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Post by Kapitan on Oct 2, 2019 15:45:09 GMT
Apologies if I am misunderstanding. So you think that author (and whoever he was using as sources) was wrong in saying Eddie had lost motivation? Or just that Eddie’s lack of motivation related to specifically new music, but not to the occasional tours? I guess to me it seems like once the loss of interest in creating new music occurs, any other efforts feel a little icky, basically like cash-grabs. I don’t exactly begrudge the musicians their chance to keep profiting off of their work, but I do definitely lose most of my interest in them as artists. (At that point I’m most likely to just listen to old work, not to pay to see them touring on their old material. As with most things on earth, I’m sure there would be exceptions though.) Based on that above paragraph, it’s hard for me to imagine someone (Eddie, in this case) being interested in those reunion tours if he isn’t interested in making new music. But that’s an unfair filtering of their work via my mind and preferences.
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Post by kds on Oct 2, 2019 15:57:42 GMT
I think the lack of motivation was strictly for new music.
I'm not a musician myself, but I can see the logic of just becoming a touring artist. Some people just get a charge from those 90-120 minutes onstage, and figure if fans are just going to use the new material for bathroom breaks and music doesn't sell like it used to, why bother?
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 2, 2019 16:13:06 GMT
It is interesting to try to think of it from the different perspectives. It’s really hard for me to imagine having created new music that excited me—which is literally true for me, though obviously on a tiny, tiny scale—and then going on to simply play that same music, nothing new, for years and years without feeling very unsatisfied creatively and emotionally. And yet the people we are talking about are also using this as their living, which is something I was never privileged/cursed to do. But realistically if you told me I could quit my job and go play music—even just my same old music, nothing new—night after night and make a good living doing it (not to mention continue to receive reinforcement from happy audiences)? Well, how hard would that be to turn down!? It doesn’t sound ideal, but it does sound a lot better than having the sort of mundane workaday job most of us have.
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Post by kds on Oct 2, 2019 16:23:49 GMT
I've read interviews with artists where they say they get a high out of the crowd reacting a certain song they've played countless times over the decades. Sure, the musician has played it countless times, but there's always people in the crowd hearing it for the first time.
Going back to Eddie, he's a bit of an enigma. He completely changed guitar playing in 1978. But, he soon grew bored and turned his attention to keyboards, while falling back on more traditional guitar playing, which you can really hear on much on the Van Hagar material. I wonder if his status as a gamechanger, and the lack of ways for him to stay innovative, has affected his desire to create. He might've just said, the heck with it, I'll play Eruption every night, and people will go nuts.
Although, lately, he doesn't even seem to want to do that. He's had a lot of health and personal issues in the last two decades. Maybe he just wants to take it easy in the third act. But, a grand farewell tour with all classic VH members would've been a great way to end the saga.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 2, 2019 17:12:53 GMT
Maybe he just wants to take it easy in the third act. But, a grand farewell tour with all classic VH members would've been a great way to end the saga. Absolutely agreed. One sad thing about bands’ so-called reunion tours in recent decades is fans don’t know what to take seriously. “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” (Ozzy. Pet Sounds. KISS. Cher. Et cetera.) I don’t think Van Halen ever advertised a farewell tour, so that’s different. The opposite, in fact. But the overall point is, it would be nice if there were a more honest relationship between fans and artists so people knew to take advantage of their last opportunities.
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Post by kds on Oct 2, 2019 17:45:03 GMT
Maybe he just wants to take it easy in the third act. But, a grand farewell tour with all classic VH members would've been a great way to end the saga. Absolutely agreed. One sad thing about bands’ so-called reunion tours in recent decades is fans don’t know what to take seriously. “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” (Ozzy. Pet Sounds. KISS. Cher. Et cetera.) I don’t think Van Halen ever advertised a farewell tour, so that’s different. The opposite, in fact. But the overall point is, it would be nice if there were a more honest relationship between fans and artists so people knew to take advantage of their last opportunities. Wouldn't it be nice? That's true, the "Farewell Tour" concept has kind of become a joke. And with ticket prices increasing across the board, who wants to plunk down a C-note or two to maybe see your favorite band "one more time" when it's not likely their last time through town?
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Oct 4, 2019 13:02:46 GMT
Reading your comments on Van Halen, I have a question. What was the real reason Michael Anthony was replaced on bass (as I look for Van Halen thread and didn't find any (cough...hint)
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 4, 2019 13:13:28 GMT
KDS would be our best bet on that. I always assumed it was mostly just EVH wanting his kid in the band. But there's no doubt some degree of band politics involved ... and considering Michael Anthony still plays with Sammy Hagar, I think we know he's obviously on good terms on that end. (Everything I've ever read says Anthony is a great guy who gets along with everyone. So maybe Eddie's just a jerk, or a serious nepotist.)
