I
f there was one 70s rock band that seemed
machine-tooled for the dawning new decade,
it was Van Halen. Frontman David Lee Roth
knew it back in 1978, with the debut album
Van Halen going platinum. “There are a lot of great
old songs we used to do that translate well into the
1980s sound,” he told Sounds. “This is the eighties,
and this is the new sound. It’s not the sixties, and it’s
not a reflection of the seventies any more. It’s hyper,
it’s energy, it’s urgent. Our music is exuberant and
strenuous to play, so we’re really in shape.”
Van Halen had earned that form from relentless
gigging across their first decade. No California keg
party, prom or dive bar was off limits. They paid
their dues in the clubs on Sunset Strip with a workethic Reagan would have admired. Their music was
infectious – heavy but with catchy, crowd-pleasing
choruses – and as musicians they had new-era
chops to die for. Eddie Van Halen was the most
exciting, unpredictable rock guitarist since Hendrix.
Brother Alex had that rarest of things, an
identifiable drum sound, and as Mike Anthony’s
bass held down the low end nicely his angelic high
voice locked in with Eddie’s trademark harmonies,
rounding off the band’s distinctive, next-generation
sound. As for Diamond Dave – a scissor-kicking
force of nature in leather chaps, spandex and
designer-knackered string vests – his song-and-
dance man charisma flowed from the stage and
speakers as if willing MTV into being.“We went platinum, we toured for a year, came
back, and Warner Brothers told us that we owed
them two million dollars,” Alex Van Halen recalled.
Under the terms of their two-albums-per-year
contract, they also owed the label the follow-up
record. On December 10, 1978, after some furious
wood-shedding in Roth’s basement, they returned
to the studio with producer Ted Templeman and
knocked out Van Halen II in a matter of weeks.
The band were road-hardened, with plenty of
energy and material still in the tank. They dusted off
some of those great old songs, like Outta Love Again
and hoary encore boogie number Bottoms Up. Their
crunching read of Linda Ronstadt’s No.1 Yo u ’ r e N o
Good was picked from hundreds of covers they’d
accrued over those years of gigging. They also
wrote new music, from the perfect Cali-pop tune
Dance The Night Away to Light Up The Sky.
Although lighter and briefer than their debut,
Van Halen II brimmed with their good-time vibe
and technical flare, and proved that the first was no
fluke. The Bee Gees’ Spirits Having Flown dominated
the Billboard album chart over the entire month
of the album’s release, March 1979. Many critics
remained sniffy, making the eternally flawed
assumption that music that sounds light-hearted,
fun and spontaneous is easy to pull off. But the kids
got Van Halen’s ‘big rock’ big-time and joined their
party in droves. Van Halen II went gold within
a month, platinum the month after and peaked at
No.6 in the US that May. By then Van Halen were
already on their World Vacation Tour, their first
headline tour, that would take up most of ’79.
In the new decade many budding rockers would
copy their telegenic blend of pop and rock. Legions
of guitarists would emulate Eddie, but while many
sussed the mechanics, few tapped into the bluesy
soul he brought with them. Countless frontmen
copied Roth’s wardrobe and moves, but few
possessed his swagger and showmanship.
Their major mainstream crossover moment
would of course come in 1984 with the worldwide
megahit Jump, and that song and its MTV-friendly
performance video are what come to mind for
many when they hear the name. But that ‘hyper,
exuberant’ music has deep roots. Van Halen
shaped the 80s, but they shaped up in the 70s.GE
TTY“This is the eighties and
this is the new sound.
It’s hyper... it’s urgent.”
David Lee Roth
For their second album, the band created an infectious
sound that was perfect for the new decade, and a look
that MTV couldn’t get enough of.VA N H A L E N
Words: Grant MoonVAN HALEN II
44 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM