress, depending on how you want to look at
it, to kick things off tonight. So why don't
you dive into the song you're choosing to kick
off side A? This one was stress. I had probably
three songs in my mind that could kick this thing
off. Do you want to appease the masses? Or do
you kind of want to go your own route and say,
I know what this probably should be, but I'm
going to go my own way and pick something a little
different. After trying to go through these three
songs back and forth, you just have to go and
start with everything house on fire. We're going
to start with eruption to get things started.
Can't go wrong, man. In fact, that's what kicks
off the best of both worlds, best of double CD
from 2004, because it sets the tone. It's a perfect
opener. And it's basically saying, as we get
into these songs, just be reminded. There's one
guy, there's one guy that you have to look to.
And that's Eddie in eruption and a song that
came by accident. Ted Templeman just overheard
Eddie playing it. He said, what is that? And
he said, well, I'm just do this to warm up before
each show. He goes, well, warm up, keep playing,
hit record, roll tape. And that's what you hear.
I mean, and Eddie was like, yeah, I guess it's
okay. Didn't think anything of it. Didn't even
think that's. The mindset that he always had.
It's no big deal. Just a punk kid who plays guitar
is what he said. Widely considered to be the
greatest guitar solo of all time. And I would
never argue anyone that said that to me. According
to Eddie, there's actually a, and I'm going to
use quote marks to say this, a mistake at the
top of the song, which to me just points to the
beauty in the subjectivity of the music that
we listen to. Because. Here is Eddie thinking
that he could have played it better. And I'm
sitting here thinking there's no other human
on earth that can ever play this music like he
did. So to me, it is the greatest hard rock solo
of all time. Guys, I've spoken with guitarists,
guitar experts, guys who wrote for Guitar World,
and they can't find the mistake that Eddie's
saying. They cannot find it. Wherever it is,
we don't know where. unbelievable well eric we
are going to you now to follow that up and now
like new patreon mixtaper phillips said you could
go with you really got me or you've got this
kind of wide open slate to go wherever you want
with it right you know and i broke down this
is so difficult just to pair this down but i
broke it down into three different categories
for me so there's personal favorites There's
the lost, the last, or the least mentioned cuts.
And there's the must -have hits or classics,
right? Songs that aren't necessarily singles,
but just classics. So we've got Eruption taken
off the list. So what do we follow Eruption with?
Boy, well, I think because we start with that,
I just believe that it makes perfect sense then
to follow with You Really Got Me. It's one of
those songs, I don't skip over it when it's on,
but it's among those songs you've heard a lot.
And it's kind of lost its effect, but still just
an amazing song. And a song, one of many King
songs that they played in the club days. And
for some reason, that particular one just really
stood out. And Ted Templeman wanted that to be
a single. And the reason was because he had previously
produced Montrose. The debut Montrose album,
which, by the way, had Sammy Higg on vocals.
That album is now considered one of the most
influential albums in hard rock history, right?
No hit singles. And it bummed Ted Templeman out.
He just thought that was going to be the album.
So he learned his lesson, and he says, let's
get a bonafide hit. Well, Eddie never liked covers.
He always said, you know, it's already halfway
there because it was already a hit. I want to
write my own stuff. It became the perfect opener
for the band. It opened the door to what we hear
on the rest of the album. And there was a band
called Angel that was also playing You Really
Got Me. And one of the members of the band had
been chatting with Eddie. And Eddie mentioned
in passing, yeah, we recorded You Really Got
Me. We're going to release it as a single. Eddie
was, he just didn't think anything of it. So
this band, Angel. they race into the studio,
they record their version, and they're going
to get that single out before Van Halen. Well,
somehow Ted Templeman finds out, and he's like,
let's get this song out now. So they got it out
before Angel, and the rest is history. Who knows?
I've never heard Angel's version, but I don't
think we need to. No. There's only two versions
to listen to, The Kinks and Van Halen. It's a
perfect follow -up. There's so much energy to
that. It's, I think, one of those songs where,
You know, the remake is better than the original.
One of those two where you play it for your parents
and at the time we're like, why did they ruin
this song? Well, it is no surprise that I am
a huge fan of cover songs. But when you're a
band that can take a song that is already widely
established and widely known and elevate it.
In a way where they're putting their musical
stamp on the song, but also truly respecting
the original. It's a tough balance to find. And
it's something that Van Halen always seemed to
do through all the cover songs that they chose.
They always found a way to truly make it a Van
Halen song first and foremost with a wink, wink,
nudge, nudge to the original. Sometimes going
as far as. Like the start of Van Halen 2, You're
No Good, where the riff is completely written
based off of Ted Templeman's humming the opening
of the song to Eddie and Eddie then reinterpreting
this riff in a jam. To me, that's really far
removed from the Linda Ronstadt version that
was a bigger hit a couple of years earlier and
then obviously very far away from the original
by Betty Everett. So I'm not going to follow
it up with a cover. But now I'm in this weird
predicament for song three already because I
have this moment in the episode where I can either
send us down a chronological road or I could
skew us off into outer space. And I think I'm
going to go with the latter. And we're going
to jump, no pun intended, from 1978 all the way
to 1991. with a song that hit me right in the
midst of eighth grade and high school. And the
reason I'm choosing this song, Pete, you went
with Eruption, a song that kind of invented and
introduced a new style of guitar playing to the
world. And I want to follow it up with something
as my first piece, something with Eddie in it,
and then also bring Sammy into this conversation,
but also... Do something innovative. And I'll
be honest, in 1991, I was only 13 or 14 years
old, so I didn't have many years of experience
in me. But I listened to enough music to know
that nobody was playing electric guitar with
a power drill. And here comes Eddie Van Halen
in the opening to For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.
And I'm going to go with Pound Cake. It's one
of the most innovative guitarists ever, finding
new ways to innovate. guitar playing and raise
the bar even for himself. And let's just be honest
here. If the power drill opening led to a sub
par Van Halen track, it might just be known as
that power drill part of that song, as opposed
to what it is. A really good Van Halen song.
And it's an album opener. Van Halen always nails
the album opening and I'm a sucker for album
opening track. So my first contribution tonight,
pound cake. From Four Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.
That's a great pick. Great pick. I agree. This
song, the whole album I find, because I've always
said OU812 is my favorite Sammy era album, but
I find myself going back to Four Unlawful Carnal
Knowledge more so now than ever. And Pound Cake
is just massive sounding. Don't forget Alex,
right with that Bonham -esque drum beat. Yeah.
But yeah, you're right with the drill. Andy Johns,
who produced the album, he just said Eddie was,
he just, the drill was there in the studio. And
Eddie's just like, oh, yeah, let's try this.
You know, again, you know, Eddie's just brilliant.
But by that time, you would think that he had
pretty much, you know, the well was dry in terms
of innovative things or things that really kind
of blow your mind. Because by this time now,
because as we get to the Sammy years, and even
as we get like 1984, Eddie's more focused now
on becoming a songwriter. He would instead of,
you know, doing a lot of the stuff that just,
you know, could blow people's minds. And even
as early as far back as 80, 81, he was telling
a journalist, you know, he's like, I don't know
how many more of these, you know, eruptions or
Spanish flies or, you know, all these things
that I'm doing. These crazy things. I don't know
how many more I have left in me, you know, so
I don't know what's going to happen. People may
like it, may not like it, but it is what it is.
But then we get to 1991 and there it is. You
know, he's got something he's doing again and
it's just perfect. And I love when you turn it
up. I'm sure you know, Ryan, when you turn it
up real loud in the beginning, you can hear him
plug in. And you're waiting for it, waiting for
it. You know, you just, the adrenaline, you just
feel it. Goosebumps. Yeah. It almost sounds like
they say, you ready? Okay, let's do it. but a
little more drawn out than that. I think you
can kind of hear that. Yeah. Even the drill was
painted and striped. That was great too. I think
what were the, on the, was it the 91 MTV music
video award? They were on some award show and
you had the drill out there and put a Hawaiian
shirt on or something. It was just spectacular.
A little bit of a fun fact. After high school,
I had to get new license plates and I couldn't
think of what to put on that car. And I came
up with, Looking through the cupboard one day
and I saw some flour in there and it said one
pound of flour, one LB of flour. And I thought
to myself, I can't fit pound cake, but I could
fit LB cake on my license plate. So I had LB
cake license plates throughout college years.
It's like it comes in the pound cake. I forget
legally. Did you have to turn it? Do you still
have it? Or did they make you turn it in when
you get a new car? No, I still, I actually, I
still have them packed away. I love it. I love
it. Yeah. All right, Pete, we're back to you
for track four. Okay. So you went with that and
it is difficult. What do you do? Do you keep
swinging with, you know, now Sammy to Dave and
whatnot. One of the things that really got me
into Van Halen more so than say other bands that
I am an older brother. That's how I got into
these guys. That's all I can't listen to. It
was just, I knew more Van Halen songs. I think
when I was five or six years old and I did any
nursery rhymes whatsoever. Like here, I can give
you the 5150 album, but I can't tell you about
Mother Goose. So I just always like the backing
vocals. It seems like Van Halen concentrated
on that or they shined in that area more so than
other bands. I don't know. Maybe then the ones
my brother is too. Who knows? That being said,
going back to my radio days, I'm going to bring
this one in because I just really like. the backing
sound in this. And to go up with Pound Cake,
because to me, Pound Cake sounds very, like Eric
said, with the drums and how many microphones
they used in recording that, because of what
Andy John's helping with that. It sounded so
deep and fat and heavy. Going back to my redo
days, though, like I said, I was in the studio
and I had to do some prod in the studio. And
the PD came in and he said at the time, hey,
Eddie, I have something for you. No one else
has this. We just got it. I'm going to give this
to you, but you cannot play this anywhere but
here. And he gave me a CD single and I have it.
And it was called MeWise Magic. And I put that
CD in and I cranked that thing so loud that on
the other side of the studio, they came in and
said, Eddie, I'm showing you that. That brought
so broad into the air. I had that thing cranked.
And when I heard it, it was like, wow, this.
is what would be possible if you guys could just
get your stuff straight. And I was just, I was
blown away. I thought it was an excellent song.
