Episode 125 - Van Halen - 5150 - Part 2

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:00:05] Speaker B: This is our musical reaction breakdown and commentary analysis of this song. Under Fair use, we intend no copyright infringement and this is not a replacement for listening to the artist's music. The content made available on this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only, notwithstanding a copyright owner's rights under the Copyright Act. Section 107 of the Copyright act allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders for purposes such as education, criticism, comment, news reporting. [00:00:38] Speaker C: Teaching, scholarship and research. [00:00:40] Speaker B: These so called fair uses are permitted even if the use of the work would otherwise be infringing. Now on to the Rock Roulette Podcast. [00:01:14] Speaker C: Hey everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Rock Roulette Podcast. That's right, the Crazy Ass podcast. It took over 1, 300 albums. Stuck them in a list, stuck them in a wheel, and typically every other week we spin the wheel. She picks a record for us and we go through it track by track and we talk about the music, the lyrics, the production, the melody and the arrangement and we vote on it. Again, just a bunch of friends who love music wanted to do a podcast, nothing fancy. I mean, again, anybody who listens, thanks so much. Talk about it, drop us a comment. Hey, give us some. Something to listen to. Something to put either in the baby wheel for the new bets or the big wheel. You never know. I mean, even though we have so many albums on, there might be something we haven't thought about, which. Which could happen, believe it or not. We have Frank. My name is Frank and I'm sexy. [00:02:18] Speaker A: Hello, everybody. As I drive through the Stephen King fog. [00:02:24] Speaker C: We have Mark tonight. Oh, hi, Mark. [00:02:26] Speaker B: What's up, guys? [00:02:28] Speaker C: And I'm Sav. [00:02:29] Speaker B: Ciao buena. [00:02:31] Speaker C: And as always, first and foremost, we want to thank anybody who's listening. We want to give a special shout out to somebody who dropped us a really cool comment. Mark, who was that again? [00:02:39] Speaker B: You want me to remember what the person's name is? [00:02:42] Speaker C: I thought you had it up. It's from Ireland. We're international. [00:02:46] Speaker B: It is from Ireland. [00:02:47] Speaker C: I know. It's on Blue sky, which is cool because we're new to Blue sky, right? [00:02:52] Speaker B: Yes, we're new to Blue Sky. EMCN on Blue Sky. [00:02:56] Speaker C: So again, thank you. Gave us a really nice compliment. [00:03:00] Speaker B: Shout out to him. [00:03:01] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. [00:03:03] Speaker A: I just want to say thank you so much. Emcm. Thank you so much. [00:03:06] Speaker C: Spread the word. You know, get all of Ireland listening to us. Tell Bono and Edge and Larry and Adam. [00:03:14] Speaker B: Is that all of Ireland? [00:03:16] Speaker C: Well, you know them and I mean, you could tell what's his Name, too. Colin Farrell. That'd be cool. But, yeah, I mean, again, thanks. Thanks so much for listening. And speaking of which, last week we did a kind of a. An audible where we. A couple weeks ago, we got 1984 by Van Halen on the wheel. So Mark thought it'd be cool, a cool idea, which we've never done before, and we've spoken about it. We may be doing this more in the future. Where we did 50, we started 5150, just to kind of do the transition, say, okay, well, here's the last David Lee Roth record, and here's the first Sammy Higar record. You know what changed? What? You know, what changes did they make? What? The productions and lyrics and everything. The playing and everything. I. In my head, I said I wasn't that big of a fan of this record, at least from memory, but I definitely didn't find it as bad as I thought it was. And again, I never thought it was bad. I just never really, really listened to it. But obviously, there's definitely some cool stuff. Couple of big hits already on the first side, which were pretty good. Some undiscovered stuff. So, I mean, I know, Mark, you said this has a special place in your heart, right, For Van halen. [00:04:30] Speaker B: Oh, you. 812 is really the one that's, for me, is a little weird because even though it's not produced very well, I don't think. But when I first started Slay Guitar, I mentioned it last episode, that that was like, one of the albums I tried to learn, which is kind of crazy. Like, when you first start playing guitar, like, yeah, just throw me into Van Halen. Sure, that's fine. Yeah. I've been playing guitar for, like a month and a half. Let's try to do