Line #14 YMMV/VanHalen


1	* AmericansHateTingle: Van Halen are one of the most influential hard rock bands in history in the United States, but in the UK, they never found much of a fanbase. Their only two hits there are the pop crossover "Jump", as well as Sammy Hagar's first single with them "Why Can't This Be Love", while only two of their records got as much as a Gold certification. A major reason for their lukewarm success in Britain is that their rise to fame coincided with the NewWaveOfBritishHeavyMetal, which leaned more towards the UK-centric punk rock scene, in contrast to Van Halen's southern rock influences.
2	* AudienceAlienatingEra: The Hagar stuff for some; whoever came after Hagar for most.
3	** Enters CanonDiscontinuity, as the band released a compilation with songs by both Sammy and David, but not the third guy. Gary Cherone, for his part, was gracious enough to not speak out about any of this (including his non-inclusion in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction). Considering the way he was treated by the band during his tenure with them, he had every right to.
4	* BrokenBase:
5	** The inordinate amount of feuding between devotees of the Roth and Hagar eras. Hagar fans accuse Roth being a technically poor singer, while Roth fans argue that Hagar's tenure with the band saw them become too generic. There's actually a sizable contingent of fans that likes both eras, not that you could tell from the online arguments: the general consensus is that Roth is a better frontman and has more stage presence, while Hagar is a better singer technically and has more songwriting ability.
6	** Whether it was the right decision to replace Michael Anthony with Eddie's son Wolfgang. Most agree, though, that how Alex and Eddie went about it was inexcusable, and it also unfortunately led to Wolfgang getting a significant amount of hate from certain corners of the fandom.
7	* CoveredUp: Many of their covers are better known than the originals; regarding "You Really Got Me", Ray Davies himself said that it sounds better than [[Music/TheKinks his band's]] own version (the original, mind).
8	** Also true for David Lee Roth's solo career; while "California Girls" is still equally remembered as a [[Music/TheBeachBoys Beach Boys]] song, "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" is more associated with Roth than with any of its other artists nowadays. Went in the other direction for Sammy Hagar, though, as his "I've Done Everything for You" is much better remembered as a Music/RickSpringfield song.
9	* EpicRiff: "Panama", "Jump", "Hot for Teacher", "Runnin' with the Devil"...
10	** Their cover of "(Oh) Pretty Woman" manages to introduce a ''second'' epic riff in addition to the one Music/RoyOrbison had already written into the song.
11	** Even happens without guitars: the aforementioned "Hot for Teacher" is very well known for its opening drum solo, "When It's Love" for its opening synth riff, and "Right Now" opens with quite the piano riff.
12	** Alex's hypnotic JungleDrums opening to "Everybody Wants Some!!!" may count.
13	** The jet-engine-like effect on "...And The Cradle Will Rock", achieved by Eddie playing low cluster chords on a Wurlitzer electric piano amplified by a distorted Marshall stack with an MXR flanger stompbox effect plugged into the amp.
14	** More of a solo than a riff, but "Eruption." Oh, sweet ''Jesus''...
15	** "Unchained" is one of the most iconic Drop D riffs of all time.
16	** The synth intro to "I'll Wait".
17	** "Poundcake" starts off with the most epic use of a power drill in the history of music.
18	* EnsembleDarkhorse: Michael Anthony is this for many fans, in particular due to his very distinctive backing vocals. Also because he seems to be one of the nicest guys in the music business.
19	* HarsherInHindsight: In May 2020, Sammy Hagar indicated in an interview that "until Ed or Alex Van Halen dies, [the band is] not finished." Five months later, Eddie would die from a stroke, and indeed, the band was announced by Wolfie to be finished a month later.
20	** Given the epidemic of mass shootings in the 2000s and beyond, the lyrics "I can shoot a gun in the streets" (from "Don't Tell Me What Love Can Do") from 1995's ''Balance'' hasn't exactly aged well.
21	* MisBlamed: Eddie was already shifting the band's sound when Sammy came in - one look at Sammy's non-VH material shows he can rock just as hard as Dave. Part of the misblame is arguably due to Dave's opposition to said shifting.
