Original frontman, David Lee Roth, used to describe his first band, Van Halen's music as Big Rock. I think he hit the nail on the head, it is Big Rock. Van Halen music (with Diamond Dave) is the only music that can only be described as something so pompous, meaty, heavy, or party-like as Big Rock. The debut album from Van Halen was perhaps the biggest rock that the band produced.


Van History (condensed)

Guitarist Eddie Van Halen, Drummer Alex Van Halen, Bassist Michael Anthony and Lead Singer David Lee Roth began playing in a band together in 1974 in a band called Mammoth. Soon after the band discovered that there was another band with the same name, so Dave suggested naming it after the brothers' sir name, Van Halen.

In 1976, Gene Simmons of KISS caught Van Halen, still unsigned, performing at a club in LA. He liked what he saw and financed a demo for the band and began to shop them around. He even had the band help him with some KISS demos, like Christine Sixteen that ended up on KISS's Love Gun album.

The band eventually got signed after a meeting with Ted Templeton, a record producer who had credits under his belt such as producing hits for big acts like The Doobie Brothers.


Van Halen - The Debut

Since the beginnings of their career, Van Halen had a certain swagger in their attitude, mostly thanks to front man Dave Roth. The band was a loud and heavy band, a party band, and they produced something called Big Rock more than anything.
The album opens with an instant classic, Running With The Devil. It's a straight-forward kick a$$ hard rocker of a song. Dave introduces his trademark Diamond Dave Howl right away, and although Eddie's guitar doesn't sound like he's doing anything super special here, his style is being paved right from this first song. During the verses, when Eddie fades in the chords by playing with the volume knob, or the style of chords he uses for the chorus stayed as signature Eddie style. The song was released as a single, but came nowhere near the Top 40 as it stalled at number 86.

Now, Eruption is what forced budding new guitarists to throw out the "old school" and start from the beginning of Eddie's new school of guitar playing. Eruption is an instrumental that last under two minutes. The kids now had to go out and purchase a Floyd Rose tremolo bar for their guitar and learn the dive bombs. The last 44 seconds is an intense lesson in the new style of finger tapping. With his mastery of finger tapping, Eddie created a whole new sound for guitar. Now there have been guitarists in the mainstream who have used finger tapping before Eddie. Steve Hackett from Genesis, Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top, and even Ace Frehley from KISS have employed a similar technique. But the cadenza toward the end of the song ate up those earlier attempts much like the Staff of Moses had done when turned into an asp and devoured the lesser snakes of the Pharaoh’s magicians.

Eruption practically segues into the Kinks cover of You Really Got Me. Again, guitarists had to sit up and take notice when they heard Eddie's new guitar sound in general. The opening chords of You Really Got Me showcase the beginnings of such a crunching big guitar sound that Eddie later called The Brown Sound. Van Halen surely took the original song written by Ray Davies, Van Halenized it, and churned out something that surpasses the original by light-years, a feat that not many bands could boast about, but is very common with Van Halen. This song was also released as a single, and this time they did have a Top 40 single as it reached number 36 in the Pop Singles charts.

Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love is another Van Halen instant classic. Eddie's guitar sound seems to develop with each next song. Dave and Michael Anthony's voices sound very big together, maybe because Michael used to front his own band before he joined Van Halen. His voice reaches very high, and seemed to go well together with Dave's. I'm The One is based on a bluesy riff, the double time drum beat and the infectious chorus is pure Van Halen, a formula that pre-Sammy Hagar Van Halen would never venture too far away from. The break in the middle where Dave and the boys start an Occapella Barber Shop vocal styling to a ♫Bop Bada- Shoobydoo Wa♫ is classic.

Jamie's Cryin' is made for radio, but it only ended up on Classic Rock radio twenty years later. Well, rap artist Ton-Loc liked it and used a sample from this song and a huge hit with his Wild Thing. Drummer, Alex Van Halen once said that Jaime's Cryin' was his favorite Van Halen song. Atomic Punk is the complete opposite of "radio-friendly". It's a very heavy and somewhat dark song. Feel Your Love Tonight may have a common sounding guitar riff, but the song's structure and melody, like most of these songs, have blazed a trail into 80s Glam Rock. Where rock and roll is all about having a good time, a good party and good sex. This song, and really the rest of the album serve as the archetypical model where successful rock music would wind up for the next ten years. Those who couldn't keep up would find themselves lost along the wayside, even the veteran heavy hitters.

An additional song worth mention is yet another cover. Ice Cream Man was written and recorded by John Brim, a blues guitarist from the 50s Chicago blues scene. The original song finally saw a release date years after it was recorded, in 1969. Van Halen take the song and make it their own, and it again provides a showcase for new kid on the block - Edward Van Halen.


Van Halen - In Closing

The debut album of Van Halen may or may not have been a conscience effort to change the direction of rock music as people knew it. It is pivotal in the same way The Beatles changed pop music time and time again in the 60s. Some would accredit it all to the fresh new style of guitar playing that Eddie Van Halen showcases on this record, but I say the band as a whole breathed life into a genre that was slowly growing stagnant. I believe this is the reason that Van Halen couldn't get signed for four years, it wasn't their time. Rock music was alive and well in 1976, Van Halen may have been a record that went relatively ignored in 1976, but in February of 1978, the people were ready for such a movement. The record climbed to 19 in the pop albums charts, it went Platinum in it's first year, and constantly sold over the years, selling over ten million copies over twenty years because the music of Van Halen keeps inspiring every new ear that listens.

I think the best way to describe or sum up Van Halen music is best said by former frontman David Lee Roth:
"Van Halen is the 'Get the {BLEEP} off the sidewalk if ya don't like our drivin' ' kinda music!"

I couldn't have said it any better.


The Band:
David Lee Roth - vocals
Edward Van Halen - guitar
Alex Van Halen - drums
Michael Anthony - bass


Songs
1. Runnin' With The Devil
2. Eruption
3. You Really Got Me
4. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
5. I'm The One
6. Jamie's Cryin'
7. Atomic Punk
8. Feel Your Love Tonight
9. Little Dreamer
10. Ice Cream Man
11. On Fire


~~~~~~~~~~~~More Van Halen Reviews from Scapp70~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Van Halen Story - The Early Years (DVD)


Recommended: Yes