Frownland

It's because they were doing something that was much different from the VU's sound. I hate Van Halen as much as you, possibly even more, but I can at least acknowledge how their sound was different for their time.

Bringing up the VU especially throws me off because when I think of VH I think of squeaky clean pop rock bull****, which is about as far removed from the VU as you can get.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Chula Vista

It's important to note that VH1 kicked Saturday Night Fever in the balls. Really ****ing hard. It probably sustained punk as a result.

Be grateful.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Frownland

Let's not get ahead of ourselves now.

__________________

Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Neapolitan

Like him, or lump him, Eddie Van Halen furthered the evolution of guitar playing, and the design of the guitar itself. Not only with two hand tapping, but with dive bombing with the vibrator aka "tremolo" in Fender circles. Something (I assume) he picked up from Jimi Hendrix. Which created a need for a locking tremolo system. Before he switch to the Floyd Rose he used a American Standard Fender Tremolo. The first guitar he made he used a Gibson PAF hum-bucker he acquired from an ES-335. He help further the design of the guitar with his "Frankenstein" guitar. A Strat-like body with a locking tremolo/vibrato, and humbuckers is pretty much standard today.

Like you said already Steve Hackett didn't invent tapping. I think what Hackett did was all hammer-ons. Steve Howe did pull-offs on one string, with hammer-ons on other, still different than hammer-on/pull-offs on one string, but similar in sound. Before EVH Rock guitar players did hammer-on/pulls but further up the neck and did the hammer-ons with a pick. Eddie did it sans pick and further down the neck. Eddie Van Halen was a pianist before learning guitar. He says he wanted to approach the guitar like a piano and use two hands to play. But from what I heard he got the idea from Stanley Jordon, who used a much more advance form of two hand tapping - citing Paul Smeenus as me source.

All I have to say is give props where they're due.

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The Batlord

You know what sustained punk in the 80s? Yngwie.

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Chula Vista

While I stare at your avatar.

Seriously, mainstream music (I know, you just threw up in your mouth a bit) was headed down the disco/pop path. VH1 righted the ship at the time. Blizzard of Oz kept it going. It may have spawned some of the worst **** ever moving forward into the 80s, but at least ROCK was still on solid ground.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Chula Vista

Give your dog some water.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Frownland

The only way that Van Halen furthered punk is by being the posterboy for everything that punk is not.

__________________

Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Neapolitan

Is that VH1 aka Van Halen mach I or VH1 aka Video Hits One?

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Chula Vista

NEO:



Someone truly gets it.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”