that. Or six months, whatever it was. I'm just. I'm exaggerating. [00:04:53] Speaker C: I mean, you got to start at the top, right? [00:04:55] Speaker B: Well, I don't know about that. I like the album a lot. There's a lot of good stuff on here. I like a lot of stuff on the second side, too. At the second side has a couple of things I like a lot. Frankie, what do you think about it? [00:05:05] Speaker A: I mean, I think. I think I made. I think you guys already know how I feel about the whole Sammy Hagar era. Although this album was growing on me. If I need to listen to Van Halen with Sammy Hagar, I'll take the greatest hits soundtrack because it's kind of like the trailer to a movie. You don't need to sit through it all just give me the highlights. So there's that. [00:05:25] Speaker B: Thought you liked For In Lawful Commoner knowledge. I thought you liked that record. [00:05:28] Speaker A: Out of the Sammy Haga Error. Yes, I will say so you sit down, you listen to. Out of all of them. I think that. That I don't think I could tell you that is my favorite one out of all, for sure. But overall, still on the fence about the Sammy Hagar era. [00:05:41] Speaker C: I mean, I definitely prefer the David Lee Roth era overall. I would say, having heard even. It's. It's funny because at the end of the day, like, thinking about it, I don't know, I try to say to myself, what am I more familiar with? But I guess it's kind of equally familiar. I think this stuff. Yeah, I would. Yeah, I would definitely say the DLR stuff I know better, I've listened to, I actually own. I mean, this album isn't long. There's only nine songs I've already known. 1, 2, 3, 4 songs. And I think at least two on the second side. Ou 812. I may not be as familiar with. For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. I. I had. So I'm very familiar with that one. And I would probably agree with Frank that that's my favorite Sammy Hagar album overall. But again, there's some. Some good stuff on here. I thought it was a. I'll be honest with you, a little bit cheesier of an album, but I don't find it as cheesy as I. I expected. [00:06:36] Speaker A: And I'm in the same lines, right? Like, I thought this was not gonna be as good as I expected it to be. Listening to it for the first time. And listen. And when I say listening to the first time, it's like listening from track one to the last track. Listen to the lyrics. This is the music and all that jazz, right? I just kind of gave it a quick overview and that was it. [00:06:56] Speaker C: I mean, there's a massive song. Well, two probably massive songs on. On the second side, back to back. One which I am a fan of, one which I haven't been a fan of, which I think kicked off the concert that we saw. And again mentioning it again, the Sammy Hagar, the Best of what's the Mark? Best of All Worlds. Right? Was that the. The title? [00:07:18] Speaker B: Yes, sir. Yeah. [00:07:19] Speaker C: I mean, it was a really good show. They did a really good job. And so I'm definitely glad that I got to check that out. [00:07:26] Speaker A: I don't think I would. I don't think I dislike Sammy Hagar as a solo artist. I Just don't like him on Van Halen, if that makes sense. [00:07:34] Speaker C: I'm kind of more the opposite. But I really don't know a lot of his stuff, so I couldn't sit here and really be honestly. And honestly, Sadie, I'm not a fan of his solo stuff. I heard one album which I really wasn't crazy about. I really haven't heard. I mean, Mark, how do you take him as a solo artist? Have you paid attention to that at all, really, or not really? [00:07:52] Speaker B: I know the big hits from him. I'm a more of a Sammy Hagen, Van Halen fan. So, I mean, I like a couple of the other songs. I mean, they did a couple of his songs on this tour when they did this, because really, they only played Jump and maybe Panama. I think from this tour when they did this and almost the whole album, this whole album, they did nothing old and they did a couple of Sammy Hagar songs. I think I can't drive 55 and only one Way To Rock. Yes, they did that. So I like those songs. Those are not bad for me. But I haven't really, like, dived into, like, Sammy Hagar's solo stuff, the newer stuff that I've listened to it, you know, I don't really like it that much, but I haven't really given it a fair shake either. It's hard because if you come from the Van Halen side and then you hear him in another band, it's a little hard because you're always making that comparison to Van Halen. And it's a hard thing to do because I first really got to know him in Van Halen, even though I knew a couple of songs prior to that. I didn't really have any of his albums or anything, so I don't really know. [00:08:42] Speaker