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Post by kds on Oct 4, 2019 13:14:40 GMT
Reading your comments on Van Halen, I have a question. What was the real reason Michael Anthony was replaced on bass (as I look for Van Halen thread and didn't find any (cough...hint) Apparently, Eddie had been looking for an excuse to replace Mikey for decades, I think as far back as 1982. Eddie didn't like the fact that Anthony didn't really contribute any songwriting to the band, and sort of saw him the weak link. And, Eddie apparently also played a lot of the bass parts on VH albums. When they reunited with Hagar in 2004 after a six year hiatus, Eddie originally intended to not bring Anthony into the band. But, Sammy insisted on Anthony being there. For the three new songs on the Best of Both World comp, Mike is left off the song credits for the first time. With Hagar out of the picture in 2007, and David Lee Roth back in the fold, Eddie seized the opportunity to move on without Anthony. According to an interview, Anthony said he found out about the reunion with Roth just the same way everyone else did. Eddie can say what he wants about Michael's bass or songwriting chops, his background vocals are a big part of the classic VH sound, and they were sorely missed on the Different Kind of Truth album.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 4, 2019 13:23:37 GMT
KDS, I agree entirely with your last sentiment: Anthony's high harmony vocals are every bit as much a part of Van Halen's classic sound as Eddie's guitar parts.
His bass playing? I don't know how technically good he might be, but his parts are traditionally really, really boring, often just root-note eighth notes. But that said, those parts also provide a bedrock for Eddie's nontraditional guitar style, with parts often veering more into lead than rhythm throughout the songs, as well as Alex's busy drumming. (In that, it's not unlike Miles Davis's second great quintet, with bassist Ron Carter providing the space for drummer Tony Williams and pianist Herbie Hancock to go further afield than a lot of rhythm sections would.)
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Post by kds on Oct 4, 2019 13:29:13 GMT
KDS, I agree entirely with your last sentiment: Anthony's high harmony vocals are every bit as much a part of Van Halen's classic sound as Eddie's guitar parts.
His bass playing? I don't know how technically good he might be, but his parts are traditionally really, really boring, often just root-note eighth notes. But that said, those parts also provide a bedrock for Eddie's nontraditional guitar style, with parts often veering more into lead than rhythm throughout the songs, as well as Alex's busy drumming. (In that, it's not unlike Miles Davis's second great quintet, with bassist Ron Carter providing the space for drummer Tony Williams and pianist Herbie Hancock to go further afield than a lot of rhythm sections would.)
Right, and it's not like Wolfgang came in like John Entwistle or anything. I really think the fact that Michael Anthony is friends with Sammy Hagar is one of the main reasons he's no longer in VH. If Eddie really wanted him out of the band in the early 80s, as I suggested, I think he'd have just made the change. I remember reading that Eddie approached Billy Sheehan at one point in the early 80s about joining the band. Of course, Billy would wind up in DLR's early solo band.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 4, 2019 13:36:06 GMT
Now if we want to talk about great bass players, Billy Sheehan is it! I love his work in DLR band.
I've said for a long time that the core of that DLR band--Sheehan, Steve Vai, and Greg Bissonnette--is one of the most talented ensembles in rock history.
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Post by kds on Oct 4, 2019 13:41:14 GMT
Now if we want to talk about great bass players, Billy Sheehan is it! I love his work in DLR band.
I've said for a long time that the core of that DLR band--Sheehan, Steve Vai, and Greg Bissonnette--is one of the most talented ensembles in rock history.
I wish I could remember off hand why Sheehan declined Eddie's offer. Yeah, that first DLR band is the reason why those first couple DLR albums did so well. Great frontman, but he's always only been as good as his supporting cast.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 4, 2019 13:42:51 GMT
In fact, here is that Eat 'Em And Smile band from earlier this year at the NAMM Show (an industry event for gear peddlers). Jeff Scott Soto is fronting the group. They open with "Tie Your Mother Down," then go into an extended "Shyboy."
Hope the scantily clad dancers gyrating in front of the camera don't damage the DLR legacy for anyone.
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Post by kds on Oct 4, 2019 13:45:46 GMT
In fact, here is that Eat 'Em And Smile band from earlier this year at the NAMM Show (an industry event for gear peddlers). Jeff Scott Soto is fronting the group. They open with "Tie Your Mother Down," then go into an extended "Shyboy."
Hope the scantily clad dancers gyrating in front of the camera don't damage the DLR legacy for anyone. I thought I read they got back together without Dave, but couldn't recall. Those dancers not only damaged DLR's legacy, but also Van Halen's.
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