What The Hell Happened To... 04.20.09: Van Halen - Van Halen III Posted by Dan Marsicano on 04.20.2009
On this week's edition of What The Hell Happened To...Dan tackles what many consider to be the worst Van Halen album, Van Halen III, and puts the band Pulling Teeth in the spotlight.
The Introduction
Hey look! It's Monday, which means that, unless my calendar is all fucked up, it's time for another edition of What The Hell Happened To…I'm your host for this bad boy, Dan Marsicano, the man who got himself some tickets to Opeth on May 1st!
This week is looking good for metal, with Chimaira's The Infection and My Dying Bride's For Lies I Sire coming out. I'm really excited about the latter, which from the early clips I heard, could be their best album of the past decade.
Hey, guess what? 411 Mania has invaded Twitter, the newest craze in social networking systems. I'm on it; you all know you want to follow me, as I lead quite a crazy lifestyle, full of studying, writing, and an occasional drink or two. So join the rest of the 411 Music crew on Twitter and follow me as well.
It's time for my weekly brag-a-thon, where I list off all the web sites I write for. I recently got a gig with the Heavy Metal section of About.com and am also currently still writing at Metal Underground (under the alias heavytothebone2) and SMN News. Don't worry; I haven't forgotten about the loyal readers at 411. The column will still be around, but there will be fewer reviews than normal.
This week, I'm going after the kings of hard rock/heavy metal, Van Halen, and their 1998 album Van Halen III. With a new lead singer, and a different approach to their trademark sound, the band had high hopes for this album. Too bad that it tanked, and as of this writing, is the last Van Halen studio album released. How could one album set a band back so far? Let's dive in and find out if it is as much of a train wreck as rock fans have made it out to be.
The Band
Gary Cherone- Vocals
Eddie Van Halen- Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Michael Anthony- Bass, Vocals
Alex Van Halen- Drums, Percussion
The Track Listing
1. Neworld-1:45
2. Without You-6:28
3. One I Want-5:31
4. From Afar-5:19
5. Dirty Water Dog-5:24
6. Once-7:40
7. Fire In The Hole-5:27
8. Josephina-5:38
9. Year To The Day-8:32
10. Primary-1:27
11. Ballot Or The Bullet-5:37
12. How Many Say I-6:04
The History
Started in 1972 by brothers Alex and Eddie Van Halen and originally being called Mammoth, the band changed their name to Van Halen in 1974. The band famously had a demo financed by Gene Simmons of KISS fame, but Van Halen decided to go off and work their way up on their own. The band was signed by Warner Brothers Records and their self-titled debut came out in 1977.
This album would prove to be the starting point to the "David Lee Roth" era of Van Halen. This time period would include the classic 1984 and the underrated Women and Children First. The band's popularity soared during this time, as the band sold millions of albums and packed arenas worldwide. However, there would be turmoil in the band in 1985 when Roth left due to his disagreement with the new direction Van Halen was taking.
"Unchained" Live 1982 (Credit: VHfan66)
Sammy Hagar replaced Roth and his first album with Van Halen, 1986's 5150, would be the band's first #1 album. At this point, Van Halen's songwriting changed towards a longer, more mainstream-friendly, with keyboards and pop-flavored melodies a regular occurrence. This time period was successful for the band, but Hagar and the Van Halen brothers got into conflict during the mid 90s and Hagar left in 1996.
At this point, it almost seemed certain that David Lee Roth would re-unite with the band, famously making an appearance with the band at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards. However, there was still bad blood between Roth and Eddie, and Roth left again a few weeks after the awards show. Ex-Extreme singer Gary Cherone was brought in to fill the vacant vocalist spot and the band went into the studio to release what would be their defining moment, but not in the way Van Halen envisioned it …
The Analysis
Van Halen went into the 90s with new-found momentum, as the Sammy Hagar-era was selling tons of albums and fans were flocking to the band. Grunge was a hot new musical trend, yet Van Halen was still keeping their name in the spotlight. During this time, the band began to attempt to be taken seriously as musicians, with personal/topical lyrics and an increased number of ballads.
Their albums began to decrease in quality, but they got by on pure singles alone. 1995's Balance was too instrumental-heavy and lacked a defining shining moment, though "Don't Tell Me (What Love Can Do)" and "Can't Stop Lovin' You" came close. In the three years between Balance and Van Halen III, Hagar left, Roth returned to the band and recorded a few new tracks before leaving again, and Gary Cherone was announced as the new vocalist.
