machinegunner

Talk about Punk here. What are your favorites?

The Jam

Springsteen is a very good songwriter, at his best he is one of the best... I have admired his talent for a long time, that's why it hurts when he writes substandard stuff like a lot of what is on his last three albums and he needs to be called up on it. I think he's gotten a bit slack since that Seeger album.

Who cares.

I heard a rumour that it was Rosie O'Donnell

Out of what I've heard by Queen, I would say Body Language.

"gi-mme your bo-dy" etc...

DLR looking a bit more enthusiastic to be here than Aerosmith...

David Lee Roth rules battle of bands

Ross Purdie, National Entertainment Writer, AAPApril 18, 2013, 3:52 pm


As press conferences go, a gathering of the members of Aerosmith, Billy Joel and Van Halen was always going to be a surreal affair.

The musical giants are headlining the inaugural Stone Festival at ANZ Stadium in Sydney this weekend, the first time they have ever shared a bill.

"I think we've been on the same radio stations for the last how many decades," said Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth.

"Now we finally get to play together."

And so began the bizarre and hilarious exchange between three of American's biggest selling musical acts in the apt setting of the Hard Rock Cafe.

As expected, the singer known as "Diamond Dave" did most of the talking, but answered few questions, mulling in riddles over the prospect of new Van Halen material.

Referring to the band as "delinquents with an alcoholic coach", Roth described the challenges of motivating his band mates, who were conspicuous in their absence and arrived in Sydney on a separate flight.

"Getting the Van Halen band to turn around is like moving an aircraft carrier. You can't do it in two minutes, you can't even do it in two hours. It takes twenty summers plus," Roth said in reference to the band's 24-year absence from Australia.

Decked out in a purple suit and sunglasses, the enigmatic frontman showed his love for the microphone by turning interviewer, quizzing Billy Joel on his rumoured retirement plans.

"To do this show will be like dipping my toe back in the water," Joel answered frankly.

"If I suck I'm not going to do it any more."

Joel sounded more concerned with supporting the next generation of musicians and talked briefly about his work mentoring college students in the US.

He revealed his disdain for concert promoters who sell front rows at premium rates, and described a time he told his road crew to move fans from the back, resulting in a view packed with "great looking women".

"Believe me, it doesn't hurt the show," he deadpanned.

While that story raised some laughs, the real comedy moment came when Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler was asked about the health of his long mane. Joel, perfectly timed, lifted his baseball cap to reveal a distinct lack of hair.

For much of the exchange, Tyler was raising his eyebrows and smirking at Roth's monologues. He brushed off the customary questions about groupies and drugs, and hinted at Roth's rumoured substance use.

"I should have had some of the `coffee' David had this morning," he quipped.

Roth, for his part, did answer the question on groupies - "At my age sleeping with someone half my age is no longer a felony, let's get that out of the way," he said - bringing proceedings to a natural close.


http://au.news.yahoo.com/entertainme...ttle-of-bands/

^{It's all about The Zepp, maaaaan. Get with it!}

Here's my review: A load of bollocks

You could have saved me the time!

Working On A Dream is not one of his best albums either.

Bruce Springbean only has about 6 good songs on his last album, imho.

here is my short review:

Wrecking Ball has about 6 good songs on it including the title track and We Take Care Of Our Own. Land Of Hopes And Dreams is not one of them-- this recording lacks the life and passion of the 'Live In NY' ('02) rendering. I dislike Jack Of All Trades and Rocky Ground in particular. Other clunkers disappoint. Faves are We Are Alive and Death To My Hometown, and the stompin' American Land, they capture the imagination quite well.

**1/2 out of 5

Good to see the Eddie-might-have-joined-KISS rumour dispelled in that video.

Van Halen had covered Montrose in the early days, which is prob. why there might have been discussion about Roth & Ronnie, or Ed with Sammy.

I wouldn't call Montrose's post Hagar albums "successful". It's not like they had any hit songs, Hagar's solo career was far more successful.

Alex is probably the only one who could say what the probability of Mike coming back in the band, or Sammy for that matter. I think it would have to be the combination of Wolfgang and Alex wanting Mike to be a part of it, even if it wasn't for the whole show. Dave's not going to bring it up.

By the third and fourth album Montrose were developing a bigger and bigger following, largely because of the types of albums they were making that their particular audience liked. So they were very successful. It wasn't about big hit singles to them, they were often called The American Led Zeppelin.

Sadly I don't think Eddie would approve inviting Michael Anthony back onstage for a song or anything. He is too buddy buddy with Hagar who is far from his favourite person, so it would probably involve both if ever there were to be some occassion to make some gesture to them.