So to back up Pound Cake, I'm going to go with
Mewi's Magic. Wow, what a song. Yeah, like you,
Pete, I was working in radio in Hartford at WCCC,
and I got to play that song when it debuted as
a single. I was like, that's like a career highlight
for me because I never got to experience the
original Dave years, but you're so right. we
could have gotten more of if dave was able to
just keep it together well then you there everybody's
got their opinion on that i mean they apparently
never even thought about having him back in the
band anyway it was one of those we already picked
gary chiron but we need two new songs for this
best of so we can promote it and get it sold
to more people because obviously the longtime
fans aren't just going to buy a best of with
songs they already have So let's throw two new
songs. Sammy said no, not going to do it. Eddie
calls Dave. Dave says yes. But all along, they
never planned on having Dave back. And that song
in Can't Get the Stuff No More, you know, those
are two great songs. Dark, not the early Dave
era. Then again, I should say, the Dave era did
have some dark stuff. You know, we go to Fair
Warning and there's some dark stuff in there.
But that's a good pick for an early on track.
Track four, side A. I like it. Wasn't that supposedly
all the while all this is going on back in the
guest house, Mitch Malloy is supposedly sitting
there watching all this stuff going on on MTV
with everybody else saying, well, wait a minute,
I'm not going to be a part of this. If it's so
big, everybody's going to want Dave back in the
band. Yes, you are correct. I don't think Mitch
was there at Ed's place because I know Gary moved
into Ed's place when they were recording three,
but Malloy did say, He was watching because he
had already got the gig, according to him. Eddie
said, Mitch, you got the job. And Mitch was over
the moon. And he's watching MTV. And he had heard
some rumblings Dave might be there. And he watches
this. And he's just thinking, this is over. I'm
not going to do this. Because now you've got
Dave up there. The crowd's going nuts. Now you
want me to go out there and be the next singer?
Hell no. And he called Eddie. and said, Ed, I'm
sorry, man, but I got to decline the offer. You
should just get Dave back. And Eddie got pissed
off. What the fuck do you mean I could bring
Dave back? Do you know what I went through with
that guy? And Mitch was like, Ed, I'm sorry,
man. I don't mean to piss you off. It's just
that, you know, I saw what just happened up there,
man. People went nuts. And I think he made up
with that in later years. I think they were cool
in later years. But, you know, Eddie did not
want to bring Dave back. But yeah, Pete, you're
right, man. That was it. Mitch Malloy. I don't
think I would have been happy with Mitch Malloy
as the singer. I think he was a little too clean,
a little too, I don't know, a little too professional.
I don't know. Sammy and Dave have their own unique
sound, their voices. I mean, they're just so
identifiable that I don't know if it would have
worked. Yeah. We got a taste of it with that
single, which is interesting. You could go on
a really deep cut there if you would call it
that. You're talking about the one with Mitch?
Yeah, the same music that they used the last
minute cut from was at the three album. They
cut the song and put Josephine on there instead,
I think. It was supposed to be That's Why I Love
You with Gary. Yes, you're right. You're right.
It's the same music. And Mitch had different
lyrics. Yeah. It's interesting to hear the same
music and see an artist's interpretation of the
same thing. Kind of like the different kind of
truth. Kind of the same thing a little bit. But
it's interesting. to hear the same band, different
singer, different interpretation with lyrics.
Yeah, they're out there on YouTube. People can
hear them. If you just go to YouTube, type in
Mitch Malloy Van Halen, you'll see. I can't recall
the name of the song. It's the right time, it
might be. Yeah, yeah, something like that. Yep.
MeWise Magic is the first song with David Lee
Roth back on mic after the Sammy Hagar years.
And instead of getting that old school... Van
Halen, David Lee Roth sound. To me, Me Wise Magic
was always a blending of kind of the songwriter
sound that came out during the Van Hagar years,
as well as that charismatic sound that was very
evident during the David Lee Roth years. To me,
Dave's voice is still in perfect form on this
track. This song was definitely in my bank of
tunes to me because it has that. Perfect blend
of the two eras musically that I think would
make any Van Halen fan happy. But the thing that
I most love about this track is Dave's lower
register delivery during the verses. It's a side
of David Lee Roth you don't get a lot of. He's
very refined and very mellow during those verses.
And then he does his vocal stuff during the chorus
to really... Give it that old school feel. And
I think that's a really different side of him.
And I'm actually shocked that during the 2007
to 2015 run of live shows that this song was
never explored because Dave was starting to have
a little bit of trouble with the higher end towards
those later ends of those tours. To me, this
would have been kind of a. mid -set palate cleanser
for him to be able to rest his vocal cords but
still have a really cool song i'm actually shocked
this was never played live yeah never played
live and dave did struggle through that recording
eddie and alex said they gave him credit this
is after the falling out from the mtv awards
but they said to dave's credit he soldiered through
it because at that time dave had He'd abandoned
the rock and roll route. He was just going to
do the Vegas thing. And he, he did have a tour
that year before, and he was playing some Van
Halen songs. I think some of his solo songs,
but also some covers of other tunes like show
tunes. It was almost like it was a Vegas show,
you know? So his delivery was different and he
didn't have a lot of time to get his voice back
in shape. So he pushed through that one. He worked
hard for it. And he even brought in, he brought
in. These fake trees, coconut trees and all that
in the studio just to get in the right mood.
And classic Dave. But if you listen to, Brian,
interesting, have you ever listened to Dave's
solo album, Your Filthy Little Mouth from 1994?
Okay. So you see, that's when his voice changes.
He's discovered a whole new range, but it sounds
different. The train whistle scream is not there
anymore. So he's got more of a screech, but he's
hitting these higher notes. Good or bad, a lot
of people were turned off by it, but his voice
had changed. And so you're hearing a little bit
of that in Mewi's magic, but you're also hearing
in a song like Experience from your filthy little
mouth, Dave's doing that, you know, hear what
you're thinking, you know, the talk. And it's
almost like a Leonard Cohen type thing, you know,
vibe going there. And Henry Rollins was loving
that too. I think he said, you know, Dave was
just sounding cool, you know, he was like a poet.
But he soldiered through that song. And the lyrics
are cool too. Me wise magic. It's like having
a belief in yourself. Well, Eric, now you get
to follow it up with track five. Okay. See, I
was killing time there because I don't know what
I want to pick next. I don't know what to do
here. So I figured I'd filibuster it. This episode's
going to be three and a half hours long. It's
all good. Okay. So you know what I think we need
to do? This is, I think this calls for a good
deep track, right? Something that... It wasn't
on the radio, because we've got Eruption, You
Really Got Me, Pound Cake, MeWiseMagic, all on
the radio, Pound Cake all over the MTV. Video
was all over the place at that time. So let's
see. How about I'm going to dip into my personal
favorites category here. I like MeWiseMagic because
it's kind of taken the tempo down a bit, and
we want to try to balance things out with, no
pun intended, with Dave and Sammy, because I
am going to go to... This is actually not on
balance, but on the Japanese version. And it's
a song called Crossing Over. Crossing Over is
now available on the reissues. So on the reissue
box set of all the Sammy years, you can now find
it there. This is an interesting track because,
well, two things. Lyrically, Sammy wrote the
lyrics about their manager who had passed away,
Ed Leffler. And he wrote the lyrics about that.
And I believe, so this song was originally written
by Eddie back in the mid 80s. And he had written
about a friend of his that passed away, if I'm
not mistaken. So what's cool about this is when
you're listening to the drums, you are hearing
the original drums that Alex played, the electric
drums from 84, 85 in one channel. In the other
channel, you're hearing Alex's all new drums
from 1995. The guitar work on this, it is dark.
This song would have been perfect as a replacement
for, say, I'm really not a fan of Not Enough,
I have to admit, although it was a hit, so I
guess we would keep it on there. I think maybe
replace Big Fat Money with this, Crossing Over.
It wouldn't have been a hit, but it's a powerful
song. It's something that should have been on
that album. So there we go, crossing over. Now
we're starting to bring the tempo down a bit.
And correct me if I'm wrong, that was also the
B -side to the Can't Stop Loving You single in
the U .S., right? We still had access to it.
Correct. You're right. Because a lot of times
these bonus songs were only for Japan. And you'd
get really pissed because a lot of times the
bonus tracks were as good, if not better than...
some of the tracks on the main album so for me
this was one of those instances where i didn't
feel cheated being a van halen fan in the u .s
because at least we got to hear it uh as far
as the replacement track eric you could have
just said you don't need no stinking click yeah
exactly or feeling could have been the one that
they could have switched it out with right feeling
It was the last track. That's okay. Yeah, I guess
you could correct me if I'm wrong. I always heard
that that was left off the album because then
they thought it was just too dark because of
the song Feeling on there and it gave off too
dark of a vibe. You could be right. But mid -90s,
that grunge era, that's why they were forcing
Sammy to change the lyrics to be more of the
times. Yeah, it's a great song. It's different,
I feel like, for them at the time. It seemed
a little more experimental. It almost seemed
like that's where... They were headed for three.
In hindsight, I can say that. But at the time,
I was like, well, this is really different. All
right. Well, you went deep. So now I want to
go in the opposite direction. Again, we're trying
to keep that quote unquote balance here. So I'm
going to start with the rhetorical question of
how in the living hell was this song not released
as a single? I'll forever wonder this every time
I drop the needle on 1981's Fair Warning. And
Mean Street starts. I mean, in Europe, it was
a single apparently, but for some reason, not
here in the US. So my question still stands.
That opening fret tapping from Eddie is just
absolute insanity. And the song is just so heavy.
It has such a swagger and a confidence to it.
And it just shows how locked in the band was
with Ted Templeman at that point in their career.
They just popped off four consecutive years with
four consecutive albums. And to me, they were
really in a groove at this point. And like I
had mentioned with Pound Cake, Van Halen is fantastic
with opening tracks, and this is no different.
So Mean Street from Fair Warning. Yeah, released
in Europe only. Yeah, you're so right, Brian.
