Random Music Talk CXXVIII: Cobbler's 42 Hat Sucks

[namkcuR]

Originally Posted by cobl04

So what other songs by Van Halen might I know?

Not sure if you're seriously asking, but a brief, and probably not complete, list of the big ones/some of my favorites...

From the David Lee Roth era:

Runnin' With The Devil
Eruption
Ice Cream
Beautiful Girls
Dance The Night Away
Women In Love
And The Cradle Will Rock
Unchained
Jump
Panama
Top Jimmy
Hot For Teacher
I'll Wait

From the Hagar era:

Why Can't This Be Love
Dreams
Summer Nights
Best Of Both Worlds
Love Walks In
5150
When It's Love
Right Now
311
Top Of The World
Not Enough
Baluchitherium
Feelin'

[namkcuR]

Originally Posted by cobl04

Or "I wanna stay awake, just to hear you dreeeeaaaahhhhhmmmmmmiinnnnnn"

Again, not sure if serious, but that's Aerosmith. I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing. The Armageddon song. Of the long list of hits they had during their second period of success in the late 80s and 90s, it's the most maligned. Because it's the most overtly commercial, sellout-ish, it's got a string section, and Diane Warren wrote it. I get the criticisms, but I personally was never bothered by it. But I mean, I grew up with that iteration of Aerosmith. I'll always have nostalgia for it.

[Moonlit_Angel]

Originally Posted by DaveC

yes. the original version by the kinks is much better.

Oingo Boingo did an entertaining version of "You Really Got Me" as well. But yeah, the Kinks just can't be beat.

Your post also reminds me that Van Halen did a cover of Roy Orbinson's "Pretty Woman", too.

[LemonMelon]

I always enjoyed the VH covers of You Really Got Me and Oh! Pretty Woman. They're not as good as the originals, but solid in their own right and a good translation of their sound to already well-written songs.

[Popmartijn]

Originally Posted by namkcuR

Not sure if you're seriously asking, but a brief, and probably not complete, list of the big ones/some of my favorites...

From the David Lee Roth era:

Runnin' With The Devil
Eruption
Ice Cream Man

Add Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love as well. I played their debut album yesterday and that whole album is a good one.

[LemonMelon]

The intro of Ain't Talkin Bout Love is one of the most badass in hard rock. That riff and tone is astounding.

[MrPryck2U]

Originally Posted by LemonMelon

I always enjoyed the VH covers of You Really Got Me and Oh! Pretty Woman. They're not as good as the originals, but solid in their own right and a good translation of their sound to already well-written songs.

Diver Down was an album that consisted mostly of covers. Its the album that illustrated the creative friction between Roth and the rest of the group. Eddie wanted original material. Not covers.

Btw, Kiss were always about gimmicks since their inception. When they removed the make up in the early 80's, they tried to focus more on the music, but it just sounded like generic 80's hard rock.

Journey were huge in the late 70's and throughout most the 80's. Their greatest hits album from '88 was one of the highest selling GH albums of all time, so there was still a strong interest in their hits. Once Steve Perry left, only their diehard fans still cared.

As for Aerosmith, well, like others have said, they were big in the 70's, fizzled and returned in the 80's. Sold out to The Man in the 90's () with their radio friendly hits. Loved Pump, though. Get a Grip, not so much. Then there was the Armageddon song. And that's when they really cashed in. Good for them.

I would never "lump" Van Halen with those groups. They were different thanks to Eddie.

[Hewson]

Originally Posted by LuckyNumber7

Current Journey. It’s not real. It’s like 700 different people and a sort of a joke.

As for KISS, less of a joke because the production still sells, but does anyone really know music by them outside of their cult? Aside from the single obvious song, I can’t name a damn song of theirs. KISS doesn’t belong in the company of Aerosmith or Van Halen in terms of musical popularity IMO, but I wasn’t around in the 80s. So I dunno. They’ll forever be a gimmick in my mind.

Kiss for a brief moment in time was one of the biggest bands in the world, around 1976-78, largely due to their stage show and the first 2 live albums.
They've kind of lived off that for the past 40 years.
But as far as the public knowing their music, the obvious song you mentioned is ingrained in our culture, but there's a few other songs that most rock fans will recognize, like Detroit Rock City, Shout it Out Loud and the ballad Beth.
Certainly lower on the totem pole than Van Halen and Aerosmith, but by no means known only by their cult or the Kiss Army.

[Hewson]

Originally Posted by lazarus

As for trying to explain to Cobbler what made Eddie Van Halen so great, maybe we should defer to the experts:

David Lee Roth, Metallica, Pete Townshend, Brian May, Tony Iommi, More Remember Eddie Van Halen

Jimmy Page on Eddie Van Halen: ‘He Was the Real Deal’

Yeah, the tributes from other musicians give you some idea of his greatness.

