Van Halen
Van Halen was one of the most popular American hard rock/heavy
metal bands to emerge in the 70's, primarily distinguished by the
fleet fingers of guitarist Eddie Van Halen.
Eddie and his brother Alex, who played the drums, were actually
born in the Netherlands and moved to California as children. They
formed the group in Pasadena in 1974 and worked their way up the
Southern California club circuit, signing with Warner Brothers in
1977.
Their debut album, Van Halen, released in 1978, went
gold in three months, and platinum in eight. Exercising the sort
of clout that goes with those record sales, when the band toured
the US in 1978 their contract rider insisted all brown M&Ms be
removed from the bowls of confectionery in their dressing rooms!
The group hit a popular peak in 1984 with 1984 which
sold four million copies in its first year of release, and its
number one single Jump, after which Dave Lee Roth left
the band for a solo career (he said he quit, they said he was
fired). He was replaced by Sammy Hagar.
What made this chart-topping band intermittently interesting
was the tension between show-biz singer David Lee Roth and
excessive guitarist Eddie Van Halen.
Once Sammy Hagar took Roth's place, all that was left was the
excess. But not even recruiting ex-Extreme singer Gary Cherone
could kill them.
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