What a performance by Ed on this. And it's great
that they include that opening as part of the
track because they could have maybe split it
into two. But that whole album, you know, Eddie's,
he's got more creative input now. He's sneaking
into the studio late at night when Ted Templeman
and Dave and everybody else is gone. It's just
him and the engineer, Don Landy, and they're
playing around having fun. doing things that
they couldn't do before, that they were told
they couldn't do. And Ed was pushing a little
bit more. So he's got more of a creative control
over this. And we see that this trend continues
to the point where he builds his own studio,
5150 Studios, for the 1984 album. But this song,
yeah, and Dave's lyrics, the way he delivers
the lyrics, the aggression, the attitude, something
that you can't... forget about he's got that
unmistakable delivery that the combination of
dave and ed together was perfect two different
guys introvert extrovert you know but they just
had that magic and the sound the pristine production
credit to ted templeman and landy because these
songs and these albums all the first six albums
with dave they are just pristine perfect sounds
like you're in the room with them And at Sunset
Sound Studios, they would set it up so that Dave
would be in the booth, looking through the window
at the guys in the band performing like it's
live. So it has that feel to it. This is really,
from an artistic standpoint, Eddie's peak. From
a commercial standpoint, we would get it with
1984. But this is perfect. A good pick. Because
again, it combines nicely. Comes off of Me Wise
Magic and Crossing Over, so it's perfect. I like
it. Actually, to be honest, that was one of the
other ones that I was having a hard time opening.
I get it. If you would try to explain to someone
what he's doing to make that noise at the beginning
of the song, it's just incredible. And I remember
when we did see them, the first concert I was
ever to was the Balance Tour in Minneapolis.
That's actually, I think, one of the few concerts
where they had the monks come out at the very
beginning before they kicked off showing to the
Seventh Seal. So when they came out, everybody's
like, what, what is going on here? You know,
after they boot off Our Lady of Peace. That's
right. Very interesting. Because then they bring
these guys out. Everyone's like, well, what's
this? You know, and it's like, that bunks just
happened to be in town. It was really cool. But
he would, during his guitar solo, if I remember
correctly, there are a few songs that he would,
you know, quote unquote, tease from the day they
just, they wouldn't do. And I remember that Mean
Tree, he would pop that off. And the crowd would
just go nuts. Just like, come on, just go into
the song, you know? It's an iconic song as far
as Van Halen's concerned. The guitar and everything
in there. It's got that deeper, darker, dirtier
sound because of the album. Great pick. What's
cool is, too, that he was inspired by the funk
slap bass technique. So that's where he's playing
around. Again, I'd love to just play around with
different ideas. There it is, man. That's Ed
at his best. No arguments there. All right, Pete,
we're back to you now for track seven. Okay,
I'll follow you up and go with the 1982 release
Diver Down. This one, I don't know if it's considered
so much as a deep cut or whatnot amongst Van
Halen fans. It's one that I'm sure many wish
was released for a single. Myself included. I
can never figure out why once you guys release
Little Guitars is a single. There's so much.
energy there and just how the background Michael
and Eddie sing you know Senorita I don't know
there's a lot going on in that song with it sounds
so simple but yet there's so much going on and
it's I love the sound of this album I know it
gets a lot of flack for all the covers on it
but I just love how this album sounds and this
is my favorite song from this album by far I
just I can't believe it wasn't ever released
as a single Yeah, think about the originals that
are on Dive or Down, because a lot of people
overlook those or forget. Those originals are
as good as anything that are on any other Van
Halen album. And there are a few covers there
that I will defend, and we can get to that maybe
later. But Little Guitars is one of those songs
that, yeah, more people need to know about it,
because unless you're really into Van Halen,
you may not be aware of this song. And again,
Dave, with the lyrics. The Mexican flavor. Can't
crow before I'm out of the woods, but there's
exceptions to the rule. It's an old saying that
means a crow flying through the forest won't
make any noise or it will draw attention to itself
and could get eaten. I mean, where does Dave
come up with this stuff? Now, Dave's very well
read. Dave reads books all the time. He's a reader,
big time reader, which I should get him on Booked
on Rock, Brian. What do you think? Can I be a
guest host? He'll talk rock and roll. Yeah, so.
Yeah. And I like this because little guitars
for now, we don't want to get too mellow and
dark for too long here. So we got me was magic
crossing over mean street. Okay. So a little
aggressive sometimes down lyrically, but now
we're picking things back up here, little guitars.
So we're, we're on the upward. It's time to party
again. Yeah. I'm not going to lie. Diver down
is probably my least favorite Van Halen album
from the David Lee Roth years. And my reason
for that is. What you said before, Pete, and
it sounds weird coming out of my mouth because
I'm such a big fan of cover songs. But there
was always this. I can't believe this word keeps
coming up tonight. Balance with Van Halen one
having two cover songs on it and then Van Halen
two having one cover song on it. But then you
skip two albums with no cover songs and then
you go to Diver Down and you. offset it with
five which tilts the scale in the wrong direction
and eddie would agree with you brian he would
have agreed with you if he was here right now
he'd tell you the same thing but that's the thing
the originals on it are so strong i know they
were rushing this out because again every year
from 78 to 82 you got a van halen album and i
feel like this was a little rushed because i'll
tell you right now when the band took a little
bit of time look what comes next So I feel like
Diver Down could have been one of the bigger
albums in the band's catalog had they taken just
a little bit more time and not focused so heavy
on the covers. But I love the pick. They weren't
a little rushed. They were a lot rushed. Right.
I was just trying my best to be kind about it.
You were being kind. And they had that Pretty
Woman single that was put out there just to keep
the name out there, just to keep people reminded,
hey, Fanny Hillen's still here. It becomes a
big hit. So now Warner Brothers is saying. Guys,
you got to get in the studio. Let's go. And Eddie
was saying, I need time. I don't have because
they were tapping into on those first two albums
and sporadically over the next two, tapping into
some of the songs that they had, you know, in
their arsenal from before or that Eddie had some
ideas that he was working on already. But now
he's like, I need some time. You know, I mean,
give me some time here. No. So you have this
knee jerk reaction. Plus the knee jerk reaction.
to fair warning because it didn't have any hit
singles on it they wanted to they being dave
and ted templeman really think that those two
and warner brothers certainly wouldn't have argued
it that let's get some hits so let's record songs
that were already bonafide hits you know just
like pretty woman let's do it again so you have
dancing in the street and songs like that so
eric we're back to you now for track eight So
I'm up next. Okay. So now we're getting back
into the Van Halen party mode, right? So little
guitars. Okay. Well, let's see. I think it's
time to bust out an undeniable classic from the
same years. It's time to pull out dreams. Let's
do it. Excellent. Let's do it. Dreams, right?
Now I'm saying we're in a party mode here. Dreams
is not necessarily a party song, but it's. adrenaline
it's it's feel good time and what song epitomizes
that more than this especially during sammy years
vocally sammy just reaching to all new heights
and mick jones from foreigner he produced the
album he just kept pushing sammy he sammy said
you know they they were walking along the beach
there where they're recording and he's like i
can't man i can mix like you can do it man you
can do it so he went back in there he pushed
it and he man this is vocally just This is his
peak. And lyrically, too, you know, I mean, this
is this epitomizes that Sammy era, you know,
just that positive mindset that he has to this
day. You know, he just makes the most out of
every day. And boy, he's here's a guy who came
from very little, you know, poverty. His dad
was an alcoholic, not in the picture, eventually
died fairly young. And, you know, Sammy could
have just said, hey, my life is just, you know.
It's going to turn out the same way, but he was
destined to become a rock star, he said, and
he became one. This song is very, very special
to me for personal reasons, which I'll get into
in a second. But you talked about Sammy's vocals.
When you're introducing a new singer to a band,
you want to make sure you distinguish why he
is now the singer. And Dreams is a song that
as much as I love David Lee Roth. I cannot picture
David Lee Roth attacking this style of Van Halen
song. And to me, that was a smart move on the
band's part to include a song like this in the
fold. And Sammy has gone out and said that dreams
and right now are his two favorite songs from
his tenure with dreams slightly edging out right
now. If you were to push him on the subject.
So to me, I couldn't agree more. And the personal
meaning is my football coach in high school used
this on his gym workout mix. And when we were
lifting weights, this was on his tape and nobody
was able to take that tape out of the boom box
in the gym. If he was there, it was this song.
It was, there was no easy way out. From Rocky
four, all different. That's a classic workouts.
Yeah. You're the best karate kid, all these like
positive up and you could not change that cassette.
However, I always loved dreams prior to those
workouts. And to me, as soon as I hear the opening
to this song. I could close my eyes and I'm in
that gym with my buddies in high school getting
ready for football. I'm picturing the montage
scenes with Brian getting jacked here in Listen
to Dreams. So I love the pick. Yeah, excellent
pick. It might be up there. Somebody always asks
you, what's your top five favorite song in all
genres, all time? This might be in that top five.
Just growing up in the MTV. era you know i remember
the video they make quote unquote like an official
video but it was with the with the blue angels
were on it and it was you almost get goosebumps
every time and what sticks out for me in this
song is quote unquote the second guitar solo
i don't when he taps and sammy's hitting that
high note oh my god i just the first sticks up
you know it's just an incredible that band right
there in that moment is so on it it's hard to
beat you nailed it when i listened to this cassette
my older brother's cassette this is what got
me into van halen this album christmas eve 1988
and it was that second solo where i just remember
closing my eyes i'm just like god damn that's
awesome you know because i mean the whole song
this is one where sammy said that eddie had shoeboxes
of cassettes, you know, or just cassettes all
over the floor at the studio. And they would
go through each and play it. And Sammy would
say, yeah, I like that. Let's hold on to that.
No, I don't like that. And when he heard Dreams
come up, he was like, whoa, okay, let's work
in this. And Eddie's doing some really cool stuff
with the acoustic guitars and, of course, the
keyboards. And this is songwriter Eddie right
here. And that second solo is very Clapton -esque.
It's less is more. It's minimalist. You know,
that's the thing. A lot of people will try to
say, Eddie's just all about playing a million
notes. Listen to this song. This is a great example.
