Van Halen - One Band, Two Singers, Millions of Fans
Steemit Rockers - here comes Edition Number Fifteen (15!) of my Rock Classics Series. This time we have another Band that was mainly successful in the 70ies / 80ies - my time of youth! Van Halen is from California, founded in 1972 - the early lineup included Eddie Van Halen (lead guitar), his brother Alex on drums, Mike Anthony playing bass and the face of the band - vocalist David Lee Roth. In 1984 they landed their first international No. 1 which is still played a lot on radio and TV: "JUMP" from their most successful album called "1984". This album has been sold in the US only 12 million times.
David Lee Roth left the band in 1985 and was replaced by Sammy Hagar - a fantastic voice but maybe not as charismatic as Roth before. With Sammy they have been similar successful achieving another four No. 1 albums in the US. In 1996 Hagar left and the band recruited Gary Cherone who left after 3 years already as the commercial success was gone.
There have always been stories and conflicting discussions around members leaving which where a result of a not so professional PR and communications set-up it seems. Maybe this was the strategy so the band was always in the media and talk of the music community. Later there have been re-unions with both - Sammie Hagar as well as David Lee Roth who is singing again with the band at the moment - I believe so at least! Being a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame it is difficult to add all of their success in one post - I love Wikipedia for Stats here:
Van Halen is one of only five rock bands that have had two studio albums sell more than 10 million copies in the U.S. Additionally, Van Halen charted the most number-one hits in the history of Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart and they are one of the world's best-selling bands of all time, having sold more than 80 million records.
Apart from being successful in seeking their albums the concerts of the mighty Van Halen have been a must-see. They are probably one of the all-time best performing live acts in Rock. Who had the chance to see them live? Unfortunately I have not visited one of their concerts, a pity but I show you some of their legend music below, live and studio work. I consider Eddie as one of the best guitarists in rock history. The last video is a full concert of the band in 1993 with Sammy Hagar as vocalist!
Sources: YouTube and Wikipedia
Love Eddie Van Halen as a guitarist. I was 18/19 when their debut album came out and it was VERY popular!
Did you know that David Lee wroth went on to study medicine and became a paramedic in one of the roughest areas of New York? So cool! See this interview from the 10:45 mark.
It's crazy how most of us look like heck when we age!
lol - great to know we have some stuff in common - Eddie is fantastic, not aware of the paramedic thing of Sir Roth but am not surprised.
Nice to see you as a fan of this gorgeous band, too!
Still love em. Eruption remains amazing!
Me too!!!!
Never heard some of the song before..
Thanks for posting
They are a band I never got into apart from hearing the hits. I know Eddie influenced a lot of people, but he just wasn't my era. I need to go back and check out their catalogue
I hear you - Eddie was cool on guitar (as far as I can judge) - I love the early bit from the 70ies like "Running With The Devil" - Vocal wise I preferred Sammy Hagar - Roth was charismatic but sometimes too crazy for me. A lady killer :-)
They dont make music like this anymore!
unfortunately true -feels like being a dinosaur when listening to the current "Rock"
David Lee was the most entertaining of the Singers although Sammie was fun to watch and listen to as well .
Yeah - Roth was a stage expert - I knew Hagar from his other work before - both great and not many new ones similar to them. Thanks for your support mate.
Sau geil, an diesen Klassikern kann man sich garnicht satt hören!
I grew up on Van Halen. Jump is an appropriate song for STEEM. Was never a diehard into them. But Van Halen was always playing somewhere. Reminds me of getting a ride to highschool in my buddy's little red Chevette.
Das war zwar vor meiner Zeit, aber Jump hat mich insofern nachhaltig geprägt, indem es das erste Stück war, dass ich aufm Keyboard/Klavier Spielen gelernt habe. Natürlich ohne Solo-Part. Jetzt über ich das Stück gerade auf dem Akkordeon. Inklusive Solo. In einer Woche sollte es filmreif sein und ich stelle es in meiner Video-Serie "Laber nicht rum, mach's einfach" vor. Ich lass es dich wissen, wenn's soweit ist! Der Song ist im übrigen auch der Lieblingssong von meinem großen Bruder aus Texas!
Why Can't This Be Love ist mein Lieblingslied von Van Halen.
Die Kombination von Rock und Synthiesounds ist spitze!
An unique band..usually one group one singer..Thanks for [email protected] you have a time please visit my post..Thanks
Great song man....
really it's a superb rockclassic .
This is reallya nice pair of the singers every one have a special fan whom who like the best
classic wonderful..just amazing..passion for music is out of this world
informative post..
thanks for sharing....
Rock 🌼😀
new songs for me , sunday will be enjoyable for me now :)
Höchste Zeit, dass diese wuschligen Haare und Schweißbänder wieder in Mode kommen. Hach das waren noch lockere Zeiten! Gimme back the revolution!
finally. somebody is posting about rock and metal music, I love Van
Halen. you are the man \m/