C: And I mean, I haven't really listened to it, but have you guys any opinion on. On, like, the chicken foot stuff, considering that's pretty much a super group? [00:08:50] Speaker B: I've heard a little bit of that. It's not bad. It's okay. Again, it's hard because the automatic comparison comes back to Van Halen. So it's hard to, you know, actually have that differentiation because you're thinking about Van Halen all the time. [00:09:01] Speaker C: So I guess. Do we get the. Did we get the jibber jabber out early this time? I know last time we yapped a lot at the end, so I figured maybe we have a little bit in the beginning and then we can get through the album quicker this time. [00:09:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't know if that's true. Or not. But we'll see. [00:09:17] Speaker C: Right now, we always go off, so. Okay, so before we get back into the second side of 5150, we have our newest segment, which is called New Bets, where we have stuff that was mostly released in 2024, mostly stuff we haven't heard. And it's always fun to see if we can find something. I know the last two were kind of duds for us. I'm kind of hoping this week is something fresh and something we like. So, Mark, whenever you're ready. In a world where new music is. [00:09:48] Speaker A: Not easy to find, welcome to New Bets. [00:10:02] Speaker C: You got always got to play that horn for Frank. [00:10:04] Speaker B: All righty. So are we ready to spin the wheel? [00:10:06] Speaker C: Ready. [00:10:07] Speaker B: Here we go. Here is the new bets wheel. [00:10:24] Speaker C: Falling in reverse featuring Sariah. Is that like the Saraya, the old group? [00:10:30] Speaker B: My favorite guy in the world. [00:10:32] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:10:32] Speaker B: I mean, Ronnie Racky. I love that guy. [00:10:36] Speaker C: Obviously, he's got a lot of controversy around it. We don't need to get into it. Anybody who doesn't know him, just look it up. Make your own decisions. [00:10:43] Speaker B: Don't listen to us. We just don't like him is what it is. So here we go. This is falling in reverse. Bad guy, I'm the bad guy? [00:10:50] Speaker D: I'm a savage? I'm obsessive, I'm dramatic? I'm a loner? I'm an addict? I'm so goddamn problematic? I'm the bad guy, I'm a loser? I'm a psycho? Believe the rumors? I got bad thoughts, I got bad vibes? I don't act right? It's nice to meet you? Cause I'm the bad guy, I got baggage? I am up, I am damaged? My opinions, you're offended? I'm an asshole? Stop pretending I'm the bad guy? Are y'all at me crazy? I'm feeling it lately I think that I may be I'm the bad guy? Calling me shady? I feel like I'm shady? I feel like I'm shady? Cause I'm the bad guy? I'm a savage, I'm obsessive, I'm dramatic? I'm a loner, I'm an addict? I'm so goddamn problematic? I'm the bad guy, I'm a loser, I'm a psycho? Believe the rumors? I got bad thoughts, I got bad vibes, I don't act? It's nice to meet you. I'm the bad guy? You're pathetic. Your feelings. There, I said it. If I'm a loser, you don't like me, I drop the pen now come and try me and I'm the bad guy Calling me crazy I'm feeling it lately I think that I may be I'm the bad guy Calling me shady I feel like I'm changing I feel like I'm changing Cuz I'm the bad guy I'm a savage, I'm obsessive, I'm dramatic I'm a loner I'm an addict I'm so godamn broken I'm the bad guy, I'm a loser, I'm a psycho Believe that rumors I got bad thoughts, I got bad vibes I know not quite to make sure I'm the bad guy and life is tragic the walls are padded or maybe I'm just melodramatic It's a rare condition it's self inflicted get me out of He's a bad guy, he's a savage he's obsessive he's dramatic He's a loner, he's an addict he's so goddamn problematic Cuz I'm the bad guy, I'm a loser, I'm a psycho Believe that rumors I got bad thoughts, I got bad vibes I don't act right it's nice to make sure I got bad thoughts I got bad vibes, I don't act right it's nice. [00:13:23] Speaker C: To make them I like the chorus. That is not Soraya, by the way. These are the one. I mean, that was her last time, I think, but this all right. Was a British wrestler, apparently. Which I assume was that one little part where you heard a female and it was a British accent. I didn't think Mark was gonna like it. [00:13:44] Speaker B: That's such fake metal. It's fake. It has distorted guitar. Just because it has distorted guitar. I mean, I'm not a fan of his. [00:13:51] Speaker A: Sounds like an edgier version of that song. I'm a I'm a mother, I'm a. [00:13:58] Speaker B: That song is way better than that. [00:14:00] Speaker A: I gotta tell you. It sounds like one of those across between that and that Billie Ellis song. Like I'm a bad guy