Van Halen (album)
| Van Halen | ||||
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| Van Halen's studio album | ||||
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Publication |
1978 (CD: 1984) |
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| Label (s) | Warner bros. | |||
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Format (s) |
LP (first release), CD |
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Title (number) |
11 |
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running time |
35 min 13 s |
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| occupation |
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Studio (s) |
Sunset Sound Recorders, Hollywood , Los Angeles |
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Van Halen is the debut album by the American rock band Van Halen , which was released on record on February 10, 1978 by the Warner Bros. label . While it was the band's first album, it remains their most commercially successful album to date, selling over 10 million copies in the United States alone.
History of origin
Although Van Halen had already recorded a demo with Gene Simmons in 1976 , it was another year before the band was discovered. The band did not know what to do with these demo recordings as they refused to peddle them. Guitarist Eddie Van Halen was not convinced of the quality of the material as they could not record the recordings with their own equipment. The few tapes that were leaked to record companies did not bring Van Halen a record deal.
After several concerts in local clubs, Van Halen got the offer to play at Whiskey a Go Go and Starwoods , two hip clubs in Los Angeles. Marshall Berle, their future manager, discovered them there and introduced the band to Mo Ostin and Ted Templeman from Warner Bros. , where they were signed a week later. The recordings for the album began in October 1977 and lasted only three weeks, one of which was needed for the music and two for the vocals. Together with producer Ted Templeman, the album was recorded live and almost without overdubs in the Sunset Sound Recorders studio in Hollywood . Only for the songs Runnin 'with the Devil , Jamie's Cryin' and Ice Cream Man had individual guitar tracks to be dubbed. As engineers Thu Landee, Peggy McCreary and Kent Nebergall worked. From the demo for Gene Simmons only the songs On Fire and Runnin 'With the Devil were used and recorded in new versions. Overall, the album for comparatively cost 40,000 was $ produced.
The following tour took her through the USA together with Montrose , initially as a support act for Journey . Later Black Sabbath went through the USA and Europe again. Black Sabbath on the Never-Say-Die! -Tour were already only a shadow of their own, could hardly counter the young support and were regularly played on the wall by Van Halen.
Music genre
The music style was based on the hard rock of the 1970s, but managed to develop its own note, especially through Eddie Van Halen's guitar style. The rock 'n' roll of the 1950s and 1960s was thus emancipated from its black blues roots. Although other bands of the decade, such as Aerosmith and Montrose , have a similar style, the Van Halen debut is mainly characterized by the self-confident demeanor of the band and the independence that hardly allows any conclusions to be drawn about the band's roots. So you know that Eddie Van Halen copied his guitar style from Eric Clapton and his band Cream , but you can't tell. Even the cover versions only serve the purpose of presenting good riffs .
Van Halen's lyrics use the common hard rock clichés, some of the songs ( Ain't Talkin '' bout Love , I'm the One and Feel Your Love Tonight ) are about casual sex in which love is deliberately excluded. This theme also occurs repeatedly in the other songs (for example, On Fire ). The lyrics were supported by David Lee Roth's sexual gestures at concerts. Another focus is the outsider, mostly in the form of a rock star ( Runnin 'with the Devil , On Fire ), but also in other forms (as a radioactive gang member in Atomic Punk or as an insecure dreamer in Little Dreamer ). This role is emphasized and seen as an ideal. It must be mentioned, however, that Van Halen's texts are mostly accessories and were viewed as unimportant. So they were only printed from album 5150 (1986).
Publications
| A side | B side |
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On February 10, 1978, Van Halen released their first album from which the tracks You Really Got Me , Runnin 'with the Devil , Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love and Jamie's Cryin' were released as singles. You Really Got Me , a cover version of the Kinks song of the same name from 1964, was their first single.
All tracks, except for the two cover versions You Really Got Me and Ice Cream Man , were composed by Michael Anthony, Alex and Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth. The instrumental Eruption comes exclusively from Eddie Van Halen.
The album cover is a live recording from Whiskey a Go-Go, which shows the four musicians arranged live in a square. The band logo is in the middle.
