History Music / VanHalen

* HeAlsoDid: Eddie played the fast shredding solo on "Beat It" by MichaelJackson.

* ThePeteBest: The two bassists who preceded Michael Anthony.

** Another spin on the above legend is that there was a kind of "back and forth" between DLR and VH over the course of several albums: DLR's "Crazy From the Heat" - VH's "5150" (police code for the criminally insane) followed by DLR's "Eat 'Em and Smile" - VH's "OU812" (as mentioned above). Then there was VH's "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" followed by DLR's "Your Filthy Little Mouth".

* ThrowItIn: Most of David Lee Roth's speaking breaks, combined with CrowningMomentOfFunny. "Eruption" also started initially as a warmup before Templeman convinced Eddie to record it and put it on the album. The rain in the background of "Could This Be Magic?" is actual - the band opened the studio's door during a rainy day because it was hot and poorly ventilated, and the effect got caught on tape.
** By the way, the person saying "c'mon, Dave... gimme a break!" in "Unchained" is Templeman himself, telling Dave to stop before his talking got out of hand.

* FridgeBrilliance: The band's infamous 1982 tour rider request that no brown M&M's be included in their backstage bowl of M&M's or the band would not perform. The request was not intended to be self-indulgent or eccentric, but was instead proof that the promoters had thoroughly read the rest of their rider, which included important information about safety, security, lighting and ticketing. If they found brown M&M's, they had a reason to believe that the promoter was inattentive, because if such a small request had been glossed over, then other more important things also had. This was [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by the band after a number of near-misses caused by promoters not adhering to health and safety requirements, and their concert preparations were so cumbersome they were rather reluctant to tour outside the USA at various points.

* SampledUp: You might not know "Jamie's Cryin'", but is probable you've heard Tone Loc's "Wild Thing".

* TitleByNumber: ''1984'' and ''5150''.
** Also, Eddie's solo "316" on ''For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge''.

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: Despite Diamond Dave's 80's image, he [[{{Metalocalypse}} DOES NOT DO COCAINE!]]
** He was off ''illicit'' drugs. He did clean up once to record "Jamie's Cryin'", but... well, TheOtherWiki speaks for itself:
-->For recording of the song vocalist David Lee Roth wanted to go for a cleaner, "poppier" sound and quit smoking and drinking for a week before the final version was to be recorded. The band noticed the difference and Ted Templeman ordered him outside to smoke a cigarette. He smoked one, and drank half a bottle of whiskey, returning half an hour later and recording the track.

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* EpicRiff: "Panama", "Jump", "Hot for Teacher", "Runnin' with the Devil"...

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[[caption-width-right:350:One break, comin' up!]]

* AlbumTitleDrop: ''A Different Kind of Truth'' is namechecked in "Bullethead".
** ''Women and Children First'' is namechecked in "Could This Be Magic?"

* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Fair Warning''. Unsuprisingly it got a mixed reaction from fans...

* SignatureSong: "Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love", "Runnin' With the Devil", "Jump", "Panama", "Hot for Teacher".

* CarSong: "Panama", even with all the {{Double Entendre}}s.

* BandOfRelatives: Eddie and Alex from the start, and now Eddie's son Wolf on the four chords.

Hagar left the band in 1996. After a temporary reunion with Roth, Gary Cherone from Extreme was recruited as their new frontman. The resulting album, ''Van Halen III'', was roundly panned by everybody. After a hiatus, a second tenure with Hagar and a complicated situation, Anthony was forced out of the band, replaced by Eddie's teenaged son Wolfgang, and Roth returned in 2007. The band will release a new album, titled ''A Different Kind of Truth'', in February 2012.

Roth left Van Halen on April 1, 1985, replaced by former Montrose vocalist Sammy Hagar. Drastic changes took place: Templeman left along with Roth, their logo was slightly changed (the lines extending from the "VH" letters now formed a sphere) and their sound changed. While ''5150'' retained some of the party rock sound they had become famous for ("Summer Nights", "Get Up"), [[DetractorNickname Van Hagar]] slowly drifted away from fast, rockin' fun and became a mainstream, pop-rock band with lots of keyboards and {{Power Ballad}}s.

Hagar left the band in 1996. After a temporary reunion with Roth, Gary Cherone from Extreme was recruited as their new frontman. The resulting album, ''Van Halen III'', was roundly panned by everybody. After a hiatus, a second tenure with Hagar and a complicated situation, Anthony was forced out of the band, replaced by Eddie's teenaged son Wolfgang, and Roth returned in 2007. The band is reportedly recording another album, to be released in 2011.

If TheRollingStones had [[CaptainObvious Eddie Van Halen]] as their guitarist and a hyperactive, insane combination of [[Music/{{Queen}} Freddie Mercury]] and Music/RonnieJamesDio as their frontman (David Lee Roth). [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg And a really good drummer.]] [[RunningGag And whoever's on bass.]] Probably the most fun hard-rock band you'll ever hear ('sides maybe Music/{{ACDC}}...). They even got their own GuitarHero game!

Tensions started rising around the time of ''Fair Warning'' between Eddie, who wanted to write more serious and complex stuff, and Roth, who didn't have patience for this and wanted to carry on with the fun rocking. Combined with cocaine and alcohol abuse on Eddie's behalf, ''Warning'' was a DarkerAndEdgier album with much less fun than the previous three and, unsurprisingly, much less commercial success. They rebounded with the [[CoverVersion cover-heavy]] ''Diver Down'' a short while later.

Van Halen quickly made a followup, the aptly-titled ''Van Halen II'', which was another success and gave the band its first hit, "Dance the Night Away". ''Women and Children'' also followed a year later, containing more kickarse hard rock but also showing Eddie's first and most definitely not last use of keyboards on a VH album.

If TheRollingStones had [[CaptainObvious Eddie Van Halen]] as their guitarist and a hyperactive, insane combination of [[Music/{{Queen}} Freddie Mercury]] and Music/RonnieJamesDio as their frontman (David Lee Roth). [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg And a really good drummer.]] [[RunningGag And whoever's on bass.]] Probably the most fun hard-rock/heavy-metal band you'll ever hear ('sides maybe Music/{{ACDC}}...). They even got their own GuitarHero game!

After being seen by two Warner Bros. Records people at a concert, the band got a contract with WB and started working on its debut album. [[RecordProducer Produced]] by Ted Templeman (who stayed with the band for its first six albums), ''Van Halen'' became a smash success thanks to the combination of Eddie's hyperactive, lightning-fast fretwork and Dave's flamboyant, {{Large Ham}}my [[TheAce Ace]] persona. It contained a few classic songs, such as the band's headbanging cover of "You Really Got Me" by TheKinks, the ImageSong "Runnin' with the Devil" and Eddie's mindblowing solo "Eruption". They toured nearly a year in support of the album, notably opening for Music/BlackSabbath and completely blowing them out of the water in a time when Sabbath were going through their first DorkAge. Come to think of it, American rock music itself was in a DorkAge at a time when [[DeaderThanDisco disco]] was still dominant, and Van Halen was one of the bands that stopped it from collapsing under its own weight.

->'''''[[IfYouKnowWhatIMean I brought my PENCIL!!]]''''' ''Gimme something to write on, man!''