yeah. [00:14:08] Speaker C: No, I was thinking like MGK kind of. [00:14:12] Speaker A: Yeah, I could hear that there, you. [00:14:13] Speaker C: Know, I mean, I like the chorus. I don't really like the rest of it. I don't like the voice that he uses in the beginning either. That's weird. Well, there you go. We got a falling in reversal. [00:14:23] Speaker A: There you go. [00:14:23] Speaker B: I hope the last one I ever have to hear. [00:14:26] Speaker C: Hey, you make the list, Mark. [00:14:28] Speaker B: I know this is my Fault. You know, I gave it a chance. I put it on there. Right. Give me credit for actually putting it on there. I could have left it off. I put it on. [00:14:36] Speaker C: I do give you credit. [00:14:37] Speaker B: All right, that's the end of that. So let's get into real music. Here we go. [00:14:41] Speaker C: In a world where new music is not easy to find. [00:14:48] Speaker A: Welcome to New Bets. [00:15:00] Speaker B: The next song, Best of Both Worlds. Do you don't like this song? [00:15:04] Speaker C: Not the craziest about it, but it was good live, so I'm willing to give it another shot. [00:15:08] Speaker B: Okay. Frankie, are you familiar with this song? [00:15:10] Speaker A: I am not. [00:15:10] Speaker B: Oh, really? Cool. All right. This is good. I like this one a lot. This is. I think this is done on a strap. Believe it or not, but she doesn't really play in the studio. I think it was done on that. Some kind of a Strat of some sort. Best of both worlds. [00:16:06] Speaker D: But it's not enough to fill me up. I need more than just words to say. I need everything this life can give me. [00:16:19] Speaker C: Hey. [00:16:22] Speaker D: Sometimes I'm not enough. Ow. Come on, baby, close your eyes Let go. [00:16:32] Speaker C: This can be everything we dreamed. [00:16:36] Speaker D: It's not work that makes it work. Oh, now Let the magic do the work for you. Cause, honey, something reached out and touched me. Now I'm good. Oh, I want the best out while I'm hurting. I know what it's worth. If we could have a bastard. [00:17:09] Speaker C: I mean, it's. It's not bad. It reminds me of something. [00:17:14] Speaker A: Yeah, I'll tell you what it reminded me of. It remind me of. Let's put the X in sex. [00:17:22] Speaker C: Oh, no. You put Mark in a tailspin. Now two of his favorite bands. Who's biting who? [00:17:29] Speaker B: I don't hear that at all, but okay, I do. [00:17:32] Speaker A: Listen to it again. Play that chorus. Play the chords. [00:17:35] Speaker B: Play the chorus. [00:17:36] Speaker A: While you're hearing that part, let's put the X in sex. [00:17:38] Speaker B: Okay. I gotta listen to that when it comes back around again. But took maybe a part of the melody. I don't know. It's possible, but this is a better song. At least my opinion, It's a better song. The thing that makes it for me is that he's just not playing, like, just chords there, like, during the verses. Like, he's got a lot of stuff going on behind it. I mean, that's one of the things I say about his rhythm playing. He rarely just plays just a chord. He does a lot of cool shit behind the back by that. This is one of my favorite songs on here. It's very. I Don't know. It's super poppy. [00:18:05] Speaker A: Yeah. I wish we could hear the beginning of the song. Maybe after we hear the whole thing, we play the beginning again. [00:18:10] Speaker B: So let me read some words. First one. I don't know what I've been living on but it's not enough to fill me up I need more than just words can say I need everything this life can give me because sometimes it's not enough Come on, baby, close your eyes Let go this can be everything we've dreamed it's not work that makes it work on now Let the magic do it do the work for you and pre chorus is. Cause something reached out and touched me now all I know I want I want the best of both worlds and honey, I know what it's worth if we could have the best of both worlds we'd have heaven right here on earth his stuff is just very straight, straightforward. There's very little that you have to have interpretation for. It's not as interesting. [00:18:54] Speaker A: And that's what made David Lee Roth so interesting. Right? It's like the innuendos. Hey, I didn't say that. If you read it that way, that's on you kind of thing. [00:19:04] Speaker B: Oh, 100%, yeah. I mean, I think that's why a lot of David Leroth Van Halen fans didn't like this. There wasn't as much tongue in cheek. The lyrics weren't as interest as the other stuff was. I can see why some of them don't like it. [00:19:15] Speaker C: We kind of. But we did say in 1984 was a little bit more straightforward than his other stuff, though. I'm coming into this. The transition is a little bit