History Music / VanHalen

** David Lee Roth also covered Louis Prima's 1956 "Just a Gigolo (I Ain't Got Nobody)", itself a mashup of two 1928 standards. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN-4lX0QyZc video]] also parodied Creator/{{MTV}} and dozens of 1980s celebrities.

Describe Van Halen here. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_lwocmL9dQ (Guitar Solo)]]

If Music/TheRollingStones had Eddie Van Halen as their guitarist and a hyperactive, insane combination of Music/FreddieMercury and Music/RonnieJamesDio as their frontman (Music/DavidLeeRoth). And Eddie's brother on drums. [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg And the bassist.]] Probably the most fun HardRock band you'll ever hear. They even got their own VideoGame/GuitarHero game!

* TropeCodifier: When elderly people or foreigners (non-Anglo-Americans who might be TwoDecadesBehind or more) picture rock musicians, Van Halen is probably the archetype they're thinking of. While Music/ElvisPresley, [[Music/TheRollingStones Mick Jagger,]] and [[Music/TheDoors Jim Morrison]] did much to define [[UrExample the rock star's basic personality]] and Music/AliceCooper and Music/{{KISS}} solidified the "look," it was Van Halen who brought the ultimate in rock-and-roll energy and attitude.

** Eddie is universally regarded as the first true shredder, a style of guitar player defined by lightning fast (not to mention flashy) arpeggios and tapped legato leads, rather than the more traditional bluesy style of playing that had dominated rock and roll to that point. Shredders would dominate rock music unchallenged until the early 90s, [[Music/{{Slash}} with one notable exception.]]

** Unable to afford a distortion effect pedal, Eddie discovered he could produce a similar sound by modifying the voltage to his amp, supplying it with power from a variable voltage transformer to dramatically increase the volume. This system initially consisted of a Marshall amp (a UK model intended to run off a 220 volt power supply, unbeknownst to Eddie) and a light dimmer switch, which he wired backwards.

Hagar left the band in 1996. After a temporary reunion with Roth, Gary Cherone from Extreme (and "[[BlackSheepHit More than Words]]" infamy) was recruited as their new frontman. The resulting album, ''Van Halen III'', was [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks panned by everybody]], earning this short-lived era the nickname of "Van Horrible." After a hiatus, a second tenure with Hagar, and a complicated situation, Anthony was replaced by Eddie's teenaged son Wolfgang. Roth returned in 2007, and the band released what would be their final album, ''A Different Kind of Truth'', in February 2012. [[HistoryRepeats In what may strike fans as a bit of déjà vu]], ''Truth'' [[BookEnds ended up peaking at #2 on the charts, kept off the #1 spot by]] ''[[Music/{{Adele}} 21]]''. (No guest spot for Eddie this time, though.)

On October 6, 2020, Eddie Van Halen died after a long battle with cancer; Wolfgang confirmed a month later the band, for the time being, called it quits.

* NobodyLovesTheBassist: By the Nineties, this was hitting Mike pretty hard -- most of the bass in ''III'' was done by Eddie, and not only Mike just got into the Van Hagar reunion in 2004 because Sammy wanted him to, but on the new tracks of ''Best of Both Worlds'' he only did backing vocals (Eddie had already played bass).

* GenreRoulette: Roth-era Van Halen had an interesting tendency to mix and match various genres with it's own style - for some examples, ''Jamie's Cryin'' has a latin dance groove, ''I'm the One'' is a sped-up jazz swing type deal, ''Ain't Talking 'Bout Love'' was their attempt at parodying a punk song, ''Spanish Fly'' is basically an improvised classical piece and ''Push Comes To Shove'' is a reggae rock/jazz funk hybrid.

* MinisculeRocking: Their first albums with Dave were unusually short, usually in the slightly above 30 minutes mark (''Fair Warning'' is the shortest, at 30:58 total[[note]]bear in mind, though, that this length was within an LP's standards, wherein it could be filled with less songs than a CD, and if one had around 40 minutes, it would start to be considered EpicRocking[[/note]]). This era also gave us their shortest song, "Tora! Tora!" from ''Women and Children First'', barely clocking in at 0:57. Once Dave left and Sammy came onboard, at the same time as vinyls were being overtaken by [=CDs=], their album lengths immediately took a sudden jump (contrast: ''1984'' = 33:17, ''5150'' = 43:02) and actually continued to increase with every album until ''Van Halen III'' peaked at 65:18. Dave's return seems to have brought the songs back to a more "manageable", 2-4 minute length; in fact, the longest song on ''A Different Kind of Truth'' is "Beats Workin'", at only 5:02 (though, with 13 tracks, the album runs at 49:58, i.e. falling just two seconds short of the 50-minute mark).

* NobodyLovesTheBassist: By the nineties, this was hitting Mike pretty hard -- most of the bass in ''III'' was done by Eddie, and not only Mike just got into the Van Hagar reunion in 2004 because Sammy wanted him to, but on the new tracks of ''Best of Both Worlds'' he only did backing vocals (Eddie had already played bass).

* ShoutOut: The chorus of "Can't Stop Lovin' You" shows that it's based on the similarly titled Music/RayCharles song. At least, near the end of the song.

* SpeedMetal: While obviously their overall sound isn't speed metal, several of their songs arguably fall under this, and "I'm the One" could be considered an UrExample

* DoNotCallMePaul: At points in his career, Eddie insisted that he be referred to as ''Edward'' Van Halen.

** Eddie's modifications extended to the pickup of his Frankenstrat--which partially melted while Eddie attempted to encase it in wax, which he believed would reduce the pickup's feedback.