It was first published on CD in 1984 on July 2nd, when the CD medium was just a few years old. Since then, the album has appeared several times in remastered versions, most recently in 2000, although little has changed in the original packaging. In liner notes as well as bonus tracks were each dispensed with.
Single releases
You Really Got Me
The first single, a cover version of the Kinks , was released along with the B-side Atomic Punk . You Really Got Me was one of the first Kinks hits and due to the catchy riff it was a popular cover piece that was also played by The Who .
The Van Halen version was released as the first single on the album, as producer Ted Templeman feared the glam rock band Angel would forestall them as they wanted to release their version of the song too. It was also chosen as the first single, presumably because of the riff. In the context of the album, the song is introduced by the well-known instrumental solo Eruption , which is why these two songs were often played one after the other on the radio. The single peaked at # 117 on the US Billboard charts .
Ray Davies , bandleader of The Kinks, said that his "Van Halen version better liked than their own, as their original version as a propeller aircraft (prop plane) sounds, but like a Van Halen's version jet fighter (jet fighter)."
The song was later released again as part of the live album Live: Right Here, Right Now . The B-side of the live version with second singer Sammy Hagar was Cabo Wabo , a song from the album OU812 , which is also the name of a radio station and a bar in Los Cabos , both of which Hagar founded. A tequila brand Hagar also bears that name.
On the album Diver Down Van Halen should cover another Kinks song with Where Have all the Good Times Gone . However, the influence of the kinks on Van Halen's work is small. Eddie Van Halen said in an interview on the occasion of the publication of the Diver Down album in Sounds magazine on June 23, 1982:
"[...] back in our bar days, I bought a double album from K-Tel or something that had 30 Kinks tunes on it. We learned all of one side and played them into the dirt during the club gigs, twice a night each one, because they sounded so good and they were great to dance to, etc., etc "
“When we were still playing in bars, I bought a double album from K-Tel or something that had 30 Kinks songs on it. We learned all the songs on one side and played them during the gigs. Twice every night because they sounded good and were great for dancing. "
The Van Halen version of You Really Got Me in 1996 for a Nissan - commercial uses. In this one, a GI Joe doll in a red Nissan 300ZX spans Ken Barbie .
Runnin 'with the Devil
The second single Runnin 'with the Devil was released in May 1978 (B-side: Eruption ). The song is from the early days of Van Halen and was already used on the demo tape for Gene Simmons. The Kiss bassist had the idea for the car horn at the beginning of the song. However, this is not a real horn, but a construction built by Eddie Van Halen consisting of several horns, two car batteries and a pedal . This effect was also used at the concerts. The text of the song comes from David Lee Roth, who was inspired by the Ohio Players song Runnin 'from the Devil and wrote a counterpart, so to speak. The lyrics describe the hedonistic attitude to life of a rock star who doesn't care about tomorrow and doesn't or has no ties. For many, it represents the essence of Van Halen's work, as it combines all the typical elements. These include the emphasis on the guitar riff and the solo as the most important stylistic elements, as well as the hedonistic character of the lyrics. The single reached number 84 in the US and number 52 in the UK.
The song is part of pop culture . It was played at the games of the New Jersey Devils ice hockey team and the Arizona State Sun Devils sports association . In the film Ready to Rumble the song is sung by a bus full of nuns and at the beginning of the film Little Nicky - Satan Junior , Adam Sandler tries a version of the song. The song is also used in the film Detroit Rock City , which was produced by Simmons. It was also the running of the music ROH -Wrestlers Davey Richards .
Jamie's cryin
The song Jamie's Cryin appeared as the third release of the album with the B-side I'm the One . The lyrics of the song, written by David Lee Roth, are about a woman who falls in love with a man after a one-night stand. The song was the only one created in the three weeks of studio time. The single could not reach a chart placement. In 1987 rapper Tone Lōc sampled Eddie Van Halen's riff for his big hit Wild Thing . The band did not suing the rapper. Alex Van Halen later said: "It was 1987, who knew?" ("It was 1987, who knew that?")