smoother, I think, when it comes to that aspect of it. [00:19:27] Speaker A: Except for half a teacher. [00:19:29] Speaker C: Well, but I mean, half for teachers. That's what I'm saying, though. I mean, it's. It's obvious. Drop Dead Legs. You know what I mean? I mean, it just seemed the stuff that we listened to in Women and Children first was a little bit more interesting than that. [00:19:41] Speaker B: And even the solo record was a little more interesting. [00:19:43] Speaker C: I think forgot about that. [00:19:45] Speaker B: You actually liked a lot of lyrics on that. [00:19:47] Speaker C: Yeah. I trust you. I don't. I don't remember, but I. Hey, if I give him good scores, I mean. Yeah. Like, I know he's done some cool things, like you said, like some tongue in cheeks, some innuendos and stuff like that that are worded well. [00:19:59] Speaker B: And what do you think about the drums? Obviously, the Simmons things are still around. [00:20:02] Speaker C: I was never a big fan of his drum sound in general. And, yeah, I mean, definitely the Simmons stuff, whatever. But in general. I was never a massive fan of his drum sound, but I do think he's a good drummer. But again, it's unique. You know, it's. You know it's them when you hear it. [00:20:15] Speaker B: Yeah. This, to me, is not as obvious. [00:20:18] Speaker C: I mean, to me, if this started out with a drum, just a drum PA pattern, I would know it was him. Not many drummers have a distinct drum sound. I mean, even Neil Pert switched sounds between records, so maybe he could kind of pick up on the style and some of the percussion he used. I mean, Alex Van Halen definitely had a similarity of even. I mean, even if you just take. The snare was always. And I know that eventually he wanted to do the john bottom snare, which he said he was happy with, I think on, you know, for unlawful. But I think he's a pretty distinct sound. [00:20:45] Speaker B: He's been trying to get that drum sound since the first record. So that was the first time he actually sort of kind of got close to what he wanted. To me, this is new Van Halen sound. This has nothing to do with old Van Halen. So that's why I'm saying it's much more slick, polished. It takes 1984 and bumps it up a little more into the mainstream, I think you're not going to get Girl Gone Bad here. [00:21:05] Speaker C: Not yet. No. [00:21:06] Speaker B: No. All right, here we go. [00:21:08] Speaker D: Well, there's a picture in a gallery Fallen angel Look a lot like you we forget where we come from Sometimes I had a dream it was really you Something reached out and touched me Now I know all I want I want the best I know what it's worth if we could have the best I thought. [00:21:47] Speaker A: Come on. You don't hear it. [00:21:52] Speaker B: I mean, yeah, I guess there's a little bit of similarity in the melody, but it's not the same. [00:21:59] Speaker A: I mean, it's enough to hear it now that I told you cannot hear it, I guess. [00:22:05] Speaker B: Well, then Kiss ripped them off then, because this came out first. I don't know what you're trying to say, but, yeah, this is 86. Let's put the X and Sexes. [00:22:14] Speaker A: When did that one? [00:22:15] Speaker B: 88Ish. That late? Oh, yeah. 87. 88. Yeah. No, it's after crazy night, so. 88. [00:22:23] Speaker A: Oh, my God. Really? [00:22:24] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:22:25] Speaker A: When? I think it was, like earlier, I have no idea. All right, Well, I stand corrected. [00:22:31] Speaker B: Well, no, you may be right on the other side. [00:22:33] Speaker A: I might be right on the other side. Yeah. Maybe. Oh, wow. I did not realize that that song came out that late. [00:22:39] Speaker B: I mean, it's only two years after this. Realistically, two years is a long time. [00:22:43] Speaker A: No, I thought this was on the. On the Kiss debut. When they took the makeup off. I thought that was that now. What was it? Unmasked. What was it? Right. That was the name of the album. Look It Up. I thought it was on that one. [00:22:57] Speaker B: No, no. Verse 2 as well. There's a picture in a gallery Fallen angel Looked a lot like you we forget what we come from Sometimes I had a dream it was really you Same pre chorus. Same chorus. I like the chorus a lot. Super catchy. [00:23:11] Speaker C: Pre chorus. [00:23:12] Speaker B: I like the pre chorus, too. I like this song in general. This is just. To me, this is definitely new. Van Halen, the Switch Over. It was a fun song. It worked really good live. I think they did it really well live. It was good. [00:23:23] Speaker C: Yeah. It's not a bad song. It just doesn't. [00:23:25] Speaker B: I don't know. [00:23:25] Speaker C: It's never Grab Me, Grab Me. But I don't