He knew when to pull back, and he fits that little
solo right there at the end, and it's just goosebumps.
Yeah, love it. You can't not feel good listening
to this song. All right, well, I get to follow
it up now with track. And because this is a longer
side, we still have a couple of more tracks to
go. I'm going to go with what I feel is one of
the most criminally underrated songs on one of
the band's biggest albums. And I'm going to go
back to 1984. And I'm going to go with the album.
No, I'm just kidding. The whole album. The whole
album, yeah. When you go back to 1984, so many
massive hits, so much radio play. And then at
the end of side one, you get drop dead legs.
ACDC -esque in nature. It gives it its own home
in this varied types of sounds that you were
getting on 1984. And let's just be honest, the
last 90 seconds of that song are some of Eddie's
most ridiculous. I mean, the riff and the solo
over each other. My young mind at that point,
when my cousin played me this album for the first
time, I couldn't process what I was hearing.
It was magic to me as a young kid. And it still
is as an adult. Talk about closing out an album
side. I mean, 1984, Jump, Panama, Top Jimmy,
Drop Dead Legs. So we're getting towards the
end of the side here, following up Dreams. Let's
go with something a little different. Eddie said
he was trying to. play something inspired by
ACDC. Because, you know, they played a few shows
with him in 83. And so this was him trying to,
you know, because he was a big fan of Angus.
And this was his way of, you know, tipping his
cap to Angus. And it is an ACDC -like song. And
then you have Dave's lyrics, which are inspired
partly by... the movie Some Like It Hot, Marilyn
Monroe. And there's a scene in there where she's
walking past the train and the steam goes up,
you know, and that's where the lyrics come from,
you know, the big butt and this, you know, all
that makes me scream and all that stuff. Yeah,
this is like vintage Van Halen. This is like
them at their peak in terms of, you know, reaching
that point where, you know, they're making a
song that musically, It's got all the ending.
Like you say, that extended ending, Eddie was
inspired by Alan Holdsworth. He was a big fan
of Alan Holdsworth. So that was him tipping it
out to him. I don't know how often they played
it on that tour, but boy, drop dead legs, man.
You can't go wrong with that, but I'm probably
going to say that so many times. But inspired
by Back in Black specifically, Eddie said. You
can hear that too a little bit in there, that
inspiration. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
I like it. I really like technology these days
with the headphones we have, because to hear
that on a good set of headphones, the ending
of the song, just kind of the noodling around
and stuff on Alex playing the drums and things,
kind of like you said, how many songs are we
going to see this month? It's underrated. It's
like picking your favorite kid. it's a fantastic
song i really like it it seemed like a little
bit of a change up on there i know the other
release they had it's uh my mind's drawn a blank
right now i can go to this and be ashamed while
people are throwing things at their their phones
they'll be like it's all wait darn it i'll wait
yeah but yeah it was it's a little different
you know the that album It's somewhat of a roller
coaster. You got just the two little dips in
there, you know, with Drop Dead Lights, just
a tone down just a little bit, you know, but
just really powerful and funky. And then I'll
wait. But then all the other songs in there are
just blistering, you know. So, yeah, it was a
cool change of it. It's such a great sound on
that song. That's a great pick. It's a great
Ed and Al moment. There are Ed and Al songs where
the two of them are just in lockstep with each
other and that's it. That's a result of them
playing endless hours together in the studio.
And like Alex would say, we would just play and
play and play. And then we would pick up on something
that stood out and say, let's go with that. And
I could just imagine, I could just see that riff
all of a sudden popping up and he just starts
to play it. And Alex is like, whoa, okay. To
be a fly on the room during those sessions, damn.
Well, Pete, with that, we're back to you for
track 10. Yeah, I don't want to slow down too
much with that one. So we'll keep a little bit
of a party mode here. This one sticks out to
me particularly in concert when everybody would
get if they had a towel or some people their
shirt or whatnot. Just whip it and run and round
and round and round up in the air. I'll pick
and run around from For Unluckled Colonel Knowledge.
I love that video. I keep going back to MTV,
but it's what I did back then. Nintendo and MTV.
It was a great video watching those guys walk
on that disc that would spin around. Of course,
Alex, throughout those years, we're wearing the,
what the funky sunglasses with the sides on them.
If you remember from the pound cake video and
Alex was just always so cool. Like, can anybody
be as cool as Alex is on the drums? I love the,
you call it a breakdown and a song, you know,
when it kind of gets quiet and, you know, Sammy
shows off his former boxing moves and stuff in
the video. And I, it's a great song. I, I like
it. So I'm going to take, run around just to
keep up kind of the party mood here at the end.
Love Runaround, and Sammy's vocals are great
on this, and he's in the pocket when they get
into those verses, and it's a great groove. Runaround,
a song that even I have friends who aren't huge
fans of the Sammy era that will say, I gotta
admit, I love Runaround. Yeah, that's one of
their last big hits, I guess, because then they
had Can't Stop Loving You after that on Balance,
but yeah, one of the great Sammy era tunes. I
got her in my sight, but just out of reach. The
kind of lyrics and themes that you'll only get
from the Van Hagar era of the band. Because really,
Runaround is essentially a pining, a love song
that you're not getting from the David Lee Roth
era. I mean, the closest love song that I could
think of off the top of my head is Hot for Teacher.
But it's a totally different type of love. And
the guitar solo in Runaround could be my favorite.
on for unlawful carnal knowledge besides the
power drill like so i love the pick i absolutely
love it and now eric we're back to you to follow
it up your last pick for side a all right so
here we go i've been waiting to pull this one
out and i think this is the right time and this
is my hands down favorite deep track from the
dave era And by the way, my favorite deep track
from the Sammy era comes from For Unlawful Carnal
Knowledge, so I'm hoping to sneak that one in
side B. Romeo Delight from Women and Children
First. Absolute classic Dave era song. Because
it was never released as a single, it makes it
that much more enjoyable because every time I
hear it, it feels like I'm listening to it for
the first time. That opening... And they open
the... The Us Festival, that show they opened
with that song, and it's just a perfect opener.
And it's got that stop and start and a push and
pull and that perfect interlude for Dave to do
his thing. And you're hearing Michael Anthony
doing that cool little thumping bass in the middle.
And when I listened to this for the first time,
I hadn't seen Dave perform this live at any time.
Never did it as a solo artist and never saw him.
perform it with van halen but i just remember
saying boy i could close my eyes and just imagine
this as a perfect live song and when you get
to the 2007 tour and they have that in the set
list dave was just like on his game when they
get to that breakdown and he's like we're building
tension here you know and then you hear eddie
like you know it is like i said my hands down
favorite deep track from the dave era romeo delight
track number 11. Side A. Romeo Delight. The first
thing that sticks out to me, like you said, is,
I don't know, whatever, right? The Us Festival,
the U .S. Festival. Whether or not Dave really
forgets the blanking words is the question. I'm
not really sure. We also don't know if The Clash
are the only ones that put iced tea in their
whiskey bottles, but it's a classic song. Yeah.
I also found it interesting not to take anything
away from Dave, but when Gary did it on Tour
2. They sounded great two years later. Yeah,
that's a really good deep track song. More people
need to hear that one. So if you're listening,
go check out Romeo Delight. You'll be delighted.
Yeah, the great harmonics tapping. And credit
to Gary for wanting to put that in the set list.
And I'll also say that, like Drop Dead Legs,
this was at a moment in time when the band is
focusing on albums. Not singles. Bands did this.
But album opening songs were supposed to be just
as strong as the side closer. Because if you
have a weak side closer, you're not really enticing
people to flip it over and continue listening.
And Romeo Delight is such a perfect side one
closer to me, just like Drop Dead Legs is on
1984. Because you don't get to Hot for Teacher.
If you don't flip it over, same thing with women
and children first, you don't get the Torah Torah
and loss of control. To me, I love it. And now
I have the tough decision to close out Side A.
And I want to bounce around and get to some albums
we haven't talked about yet. So I am going to
go to a song that my father fell in love with
at the same time as I did. Now, this was at a
point in time, 1988. where my father and I were
drifting musically in different directions. I
was now growing into my teens and starting to
create my own musical identity. But there were
certain times where we would align on a song
and be like, we're still in lockstep. And Finish
What You Started from OU812 is one of those moments.
Plus, it's the last song on side A, so Finish
What You Started kind of has a little bit of
a meta vibe going here. It reached number 13,
almost a top 10 hit. So it was a massive hit
for the band. Stayed on the chart for 20 weeks,
one week shy of their longest charting song,
which was Jump. So, I mean, this song had staying
power. And as a musician, I love the fact that
Eddie recorded this guitar clean, plugged directly
into the board. That is how you get this really
unique sound. on the song. And with that unique
sound, to me, it sticks out like a Spanish fly
does on Van Halen 2. This is a song that utilizes
less overdrive and distortion, which is kind
of a mainstay in Van Halen music. So by going
to the opposite end of that spectrum, you really
flip the album on its side. It works really well
with Sammy. It's one of the two songs that he
actually plays guitar. in a Van Halen song. Now
think about that. The only two songs that Sammy
Hagar, a very accomplished guitarist, he is not
a slouch on guitar. One of two times he picked
up the guitar. And then in 1990, the song was
used as the theme music for a short -lived Valerie
Bertinelli sitcom called Sydney. So I guess it's
good to have connections in that scenario. But
I still love this song to this day. Finishing
out. Side A, finish what you started from OU812.
Yeah, and a great example of what that album
OU812 represented, which is experimenting, doing
things, having fun, stretching out. Some of the
songs on there, Sammy regretted lyrically because
they just were just having fun. You know, like
I think, what was it? If You Naturally Wired
or one of those songs. But anyway, this song
is, and you mentioned Brian, he's plugging directly
into the studio mixing console with his Fender
Stratocaster. And this is something that, this
kind of harkens back to the Dave years of experimenting,
like kind of like the Women and Children First
thing where you have some experimenting going
on here. And I love that Eddie came up with the
guitar part like two o 'clock in the morning
and Sammy was his neighbor. So they live next
to each other. he's sammy you gotta come over
man and sammy's like what the hell man i'm sleeping
but when creativity strikes with eddie you you
better be there and sammy showed up and they
finished up this song and yeah like you said
brian it's just one of the bigger hits from the
sammy era and i remember this being on the radio
all the time and the video too the black and
white video wearing the cowboy hats and get some,
uh, some smoking hot women in the video, you
know, the eighties, man, beautiful thing. Yeah.
