Van Halen

Van Halen
When formed back in 1974, a new sound filled the AM airwaves. It was a new brand of rock from a Pasadena, CA, group that was regularly selling out concerts to thousands before they had even released an album. The band became a staple act on California's Sunset Strip during the mid-1970s, consistently playing at well known clubs. In 1978, they released their debut album with David Lee Roth on vocals. The album was brilliant, thanks in large part to the genius stylings of guitarist/founder Eddie Van Halen, who would go down in history as one of the most talented musicians ever to pick up the electric guitar. With this first release, the band established itself as a leader in the emerging and commercially successful U.S. hard rock and heavy metal genres of the 1980s. From 1978 to 1998 the band released 11 studio albums (all of which broke the Top 20 spot of the Billboard 200 music charts). The band has sold more than 75 million albums worldwide and has received several Grammy nominations. Van Halen is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records with the most number one hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock List. According to the Recording Industry Association of America Van Halen is #19 on the list of Top Selling Artists of all time (having sold more than 56 million albums in the U.S.). Van Halen is one of six rock groups that have had two albums sell more than 10 million copies in the U.S. (the others being: Led Zeppelin, Eagles, Pink Floyd, Def Leppard, and The Beatles).

The band is also known for drama surrounding the lead singer spot. Although the core instrumentalists and backing vocals have remained constant (Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony), the band has recorded studio albums with three different lead vocalists: David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar and Gary Cherone. The David Lee Roth era remains Van Halen's most critically successful period, having influenced many eighties rock musicians who followed. The band's top selling albums to date are their 1978 debut and 1984. Both albums have reached diamond status, having sold over 10 million copies each (The Van Halen track Runnin' with the Devil and 1984's Jump are listed as two of the top 500 most influential songs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame).

In 1985 Roth left the band and was seamlessly (but controversially) replaced with Sammy Hagar, who led the band to new heights of commercial success. The band's second and third productions, Van Halen II and Women and Children First, each reached #6 on the charts. The band also expanded their reach into other media, with high-production films, live concert footage, and even their own cantina in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. If David Lee Roth's innovative, over-the-top style turned Van Halen from a member of the hard rock pack to its leader, Hagar's more conservative 'working man' persona turned Van Halen into a franchise and an icon. The hit single and award-winning video Right Now (For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, 1991) was used to promote the ill-fated soft-drink Crystal Pepsi. The band's Roth-era remake of The Kinks song You Really Got Me was used in a Nissan commercial. Hagar exited the band after a dispute in 1996, but the band soon found temporary replacement in ex-Extreme frontman Gary Cherone who took over vocal duties, but the album fizzled and Cherone was dismissed from the band. Hagar rejoined the band again and toured with them, then left it again and was replaced with David Lee Roth, who is currently touring with the band.

Van Halen has rocked us for almost three decades, outliving countless music trends and copy cats. The Van Halen track Eruption introduced the rock and roll world to a new soloing technique called tapping, a technique utilizing both left and right hands on the guitar neck. Nothing like it had ever been heard on record. Their songs captured a West Coast attitude that combined Eddie Van Halen's guitar gymnastics and the high-energy antics of vocalist David Lee Roth with solid backing by bassist Michael Anthony and drummer Alex Van Halen. Following their 2004 concert tour the band was on hiatus until September 2006 when on the Howard Stern Show, Edward Van Halen confirmed that his son, Wolfgang was in the band and that they were recording new material.