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Post by kds on Oct 15, 2020 17:06:46 GMT
And I really think a lot of the anti Sammy stuff is due to the fact that Van Halen suddenly had #1 albums and #1 singles. And, for reasons unknown, to a very vocal group of hard rock fans, that popularity is reason enough to turn your back on a band and create false narratives like "Sammy turned them pop." Speaking of the Sam and Dave thing, Wolfgang took to social media a few months ago, basically saying the Sam v. Dave debate is stupid and both versions kick ass. I wonder if he knew he father's time was coming, and wanted fans to start appreciating both versions. On that first paragraph, slightly OT but relevant, this reminds me of a few years ago on another board (I think SSMB but it could've been one of the others) when I was trying to make a similar point as it relates to hipster-elitism: I was saying that some people seem to take honest pride in their favorites being unpopular (and unknown), and that once those things become popular, the entire point is gone for them and they abandon their now-popular, former favorites. I got a TON of shit. "Who would like things specifically because they're unpopular? Who would wish lack of success on musicians?" And so on. I stood behind it then and still do. People are weird, man, what do you want me to do about it? Psychologically, we do things that seem on the surface really strange!
On the second point, good for Wolfie. He's right.
Getting shit on SSMB is almost to be taken as a compliment. I remember making a similar point there (or maybe the BW Board) about some fans declaring their love for Smiley Smile and Love You because they're not popular, and I got similar treatment. I did notice that CBS played some Hagar era VH going to commercial. Death has a funny way of making fans at large re-evaluate history and catalogs. Maybe the Van Hagar years are due for such a revision.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 15, 2020 17:11:13 GMT
Re death, ain't that the truth. It is like clockwork. America hadn't given a damn about Queen for over 10 years until Freddie Mercury died, for example. Prince and Tom Petty are both artists about whom I've heard more since their deaths than I had about either guy in a decade or more--and that's saying a lot since I'm in Prince's hometown and even when he was out of the news, he wasn't really out of the news.
The macabre part of me thinks that when Brian Wilson dies, we're going to be in for some serious treats with posthumous releases. (Staying macabre for a moment, it'll be interesting how the public reacts when Mike Love dies.)
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Post by kds on Oct 15, 2020 17:31:10 GMT
I certainly don't recall the words "legend" and "icon" used to describe Petty nearly as much when he was alive, but that's the way it goes. I know Van Halen has done gangbusters in sales and streams over the last week. Although, I feel like Eddie's genius was pretty well acknowledged while he was still around.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 15, 2020 17:34:26 GMT
Although, I feel like Eddie's genius was pretty well acknowledged while he was still around. It was, but he hasn't exactly been on the tip of people's tongues in a while (other than the occasional failing-health rumors). I think the band's unique decisions regarding their back catalogue--even if they didn't want to tour and make new music anymore--are largely to blame for that.
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Post by kds on Oct 15, 2020 18:20:10 GMT
Although, I feel like Eddie's genius was pretty well acknowledged while he was still around. It was, but he hasn't exactly been on the tip of people's tongues in a while (other than the occasional failing-health rumors). I think the band's unique decisions regarding their back catalogue--even if they didn't want to tour and make new music anymore--are largely to blame for that. I think we've talked about this before, but (and I can't remember where I heard this) there was talk about the band wanting to preserve a certain level of mystique around them, and that's why the catalog reissues had no bonus tracks, and there have been no vintage live releases. I do remember hearing an interview on the radio by the author of a book called Van Halen Rising who hinted at that, and he suggested that there's no live releases of the original band because it'll reveal that DLR was never that good of a singer (I don't really think that's a big secret, but OK).
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 15, 2020 18:22:25 GMT
The funny thing about that suggestion is that we can hear DLR singing live on unauthorized releases, both with Van Halen and afterward as a solo artist. We're all--and especially serious fans who no doubt have boots--familiar with DLR's vocal limitations!