think it's a bad song. It is. I'm not sitting here going, oh, God, I don't like the song. [00:23:33] Speaker B: So here we go. Solo. [00:23:34] Speaker C: Greatest rock and roll guitar player in the world, Mr. Ed Van Halen. So what'd you think of the guitar song? [00:24:06] Speaker B: Oh, I like the guitar song a lot. [00:24:07] Speaker C: Yeah. Fits the song. [00:24:09] Speaker B: Yeah, he's using all the tapping stuff. He's doing a lot of taps and taps with bends and pre bends with taps. And they're switching it up a little bit. The little horsey at the beginning. I like it. [00:24:19] Speaker A: Can Eddie Van Halen do a bad guitar solo? [00:24:22] Speaker B: We haven't got the Van Halen 3. Is it very possible, generally? I say, no, I don't think it's possible. Yeah. I mean, in general, I like everything he does. You know, he restricts himself to very little area, generally. He doesn't really expand out very long. [00:24:35] Speaker C: No, that was short, too. [00:24:36] Speaker B: He plays for the song. Whatever the song needs, he does. He doesn't play just to play well. [00:24:41] Speaker C: I mean, this has hit potential to it, too, I think. Right. [00:24:43] Speaker B: So, I mean, I didn't see what this actually went to. And meanwhile, we'll start playing in our look. But, yeah, I like the solo a lot. It's short. It's the point. Has a beginning, middle and end. It's very melodic. Shows off his tapping. Oh, it's good. I like it. Let's continue. [00:25:16] Speaker C: Have to die and go to heaven. [00:25:19] Speaker D: Or hang around to reborn again Just Tune in to what this place has got to offer. Cause we may never be here again I welcome back up a little heaven right here on earth Come on. I want the best I found wild and honey I know what it's wearing we can have the best of both worlds A little heavy right here on earth Tell me enough wow There will ever be enough Wow. [00:26:52] Speaker C: I definitely don't like that ending. I don't like that he went back into it like that. And that right symbol is like offbeat and it's kind of driving me nuts. [00:27:01] Speaker B: I like the ending. [00:27:10] Speaker C: I don't know what it is, but that's definitely another song. I don't know if it's Jump by the Pointer Sisters, but it's. There's. It's for sure it's something else. [00:27:21] Speaker A: You know, now that you say it. [00:27:23] Speaker C: I don't know if that's it. I may be way off kilter here, but I'm just saying that because I'm singing to myself like. [00:27:37] Speaker A: Cold gin time again. [00:27:41] Speaker C: It's something. [00:27:45] Speaker A: It is something. I give you that I don't know what it is, but it definitely knowledge. Yeah, yeah. I, I It'll come to us eventually. Mark, any chance we could listen to the first. The opening riffs? [00:27:57] Speaker B: Isn't it the same thing as the end Rift? [00:27:59] Speaker A: Is it? Yeah, it is, right? [00:28:00] Speaker B: Yeah, it's the same thing. [00:28:05] Speaker C: It could be. Maybe he's right. [00:28:07] Speaker A: Come on, come on, baby Finish what you started Without a doubt Is that it? Could that be it? Come on, pretty baby Finish what you started this is no way to read the book. Is that it? [00:28:20] Speaker C: Wait, you're singing Van Halen now? [00:28:22] Speaker A: Yeah, I am. Is it. Did he just recycle his hold on? [00:28:26] Speaker C: But you know what? It could. Oh, I don't know, but I think it's that sound, right? That, that the guitar sound, because he uses that and that, right? It's like bam, bam. Like that kind of picking. [00:28:35] Speaker A: Yeah, you're right. You're right. Come on. This is no way to treat the broken hearted. [00:28:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:28:41] Speaker A: Holy. He recycled the whole. Hold on. [00:28:44] Speaker C: Well, the other one came after this. I don't know. [00:28:47] Speaker A: You know, I mean, it came out like, what, almost four, maybe five years later. No. [00:28:51] Speaker C: How many years later was OU812 mark? Two. [00:28:54] Speaker B: Two. [00:28:55] Speaker A: Two years. I mean, that's enough for people to forget again. [00:28:58] Speaker C: I don't know if that's what it. [00:28:59] Speaker B: Is, but it's definitely this song went to number 12. [00:29:02] Speaker C: Did it? [00:29:03] Speaker A: Oh, wow. [00:29:04] Speaker B: Yeah, it went to number 12. The melody may be similar as possible. The guitar Stuff is definitely not the same stuff at all. [00:29:10] Speaker A: I don't know. [00:29:10] Speaker C: I mean, it's that sound, right? [00:29:12] Speaker A: That as I sound. You're gonna have to play it. [00:29:14] Speaker C: But that. No, but I'm saying that melody is. Is definitely. Is definitely. So maybe off. Off