The Official Hard Rock / Classic Metal Music Discussion and Memorabilia Thread!

[Lowdz]

I'm not the world's biggest VH fan. I generally prefer the Dave era but half of most albums was filler and the albums were short to start with. FW made my top 50 - that's a great album but still runs out of steam at the end... 1984 is great too with less filler. I hated 5150 (I'll take Dave's Eat Em everytime) but again it still had 3-4 good songs. I like Balance most out of the SH era and never bothered with VH III.

I do have a very awesome double compilation I made though, weeding out all the chaff.

Legendary guitarist though, no doubt. He lost his way long ago though.

[WebRaider]

I wasn't going to put lists together because honestly it changes day to day and its really impossible to judge especially the songs in the DLR era for me but I'll throw something out there....


Album Ranking:

1.Van Halen
2.1984
3.Fair Warning
4.Van Halen II
5 Women and Children First
6 Diver Down
7 A Different Kind Of Truth


Fair Warning, Van Halen II, and Women and Children First all pretty much are even for me behind the top two.



Top Ten Songs:

Light Up The Sky
On Fire
Atomic Punk
Mean Street
Romeo Delight
Girl Gone Bad
Unchained
Everybody Wants Some!!
Panama
House of Pain



I generally prefer the deeper cuts today for the most part but some of the classics just have to be listed.

[bl5150]

Thanks Webraider and Paul.......I appreciate the extra input and it'll help keep these going. I could advertise the Top Tens on the thread title to get a few more entries perhaps but why would I when the regulars (and lurkers) here are already  the best in the biz when it comes to hard rock and metal ?  

Webraider's list is so close to mine it's not funny so


So it's pretty clear that the two most popular albums are Van Halen and Fair Warning , with 1984 a strong 3rd.  I can't say that surprised me .

What has surprised me (outside of Unchained) is the top songs.  I thought I might be the lone advocate for songs like Light Up The Sky, On Fire and Atomic Punk but it turns out it's the "classics" that needed the help 

Most mentions in the Top Tens is a tie between:

Unchained
Light Up The Sky
On Fire
Atomic Punk

Awesome 

Today's shirt brought to you by William Kurulek




I'll see if I can find a couple more Roth era rarities over the weekend without opening "the vault" and then we'll move onto Sammy era on Monday.  And then we'll get into some other bands for a while before returning to DLR solo.

[BlobVanDam]

Weird. On Fire would be my least favourite on VH1 (although being the weakest from such an amazing album still makes it a good song), and Light Up The Sky is the first weak song on VH2.
Atomic Punk is good though (but still only average for VH1), and Unchained is awesome, so at least I can almost agree 50% with something on DTF. That's some consolation.

[jjrock88]

All of those songs are ass kickers!!!

I wonder what the reaction was when Diver Down came out? I enjoy it but it's clearly a drop from the first 4 albums

[bl5150]

This article does a decent job of outlining the context around Diver Down

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/van-halen-diver-down-turns-30/

Given the situation I think it's a damn good effort and it cops a lot of unfair criticism IMO. Most of the material on it wouldn't have seen the light of day but for record company pressure.

[jjrock88]

Interesting article

[Kwyjibo]

I almost never contribute to this thread, but at least I got a VH ranking:

1. Fair Warning
2. 1984
3. Van Halen
4. A Different Kind Of Truth
5. Women and Children First
6. Van Halen II
7. Diver Down

The album order is pretty much stable, although the difference between the first three is minimal, it's more like 1a, 1b and 1c.

The song order may change any day but most of the time it will contain at least half of these songs:

1. Panama
2. Mean Street
3. And The Cradle Will Rock
4. Ain't Talkin' bout Love
5. Unchained
6. Take Your Whiskey Home
7. Dirty Movies
8. Top Jimmy
9. Feel Your Love Tonight
10. Little Guitars

Some of them may be not so obvious, but on the other hand, some of the most mentioned songs so far (On Fire, Atomic Punk) are my least favorite. And I got trouble ranking the songs from ADKOT with the older ones, maybe She's The Woman would make it, but they feel kinda different and they are just not old enough to be considered "classic".

[bl5150]

I almost never contribute to this thread

Well thanks for this contribution- another lurker arises    I've seen enough of your posts to know that you know your rock and metal too. 

Dirty Movies and Take Your Whiskey Home were close for me too , so good to see them get some love.

Well I don't think this changes the album rankings much but , unless we get another entry , I think we can now give the title unanimously to Unchained. A song which everyone seems to rate highly.  It didn't make my Top 10 ,but was close and only missed because I think I've overdone it over the years.

[BlobVanDam]

Luckily I don't think it's possible for me to overdo VH, otherwise it would have happened by now with at least half of my top 10, including Unchained.

[Kwyjibo]

It happened to me with most bands that I like, that at some point I've overdone songs or albums, but with VH it doesn't seem to happen and that's a good thing.

Unchained being the top song is a compromise I can live with.

[bl5150]

Luckily I don't think it's possible for me to overdo VH

Be careful - I thought that for a while until I ended up with a room in my house full of their stuff 

[BlobVanDam]

Luckily I don't think it's possible for me to overdo VH

Be careful - I thought that for a while until I ended up with a room in my house full of their stuff 

I only meant to listen to. I don't have the money for that. Although I do plan to eventually get the VH pattern shoes, but that's about it.

[bl5150]

Just kidding   Given my completist streak it's a good thing I didn't become a full on KISS kollector.    Impossibles.