When the first taste of Van Halen III came out in the form of single "Without You," the level of anticipation rose to heights not seen in years. When Van Halen III hit store shelves in early 1998, it rose to #4 on the Billboard charts before slipping quickly and disappearing altogether. Fans were not pleased with the new direction the band took, and the tour cycle in support of the album was met with a poor reception, enough so that the band fell apart and disappeared for a few years.
"Fire In The Hole" Live 1998 Rock In The Rock
After over a decade, is Van Halen III as bad as people make it out to be? In simple terms, no. That doesn't mean that their 11th studio album is an underrated masterpiece or one that people should rush out and purchase. Van Halen III is a drawn-out listening experience, an ultimate test in patience. There is a solid amount of worthwhile material on the album; you just have to shift through piles of shit to get there.
The first big mistake with Van Halen III is the length of the songs. Ever since Hagar came into the band's ranks, their songs have gotten longer and longer. Van Halen III goes way overboard with the extended instrumental passages and long-winded introductions. With the exception of the two instrumentals, not one song is under five minutes. Hell, "Year To The Day" is over eight minutes long. There was no need to have songs of that magnitude on a Van Halen album, and it shows, as the band seems to not be able to write songs that can stay interesting for longer than five minutes.
The second mistake was recruiting vocalist Gary Cherone. His work in Extreme was fantastic, but he seemed restrained with Van Halen. Cherone tried too hard to sound like Sammy Hagar, and wasn't able to forge his own unique identity into the music. It's possible that Eddie forced this on Cherone, but he sounds out of place with the rest of the band. Because of Cherone's performance on Van Halen III, the general assumption from the ignorant Van Halen die hards was that Cherone is a terrible vocalist, which could be further from the truth. His work on Extreme II: Pornograffiti is one of my favorite performances from any vocalist.
While there wasn't anything else that rivaled the two mistakes above, there were little things that bothered me as the album went on. Having Eddie singing lead vocals on "How Many Say I" was an awful idea; he's like an out-of-tune Mark Lanegan choking a cat. The production is dry and cold, sapping the energy out of the mid-paced tunes. The rhythm work is pretty mediocre as well, save for the rockers. Supposedly, Michael Anthony only performed bass on the songs released as singles ("Without You," "One I Want," and "Fire In The Hole"), with Eddie performing the rest of the bass tracks. This has never been confirmed or denied by the rest of the band, but it wouldn't surprise me, as the other tracks seem to have limited bass work, letting the 80s Phil Collins-sounding percussion take over the mix.
"Without You" Live November 1998
I've been knocking this album like crazy, but there are songs where everything clicks and it sounds like the Van Halen we all know and love. Like I mentioned earlier, the three singles are the heaviest numbers on here, full of some much-needed energy, even with the sub-par production. Eddie Van Halen is still a technically proficient guitarist, and shows off his chops on these songs. Another rocker that doesn't get enough recognition is the politically-charged "Ballot Or The Bullet." While the lyrics are heavy-handed, the music itself is like a firm kick in the ass after repeated tracks of lumbering, dull melodies and repetitive sections.
So, out of 12 tracks, there are probably only four or five really worthwhile album cuts. To me, that doesn't signify a complete failure of epic proportion. It is the worse Van Halen album in their catalog, one that wasn't even represented on their 2004 complication album Best Of Both Worlds. While the band may have tried to hide their bastard child, their large fan base hasn't forgotten about it. It's not the worse album of all time, but Van Halen III was definitely the sound of a tired group of musicians that have been at the rock game for a long time and were starting to run out of steam.
This Baltimore band has really dominated my play list within the past month. Their latest album, Paranoid Delusions/Paradise Illusions, is a breath of fresh air in today's music scene. Combining elements of thrash, punk, hardcore, and sludge metal, the band is a whirlwind of sounds combined into a solid package. The album is less than 25 minutes, but the content the quintet puts into that space of time more than makes up for the short running length.
This band could be the next big thing, if people such as yourself reading this right now goes out and takes a chance on something new. Try out their MySpace page and here a live video of the first two songs of the album to keep you tided over until i>Paranoid Delusions/Paradise Illusions lands on your doorstep.