Hagar never has any right to be pissed off at DLR because he totally lucked out to have the chance to replace him and should always be grateful for that. The Van Halens had a beef with Roth... it didn't mean Hagar had to get involved and pull stuff like this:

http://jammagazineonline.com/images/main-features/201009/van-halen/001.jpg

http://jammagazineonline.com/images/main-features/201009/van-halen/008.jpg

source: http://jammagazineonline.com/mf201009-van-halen.aspx

Sam got pissed off at Dave because of the stuff the Van Halen brothers were telling him, the same reason why Weiland went off on Axl, they all got roped into the trash talk.

But as far as Sam lucking out? I think they'd all say it was mutually beneficial. Van Halen could've gone with another singer at the time and it could've easily flopped.

He was lucky because Ted Templeman who was a huge bigshot at Warner Brothers, and who had produced all of Van Halen's albums prior, had a special alliance with Hagar since his days in Montrose in the early 70's. A bit of background... Templeman had produced Montrose's first two albums, their albums with Sam Hagar (as he was known then). Then Mr. Montrose was getting sick of Hagar for being too one-dimensional because Montrose was getting more experimental (and because he couldn't stand Hagar any more in general) and guess what? He wanted DLR in Montrose in 1975 after Hagar was ejected! Out of loyalty to, and faith in, VH, DLR said no (VH had been going since '74) and Montrose got some other dude and went on to bigger success (their biggest) with their next two albums (produced by Aerosmith's classic producer Jack Douglas). It stung Sammy and Templeman that they had not been a part of Montrose's bigger success, an they bonded further in their mutual sense of loserage over it. Hence...

Ironically, when Van Halen was signed in 1977, the record company wanted to replace Dave with Sammy. It finally happened in 1985.

As Templeman was a bigshot at Warner Brothers, when he first saw Van Halen live in 1977 he thought of his boy Sammy and mustn't have really seen their big potential with Roth. I'm also aware that there was some talk that at first they just wanted to sign Eddie, but as Roth had been loyal to Van Halen when he could have joined Montrose in 1975, Eddie was now loyal to Van Halen and would only be signed with them. It wouldn't surprise me if the suggestion of Sam in VH (which was made by Templeman) was just some big record company hussle and bluff (and they tended to stick with artists already signed to them if they could) as Van Halen was trying to work out a deal with them without being ripped off. Well anyway, the first album was huge, and revolutionary, and Templeman stuck with them through to '1984'. When Roth was out of the picture, Templeman's old boy Sammy got his chance to redeem himself.

In Van Halen lore there is the story of Sam taking his Porsche to a garage on one fateful day when EVH's Lamborghini was there and then Ed's mechanic saying hey now that you need a new singer why don't you give Sam a call... but the fact was that all the above background stuff had transpired and Eddie had been a fan of Templeman and his work with Montrose for years.

However one sees Hagar's fit with Van Hagar, is a matter of taste. There is not much point begrudging their success with Hagar but it is just not my cup of tea. Yes he has, in my view, often embarrassed himself by exhibiting an obvious inferiority complex and other issues about himself and whatever level of his success he has had in Van Halen and otherwise, but to me that pathetic element of him is more or less just a source of amusement in the bigger Van Halen saga. I can't take him all that seriously as I think that artistically you can just not compare him with Roth at all. Sam did well to come from a background of poverty and a broken home and seize whatever success he did, though.

Ironically, when Van Halen was signed in 1977, the record company wanted to replace Dave with Sammy. It finally happened in 1985.

AndreCC said:

Really? i didn't know that!

I'm a fairly new/old Van Halen fan. Started to listen ot the albums in 2004 after Best of Both Worlds. Until then i only knew the singles. I know a little thing or two about the band, but realize what i know is what i have seen later on on youtube. So i didn't have the opportunity to live that entertaining era when they had both doing the show on tour.

I'm a Diamond Dave fan. I'm gonna be honest and say i can't stand Sammy's albums. To me that doesn't sound like Van Halen, it sounds like a generic rock band.

The first 2 Van Halen albums are OUT OF THIS WORLD. 1984 is OUT OF THIS WORLD! Nothing can come close to that! Hell even the new album is awesome!

Would love if you guys would do highlight more of what happened between Hagar and Dave, if there's more to it...

machinegunner said:

I'm a relatively new to most of the Van Halen catalogue as well. Easy to do since they've disappeared from the public eye for long periods of time. But I'm seeing them (minus Michael Anthony) this Saturday! The feuding in Van Halen is pretty well documented but there are a lot a lot of personal agendas and misleading shit. You be the judge and always consider the source. Sam has pretty much burnt the bridge with the Van Halen brothers especially since he did a lot of insulting shit-taking about them (and about Roth) in his book. It's funny how since Roth rejoined in 2007, Van Halen's strategy has been to take the high road and totally ignore Sam's comments about them (usually more shit-talking, like that Chickenfoot is better) in the press and not even acknowledge his existence. That must piss him off more than anything because he hasn't got anything more interesting than Van Halen to talk about!