Putting words to why I love Eddie's guitar playing is difficult. It just always had an effect on me that was greater than most music. Because he was self taught and had a background on classical piano as a kid, he was completely original, something most musicians can't truly claim. His influence is heard in countless rock bands. He created incredible sound and tone with the guitars he would piece meal together. My favorite VH material is the harder heavier stuff that is less popular/known with the general public (we've discussed my disdain for Jump here in the past largely due to a Clockwork Orange-esque period in college when the guy in the dorm room next door literally played it over and over for hours every damn day for a couple months straight by putting the vinyl 45 on a turntable with the arm not over so the song would just automatically repeat. Thought the song was poppy fluff before that, but thanks to that I find it nearly unlistenable).
The albums Women and Children First and Fair Warning are their peak as far as I am concerned, when Eddie took over in the studio and the music took on the harder edge.
The run of their first 4 albums over a 4 year period is one of the greatest in hard rock.
And frankly the 2012 release with Roth, A Different Kind of Truth is good, much of the material culled from some of the early era leftovers. Aside from the U2-esque decision to release Tattoo as the first single. Should have been She's The Woman and the album would have been better received.
Stuff like this that nobody outside of a die hard VH fan likely ever heard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgiBZmbn5nc

[lazarus]

Originally Posted by namkcuR

Not Enough
Baluchitherium
Feelin'

Nobody outside of Van Halen die hard knows these songs, come on.

Originally Posted by LemonMelon

The intro of Ain't Talkin Bout Love is one of the most badass in hard rock. That riff and tone is astounding.

Gun to my head, that’s my favorite VH song.

Originally Posted by MrPryck2U

As for Aerosmith, well, like others have said, they were big in the 70's, fizzled and returned in the 80's. Sold out to The Man in the 90's () with their radio friendly hits. Loved Pump, though. Get a Grip, not so much.

SNL and Sandler skewered that Get A Grip era of Aerosmith so perfectly. Interchangeable crap songs:

[MrPryck2U]

Kill that guy for ruining Jump for you. After 36 years, I still enjoy it. Thanks for sharing!

I only saw VH 3 times and they were all with Sammy. '91, '93, and '95. U2 are my favorite band, but Eddie will always be my favorite guitarist.

[namkcuR]

Originally Posted by lazarus

Nobody outside of Van Halen die hard knows these songs, come on.

That's where the "/some of my favorites" comes in.

[cobl04]

Originally Posted by LemonMelon

The intro of Ain't Talkin Bout Love is one of the most badass in hard rock. That riff and tone is astounding.

again, not really my thing overall, but I can definitely appreciate the guitar playing here. it made this song more enjoyable than all the 70s/80s rock I'm lumping it in with.

[bono_212]

This conversation is incredibly frustrating to me, because I could imagine the vitriol if someone came in here after an Indie artist died and said, "Meh, I don't get the big deal about indie," over and over again, like it's all the same genre.

There is just nothing similar about Van Halen to Aerosmith except they're rock bands active at the same time. Before they went pop, Aerosmith was a blues influenced band. Van Halen is anything but.

Kiss isn't even remotely like Journey, except that they're both Arena Rock bands. But you would never mistake a Kiss song for a Journey song if you knew what Steve Perry sounds like even a little.

Journey and REO Speedwagon are slightly more similar, at least.

Like. if you don't know what separates the bands from one another, fine, but I find it honestly really crass to keep joking about not being able to tell the difference between Van Halen and Aersomith while people are in here sincerely mourning the loss of one of rock's greatest and most influential guitarists.

Sorry, maybe I'm being too over-the-top about this, but it was understandable once or twice, but it's completely dominating the conversation and just, I don't know, really rubs me the wrong way.

[LemonMelon]

*Isaac Hayes dies*

"Hahaha isn't he and Marvin Gaye the same person? I don't listen to black people music like that but Let's Stay Together is really good oh well rip"

[cobl04]

Fair comment Ashley. I have tried to balance it out by asking genuine questions and being nice, but I'll stop it. I know how I'd feel if it was one of my favs.

[bono_212]

Originally Posted by cobl04

Fair comment Ashley. I have tried to balance it out by asking genuine questions and being nice, but I'll stop it. I know how I'd feel if it was one of my favs.

Totally, like I said, I'm probably being a bit over the top, I was just surprised to see it still going today, but it's not like we have active conversations over a short period of time anymore, so I shouldn't have been so taken aback.

[MrPryck2U]

Originally Posted by bono_212

Totally, like I said, I'm probably being a bit over the top, I was just surprised to see it still going today, but it's not like we have active conversations over a short period of time anymore, so I shouldn't have been so taken aback.

I think you were being fair. Cobby allegedly has some musical knowledge and he shouldn't be clueless enough to confuse Aerosmith and VH. Love 'em or hate 'em, Aerosmith has a distinctive sound. I've always liked Joe Perry's playing. And, no matter the singer, VH always had Eddie.

It's tough to realize that Eddie is gone. I was disenfranchised with VH since Eddie gave Michael Anthony the boot. He deserved better. I've thought that Roth has been an asshole for nearly 30 years. Loved Sammy. Both as a person and the lead singer of VH. Don't really know much about Alex. Always loved his drumming, though. I couldn't say enough good things about Wolfie. He is more than capable of carrying on his father's legacy. He got to tour with his dad! How fuckin' awesome is that?

[Hewson]

Well according to Nuno Bettencourt, Michael Anthony was about to be back in if Eddie hadn't taken a turn for the worse...

https://www.vhnd.com/2020/10/09/nuno...back-together/

[LuckyNumber7]

Random thought... anyone else think The Weeknd ripped off After the Disco?