The main thing that comes to mind with this song
is at the beginning, that drum beat, what the
heck is going on? I just sit there and I try
to tap to it in the car all the time. Like, man,
I just, I can't figure out what the heck you're
doing here. Good luck keeping up. Right? Exactly.
Yeah. That's the underrated Alex Van Halen right
there. I think underrated. Yeah, that drum beat,
you could count. You could snap your finger and
count along with the song. But the stuff and
the times he's hitting the snare is so complex.
In its simplicity, it's staggering. Yeah, you're
so right. Well, you know, Pete, this is the thing.
One of the magical things about Van Halen is
that this band would attract musicians and non
-musicians. Like myself, I'm not a musician.
You just, when you hear a song, you love it.
Those who are hardcore musicians, hardcore guitarists,
they love listening to Eddie and hearing what
he's doing, but you don't have to be. And that's
what makes, again, Eddie a great songwriter.
And we got to give credit to Sammy and Dave for
contributing with the songwriting, you know,
that whole package. But it's the songs that matter
most. And Ed would tell you that, you know, it
wasn't, you know, he could have gone and done
an instrumental album at any time, but it was
about the songs, the whole package. And these
songs are just undeniable. Well, there you have
it, folks. Side A of our ultimate Van Halen mixtape
consisting of Eruption from Van Halen 1, You
Really Got Me from Van Halen 1, Pound Cake from
4 Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, Me Wise Magic from
Best Of Volume 1, Crossing Over from the Japanese
Edition of Balance, Mean Street from Fair Warning,
Little Guitars from Diver Down, Dreams from 5150,
Drop Dead Legs from 1984, Run around from Four
Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, Romeo Delight from
Women and Children First, and Finish What You
Started from OU812. Head over to MyWeeklyMixtape
.com to hear all the songs we've discussed in
this mix through the playlist embedded on the
episode page. Now, before we flip things over
to Side B, Eric, you mentioned your podcast Booked
on Rock at the top of the show. Why don't you
tell people a little bit more about the show?
Yeah, Books on Rock. Thanks, Brian. Yeah, it
is focused on, well, it's about our love of classic
rock. So anything from, you know, you can go
all the way back to the Elvis Presley years right
up and through to today, if you'd like, but primarily
from the mid -60s to mid -90s. And it focuses
on all these books that have been written, these
amazing books that have been written on these
artists, on these albums, on these eras or particular
stories that took place during these periods
like Woodstock or, you know, Altamont. So each
week we have at least one, if not two episodes
where we talk with an author of a book who. Tells
us all the great stories that are in the book.
For example, we just had an episode recently,
a book on Counting Crows. Jeff Harkness wrote
a book on Adam Duritz and Counting Crows. I had
James Campion on recently who wrote a fabulous
book from 2018. And we wanted to have him back
on just to talk about the late, great Warren
Zevon. And he wrote a book called Accidentally
Like a Martyr, The Tortured Art of Warren Zevon.
We've had episodes on David Bowie's Scary Monsters
album, The Who Quadrophenia, Ozzy at 75. But,
you know, some of the moments on the show that
really stand out for me is a recent one, really,
from Liberty DeVito, the drummer of Billy Joel.
And he had some absolutely phenomenal stories
about his time with Billy, his falling out with
Billy, how he made up. And they made peace again
after 15 years of not talking. And so we had
him on. I think we're up to now, let's see, 156
episodes total. And I just think people will
enjoy it. If you love classic rock and you want
to hear all the great stories, this is it. You
can go to BookedOnRock .com or on YouTube, Spotify,
you name it. We're all over the place. All the
platforms you can find right there. And I think
that covers it. And we also have a series of
shows we call The Dialogue, which is basically
a chillin' chat, you know, with just various
musicians and podcasters and you name it. And
we happen to have Brian Colburn, a podcaster.
I've heard of him. I think you've heard of him.
He'll be on as well. So we're going to be just
talking BS and talking rock and roll, talking
books. And you gave me some of the books that
you have read, that you love, that you want to
read, that you would like to see written. So
it's going to be fun. It's a great show and I'm
excited to be an upcoming guest. So thank you
so much for having me be a part of that as well.
But with that, Eric, you get the pleasure or
pain, depending on how you look at it, of kicking
off Side B. We got 12 more. Let's see what we
got here. Boy, oh boy. The first track on side
two, it's got to be a banger, right? It's got
to be something everybody knows. It's got to
be a party anthem. So, Panama. Come on. We haven't
put Panama on this mixtape yet. So let's put
that bad boy in there. Track one, side B. Panama's
one of those songs, it's kind of similar to Jump,
where even those who... Don't know Van Halen
all that much. They know Panama, like my nephew.
He said he loved that song because he heard it
on Superbad, right? The two cops are doing the
donuts and they're playing Panama. It's a great
party song. I mean, what more can you say about
it? I mean, the video. The video. Forget it,
man. Classic. One of the three classic videos
from the 1984 album, Jump, Hot for Teacher, and
Panama. But, you know, the guitar. Again, Eddie's,
you know. What more can you say about the guy?
Panama, this is a great riff, but, you know,
then you got that great chemistry with Dave and
you get the breakdown and Dave comes in, you
know, going to reach down between the legs, ease
the seat back. And that was a great thing about
Van Halen and Dave era that, and they had their
moments with Sammy too, but they really could
just play with your emotions where they get you
real fired up and then it slows down and then
it builds back up again, like Unchained, you
know, does that too. Panama, to me, is a perfect
side starter. It could have been a starter for
Side A, but I think Side A is perfect with Eruption
and You Really Got Me because it introduced the
band. But let's throw an ultimate party and kick
it off with Panama. Love it. And honestly, during
the David Lee Roth era, the band always had this.
panache about their breakdowns if you will they
took the very seriously especially dave because
he always had his his moments during those songs
where he would just kind of go on his rambles
and rants and this one i feel like they really
nailed it with this song and apparently now i'm
not you would probably know this to be you could
fact check me on this eric if i'm wrong but david
lee roth was once accused by a reporter of singing
only about women partying and fast cars. And
at that point, all it did was make David Lee
Roth realize that he never wrote a song about
a fast car. So that's why we have Panama. Sir,
you are correct. Could there be a more David
Lee Roth response than that? I mean, really.
I know. I know. I know. And there's always a
question of, what is this song about? And then
Dave would give different answers to different
reporters because he just loved doing that. And,
you know, it's like those breakdowns are a lot
like, you know, when you think about Eddie, like
we talked about eruption and he's just, you know,
messing around. It's kind of like that's Dave's
moment, you know, just to mess around and let's
just see what comes off the top of his head.
And boy, what's inside of that head, man? brain
of his and um yeah it's it's uh panama is interesting
because it's a it's part i really i think it's
mostly inspired uh by uh there's a drag racer
he he saw that the name of the car i think was
called panama express and that's kind of the
impetus behind the song but you know with dave
it's kind of like an amalgamation of all these
different things going through his mind but i
think that's what he was going for but again
intentionally not not writing about he was being
criticized you know all he writes about are the
same things you know so this was his his way
of doing it you know dave as a lyricist you know
at times could be so fun and sometimes head scratching
and where's he coming up with his stuff but boy
never a dull moment i mean i think you know jump
was a little more i guess on the on the uh that
was One that I guess you can't really say that
he was really doing a whole lot of lyrical gymnastics
on that one. But he was still it's just what
he's coming up with. You know, it's like a guy
jumping out of the window and he sees it on the
newscast. He says, oh, I might as well jump.
It's like, where does he come up with this stuff?
And what's cool, too, is Eddie backs up his Lamborghini.
To his studio and records, you know, he's revving
up the engine. So that's where you get in that
middle part. It's the hairdryer on stage in the
video, but that's Ed's Lamborghini, which that's
classic Ed again, just the innovative side of
Eddie. Anyway, Panama, side B track one. And
that song pretty much global. You hear it almost
at every sporting event you go to when they're
coming back from commercial or something on a
NBA game, NFL game, hockey. It's a huge song.
And also, I always thought of this song to the
chorus when they yell or sing Panama itself.
For that time frame, I don't know if anybody
else will feel what I'm saying here, but that
brings me almost like a Def Leppard, Brian Adams
type -ish in that era where Mutt Lang worked
with those two artists. Just how they say that.
It sounds not mechanical and machine -like, but
it's just so loud. Maybe that's what they were
going for when they all look up at the camera
and scream Panama. It comes across as just a
huge, huge party sports anthem. Never been left
out of a set list in any Van Halen concert. I
mean, even during the Sammy years, they played
it. Right. And now I have to follow that up.
So I'm going to keep the energy high and I'm
not going to jump singers. I'm going to stick
with Dave for the second pick. And have I mentioned
that I love album openers before? Yeah. I'm a
sucker for it, but I also want to talk about
a moment in time that's actually important to
the band because it's the first time that Eddie
Van Halen plays keyboards in a song. And that
is the opening track on 1980s Women and Children
First, End the Cradle Will Rock. So to me, you've
got the energy of Panama, but then you want to
keep the head bobbing for track two. You want
that groove. You want that swagger. You want
that energy, but you don't want it to be 180
miles an hour. You want to be strutting down
the street and End the Cradle Will Rock gives
you just that. I love the fact that it's Eddie
playing keyboards, but a lot of people. had no
idea it was Eddie playing keyboards. They thought
it was his guitar. It was a Wurlitzer electric
piano being run through his amplifiers with flange
effect on it. Again, innovation. This is stuff
that was not being done. And to me, David Lee
Roth's vocals on this track, his vocal leaps
on this one are maybe some of his best. They
have grit to them. You feel it. You feel it in
this song. And to me, it's just a perfect way
to follow up Panama. Eddie the Mad Scientist.