podcast we can like each one just try to maybe figure it out and we'll talk about it. [00:29:24] Speaker A: I. I agree, but I'm. [00:29:26] Speaker C: I know it's. It's definitely there. [00:29:28] Speaker B: The melody is similar, so that's could be what you're hearing. The guitar stuff and the chords and stuff are definitely not the same. I like it. I don't care what anybody says. So the bridge is, whoa. You don't have to die and go to heaven or hang around to be born again. Just tune in to what this place has got to offer because we never may be here again. I'll go first. I guess, you know the lyrics are. The lyrics. I'm going to give him a six. And not my most favorite lyrics in the world. Are they horrible? No, Lyrics on certain songs are not his strong suit. I think the melody is good. I don't know if it's copying anyone else's melody. I don't know. I'll give that a seven. Music. I'm going to give an eight. Because I like his guitar solo. I like the way he's playing all the Simmons stuff. I think we have to give him a little bit of a break because I believe I could be wrong. Van Halen fans will probably kill me, but I believe that the reason why they started using the Simmons. Because in 5150, it wasn't totally built out yet, so he couldn't use a full kit. So I think he started using electronic stuff because he almost had no choice. I think after this record, it got built out a little bit more. So they were able to put a full drum kit in there. I think that's what kind of happened. Give him a little bit of slack. He was trying to get things done in a small space that he didn't have a lot of room to do a full set in. I mean, that's what it was. Arrangement. I'm gonna say a seven. Production. I'm gonna say a seven. It's fine. I like the song in general. It's not my most favorite song. It works really good live. I thought it was good live. I like it on Live Without a Net. I won't skip this if it comes on, but I really like it. [00:30:49] Speaker C: But they have like that little dance they do to this. That little Thing. [00:30:52] Speaker B: There's a lot of dancing going on. Yeah. Frankie. [00:30:55] Speaker A: I'm gonna give the lyrics of five. It is what it is. The melody. I'm gonna give that a 7 as well. It just sounds so familiar. It really does. And. And if it influenced other songs, then definitely it should be ranked higher. But right now, I'm going to give that a seven. Music. You know, Mark, to your point, you got to love his guitar playing in this. And the drums are really good as well. I'm going to give that a seven in production. I like to give that a seven as well. Arrangement. That's right. All right. Arrangement. I'm going to give that a 7 overall. You know, I'm a little surprised. I'm liking the song. I'm liking it so far more than I thought I would have. [00:31:31] Speaker C: I'll say a five on the lyrics as well. I'll say a seven on production and a six for everything else. So it's not. It's not terrible. It's not. It's not a bad song. [00:31:39] Speaker A: Wow. You don't like the melody? [00:31:41] Speaker B: Wow. [00:31:41] Speaker C: Yeah, it's fine. I mean, it's. I mean, again, this song has never been one of my go to's for them, but it's not a bad song. I'm not gonna sit here and be like, nah, I don't like it. It's this, it's that. No, it's. [00:31:52] Speaker B: I don't know. [00:31:52] Speaker C: Just never one of my biggies. [00:31:54] Speaker B: It's catchy. [00:31:55] Speaker C: It is. Yeah. Not as catchy as the next song, though. [00:31:58] Speaker B: No. This one went to number number four on the mainstream rock. I mean, that's pretty high. Hey, listen, they were riding the wave of 1984, man. You know, all the singles did pretty good. [00:32:09] Speaker C: Well, this is a big keyboard song, right? [00:32:11] Speaker B: Oh, it's huge. His words are not as bad. Once you figure out what they're about, then you're like, oh, you're probably gonna like it because what it's about. [00:32:17] Speaker C: Well, I mean. Yeah. [00:32:18] Speaker B: Yeah. See, he can write good lyrics. [00:32:20] Speaker C: Officially about. According to him. [00:32:21] Speaker B: He says what it's about. Frankie probably doesn't know what it's about, but he'll. He'll find out in a second. All right, so this is Love Walks in. [00:33:13] Speaker D: Come back. It's all it takes to change our life to lose a place in time Come back, I'll sleep all away Coming around you may wake up to find questions deep within your eyes now more than ever you realize and then since I changed Nothing feels the same all your dreams are strange Love Comes walking in some kind of alien. It's all the opening simply pulls a scream. [00:34:08] Speaker C: I mean, when you think about it, though. Okay, so