Tag Archives: Eddie Van Halen

Song of the Day: Eruption (by Van Halen)

Posted on by Arleigh

Time to get back to our “Greatest Guitar Solos” series with a short but awesome rock instrumental from the one and only Eddie Van Halen.

“Eruption” was part of the band Van Halen’s self-titled debut album in 1978 and announced the arrival of one of rock’s guitar gods in Eddie Van Halen. Just like Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing”, this track was short (less than two minutes) but was very influential with future musicians.

The song itself has Eddie Van Halen mixing it classical music structures and cadences (he uses a section of “Etude No. 2” by Rodolphe Kreutzer in the beginning of the track. Eddie’s use of classical musical theory and melding it with the face-melting technique of hard rock will usher in an era of rock guitarists from all genres from hard rock to black metal where classical music is not seen a stodgy music, but a strong basis and foundation to create of the great rock songs for the next half-century.

Great Guitar Solos Series

Song of the Day: Mean Street by Van Halen

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I was trying to figure out what song to pick for song of the day when I happened to see that today would have been Eddie Van Halen’s birthday.  I nearly picked Panama for our song but then I saw this video for a song called Mean Street on YouTube and I felt the video showed off Van Halen’s guitar playing a bit more than the video for Panama.

And that’s how Mean Street become today’s song of the day!

(Plus, I want to save Panama for whenever we get around to officially annexing it.)

At night I walk this stinkin’ street past the crazys on my block and I see the same old faces and I hear that same old talk and I’m searching for the latest thing, a break in this routine, I’m talkin’ some new kicks, ones like you ain’t never seen

This is home, well, this is Mean Street, it’s our home, the only one I know

And we don’t worry ’bout tomorrow ’cause we’re sick of these four walls
Now what you think is nothin’ might be somethin’ after all
Now you know this ain’t no through street, the end is dead ahead
The poor folks play for keeps down here, they’re the living dead

Come on down, huh, down to Mean Street
They’re dancin’ now, Lord, out on Mean Street
Dance, baby

It’s always here and now, my friend, it ain’t once upon a time, it’s all over, but the shouting, I come, I take what’s mine
We’re searching for the latest thing, a break in this routine, talkin’ some new kicks ones like you ain’t never seen

This is home, mmm, this is Mean Street, it’s our home, only one I know

See, a gun is real easy in this desperate part of town, turns you from hunted into hunter (yeah), you go an’ hunt somebody down, wait a minute, ah, somebody said fair warning, Lord, Lord, strike that poor boy down

Songwriters: Edward Van Halen / Alex Van Halen / Michael Anthony / David Lee Roth

Music Video of the Day: Hot For Teacher by Van Halen (1984, directed by Pete Angelus, David Lee Roth, and Rick Friedberg

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Eddie Van Halen, rest in peace.

We take a small break from our annual Horrorthon to present, for your approval, the type of music video that most bands probably couldn’t get away with today, at least not without running the risk of getting cancelled on twitter.  Hot For Teacher is both a song and a video that epitomizes both the 80s and Van Halen.

The video follows Waldo over the course of his first day of school.  Waldo’s voice is provided by the one and only Phil Hartman.  Hartman would join the cast of Saturday Night Live two years later, appearing on that show for ten years and then co-starring on Newsradio.  He was also an unofficial cast member of The Simpsons, providing the voices of both Lionel Hutz and actor Troy McClure.  Hartman was one of the of the funniest men to ever live.  His 1998 murder is still something that I have a hard time accepting.

The teachers are played by models Donna Rupert (she’s the Chemistry teacher) and Lillian Muller (she teaches physical education).  While the stripping teachers were considered to be controversial in 1984, what was even more controversial was a brief scene of the members of the band grabbing their crotch during the “so bad” chorus.  When the video originally aired on NBC’s Friday Night Video, the crotch-gabbing was covered by a black censor box.

In 1985, during the Al Gore-inspired Senate hearings on obscenity in rock music (or “porn rock,” as Al Gore called it), the video for Hot For Teacher was cited as being a particularly bad influence on young listeners and viewers.  The members of the committee took a break from the testimony of Tipper Gore and Frank Zappa to watch the video.  After the video ended, U.S. Senator Paula Hawkins of Florida testified, “Much has changed since Elvis’ seemingly innocent times. Subtleties, suggestions, and innuendo have given way to overt expressions and descriptions of often violent sexual acts, drug taking, and flirtations with the occult.”  Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any record of Senators Ernest Hollings and Strom Thurmond thought about the video.  Van Halen continued to rock long after all the members of that committee had either retired or been voted out of office.

Enjoy!