Hagar never has any right to be pissed off at DLR because he totally lucked out to have the chance to replace him and should always be grateful for that. The Van Halens had a beef with Roth... it didn't mean Hagar had to get involved and pull stuff like this:

http://jammagazineonline.com/images/main-features/201009/van-halen/001.jpg

http://jammagazineonline.com/images/main-features/201009/van-halen/008.jpg

source: http://jammagazineonline.com/mf201009-van-halen.aspx

Yes - I think they will come up with solos that I can't forget.

Actually -- I was mistaken -- '1984' and the debut 'Van Halen' are the biggest selling Van halen albums, they both went (appropriately enough) Diamond.

Well, there you have it, folks. Dave is providing a great time, a spectacle, he's being the party, has all the tunes everyone loves, just does his own thing because he knows what he's doing 55and knows it will be what the people want... and Sammy is a complaining whiny little bitch.

The difference is Dave is nothing without Van Halen while Sammy is a successful solo act.....I love Dave but he really is a cartoon character.....

I'll agree Dave is nothing without Van Halen (although I do like a handful of his solo tunes, but they do not stand the test of time), but Sammy is nothing in Van Halen. I actually like Sammy Hagar... outside of Van Halen.

And I love Dave precisely because he's a cartoon character.

And yet I thought Van Halen's best selling album was with Sammy?.....go figure........

That would be just 5150, which rode the big wave of MTV after the success and expectation that 1984 with Roth built up, but on subsequent releases VH sold progressively less and less with Hagar. Overall, Van Halen sold way more albums with Roth than with Hagar, although this is something which Hagar does his best to be deceptive about. He has constantly tried to suggest that Van Hagar's success with him was way bigger.

Dylan became a god fearing republican and hung out with Sinatra.

This is SOOO incorrect - Bob Dylan was never a follower of any political party, and nor has he ever lead anyone to believe that he was.

David Lee Roth is a Bond fan:

http://www.reelz.com/trailer-clips/68674/david-lee-roth-and-james-bond/

Had he lived he would probably be writing better stuff than Dave Grohl.

Ok...I just saw the whole video. Whoever thought that was sexist is an idiot. It doesn't seem serious to me.

But I hope this wasn't on purpose.

The whole primadonnaish love-me posturing plus condescending "shut-up-little-boys-and-girls and-kiss-my-ass, I'm Johnny Rotten" routine is pretty pathetic and tedious.

Couldn't live up to his "I tell it like it is" schtick when it came to being asked about Thatcher...

What a wanker.

Man that's pretty high. I'm assuming you translated the prices into $US.

I paid $170 in Sydney, how much do you pay there?

That was Gold ticket though (before all the extra charges), I think GA was about $90 (base price).

Always wondered how come they get such big numbers at gigs in South America. Are tickets extra cheap or what?

And this is exactly what I'm going to do for the Stone festival with Van Halen & Aerosmith in a couple of weeks' time. Rock up at the last minute and even sneak in if i can!

Apparently they're having problems corralling enough sheep with their inflated prices and are getting desperate:

Arena Zone General Access:

Single Day - $179.00 NOW $129.00

Two Day Package - $319.00 NOW $219.00 ($109.50 per day)

Platinum Zone Access:

Single Day - $279.00 NOW $229.00

Two Day Package - $429.00 NOW $329.00 ($164.50 per day)

The ticket reallocation situation is a total clusterfuck - http://www.stonemusicfest.com/news/detail.aspx?SubjectID=1&ArticleID=13 - lots of people are going to be pissed off. Apparently they'd only sold about 4000 (in a 30000 capacity venue) tickets before adding Aerosmith.

Learned my lesson since getting stung by ticketek and the same promoters with all the extra charges for the Sydney GNR/ZZ Top/Rose Tattoo concert including lanyards for $10/ticket (ticket holder things) in order to proceed with the sale. There was no option not to buy them. AND, to add insult to injury, they never even arrived with the tickets in the mail! Plus the $170 'Gold' tickets were a total con... miles from the stage. We ended up exchanging them for floor tickets that cost about half as much.

I'd check out this band as well. They write really clever catchy stuff.

very cool rocking of a GibsonSG like Angus Young's by the (usual) lead singer here.