"Ritual" and "Unsatisfied" Live (Credit: stefansonic)
The Conclusion
Well, that was an exciting good read, don't you think? Why don't you leave a comment below and let me know how great it was? Thanks!
As my semester is drawing to a close, I have decided to take a mini-break from the column in order to get my life back on track. The column will return on May 11, where I will be looking at an album that people have been asking me to do for a while. I'm not a fan of doing repeat bands, but I'll make an exception and look at Avenged Sevenfold's self-titled album. Is my opinion of it any different than it was two years ago? Find out next time on What The Hell Happened To…
I actually liked III somewhat. Yeah, the bad songs were reallly bad, but it wasn't as if just because it didn't sound like "classic" Van Halen meant it was bad Van Halen. "Without You," "From Afar," "Dirty Water Dog," "Once," and "Josephina" all still fit in my Van Halen playlist. If it had been done by another band, it'd probably be looked at as a pretty decent album: not great, but not the shit everyone thinks it is.
Posted By: Soy (Registered) on April 20, 2009 at 12:30 AM
Cherone was and still is awesome. He did what he could with a tired band. I saw Extreme last summer and damn did they tear it up. Cherone and Bettencourt together are purely magical.
Posted By: Draz (Guest) on April 20, 2009 at 01:42 AM
Good piece. A few things I bring up every time someone talks about VH III:
1. Gary Cherone did nor write that album. Sammy Hagar, in an interview shortly after VH 3 was released, said that it was the exact album that had been presented to him to sing before he left the band. So yes, Eddie was asking Gary to perform as Sammy would perform instead of making an album that would have played to Gary's talents.
2. I saw the tour, and it was great (although Eddie got blown off the stage by Kenny Wayne Shepherd). If they had been allowed to make a 2nd album, it would have been amazing.
3. Fans of VH owe Cherone a debt of gratitude. As a fan of Extreme, I could pick out moments on VH 3 where Gary had to have said "Hey Eddie, here's how Nuno would have done this part." There is so much Nuno Bettencort on that album he should have a writing credit. Before Gary joined, "guitar god" Eddie had been coasting along doing nothing impressive at all. He finally woke up for one album.
Posted By: Scott B (Guest) on April 20, 2009 at 02:45 AM
I saw VH III live (and Kenny Wayne was opening but did not "blow Eddie off the stage" as another read has suggested). The performance was high energy (Cherone came out firing on all cylinders - I'm sure he felt he had something to prove)and what I liked best was they let Gary pick out some old classics they had not done with Sammy (for example they opened up with Romeo Delight). Pretty good stuff overall.
Posted By: guest (Guest) on April 20, 2009 at 05:04 PM
I am a huge Vh fan and love this album. Most people don't like it because it doesn't sound like 5150 or 1984. I really think Eddie wanted Cherone to sound like Sammy eventhough Eddie said Gary was the first singer he had that could actually sing.
Posted By: Colby (Guest) on April 20, 2009 at 06:52 PM
As a Van Halen album, III is their worst. However, as an album on its own, it can be a great listening experience. "Josephina", "Once" and "Neworld" showed growth in the band and, to me, never get old. "Dirty Water Dog" is great, too.
What I do not like is the lack of any cohesion by the band. Much more of an individual effort than a band getting together and jamming. It sounded like the solo record everybody wanted Eddie to record. His guitar solos do not even seem to have any structure or point. The same thing happens later when he does record his solo stuff, "Catherine" and "Rise". To me, those songs came from the same vein as III.
Posted By: IJT (Guest) on April 21, 2009 at 11:14 AM
This guy who wrote this crap is a complete DOUCHEBAG! Anyone who is a REAL VH fan will enjoy & appreciate this album. G.C. was a great choice as a singer since he brought so much to the table musically. Not only that but his voice can cover the vocal ranges of Hagar and Roth and still add his own dimension. The album is very well crafted. The sonics are fantastic. The band rips it up! If you give it a chance you will realise how great of a record it is. Its a shame that so many so called fans didnt buy this album because they couldnt deal with a line up change or not hear Roth or Hagar again. "F" their hang ups, they suck as fans. That is complete crap. The band is called Van Halen for a reason. Its "Van Halen" music. Just like Mozart or Bach. Just get over it and grow up. This album ROCKS!
Posted By: TRUE VH FAN (Guest) on April 24, 2009 at 02:46 PM
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