The song's intro written using a guitar in the
band's tour bus, two keys on the piano, broken
while recording because Eddie was pounding on
them so hard. The Mad Scientist. Yeah. And even
the band gave him a little grief for this using
keyboard, but you couldn't even tell. Yeah, this
is another one of those must inclusions on the
set list during the Dave years. Sammy wasn't
going to touch this one. This wasn't the vibe
of Sammy, but this is all Dave, you know. And,
you know, it's perfect because this period. van
halen the guys are still young and they got a
lot of teenage fans and so it just hits home
with all those teenagers you know like what's
the other song on women and children first uh
uh you know not into the golden rules you know
loving to break the rules and that dave knew
what he was doing with those and yes and the
cradle will rock women and children first is
maybe the most underrated album of the dave era
now you don't hear as much off of that album
as the rest of them. It's unfortunate. Yeah,
it's a really good song. I couldn't believe it
either when I thought that was keyboards as well.
I'm like, wait, what? That's a song. Yeah, underrated
song. It's a great opener. A very classic. You
hear it quite a bit. Very popular. Can't go wrong
with that one. I'd call it the keyboard gateway
drug for a Van Halen track because he fooled
all of us. All right, Pete, we're back to you
now for track three. Okay, that one's kind of
tough to follow up just because of the vibe of
that one. I guess I'll put attitude up with,
I guess, attitude. The hello, baby. Good enough.
From 5150, switch back to Sam. I just love how
this song sounds. I love the whole album, but
this song in particular, I just think it's a
great intro. And just to key up on that, it's
unfortunate with this album. Because as you probably
have heard, Eric, I want some action. When I
hear that, I hear just a sliver of good enough.
And it's like, man, I wish that could have made
that. I just wanted it. This is off key, but
I just wanted to say that too, because you're
probably aware of that song. Every time I listen,
I'm like, man, this song, it's got a little inch
of good enough in it. But back to the song, there
is so much energy in that song. And even when
he's doing it with the circle. It's just such
a good Bible of the baseline in there. And yeah,
was he trying to be kind of like Dave with the,
Hey waitress, you know, part of the spoken word
part. Maybe I just love the energy and everything
that's in this. So I think it's a great opener.
So I'll pick good enough from the 51 50 album
here. Good pick. And one of two songs written
for Dave. And that was good enough in summer
nights. Oh yeah, 100 % hear that. From the Hello
Baby to the Breakdown, that's all classic Dave.
But I feel like you couldn't have asked for a
better introduction to the Sammy Hagar years
than that song. Because that Hello Baby gives
you just enough of what people expect from Van
Halen, from the David Lee Roth years, to kind
of be that transition point. And then throughout
5150, they start weaving in the new sounds. Good
Enough was the perfect song to open up 5150.
And what can I say? Thank you, Pete, because
that's one less album opener. I had that on my
list because again, they nailed the album. I
could have picked all album openers for my eight
choices and they would all be damn good picks
because they know how to open an album. So thank
you for that. And with that, Eric, we're back
to you for track four. Okay. You know, I think
it might be time. Well, what's better to follow
up good enough lyrically than with Beautiful
Girls? Nice. All right. Beautiful Girls, Diamond
Dave, Toes in the Sand, Drink in My Hand. This
is such a great party song, and this is one of
those songs I think I'm not going tired of hearing,
even though I've heard it and played it on the
radio many times. this is classic diamond dave
and this is where you see the difference lyrically
and dave could be a little more creative good
enough sammy's you know me too movement i don't
know if that song would work so well these days
right but beautiful girls yeah um just that image
you know dave was creating that whole image of
of california and the beach and the summer and
and and just eddie's got that great riff yeah
i think it's a good follow -up to good enough
keeping the party going here You know, everybody's
got a good buzz on now. We're inside B here.
We got to keep it going. This is essential classic
Van Halen. Yeah, great pick. That's a classic
song. It's something you'd play at every party,
keep everybody in a good mood and things. If
I'm not mistaken, wasn't that on the SNL skit?
I believe it was Chris Farley and Adam Sandler.
I mean, you hit SNL, you know, made it by then,
of course, years later. Yeah, great song. I love
the guitar riff in it. And again, the backing
vocals, the backing vocals, the backing vocals
on all, especially those early records. Oh, my
gosh. They're so good. Huge part of the Van Halen
sound. Could not agree more. This is what Van
Halen was all about during those first couple
of years was that attitude. And Beautiful Girls
nails that attitude. And coming out of Good Enough,
you feel that vibe. We're still in that vibe.
So here we are. I'm on track five now for Side
B. The last time we've talked about what could
arguably be one of the greatest debut albums
of all time was right at the beginning, the one
-two punch of Eruption and You Really Got Me.
So I feel like I'm doing a disservice to not
go back to Van Halen one. And obviously every
song on there is a winner. So I'm just going
to go with Eddie Van Halen's two -chord punk
rock parody. Ain't talking about love because
my hard rock band used to cover it. I love the
song because let's be honest, it is two chords.
And you think to yourself, how can anybody make
two chords work? Eddie Van Halen can make two
chords work. And it was one of the few David
Lee Roth era songs. I think there's only six
or maybe seven in total that Sammy was willing
to sing during his tenure. So that has to speak
to something. Ain't talk about love. Again, Eddie
downplaying his skills, didn't consider it to
be good enough to show his bandmates. He said
it was just something, it was just a parody,
like you say, of punk rock and a stupid thing,
he called it. Man, that guitar solo is one of
the greatest in rock history, doubled in overdubs
with an electric sitar. Yeah, you cannot, I mean,
this would have been, I think, You would have
been in trouble, Ryan, if we left this off of
a Van Halen mixtape. Yeah, I always think about
that. I think about people emailing me saying,
how the hell did you do a vent without this?
And I already know no matter what 24 songs we
pick, somebody's going to message me, how did
you leave off? And the only answer is, you're
right. Yes. Just thank God that nobody knows
your home address, right? Because if that wasn't
on there. Pete, ain't talking about love. Yeah,
I remember when my brother would play that thing.
Man, like, wow, that guitar just sounds so raw
on there. It's like, man, are you bleeding when
you're playing that thing? It just, it's so in
your face. It's really, it's great. And I'll
never forget when I was out at a club, we're
on the dance floor and all of a sudden you kind
of hear somebody. sounded like an old lady kind
of talking in the background and somebody yelled
something and then all of a sudden you hear eddie
van halen playing this guitar i'm like they're
playing van halen i'm like what is this is this
a remix when it turned out it was what a two
live crew song that they had sampled i was like
whoa i'm it's like when home i told my brother
like did you know that they sampled van halen
song for one of these songs and i played it for
him it's interesting but uh Yeah, great song.
But that whole album, it just sounds, even from
the song, it sounds so much different. It's just
so raw, like, unbiltered, but clean at the same
time. Excellent pick. Like you said, if you wouldn't,
you know, they'd come look at the... Well, and
then you have to talk about it. Hip -hop loved
Van Halen 1. You had two live crew pulling Ain't
Talkin' About Love, and then you had Tone Loke.
who took the drum beat and guitar riff from Jamie's
crying and made it into a massive hit wild thing.
And apparently the band sued him and won $180
,000, which for the time seems like a lot of
money, but wild thing is still a massive hip
hop classic. And I think Van Halen was being
nice to him at that point because sent a message
though. Yes. Years to come. Cause the beastie
boys was doing a lot of sampling on Paul's boutique
and Nobody knew that that was going to blow up
like it did. And so the artists were like, wait
a minute, you're using my music. I think you
owe us a few bucks for that. A couple dollars.
Vanilla Ice with his comical excuse for... No,
I didn't take Queens under pressure. Hers is
doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom. Mine is doom,
doom, doom, doom, doom, doom. Doom, doom, doom,
doom, doom. That's right. It's in there. You're
right, dude. It's a totally different song. You
fooled the whole world. Yeah. Pete, we're back
to you for track six. We're back to track six.
Okay, so we ended up with Ain't Talking About
Love. Yeah, I have, like you said, Eric, there's
a list of favorites here. There's one staring
me in the face as just this complete outlier.
People that kind of dropped off listening to
the band after the Dave years were over. I don't
know if they would know. I kind of want to put
that in my pocket. One that I want to see on
here that maybe the casual fan won't know about.
I kind of put it in there with like the little
guitars type songs in here, the category. One
song that I just think. It doesn't receive enough
recognition except for more of the hardcore fans.
Awful Women and Children first. It's called In
a Simple Rhyme. And I love that song. When you
listen at the breakdown at the end with Michael
Anthony and Ed with the backing vocals and you
can hear an angel sing. It's just such a spectacular
song. But then again, kind of like some of their
other songs, all of a sudden it takes off again
like a musical explosion. And then at the very
end, it kind of calms and lulls you down again
into what? Into growth. What would be or not
be, I guess, growth. But I always loved that
song and I would play it and some people would
say, well, what is this? It's not like this hidden
track. It's on there. You just got to listen
to the whole album. But it started to blab on.
But for me, it's in a simple rhyme from Women
and Children first. It's like, how do you describe
that to somebody? Yeah, that's as close, I guess,
to a ballad as you get during the Dave years.
maybe the closest of them all, but in a simple
rhyme, man. It's just, yeah, it's the angelic
harmonies of Eddie and Michael Anthony. And that
is such a special ingredient to that classic
Van Halen sound. Both eras, you know, Sammy and
Dave, but in a simple rhyme, man. You're so right,
Pete. And this is just one of those songs that's
overlooked, you know. Like I call them the lost,
the last or the least mentioned, you know, that's
on the list in a simple rhyme. And I've made
a note here, harmonies. That was the first thing
that you think of harmonies. Beautiful song.
Yeah. And I was going to say, I think I mentioned
earlier that there was no quote unquote ballads
during the David Lee Roth years, but Eric, you
took the words right out of my mouth. I'll wait.
