Today’s music video of the day is an early one from Van Halen. Coming from 1981, this video was a product of the time when videos were usually performance clips that focused on showing off the skills of the musicians.
As with all of the early Van Halen videos, this one balances the technical skills and talent of Eddie Van Halen with David Lee Roth’s sense of showmanship. David Lee Roth and Van Halen had their conflicts but they were always at their best when they were performing together.
A funny thing about Dreams is that, if you grew up in the mid‑to‑late ’80s, you didn’t just hear this song — you absorbedit through a six‑story IMAX screen at an amusement park. Every elementary school kid in that era got marched into one of those giant dome theaters for the annual field trip “educational experience.” For me it was Great America in Santa Clara, where they’d blast Dreams over footage of jets, landscapes, and whatever else looked cool on a screen the size of a football field. So the song already had this mythic, larger‑than‑life vibe before you even knew who Van Halen was.
Listening to it now as an adult, you realize how much of that huge, soaring energy was entirely Eddie’s doing. The song has this triumphant, larger-than-life feel to it, and his guitar work is the whole engine driving it. He doesn’t just strum along in the background; he creates this massive, shimmering wall of sound with his chorused-out tones and subtle little hammer-on flourishes that just float over the synth and Sammy Hagar’s vocals. It’s one of those tracks where you’re basically waiting for him to just take the wheel because his playing is so infectious and loud, even when he’s holding back during the verses.
And man, when he finally does take over, it’s absolutely worth the wait. If you cue the track up, pay close attention right at the 2:53 mark—that is the exact moment Eddie’s guitar solo kicks in, and it is pure magic. It’s not just a standard solo; it feels like the guitar is literally taking flight, which makes total sense why they used it for those old IMAX aviation documentaries. He weaves in these wild, squealing harmonics, blistering legato runs, and that signature tapped vibrato that nobody else on earth could ever replicate. It’s melodic but incredibly aggressive, showing off exactly why he was considered a god among guitar players.
Ultimately, Dreams is a perfect showcase of Eddie’s ability to make his instrument sound like the true lead vocalist of the band. He blends pure technical shredding with genuine, uplifting emotion, turning what could have been a standard late-80s rock track into something completely cinematic. Whenever I hear those opening notes today, I’m instantly transported right back to sitting in that dark, giant IMAX theater with a bunch of rowdy kids, totally mesmerized by the sound of his fingers on the fretboard. It’s just one of those songs that proves his playing wasn’t just noisy—it was absolutely majestic.
Dreams
World turns black and white Pictures in an empty room Your love starts fallin’ down Better change your tune Yeah, you reach for the golden ring Reach for the sky Baby, just spread your wings
And get higher and higher Straight up we’ll climb We’ll get higher and higher Leave it all behind
Run, run, run away Like a train runnin’ off the track Got the truth bein’ left behind Fall between the cracks Standin’ on broken dreams Never losin’ sight, ah Well, just spread your wings
We’ll get higher and higher Straight up we’ll climb We’ll get higher and higher Leave it all behind
So baby, dry your eyes Save all the tears you’ve cried Oh, that’s what dreams are made of ‘Cause we belong In a world that must be strong Oh, that’s what dreams are made of
[guitar solo @2:53]
Yeah, we’ll get higher and higher Straight up we’ll climb Higher and higher Leave it all behind Oh, we’ll get higher and higher Who knows what we’ll find?
So baby, dry your eyes Save all the tears you’ve cried Oh, that’s what dreams are made of Oh baby, we belong In a world that must be strong Oh, that’s what dreams are made of
And in the end On dreams we will depend ‘Cause that’s what love is made of
Today would have been Eddie Van Halen’s 71st birthday.
Jamie’s Cryin’ first appeared on Van Halen’s debut album and it was the third released single to come from that album. Though it didn’t chart, it was a favorite of both Eddie Van Halen’s and David Lee Roth’s, with Eddie later saying that Jamie’s Cryin’ should have been Van Halen’s single.
Today’s music video of the day is an early one from Van Halen. Coming from 1981, this video was a product of the time when videos were usually performance clips that focused on showing off the skills of the musicians.
As with all of the early Van Halen videos, this one balances the technical skills and talent of Eddie Van Halen with David Lee Roth’s sense of showmanship. David Lee Roth and Van Halen had their conflicts but they were always at their best when they were performing together.
Director Bruce Gowers, who died in 2023, started directing music videos in the 70s and worked with everyone from the Rolling Stones to Queen to Journey, Michael Jackson, Toto, and Rod Stewart. He was one of those directors who worked every everyone who was anybody. He also directed a lot of television, doing countless MTV Movie Awards ceremonies and also working as a director for American Idol.
A woman has been kidnapped and it’s up to Van Halen to save her! Eddie’s a cowboy. Alex is Tarzan. Michael Anthony is a samurai. David Lee Roth, not surprisingly, is Napoleon. This video says a lot of about the appeal of early Van Halen, which really was a mix of Eddie’s technical virtuosity and Roth’s showmanship. Van Halen was a band that knew how to make amazing music but, at first at least, they were also a band who knew how to have a good time.
Playing the damsel in distress was International Chrysis, a transgender performer who worked in a number of revues and off-Broadway productions in the 80s, along with appearing in Sidney Lumet’s Q&A. International Chrysis died of cancer in 1990.
This video was shot at Indian Dunes, near Valencia, California. Director Roberto Lombardi was a musician who also acted and worked behind the scenes in a number of productions. He appears to have been one of those people who dabbled in a bit of everything as far as his creative outlets were concerned.
In 1982, this video was considered to be so controversial that MTV banned it from the airwaves. Of course, as Tipper Gore later learned, trying to censor something only made more people want to watch it. The video has since been unbanned but MTV gave up playing music videos a long time ago. I don’t know what the M stands for now but it’s definitely not music.
Perhaps due to the controversy, Van Halen’s cover of Roy Orbison’s signature tune because one of their biggest hits.
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.
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
This song and this video finds Sammy Hagar filled with optimism about his future with Van Halen. That optimism wouldn’t last for long but both Sammy and Van Halen still went on to create a lot of great music, both together and separately.
This performance is taken from Live Without A Net, a concert video that was recorded at a show in New Haven, Connecticut.
For today’s Labor Day music video of the day, we have one of the earliest videos from Van Halen.
Jamie’s Cryin’ first appeared on Van Halen’s debut album and it was the third released single to come from that album. Though it didn’t chart, it was a favorite of both Eddie Van Halen’s and David Lee Roth’s. Eddie would later say that he regretted that Jamie’s Cryin’ was not the first single to be released from their debut.
Today’s music video of the day is an early one from Van Halen. Coming from 1981, this video was a product of the time when videos were usually performance clips that focused on showing off the skills of the musicians.
As with all of the early Van Halen videos, this one balances the technical skills and talent of Eddie Van Halen with David Lee Roth’s sense of showmanship. David Lee Roth and Van Halen had their conflicts but they were always at their best when they were performing together.
Through the Shattered Lens 