22	** Similarly, [[ReplacementScrappy Gary Cherone]] is usually blamed for ''Van Halen III'''s status as being terrible despite arguably being the best actual ''singer'' the band has ever had. They also brought back the DLR-era songs in their setlist, which were largely absent during the Hagar era. In recent years, more and more fans are willing to admit that the album's shortcomings are due to weak songs rather than Cherone's presence as the singer.
23	** An oft-circulated story in the 1980s was that they did $85,000 worth of damage to Colorado State University-Pueblo's basketball arena after discovering brown M&Ms in their candy bowl. While Roth ''did'' indeed vandalize the backstage area to the tune of $12,000 after discovering brown M&Ms, the higher figure was the fault of the venue and the venue alone, as they neglected to follow weight requirements when reading the rider. As a result, the immense weight of their setup caused it to go ''straight through the floor'' because it was incapable of bearing that great a burden, which was where the >$80,000 worth of damage came from. See SecretTest in the main page for more information on the M&M clause.
24	* {{Narm}}: "How Many Say I," off of ''VHIII'', is meant to be a dark, haunting piano ballad. It's also the only time Eddie sang lead vocals on a Van Halen song, and his limitations as a singer are ''very'' evident: he somehow manages to do poor imitations of both Tom Waits and Roger Waters-- two men not exactly known for their outstanding singing abilities --while Gary Cherone's high harmonies on the choruses don't do much to cover it up. As a result, many fans find it hilarious, and it's widely considered to be one of the worst songs the band released.
25	* NeverLiveItDown: The aforementioned "no brown M&Ms" rider. However, it has also been hailed as a clever SecretTest idea to make sure their concert arrangements are set properly.
26	* NightmareFuel: ''Balance'' is incredibly dark for a Van Halen album.
27	** The opening track, "The Seventh Seal", has a baritone choir chanting... something. ''This is the first thing you hear in the whole album.'' What follows is an unusually heavy song with Sammy Hagar harshly delivering lyrics such about "drowning in Mother Earth's soul" and "washing away my suffering". It's a fast indicator that Van Halen's fourth and final album with Sammy Hagar [[DarkerAndEdgier isn't going to be like the band's usual party-rock predecessors.]]
28	** The instrumental "Strung Out" sounds like something out of a horror movie score. Making it more jarring is the fact that it comes right out of nowhere between "Big Fat Money" (a standard hard rocker) and "Not Enough" (a soft, poppy power ballad).
29	** "Crossing Over", the Japanese bonus track, was originally written by Eddie in 1983 to vent his feelings after the suicide of a close friend. When the band's then-manager Ed Leffler died in 1995, Eddie finished the songーthe lyrics heavily allude to suicide and reaching out to a ghostly plane of existence to see loved ones who have passed. Easily the darkest territory the band has ever gone to, more so than anything ''Fair Warning'' could dish out.
30	** Even the cover art is creepy, with its conjoined twins trying to play in a see-saw in the middle of a [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic setting]] - one is having his hair pulled by the other, and subsequently screams and writhes in agony. [[https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41AMJ1XSQXL.jpg The Japanese cover]] was edited to remove the screaming boy. Whether this makes it better or not - given the empty looking eyes - is up to you.
31	* OlderThanTheyThink: While most people associate two-handed tapping with Eddie, it had actually been used by several guitarists before this. For example, Steve Hackett incorporated the technique into his playing with Genesis, and Brian May used it on a few songs with Queen.
32	** Similarly, the idea of playing really loud and really fast as an attraction in itself goes back at least to Alvin Lee from Ten Years After. In fact, Eddie built up his reputation by playing perfect renditions of Ten Years After's "I'm Going Home."
33	** It's fair to say, though, that Eddie re-invented both of these techniques and popularized them for a whole new audience.
34	* ReplacementScrappy: There's a reason the Sammy Hagar era band is referred to as Van Hagar, and the Gary Cherone era band is referred to as Van Horrible.