And in a simple rhyme are the closest you're
ever going to get. To a Dave ballad. And then
as far as I'm concerned. The first time I ever
heard David Lee Roth do a ballad. And I'm using
big quote marks with that. Would be damn good
off the Skyscraper album. Because to me that
felt like a tried and true ballad. Love that
song. Yeah. One of Dave's best. It's a great
song. It's probably my second favorite on Skyscraper
as a whole. It's just such a beautiful tune.
Awesome. so with that eric we're back to you
for track seven yes i think here we go now with
same with side a you get to that middle portion
here and we're taking it down a notch a little
bit so i think a good follow -up to in a simple
rhyme is a song that you just can't leave out
because it's real important to the history of
van halen and how they were able to make that
transition into the 90s as tastes start to change
right now it's so important The song itself is
a classic. It's brilliant. It's a song that Eddie
had that piano part for a while, going back to
the mid-'80s, yeah. And what it did for the band
was it just gave them that legitimacy as you
get into the 90s. It was something that was just
completely on its own. It just had a sound of
its own. It still sounded like Van Halen, but
it wasn't something that they had ever done before,
lyrically as well. It wasn't a huge hit single
on the radio, but once it blew up on MTV, that's
when it became a staple on radio. To this day,
you'll hear it right now. I think that's what's
shocking about that song. People automatically
assume it's one of the band's biggest hits. It
only reached 55. It wasn't even a top 40 hit.
But as soon as you say Van Hagar, people always
go to that song. And I think that was MTV didn't
necessarily define the charts as much as we,
the people that grew up during the MTV era, when
they played music videos were extremely influenced
by MTV more than the radio at the time, more
than radio was ever willing to admit. And this
is one of the prime examples of that because
to us, it's shocking to find out that it only
reached 55. How, how was that not a number one
hit? Yeah, and then it's outlasted the songs
that were hits at the time. Like Run Around,
you don't hear that nearly as much as you hear
right now, and Run Around was the bigger hit
at the time. It just has a staying power to it.
It doesn't sound of a time, of a specific time.
You don't listen to it and say, oh, that's 1991.
It's just a song that sounds great no matter
when you listen to it. And one other thing I'll
say about it, the piano part. Just the piano
riff is the closest thing to an Eddie Van Halen
guitar riff on piano, because there's a part
of my mind that could hear that on guitar. Yeah.
And it would still work. But for Sammy Hagar,
the piano definitely leans more towards. But
if he came up with that riff and played it on
guitar, it would have still made a great Van
Halen song. Yeah. Wouldn't that be interesting
to hear? Yeah. Cool. Back in high school. When
this came out, I worked at a grocery store, and
the first thing I think of is all of the pallets
of Crystal Pepsi that I had to stack. Every time
I do it, I think of the commercial with the two
ice cubes coming and clashing on everything and
the water, you know, how dramatic it was. You
know, this song is interesting considering in
radio, I was told when it would come on to select,
we had two parts to that. the main version and
then the second version because the main version
so I worked on a top 40 radio station the main
version was too quote unquote too rock and roll
so we had to play version two which if serves
me correct pretty much the guitar solo was taken
out and instead it was just keyboards in there
omitted the guitar solo talk about neutering
van halen really i mean it was religious you
do not remove eddie's guitar yeah that might
be on youtube i could see that meme where it's
just a guy with his fingers in the air one does
not remove yes eddie van halen's guitar right
well following up a massive hit like right now
i want to stay we're kind of going down a little
bit but i want to start picking it up but i want
it to be big massive actually and when i think
massive i think of bruce fairbairn's production
on balance because that is a massive sounding
album you said earlier in the night you don't
know how the remaster could sound any better
because the album is just so massive and i'm
gonna go with the song that was the original
working title for the album have i mentioned
i'm a sucker for album opening tracks we've talked
about it before but I am going with the seventh
seal. Hell yeah. This is a massive, massive track.
It has that pound cake drive to it. That John
bottom mask led Zeppelin style drumming. And
in my opinion, this song contains some of my
favorite lyrics from Sammy Hagar. You give this
Armageddon vibe to this song, the tension that's
being added. And dare I say this. This song shows
a refined side of Eddie refined using big, big
quote marks because the guitar work in the seventh
steel is still ridiculously complex, but it's
more complex in terms of chord structures than
it is in soloing pyrotechnics. Here's a prime
example of Eddie Van Halen playing to the strength
of the song. This is one of the most underrated
Van Halen songs in their entire history. It's
so big. It's so massive. They almost named the
damn album after it. How this one wasn't a big
hit for the band at this time still blows my
mind. Excellent song playing to the song. That's
what he was doing. And the tone on that album,
his guitar tone on that album. is thick and it's
as massive sounding as alex's drums and credit
to bruce fairbairn on that the late great bruce
fairbairn yep yep and a seventh seal what an
album opener and you hear though the monks chanting
and all of a sudden alex boom you know just here
we go and i think they opened the tour with that
song if i'm not mistaken or maybe not yeah they
did yeah yeah yeah good way to follow right now
i like it yeah great pick like i mentioned earlier
first concert i ever went to was that tour and
again said the monks were there in minneapolis
and they came out they chanted for about 10 minutes
and it was incredible and like you said not knowing
i was an idiot i didn't take earplugs and it
was inside the target center and when alex hit
that bass drum And I felt my guts rattle. My
buddy looked at me and he goes, I think we made
a big mistake. I couldn't hear decent for like
three or four days after that. I thought I had
permanent hearing damage. Yeah, that's a very
powerful song. Lyrics, you know, on things dark.
It's a great song. Another one that doesn't get
listened to maybe as much as it should. But,
you know, being an opener for the album, it definitely
helps. But just a great sound on that album.
Such a heavy, crisp, clear sound. Little, little
did we know the guys were not getting along at
that point. Yeah. Well, Pete, you have to follow
it up now. What do you got? So that one, that's
heavy. And my quote unquote, my picks, what I
have left, I'm going to do meant go and do something
I mentioned earlier. I'm going to go away. I'm
going way out here. Everybody else wants, you
know, unchained. feel your love tonight several
that we probably missed but because that's so
heavy i want to match heavy with heavy but on
the dave side and one that people might not be
as familiar with love them all i says and let
cupid sort them out i'm gonna go with as is from
a different kind of truth amen brother yeah what
a crazy song amen to that i was wondering when
we were going to get to something post me wise
magic so awesome As is. That album just came
out kind of at a bad time, really. Not for Van
Halen fans per se, but everybody at Van Halen.
I'd call into the Hard Rock channel there in
Illinois and I'd request She's the Woman. Like,
oh yeah, we'll get to it. And at the time, other
things were playing much more. And man, these
kids need to hear what these guys can do. They're
old and they can still rock with the best of
them. But that beat in that song kind of reminds
me of... Hot for teacher -ass kind of, I mean,
Alex is just going, I don't know, on those drums
there. And like you had said earlier here, in
the one song, Dave kind of goes into that spoken
word, that Henry Rollins -like, that spoken word
part. I just love it when Dave does kind of stuff
like that. And, you know, with limits, but yeah,
I liked it. Yeah, and I believe that starts with
you hear Alex going, one, two, three, four, one,
two, three. I think that's him shouting. Boom.
Yeah, that massive opening. As Is, it's so great
that you chose that because that's kind of risen
above all the other tracks with the exception
maybe of She's the Woman. I would say As Is along
with Blood and Fire, probably my two favorites
from A Different Kind of Truth. Yeah, As Is,
a great choice because I think it's important
when you're giving somebody a mixtape to introduce
them to some songs. that people may not be aware
of from all eras have we covered every album
not yet because there's been nothing from three
oh yes and we only have three songs left but
before we get to those last three i'll just say
this i will slightly disagree with you eric as
chinatown does sit up there for me on a different
kind of truth because as a parent i love seeing
Wolfie and Eddie do that breakdown together as
a father, to me, that is ridiculously powerful
father and son jamming together. It's a beautiful
moment and you can just hear. And if you were
there in person, see the joy in both Eddie and
Wolfie's face playing that part together. And
I'm so glad that we've been able to include Wolfgang
in the discussion in some facet tonight, because
I don't care what anybody says. I love his, first
two solo albums. I love the fact he's playing
all the instruments. I think he is a ridiculous
talent, but I want people to stop telling him
to try to be Van Halen. Let him do his own thing.
He did his Van Halen on Chinatown on a different
kind of truth. Yeah. And by the way, that second
mammoth album, I think is even better than the
first. I love the new album. I love them both.
I mean, he is going to be, if he continues down
this path, one of the biggest rock bands. I mean,
come on, between opening the Guns N' Roses tours,
the Metallica tours, he's getting a lot of exposure
and a lot of people are going, man, Eddie Van
Halen's kid does modern music really well because
I think people were automatically assuming it
was going to be Van Halen Jr. And it's not. And
I love that. Yeah, you talk about getting emotional.
I saw him open for Seven Dust and Alter Bridge
here in Connecticut. they zoom in on him. So
on the big screen, you could see at certain times,
he does show you flashes of his dad and he does
the finger tapping and things like that. And
I'm watching that and you see the EVH guitar.
And I just thought, man, I remember when he was
born, you know, I remember Eddie talking about
him, but you know, and it really, it was cool
to see. It was really cool to see. And let's
face it, that album, Different Kind of Truth,
and those tours, the 07, 12, and 15 tours, would
not have happened if not for Wolfgang. It's the
only reason that he went back out there again.
He was ready to make peace with Mike and go out
in a bang, have Sammy and Dave out there and
do the whole package. It never happened. Yeah,
the kitchen sink. Kitchen sink. As far as those
previous tours, which, by the way, Eddie sounded
phenomenal on those. especially on the 12 and
15 tours. It was great to see him finish his
career at the top because he went through such
a rough period in the early 2000s. By all means.
And we are down now, believe it or not, to the
home stretch. Time has flown, but we are literally
looking at probably a 120 -minute cassette for
this episode. We each have one song choice left.