Ain't talkin '' bout love
Ain't Talkin '' bout Love , the fourth and final single from the debut album, is a song about casual sex, something Van Halen became known for in the groupie scene. For example, singer David Lee Roth had pretty girls selected from the roadies before the concerts and brought them backstage after the show . For each woman with whom he was allowed to have fun, there were 100 US dollars for the roadie. Ain't Talkin '' bout Love was one of the first Van Halen songs and was used on the Gene Simmons demo as well as at several concerts. The song is mostly limited to just two chords . A sitar can be heard in the background of the album version . The B-side of the single contains the album title Feel Your Love Tonight .
In 1989, Van Halen sued the sexist hip-hop group 2 Live Crew , who used the song's riff for their controversial hit The F - k Shop . The matter was settled out of court. The version of the song The Funk Shop , which was adjusted after a controversy over the text content, reached number 16 on the Hot Rap single charts. In 1997, Apollo 440 released the single Ain't Talkin '' bout Dub , which, in addition to the name, also used the guitar intro and was a dub adaptation of the song. When Van Halen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, Velvet Revolver played the song in her honor.
More song information
eruption
Eruption , which was placed between the two singles Runnin 'with the Devil and You Really Got Me on the album and was used as the B-side of the former, is a short instrumental that established Eddie Van Halen's reputation as "guitar god". It was a finger exercise that he performed before concerts to warm himself up. The song was recorded on the MXR Phase 90, a phaser pedal for guitars. About the effects unit Univox EC-80 echo effect was played to produce low notes and delay distortion; this ends the song in a loud rumble. The recording happened rather by accident:
“(…) We were warming up for a weekend gig at the whiskey. And I was just rehearsing, and Donn Landee happened to record it. It was never planned to be on the record. So the take on the record was a totally freak thing. It was just an accident. He happened to be rolling tape. "
“We warmed up before a weekend gig. I was practicing and Donn Landes [the sound engineer - note] recorded it. It was never planned to include the song on the album. So that the recording is on the album is totally freaky. It was just a coincidence, he just recorded it. "
"I didn't even play it right. There's a mistake at the top end of it. To this day, whenever I hear it I always think, 'Man, I could've played it better.' "
“I didn't even play it right, there is a mistake at the end. To this day, when I hear it, I say to myself, 'Man, I could have played that better. "
Although there was no calculation behind it, the meaning of the song is undisputed. It was voted 2nd in the poll "100 Greatest Guitar Solos" by readers of Guitar World magazine , between Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin (1st place) and Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd (3rd place). Another thing that makes the song stand out is a new type of tapping technique that uses both hands on the guitar neck. Although this technique was already used by Steve Hackett of Genesis , Van Halen's style represents a new level that relied more on speed and hardness.
Ice Cream Man
Ice Cream Man is a cover version of a song by John Brim , who recorded it as a single for Chess Records in 1953 . This song was also heard on the Gene Simmons tape, but he didn't like the song at all. It's one of David Lee Roth's favorite songs that desperately wanted an homage to the blues on the album. At the beginning Roth plays the acoustic guitar and sings, only with the chorus does the band join in.
I'm the one
I'm the One was already part of the band's early club appearances, but under the title Show Your Love . Alex Van Halen used a double bass on drums in the song and Eddie Van Halen mostly improvised the solo part on live performances.
1994 played 4 Non Blondes a relatively nearby at the original cover version of the song for the Airheads - Soundtrack one.
Atomic punk
Atomic Punk , the B-side of You Really Got Me , is described by folklorist Bettina Roccor in her dissertation as one of the “first heavy metal songs about the negative effects of nuclear power ”. Roccor assumes an expanded metal term that includes hard rock of the 1970s. The text itself is about a radioactive person who rules the streets at night. A critical examination of the topic is not present here, however, as it defies any evaluation.
Contrary to the usual Van Halen custom, the song does not contain any background vocals . The scratchy riff was recorded again with the MXR Phase 90 and later on Everybody Wants Some !! recycled from the album Women and Children First (1980). The bridge of the song was played by Eddie Van Halen with his forehead, which he pulled over the strings, much like Hendrix did on his live performances.
Feel your love tonight
Feel Your Love Tonight is a typical Van Halen song about sex and love. It's about how the protagonist tries to convince a woman to have sex with him.