35	** Wolfgang Van Halen is regarded as an inferior vocalist and to a lesser extent bassist to Michael Anthony as well, though this may boil down to fans still being bitter on Michael being forced out for [[NoodleIncident no clear reason.]]
36	* SampledUp: You might not know "Jamie's Cryin' ", but it's a lot more probable you've heard Tone Loc's "Wild Thing".
37	* SignatureSong:
38	** For the David Lee Roth era: "You Really Got Me", "Jamie's Cryin' ", "Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love", "Runnin' With the Devil", "Dance the Night Away", "Jump", "Panama", and "Hot for Teacher".
39	** For the Sammy Hagar era, there's "Dreams", "When It's Love", "Finish What Ya Started", "Right Now", and most famously "Why Can't This Be Love".
40	** As for the solo careers of both lead singers, David Lee Roth's signature tunes are "[[Music/TheBeachBoys California Girls]]", "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody", and "Just Like Paradise, while Sammy Hagar's are "Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy" and, most famously, "I Can't Drive 55".
41	* SongAssociation:
42	** "Jump" with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jump_(Van_Halen_song)#Sporting_anthem sports in general.]] [[UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball Olympique de Marseille and Brøndby IF]] open their home games with it, [[UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball A.C. Milan]] plays it when they score a goal at their home stadium, WGN-TV in UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} once used it to introduce broadcasts of [[UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}} Chicago]] [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball Cubs]] games, and the [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague Winnipeg Jets]]--both the original and modern teams--have used it as their respective home game intro song[[note]]from the late 1980s to early 1990s[[/note]] and goal song.[[note]]since 2016[[/note]]
43	** "Right Now" with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Pepsi Crystal Pepsi]], thanks to that song being featured in commercials for the product for more or less its entire original lifespan (1992-93). Said commercials were done in the style of the song's music video, with "right now..." statements over corresponding images. Sadly, though [=PepsiCo=] revived the product in TheNewTens, they didn't revive the song and campaign to go with it.
44	* TearJerker: Some would consider "In a Simple Rhyme" this, based on its lyrics about nostalgia for one's old, failed love life.
45	** "Not Enough" is a soft, sad power ballad that could easily bring one to tears if in the right mood.
46	** "Year to the Day" is about a poor farmer on a dying ranch that's leaving him completely broken on the inside. Things apparently became like this because somebody (perhaps a loved one) had left him one year prior. The chorus states that he "barely survived", so it had to have been rough; perhaps involving a death or a divorce. Couple that with the most somber backing track in Van Halen's entire discography, plus some truly haunting and echoey vocals from Gary Cherone, and you can't help but feel sorry for the song's narrator by the end.
47	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Dave left the band in 1985 because Eddie wanted to change their style. With Dave out of the way, Eddie did just that, incurring the wrath of fans who slammed the band for "not being fun anymore". For years Hagar was blamed for the style change, despite being better known for similar hard rocking fun hits before he joined the band.
48	* VindicatedByHistory: Three albums were not well-received at the time of release, but now they are looked upon with somewhat kinder eyes. Songs from Roth-era ''Fair Warning'' are still played on the radio today. ''5150'' was Hagar's first, which caused the BrokenBase, but now both camps tend to admit the other had some good material. And then, the still-divisive ''Van Halen III'' is now getting some positive recognition from people who actually took the time to listen to its songs.
49	** Also, when the true reason for the brown M&M's contract rider came out (as a sign that their concert setup safety arrangements contact was read thoroughly), it was hailed as a clever case of TestingTheEditors to make sure things were properly arranged. The catalyst was that at a previous concert, the venue involved had little or no regard for safety procedures, to the point where a single accident caused expensive damage to the band's equipment.
50	** Opinion of Michael Anthony has dramatically improved since his firing. There was never any negative opinion to begin with, but, with his down-to-earth friendly personality, and very underrated bass playing, a lot of people have began paying him a lot more attention, especially since Eddie had a nasty habit of trashing the man in interviews.

Context YMMV / VanHalen