Alright... here's the second chapter of Non-Garage Greatness, where I post stuff that won't fit into the Flying Saucer Rock 'n' Roll podcast. What's on desk this time around? Well it's the most ridiculous thing to happen in this universe since
this.
I'm not exactly sure how to set it up other to explain it exactly as it is: it's the isolated vocal track of David Lee Roth singing "Running With The Devil". I know what you're thinking... oh fuck - who cares about that piece of shit band?! That's exactly what I thought too. But listening to the track really gave me a new appreciation of the ridiculousness of "classic" Van Halen (btw, it *really* gets going around the 1:20 mark).
Runnin' With The Devil.mp3
And while I'm on the subject of Van Halen & DLR, of all the funny, ridiculous and pathetic things you could bring up about those guys,my favourite is their slagging of the Clash. From the wikipedia article on
Steve Wozniak's 1982 US Festival:
The Clash's ironic criticism of the festival in the press conferences and in interviews prior to the event caused an argument backstage between Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth and The Clash singer Joe Strummer. This may have also been kickstarted by a comment guitarist Eddie Van Halen made in Rolling Stone magazine one month prior regarding the punk movement ("...that's like what I played in my garage when I was a kid, man."). A clearly intoxicated Roth compounded this rivalry by insulting The Clash onstage early during Van Halen's headlining set with his comment, "I wanna take this time to say that this is real whiskey here... the only people who put iced tea in Jack Daniel's bottles is The Clash, baby!" This was Roth's only mention of The Clash on stage that night, he must have seen The Clash headlining set the night before.
But now, dear reader, because you have the good sense to read this blog I'm gonna share my
favourite Van Halen moment with you - from one of the greatest, funniest films of all time, Better Off Dead.
Lastly, I'd better mention that the Runnin' With The Devil track came from chunklet.com. Apparently the DLR post went viral, which is good for them... I've been a big fan of their print mag for years - check it out if you get the chance it's funny and well written. Here's the text from the original post...
Very recently, the wife and I were giving a Mancunian guitarist a ride to a downtown airport hotel after he had just played the big arena north of Atlanta. When he saw that Van Halen were scheduled to play at the same venue in February, he proceeded to tell a very funny story about when he met Van Halen in the year after Diamond Dave was kicked out of the band in 1986. Names and places to this story are unimportant (if I were telling the story in person, they obviously would though) but he tells of Sammy Hagar being overly friendly, Eddie Van Halen looking like a smiling retard the entire time on stage and Alex being the worst drummer he'd ever seen. Utter hilarity.
Then again, if Van Halen just kept with what worked, the "dark years" (aka "Anything With Sammy") would never have happened. Sure, they had number one songs and albums, but dammit, Dave was the soul of the band! The zen-cum-slapstick comedian of the group! I defy you to prove me otherwise.
To prove my point, listen to this mp3! PROVE! ME! WRONG! BITCHES!
Thanks for tuning in! Don't be afraid to leave a comment.
Until next time... SQUARES BEWARE!