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Post by kds on Oct 15, 2020 18:29:17 GMT
I know one of the big ones is the 1983 US Festival. Several bands have since released their sets from the US Festival. Van Halen haven't. I used to have a bootleg VHS of the show, and I remember thinking that Dave was really hamming it up that night, but it turns out he was hammered.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 16, 2020 11:50:55 GMT
Fridays I like to scan new releases on places like allmusic, but today I noticed they had this new feature on Eddie showing some of his influences and some of his followers.
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Post by kds on Oct 16, 2020 12:17:24 GMT
It's funny, I don't recall making the DC5 connection, but I can definitely see it with the big choruses DC5 had.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 16, 2020 12:18:32 GMT
It's funny, I don't recall making the DC5 connection, but I can definitely see it with the big choruses DC5 had. That was one that, as I have been going through old interviews in the past week, I heard A LOT. That was definitely Eddie's favorite group in his formative years!
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Post by kds on Oct 16, 2020 12:29:07 GMT
I've not verified this at all, but I saw a meme that claims that 22 Van Halen songs are in the Top 100 songs of the past week. A pity that it takes a death for people to start listening to good music, but such is life.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 16, 2020 12:37:15 GMT
I've not verified this at all, but I saw a meme that claims that 22 Van Halen songs are in the Top 100 songs of the past week. A pity that it takes a death for people to start listening to good music, but such is life. Checking Apple's list now (since I was looking at new releases anyway) and it's only two there, at least in the All Genres category: Jump at 58 and Panama at 73.
If you go to Rock, though, it's different: Jump is 5, Panama is 9, You Really Got Me is 14, Runnin With the Devil is 15, Hot For Teacher is 16, Eruption is 18, Right Now is 19, Ain't Talkin Bout Love is 22, Why Can't This Be Love is 24, Dreams is 28, Love Walks In is 29, Jamie's Cryin is 31, Dance the Night Away is 38, I'll Wait is 45, When it's Love is 49, Beautiful Girls is 92, Little Guitars is 94, Why Can't This Be Love is 99, and Where Have All the Good Times Gone is 100. (They have quite a few coming up after 100 too.)
So that's 19 out of 100 in the Rock category, anyway.
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Post by kds on Oct 16, 2020 12:41:32 GMT
I've not verified this at all, but I saw a meme that claims that 22 Van Halen songs are in the Top 100 songs of the past week. A pity that it takes a death for people to start listening to good music, but such is life. Checking Apple's list now (since I was looking at new releases anyway) and it's only two there, at least in the All Genres category: Jump at 58 and Panama at 73.
If you go to Rock, though, it's different: Jump is 5, Panama is 9, You Really Got Me is 14, Runnin With the Devil is 15, Hot For Teacher is 16, Eruption is 18, Right Now is 19, Ain't Talkin Bout Love is 22, Why Can't This Be Love is 24, Dreams is 28, Love Walks In is 29, Jamie's Cryin is 31, Dance the Night Away is 38, I'll Wait is 45, When it's Love is 49, Beautiful Girls is 92, Little Guitars is 94, Why Can't This Be Love is 99, and Where Have All the Good Times Gone is 100. (They have quite a few coming up after 100 too.)
So that's 19 out of 100 in the Rock category, anyway.
Unfortunately, the meme (as memes tend to do) didn't include a source. But 19/100 in rock is pretty good. I didn't expect Little Guitars to be one of them. Nice.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 16, 2020 13:05:13 GMT
Considering the number is so similar, the 22 is a realistic number for some other list. Could be Spotify, or even some Billboard list.
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Post by kds on Oct 16, 2020 13:34:27 GMT
True.
I'd recently read that Eddie Van Halen was originally considered for the role of Rufus in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. The role went to George Carlin, but there are several VH references in the movie.
And, more recently, Eddie was approached to appear in Bill and Ted Face the Music, but couldn't due to his health.
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