** Eddie's tinkering extended to the pickup of his Frankenstrat--it was partially melted in an attempt to encase it in wax, which he believed would reduce the pickup's feedback.
** Unable to afford a distortion pedal, Eddie noticed he could achieve a similar effect by modifying the power supply to his Marshall amp, using a voltage transformer to dramatically increase the volume. Being a musical genius and not an electrical one, he wired several components of this system backwards, resulting in a blown fuse.

** Unable to afford a distortion pedal, Eddie noticed he could achieve a similar effect by powering a Marshall amp at a voltage lower than it was designed for, and then using a voltage transformer to dramatically increase the volume. Being a musical genius and not an electrical one, he would occasionally wire components backwards while experimenting, resulting in many, many blown fuses.

** Eddie's extensive modifications extended to the pickup of his Frankenstrat. Eddie partially melted the pickup in an attempt to encase it in wax, which he believed would reduce the pickup's feedback.
** Unable to afford a distortion pedal, Eddie noticed he could achieve a similar effect by powering a Marshall amp using a lower-than-average voltage, then using a voltage transformer to dramatically increase the volume. Being a musical genius and not an electrical one, he would occasionally wire components backwards, resulting in many, many blown fuses.

** Eddie's extensive modifications extended to the pickup of his Frankenstrat, which was positioned slightly askew and contributed to his distinctive sound. Eddie partially melted the pickup in an attempt to encase it in wax, which he believed would reduce the pickup's feedback.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: The impact of their very first album, which was practically without precedent. While some of it was arguably the result of CoolVersusAwesome ("Runnin' With the Devil" sounded both as loud as Music/TheWho and as fuzzy as Music/JimiHendrix), other parts of the album were absurdly original. "Eruption" sounded like a tidal wave hitting an electric power plant, while their famous cover of "You Really Got Me" had a jerky, machine-like cadence that rock musicians had formerly needed synthesizers in order to approximate.

* AmbiguouslyBrown: Eddie and Alex are part-Dutch, part-Indonesian. Alex looks it, but with Eddie it was hard to tell because of his long hair, which looks thinner and thus lighter in color than short hair would. Of course, Eddie often being backlit also tended to make him look blond.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Generally rank around 5-6. Occasionally drift into 7, or down to 3 or 4. The DLR years on average are much higher on the list than later incarnations.
** When DLR returned, ''A Different Kind of Truth'' climbed up the scale again. The song "China Town" borders on an 8.

* DressRehearsalVideo

* AmbiguouslyBrown: Eddie was Alex is are part-Dutch, part-Indonesian. Alex looks it, but with Eddie it was hard to tell because of his long hair, which looks thinner and thus lighter in color than short hair would. Of course, Eddie often being backlit also tended to make him look blond.

* BigGuyLittleGuy: Alex and Dave are tall, Wolfgang is fairly tall too, Sammy is average, Ed was and Mike is a few inches shorter.

* EgocentricTeamNaming: Named after brothers Eddie & Alex. (though Dave suggested the name, citing Music/{{Santana}} as a reference)

* GratuitousPanning: Templeman's production gimmick was to put Eddie's guitar high in the mix and pan it, either slightly or more blatantly, to the left (or sometimes the right) to simulate a "live" sound. Eddie hated this and got rid of it after Templeman and Dave left.

* CoverVersion: "You Really Got Me" and "Where Have All the Good Times Gone?" by Music/TheKinks[[note]]During a ''Diver Down'' interview, Dave admitted they could play "six different Kinks songs", and would play them "into the dirt" every night when they were starting out[[/note]], "Ice Cream Man" by John Brim, "You're No Good" by Betty Everett (but popularised by Music/LindaRonstadt) "Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison, "Dancing in the Street" by Martha and the Vandellas, "Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)" by Milton Ager and Jack Yellen, "Happy Trails" by Creator/RoyRogers and Dale Evans, "A Apolitical Blues" by Music/LittleFeat (the only cover to make it on a Van Hagar album). In concert they would frequently play "Rock and Roll" by Music/LedZeppelin, "Addicted to Love" by Music/RobertPalmer, "Jean Genie" by Music/DavidBowie/, Sammy Hagar's solo hit "I Can't Drive 55" (the 2006 tour also had a few tracks from his 2000s output) and "Won't Get Fooled Again" by Music/TheWho. For many people, their versions overshadow the originals -- Ray Davies himself said their cover of "You Really Got Me" beat the original.

** Recently averted in regards to Michael and Alex Van Halen, who stated in an interview with [[ThatMetalShow Eddie Trunk]] that he managed to get Alex on the phone, and they chatted for about 20 minutes. Michael has always stated that he and Alex never really "fell out," but were never able to speak because of Eddie.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vh1.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The classic late 70's/early 80's lineup of Van Halen. From left to right: Music/DavidLeeRoth, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, and Michael Anthony.]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/van_halen3.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The popular "Van Hagar" lineup of Van Halen from the mid 80's to the mid 90's. From left to right: Anthony, Alex and Eddie Van Halen, and Sammy Hagar. Not pictured: Gary Cherone, the replacement for Hagar on ''Van Halen III'', and [[LegacyCharacter Wolfie.]]]]

* NotableMusicVideos: "Jump" and "Hot for Teacher" for the Dave era, "Right Now" for Sammy.

* ''1984'' (1984)

* ''5150'' (1986)

* CanaryInACoalMine: As described in SecretTest below, this was the true purpose behind the infamous "No brown [=M&Ms=]" clause in their tour rider. Finding said candies backstage indicated the rider had not been read thoroughly, and was an almost sure sign that other requirements - ones critical to the safety of the band - had also been overlooked.