This song also belonged to Van Halen's set early on. Especially on the early tours, after Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo, a drum solo by his brother Alex began.
On fire
On Fire was the opening song of the tour for the debut album. It is a typical rock & roll text in which the rock star exaggerates (“Now I'm hangin ten now baby, as I ride your sonic ooh-wave”) and sexually active (“Lay your bodies down / I'm in your beds ”).
success
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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Charts
Although the album received numerous awards and is considered a milestone in hard rock, its success story began quite unspectacularly. The album reached number 19 on the US Billboard pop charts, but failed to make it into the Billboard 200. Only two of the singles were able to make it into the charts. Nevertheless, the album had reached platinum status by the end of the year . It ranked 34th in the UK and stayed on the charts for 11 weeks.
In 1984, in the wake of the CD re-release and the success of the 1984 album , Van Halen rose to number 117 on the Billboard 200 six years after its release.
Awards
The album achieved diamond status in the United States, 4 times platinum status in Canada, and gold in Germany and the United Kingdom . The only other album by the group that was able to build on this success is 1984 . It appeared six years later and also achieved diamond status in the United States, gold status in the United Kingdom and five times platinum status in Canada. Furthermore, both albums reached the mark of ten million copies sold in the USA, which means that they were also awarded the Diamond Record according to the standards of the RIAA .
Only five other rock bands can claim that the debut album will reach the Diamond Record: Led Zeppelin with Led Zeppelin , The Jimi Hendrix Experience with Are You Experienced , Boston with Boston , Black Sabbath with Black Sabbath and Guns n 'Roses with Appetite for Destruction .
| Country / Region | Award | Sales |
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| Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales) |
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 Germany (BVMI)
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 gold
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250,000 |
 France (SNEP)
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gold
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100,000 |
 Canada (MC)
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 4 × platinum
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400,000 |
 Netherlands (NVPI)
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platinum
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100,000 |
 United States (RIAA)
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 diamond
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10,000,000 |
 United Kingdom (BPI)
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gold
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100,000 |
| All in all |
3 × gold 5 × platinum 1 × diamond |
10,950,000 |
Main article: Van Halen / Music Sales Awards
meaning
Although Van Halen's debut album was in line with hard rock of the 1970s and relied on pioneers such as Led Zeppelin and Cream as well as contemporaries such as Aerosmith and Black Oak Arkansas , it nonetheless established its own new level in harder rock. This was mainly due to Eddie Van Halen's innovative guitar work. He established a new tapping technique that was innovative for the time and was imitated soon after. Eddie Van Halen made his own guitar; from an old Fender Stratocaster which were pickups removed and replaced with a Gibson - Humbucker replaced. He took over the double clamping system from the manufacturer Floyd Rose , with which he could clamp the guitar strings to the saddle and the bridge . In addition to the musical side, he also influenced numerous guitar manufacturers. In the year of publication, Eddie van Halen was awarded the prize for "best new guitarist" of 1978 by the renowned US American "Guitar Player" magazine.
Another characteristic of the album is David Lee Roth's vocal performance, which developed its own style on the album, but only came into play live. His performance on stage impressed with its own style, which he developed early on. He became known for his jumps and kicks on stage, his lewd jokes and his games with the audience. The All Music Guide called it a kind of prototype for metal singers.
The album, along with Montrose's debut , is considered one of the best debuts in hard rock. Nevertheless, the innovative character of other milestones of the rock genre such as Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols by the Sex Pistols or the main works of the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelins is usually not recognized. The American Rolling Stone ranked the work in a poll of the 500 best albums of all time at number 415.
For Van Halen himself, the album meant a brilliant start to their careers, against which they had to measure themselves again and again. Against this background, the second album Van Halen II , already based on the debut album due to the album title, is just a warm infusion. Not only did the critics rate the album as not very innovative and, in retrospect, a failure; the fans also gave the album less approval. Although all albums then achieved good sales, Van Halen was only able to build on the surprise success of the debut in 1984 .
In 1996, Prince said he took Van Halen's debut album as a guide when recording his album Chaos and Disorder .
