Van Halen

Jimi Page, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Van Halen.  Yep. Those are the 4 best in the world.  The Michael Jordan, Labron James, Dr. J, and Koby Bryant of music.  Oh yes, I know I have a Christian Rock fan base here... so how about this... Van Halen was their Stryper. 

The band sold more than 80m albums worldwide. Eleven of their studio albums reached the US Top 10, and four reached No 1. In 2012, Van Halen was ranked top of Guitar World magazine’s list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. 

The guitarist Eddie Van Halen, who died on Tuesday, of cancer, at the age of sixty-five, was the sort of musician who only seems to appear once every generation: a true savant. His ability was second to none... a true gift from above. Whatever sorts of chops gets a person voted “The Best Guitarist in the World” by Guitar World magazine, Eddie had those and then some. He understood that an electric guitar could generate an extraordinary range of sounds, some of which were deep and percussive, and others that were shrieking and nearly feral. He perfected a bespoke technique in which he tapped along the neck of his instrument, an idea he once said he lifted from Jimmy Page’s solo in Led Zeppelin’s “Heartbreaker,” though their styles feel distinct. Page, who came of age listening to American blues, is a looser and perhaps gentler guitarist; plus, Eddie didn’t play like anyone else. By the nineteen-eighties, as part of the hard-rock band Van Halen, his name had become synonymous with otherworldly shredding. When he started to rip, every guitar nerd in every small town in America stopped what he or she was doing, and whispered one word: “Sick.”

If this all sounds show off-y or bloodless or not very fun, I invite you to revisit the video for “Panama,” in which Eddie, wearing a red bandana and a tank top decorated with dice, gets strung up by his ankle and then later his midsection, grinning and making goofy faces, taking the situation very seriously and yet not seriously at all. When the camera cuts to the crowd, people are melting down with excitement—Eddie is ravishing them. “Panama” is so extravagant—so plainly dumb, so gorgeously jubilant—that when I’m listening to it I often feel my leg involuntarily rising into a high-kick before the vocals even start. The tension between what Van Halen was usually doing (making precise, harmonically sophisticated rock music that was indebted to the Western classical canon) and what its audience was usually doing (pounding beers, going nuts) is part of what makes the band so compelling.

The death of Eddie Van Halen from throat cancer this past Monday brings to a close one of the most colourful and lucrative sagas in American rock music. If Aerosmith was the premier US hard rock band of the 1970s, it was Van Halen who stepped into their shoes during the 80s. Formed around the Van Halen brothers, the guitarist Eddie and the drummer Alex, the band rode a tidal wave of multi-platinum albums over a 15-year period. Few other acts have come close to matching their commercially combustible mixture of spectacular and addictive rock, flamboyant stage performances and outsized personal behaviour.

The band sold more than 80m albums worldwide. Eleven of their studio albums reached the US Top 10, and four reached No 1. In 2012, Van Halen was ranked top of Guitar World magazine’s list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

Van Halen - II (Vinyl Record LP) 1970 Warner - First Pressing, Original heavy Duty Inner Sleeve Sold out
$65.00
$18.88

Van Halen - II (Vinyl Record LP) 1970 Warner - First Pressing, Original heavy Duty Inner Sleeve

UPC: 075992367711 Original Pressing 1979 Pre-Owned Vinyl in VG++ Cond 5 times platinum No seam splits or ring wear.  Vinyl is completely in-tact ...

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$65.00
$18.88
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Van Halen - Women and Children First (Vinyl Record LP) 1980 First Pressing Sold out
$25.00

Van Halen - Women and Children First (Vinyl Record LP) 1980 First Pressing

UPC: 07599234151 Original Pressing 1980  Pre-Owned Vinyl in VG+ Cond. No seam splits or ring wear.  Seam is completely in-tact and 100% readable ...

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Van Halen - Diver Down (Vinyl Record LP) 1982 Warner - First Pressing, Original Inner Sleeve Sold out
$65.00

Van Halen - Diver Down (Vinyl Record LP) 1982 Warner - First Pressing, Original Inner Sleeve

UPC: 075992367711 Original Pressing 1982  Pre-Owned Vinyl in VG++ Cond. No seam splits or ring wear.  Vinyl is completely in-tact and 100% readab...

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$65.00
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Van Halen II (Vinyl) - Christian Rock, Christian Metal
$31.50

Van Halen II (*New-Vinyl) Remastered, 180g

Remastered  from Original Analog Tapes 1979 Warner Bros REPRESS 180g Vinyl / NEW SEALED UPC: 081227954932 5x Platinum second album on 180g Vinyl....

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Van Halen - 5150 (Vinyl) FACTORY SEALED!!! - Christian Rock, Christian Metal Sold out
$24.00

Van Halen - 5150 (Vinyl) FACTORY SEALED!!!

Original pressing 1986 Warner NM Jacket with cut on top VINYL IS MINT SEALED  

$24.00
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Van Halen - Diver Down (Pre-owned vinyl) 1992, BSK3677
$16.00

Van Halen - Diver Down (Pre-owned vinyl) 1992, BSK3677

One of hte greatest rock bands of our generation. Original pressing with original inner sleeve, flat vinyl with no warps, very light surfacd scrat...

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Van Halen - Fair Warning (Vinyl Record LP) 1981 First Pressing With Inner Sleeve
$45.00

Van Halen - Fair Warning (Vinyl Record LP) 1981 First Pressing With Inner Sleeve

UPC: 075992354011 Original Pressing 1981  Pre-Owned Vinyl in VG++ Cond. Original pressing 1981 album includes inner sleeve with no seam splits an...

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Van Halen - Diver Down (Vinyl) - Christian Rock, Christian Metal
$31.25

Van Halen - Diver Down (New Sealed Vinyl) Warner Records 2019

Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered 2019 Warner Bros. 081227955007 This is an original pressing in VG++ condition.  DescriptionWe make every e...

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Van Halen - OU812 (Vinyl) New Sealed Original Pressing - Christian Rock, Christian Metal
$85.00

Van Halen - OU812 (Vinyl) New Sealed Original Pressing

Original pressing 1986 Warner NM Jacket with cut on top VINYL IS MINT SEALED  

$85.00

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