And Eric, we're going to go to you. The big question
is... Will we actually get something from three
in the last three songs? Oh, boy. This is where
I'm just bumming because I have like 30 songs
that I wish I could include. Yeah, you know,
I wanted to include something from three because
I just felt like it was right to do. But then
again, you can't leave off. I mean, there's some
glaring omissions so far. Yeah, you know. Okay,
let's go with, you know, we have to put Unchained
in there. We have to. To me, it is the definitive
Van Halen song. It encompasses all that is magical
about the Dave era. So Unchained, we are going
to put as track number 10. Guys, what do you
think? That is mandatory Van Halen. The riff,
the attitude. David Lee Roth ripping on a record
executive. That suit is you. That is everything.
That is unadulterated David Lee Roth. Can you
imagine these songs without his personality behind
them? I mean, it's songs like this and Mean Street,
for that matter, that make me wonder why Fair
Warning sales weren't up to par with the other
albums. It's staggering to me. It is. By the
way, there's a story behind that little breakdown.
Ted Templeman literally, he was in the studio
all dressed up in a nice suit because he had
to go to a meeting. So Dave was busting his balls.
Hey, man, that's, you know, Templeman's like,
yeah, okay. Oh, that was Ted? I didn't realize
that was Ted. Well, that's Ted saying, come on,
Dave, give me a break. So that was planned, but
not so much planned in the sense that that all
came about because Dave was just busting his
stones like, hey, look at this guy. And then
I think at some point, either one or both of
them said, let's put this on tape. Let's do it.
Nice. Yeah, come on, Dave, give me a break. Pete,
Unchained. Yeah, that was the battle. Unchained,
Main Street, and Eruption were the three that
I was trying to. December between the open up
and Saturday. That is a monumental song from
them. Just that opening guitar riff. When you
hear that, you just know those guys are down
to business, you know? But again, then you get
that little bit of a breakdown there where he's
yelling at Ted and stuff towards the middle of
the song. And it just goes to show how it can
be heavy and dirty into it, but they can, you
know, all of a sudden turn around and have some
fun real quick, you know? party on and then get
right back down to business again finish the
song off so yeah what what a great sound the
brown sound great song all right well for my
last pick of the night i'm also gonna go big
i'm gonna go with a hit that everyone knows and
loves and i'm gonna go with one of the only quote
unquote new songs that the band wrote for Van
Halen 2, as most of the material on that album
existed in their club days, but one of the ones
they wrote during the studio sessions for the
album, to me, is probably one of the band's poppiest
songs ever, and that's Dance the Night Away.
Again, thanks to Ted Templeman's production and
Michael Anthony's unmistakable backing vocals,
you get this fun, danceable song, pun intended,
in the title. So much so that ska punk band The
Forces of Evil, which features Real Big Fish's
Aaron Barrett as alias Aaron Evil, covers the
song on the band's 2003 full -length album Friend
or Foe. If you're a ska punk fan, you should
really check out what horns and ska punk do to
Van Halen's Dance the Night Away. But I'm thinking
it's the end of the night. people are up it's
partying you got to throw the hits out we've
we've went deep a couple of times here we got
to end on a bang so dance the night away that's
the one i'm going to close out tonight with yeah
influenced by go your own way from fleetwood
mac and and originally titled the dance lolita
dance and yeah it's one of those songs you know
that just shows you you know they had all these
songs from the club days but then it's like hey
ed can you come up with anything new yeah here
you go i mean you know and it's got cowbell you
know you got you got gotta have a cowbell song
on this list yeah what a great song dance the
night away i never grow tired of this one as
soon as i hear it it's like you know if i hear
that pop up on a jukebox at the bar whatever
man it's like hell yeah dance the night away
yeah great what a classic song and again the
harmonies in the background And the little guitar
ditty that Ed plays in there with the tapping.
It's such a great song. And amazing, the sound
difference between the first album and the second
album. Here in Michael Anthony's harmonies. What
a classic song of theirs. Yeah, you can't go
wrong with that one. It's great. Mikey, the pressure's
on you, Pete. You got the last choice. Yeah,
no pressure at all, man. You started this thing
out, but now you got to bring us home, man. So
you had to kick things off and you get the honor.
of putting the exclamation point at the end of
this ultimate Van Halen mixtape. Wow. I haven't
said this for, oh my gosh, what, 20 or 30 years?
Send all hate mail. Carol, Eddie Anthony, WIFC
Studios, Jefferson Street. Because I'm going
to get hate for this one. Uh -oh. So I know what
we're omitting. So people that are listening,
I know what's being omitted. Trust me. All three
of us have listened to these CDs back and forth
so many times. But because you're ending it,
you're with Dance the Night Away. It's nice and
easy. So let's just have a nice car ride home
from the party because you're probably feeling
woozy. I'm going to go with a favorite of mine
from the MTV era that from what I understand,
I'm not so sure on how on I am about this information.
I understand that Alex didn't care for this song
so much and it had to be fought to be put on
OU812. But I'm going to go with feel so good
to end it off. Yes. I love the beginning to that
song. I love it. Yeah, when I think about it.
So it's that song, feel so good, up for breakfast.
And why can't this be love? If I'm not mistaken,
they all start with that synthesizer beat, if
I'm not mistaken. And my brother boy, back in
the day when the parents were gone. He would,
it was why I can't just be love Mac then and,
and, and feel so good. Uh, because obviously
I'm from Breckenridge was out yet. He would rank
that part in the window. It just would have,
you know, I love that. And just the music video
was so cool. And I just love how the chorus doesn't
even come up till later in the song. It almost
reminds me of don't go away mad. Just go away
by Motley Crue. It's like, I don't even get to
the course till later. You get all the verses
first. I just thought it was a really cool song.
So just start off, I guess, in an easier note
on a nice car ride home and listen to that while
I get stuff chucked at me from the listeners.
Yeah, I mean, that's a controversial one. I mean,
I would say because actually to clarify, you
know, that one, I don't think Alex had so much
of an issue with it. I think, well, Sammy had
said that. They were kind of doing a Genesis
thing there. They're looking for a Genesis style.
And Eddie comes up with an interesting sound
to the keyboards. And this is one of my personal
favorites, I guess. It's just because, you know,
my age. This is when I became a fan. I'm like
16 when this album came out. Now, Sammy liked
it. But I don't think, you know, you could be
right, though. I don't think anybody else in
the band liked it. I don't think they'd have
wanted it. But it ended up on the record. And
they ended up making a video for it. It was released
as a single. as far as i know they never played
it live yeah i i just it's one of my favorites
it's got that in fact i think alex was the one
who said um he came up with the i think he's
the one just doing like he was like helping ed
with that part i think but it's such a feel -good
song i i can't i know there are people that just
hate it but i think it's a good way to finish
And I know we've omitted quite a few bangers.
Oh, of course. That's part of what this show
is all about, though. This is all about a conversation.
And I love the song. And I remember my dad would
always drop the needle to try to go to finish
what you started. And if he didn't hit it just
perfect, he would catch the end of Feel So Good.
He'd go, now let's go back one. And then he would
play Feel So Good right in to finish what you
started. And the part that shocks me the most
here. is that both side A and side B close out
with tracks from OU812, which is very interesting.
Oh, yeah, you're right. But there you have it,
folks. Side B of our ultimate Van Halen mixtape,
which consists of Panama from 1984 and The Cradle
Will Rock from Women and Children First, Good
Enough from 5150, Beautiful Girls from Van Halen
2, Ain't Talkin' About Love from Van Halen 1,
in a simple rhyme from women and children first
right now from for unlawful carnal knowledge
the seventh seal from balance as is from a different
kind of truth unchained from fair warning Dance
the Night Away from Van Halen 2 and Feels So
Good from OU812. Head over to myweeklymixtape
.com to hear all the songs we've discussed in
this mix through the playlist embedded on the
episode page. And also, I want to know what song
you would like to add to this list. Hit me up
on social media at myweeklymixtape or email me
at myweeklymixtape at gmail .com and let me know
what song you would add. to the mixtape we've
created this evening. Eric, before we go, why
don't you remind people how they can get in touch
with you and where they can find Booked on Rock?
Yes, go to BookedOnRock .com. You can contact
me through there. You can also, if you go to
VHND .com, you'll see my brief bio there, which
you can also connect to Booked on Rock. Yeah,
give Booked on Rock a listen. I think you guys
are going to love it. I have so much fun doing
it. And I think you guys are going to have fun
listening to it. So check that out and get vhnd
.com. We're always trying to put stuff up almost
daily if we can. And the Van Halen store, I should
mention too, vanhalenstore .com, some great stuff
there. And I'd love to hear from people. I do
get some people who will just reach out to me
with Van Halen questions or just want to tell
me their Van Halen story. And always welcome,
always great to talk to fellow Van Halen fans.
And, yeah, and I'm just, boy, I'm looking at
all these songs we left off the list. The guilt
is setting in, huh? Oh, I'm so sorry. We need
a part two. We need a double mixtape. We need
three mixtapes. Yeah, I think we're going to
have to follow this one up at some point. But
Eric, thank you so much for joining me on this
one, man. My pleasure, man. Thanks so much for
having me on. This is, like I said, this is one
of my favorite podcasts. So it was so great to
be on. Well, I really appreciate that. And Pete,
I first want to thank you for being such a huge
supporter of the show. And being one of the first
Patreon mixtapers, it really means the world
to me. And more importantly, thank you for being
a guest with me on this episode tonight. It's
been a lot of fun talking Van Halen with you
tonight. Yeah, thanks for having me on. I really
appreciate it. Love what you're doing. I always
look forward to the show, so I'm looking forward
to this one and all the other ones that you have
coming out. So thank you very much for having
me on. Thanks, Eric. All right. Thanks, Pete.
Thanks, guys. And remember, you can find My Weekly
Mixtape on all the social media haunts at My
Weekly Mixtape. You can also head to MyWeeklyMixtape
.com to check out the full catalog of My Weekly
Mixtape episodes. And if you like what you're
hearing on the show, you can help me out by either
telling a friend, leaving the show a five -star
review wherever you're tuning in, or becoming
a Patreon mixtaper at Patreon .com forward slash
My Weekly Mixtape. That's all for this week.
Thanks again for listening. And until next time.
Enjoy the tunes.