Individual evidence
- ↑ RateYourMusic.com : Release Overview
- ↑ a b Gold & Platinum Albums . riaa.com, accessed September 30, 2008
- ↑ a b Biography about Van Halen ( Memento of the original from January 12, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. HardHarderHeavy.de
- ↑ Julian Gill: Gene Simmons & Van Halen. Urban Legends and Reality ... ( Memento from January 3, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) (English)
- ↑ a b c d e f g h The album on Classicvanhalen.com (English)
- ↑ Journeys tour data on journey-tribute.com
- ↑ Tour dates ( memento of July 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) on Black-Sabbath.com
- ↑ Garry Sharpe-Young : Van Halen ( November 18, 2015 memento in the Internet Archive ) on MusicMight.com
- ^ Black Sabbath biography on Laut.de
- ↑ a b c d e Stephen Thomas Erlewine: Van Halen. Review at Allmusic (English)
- ↑ a b c Van Halen biography in the All Music Guide
- ^ Matthias Herr: Heavy Metal Lexicon. Volume 2. Self-published, Berlin 1994, p. 182
- ↑ Amazon.de
- ↑ Overview on Rateyourmusic.com
- ↑ You Really Got Me by Van Halen. In: songfacts.com. Accessed August 9, 2019 .
- ↑ Restaurant report on Loscabosguide.com (English)
- ^ David Barboza: Nissan is changing the rules for car ads by rolling out entertaining spots using toy characters. In: The New York Times , October 24, 1996.
- ↑ a b c Jas Obrecht: Young Wizard of Power Rock . vhlinks.com, April 1980; Interview with Eddie Van Halen
- ↑ a b Runnin 'With The Devil by Van Halen. In: songfacts.com. Accessed August 9, 2019 .
- ↑ Sample of Van Halen's “Jamie's Cryin” in Tone Loc's “Wild Thing” Whosampled.com, accessed August 7, 2017
- ↑ a b c Van Halen ( Memento from December 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) on Activemusician.com (English)
- ↑ Chart positions of the 2 Live Crew on Allmusic.com
- ↑ News on Sputnikmusic.com, March 15, 2007
- ^ A b Dan Cross: Van Halen's "Eruption" Guitar Solo . Guitar.about.com
- ↑ Eruption by Van Halen. In: songfacts.com. Accessed August 9, 2019 .
- ↑ Poll on Guitar.about.com
- ↑ Ice Cream Man by Van Halen. In: songfacts.com. Accessed August 9, 2019 .
- ^ Bettina Roccor: Heavy Metal. Art, commerce, heresy . 1st edition. IP Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-931624-07-2 , p. 94.
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↑ a b Chart positions albums:
- Van Halen (album) in the Official UK Charts (English)
- Van Halen (album) on the US Billboard 200 chart
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↑ Chart placements singles:
- Van Halen in the Official UK Charts (English)
- Runnin 'with the Devil on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart
- You Really Got Me on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart
- ↑ a b Chart placement by Van Halen in the All Music Guide
- ↑ search on Everyhit.com
- ↑ CRIA, Certification Database Search : Search for "Van Halen" ( artist name & title ) (English)
- ↑ Gold / platinum database Federal Association of the Music Industry; Search for "Van Halen"
- ^ British Phonographic Industry : Data sheet for the Van Halen album
- ^ British Phonographic Industry : Datasheet for the 1984 album
- ↑ Sebastian Schröder: The 80s - Desire for superlatives. In: Rock Hard , Special Kreaturen der Hölle P. 12, Issue 257 ISSN 1437-8140
- ↑ a b Holger Stratmann (Ed.): Rock Hard Enzyklopädie. Rock Hard, Dortmund 1998, ISBN 3-9805171-0-1 , p. 441.
- ↑ a b Tony Jasper, Oliver Derek: The International Encyclopedia of Hard Rock & Heavy Metal. Revised Edition, Great Britain 1991, ISBN 0-283-06102-2 .
- ↑ Detailed view of place 415 In: Rolling Stone , November 1, 2003.
- ^ Matthias Herr: Heavy Metal Lexicon. Volume 2. Self-published, Berlin 1994, p. 176.
- ↑ Book by Ronin Ro: Prince - Inside the Music and the Masks , p. 276.