[jjrock88]

One HM for me from Fair Warning would be "Push Comes to Shove". What a cool tune!

[TAC]

One HM for me from Fair Warning would be "Push Comes to Shove". What a cool tune!

I believe it was inevitable.

[jjrock88]

Ha good one

[cfmoran13]

Just kidding   Given my completist streak it's a good thing I didn't become a full on KISS kollector.    Impossibles.

That was me for a while.  I realized how crazy it was getting when I was attempting to acquire a tourbook from each tour of theirs, including variations.  Something snapped inside, I said "What the hell am I doing?!?" and sold virtually everything off on eBay.  The only ones I kept were Asylum (my first ever concert) and the Farewell tour book.  There's still plenty of KISS krap in my kollection.  But, other than Kiss-related books that come out, my KISS kollecting has stopped.  I know it's silly but I felt the need to commit to the "k" at the beginning of all "c" words once I started.

[bl5150]

One HM for me from Fair Warning would be "Push Comes to Shove". What a cool tune!

Ditto jj - very cool song and was on my "short" list.

[bl5150]

Just kidding   Given my completist streak it's a good thing I didn't become a full on KISS kollector.    Impossibles.

That was me for a while.  I realized how crazy it was getting when I was attempting to acquire a tourbook from each tour of theirs, including variations.  Something snapped inside, I said "What the hell am I doing?!?" and sold virtually everything off on eBay.  The only ones I kept were Asylum (my first ever concert) and the Farewell tour book.  There's still plenty of KISS krap in my kollection.  But, other than Kiss-related books that come out, my KISS kollecting has stopped.  I know it's silly but I felt the need to commit to the "k" at the beginning of all "c" words once I started.

    It seems I have the same problem

The Farewell Tour was a good one - still going 15 years later 

As far as tour books go I honestly can't remember what I have for Van Halen - I know I have Fair Warning, 5150 and OU812.  Pretty sure I have 79 and 80 but can't be certain without tearing the house down.

[bl5150]

Here's a weird one guys.

A Kickstarter style campaign for a horror movie starring Ralf Scheepers and Veronica Freeman (Benedictum) and scored by Michael Romeo (Symphony X)

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/devil-s-five

[jjrock88]

That is a bit weird.

When I checked only $50 had been raised of the needed $20000

[BlobVanDam]

That's from only one backer too.

I wouldn't give someone $20k for a 1 minute video of still frames and a cheesy title graphic. Maybe some demo footage, or previous works? Geez. The title image below is even worse.

[jjrock88]

I could see Ralf playing the role of an evil dude for sure

[bl5150]

That is a bit weird.

When I checked only $50 had been raised of the needed $20000

To be fair it has only been up for a day or so - we break the news as it happens around here 

When wolfie sees that there's a 10 min Skype session up for grabs with Ralfie , watch the pledges soar

[jjrock88]

If the Skype session happens between Ralf and Wolf, Kade should use that chance to show him his guitar wizardry.

Wolf would likely become the new guitarist for Primal Fear!!

[bl5150]

I'm out all day Sunday so I'll finish off DLR era VH week with a tribute to my all time #1...........a simple VH logo shirt and my holy grail of signed VH albums.




Van Hagar on Monday and then I think , in remembrance of the little "elf" , the following week we'll do Dio . 

[BlobVanDam]

Both awesome.

[jjrock88]

Did you personally get those signatures or did you buy it as is?

Regardless very cool and should be behind a glass frame

[bl5150]

Did you personally get those signatures or did you buy it as is?

Regardless very cool and should be behind a glass frame

it may not be obvious but it's in a plexi glass fronted frame.

No I didn't get the signatures - I waited many years to find an example like that.  To the best of my knowledge it is likely one of the original examples that were done in the record store promos the band did in 1978 - they tended to be in uniform gold sharpie (like mine) , with each member carefully signing their "box" without obscuring the photo .

Aside from the fact that there are fakes everywhere (ask someone who knows what they're doing before even attempting to buy one...I studied them for years before finding one I was happy with) there are other things to consider too.  For example from the early 90's onward Ed started noting the year of signing and that immediately diminishes collectability of a Roth era album.

Either way a signed VH 1 is the one to have .  I have plenty of other DLR era memorabilia that I'll get to one day.  Once we pass Van Halen I won't be able to keep up the daily rotation of memorabilia  I'll just keep various shirts going and try to have one for most of the bands we discuss.

[wolfking]

If the Skype session happens between Ralf and Wolf, Kade should use that chance to show him his guitar wizardry.

Wolf would likely become the new guitarist for Primal Fear!!

I could be Magnus' touring guitarist, since he never tours with them.    i'd definitely hit Ralf up for a project though. 

It's now raised $115.  I'd rather give him money to ditch this and get the new PF out.

[jjrock88]

Has Magnus never toured with PF?

[wolfking]

Has Magnus never toured with PF?

He has, but not much at all from what I know.  He seems to always pull out and stay put, the band have always had no issue with it.  On the last tour they had old guitarist Tom Naumann touring with them.  Would love to see him back in the lineup.

[jjrock88]

I'm still hoping that Primal Fear releases a live album from the DTB tour

[wolfking]

I'm still hoping that Primal Fear releases a live album from the DTB tour

Fuck yeah, that would be magic.  I'd probably put DTB in my top 50 now.  One of the greatest heavy metal albums I've heard in years, and still as fresh today as when it was released.