this song is supposed to be straight up about aliens, right? Other than when he says some kind of alien in First In Contact, Like, I understand some of the references, but you really think. To me, this song feels like either first love or second. You know what I mean? Like being enough. Like, that's how it hits. But he said it has nothing to do with that. I mean, I think I've read that people want to draw that conclusion. But, I mean, I drew that conclusion. [00:34:36] Speaker B: I'm going to read a quote. It's about aliens. I'm a firm believer. I've seen, have felt, have been contacted three or four different times. I received information that has been valuable in my life from those people, and they have used me. I'm going to sound like a complete nut here, but they have used me in an experimental fashion. The easiest way to put it is that they downloaded my brain information. And then the bottom says, as with many songs, this one has an obvious double meaning. The second message being love. I can see the love thing, but if you were going to see. Here's where. If you were going to use the alien thing and make it about aliens, you probably didn't have to say alien. [00:35:18] Speaker C: This is like Fox Mulder writing a love song, basically. I mean, the words aren't bad. You know what, though? I will say one thing, and I don't remember if it happens throughout the whole song. I never liked the fact that there was no beat behind the chorus. It feels like it empties it out for me. At the same time, I can kind of appreciate it as well, you know what I mean? Even though I'm not a fan of it, I can appreciate doing something like that. And he definitely likes that thing on the. On the keyboard, right? Kind of like that bass. Yeah, just fine. Because, I mean, it's a groove and I. I can appreciate that. Like, even on the bass, I'm. I always like that. Kind of like that. [00:35:55] Speaker A: Now, Mark, you said this song was about what exactly again? [00:35:58] Speaker B: Aliens. I'll read the words and then you'll. You'll see what I mean. Here we go. Contact is all it takes to change your life to lose your place in time Contact Asleep or awake coming around you may wake up to find questions deep within your eyes now more than ever you realize and then you sense a change Nothing feels the same all your dreams are strange Love comes walking in Some kind of alien waits for the opening then simply pulls a string. He probably could have used something besides the alien word there, had it made it a little more. Less obvious. Sammy Hay was very obvious. That's what I figured out in all his lyrics, straight to the point. [00:36:41] Speaker C: But I think that's why I take it as a love song and that's it. You know what I mean? I think maybe because of that, but. [00:36:47] Speaker A: You know what I mean? It could be a love song for sure. I could definitely see that connection. But you know what? It can also be someone who is an addict of some sort. I know during our chats, we were talking about. About Nikki Sixx's heroin diaries. I mean, if you read that diary, that memoir, the dude is in a different planet. Makes you wonder, maybe this is about that. [00:37:08] Speaker B: I mean, he says it's about aliens. It's not anything but aliens. Not. Not about love. It's about aliens. So. I don't know. [00:37:15] Speaker A: He specifically said that? [00:37:17] Speaker B: Yes. [00:37:19] Speaker A: All right, well, there's that. [00:37:22] Speaker B: As far as, like, the keyboard playing. Like, his keyboard playing is like his guitar playing. It's very strange. Like, he does stuff that's really similar. I like the keyboard parts and, you know, the bass is very simple in this song. You can't be very complicated. It has to kind of like just be, like, pulsing. [00:37:37] Speaker A: I don't know. It sounds very similar to that other song that is very keyboard driven. How does it feel when it's gone? [00:37:44] Speaker C: Finish what you started. [00:37:45] Speaker A: No, thank you. [00:37:46] Speaker C: No, I know. I'm just kidding. [00:37:50] Speaker A: Yeah, I know. [00:37:51] Speaker C: But I like that song much better. I think that that could be my favorite Van Halen keyboard song. And I think it has a lot to do with the end part in that. The whole. That whole. I just. Obviously different album, different song. So we won't go off on that tangent until we get it. [00:38:12] Speaker B: I mean, generally his keyboard songs are very similar. He's using very similar sounds from 84 to this and even a little bit in OU812. You know what I mean? It's very similar stuff. He likes those patches, whatever the patches are. And that, I assume is the Oberheim again that he's using that he used on 1984. [00:38:27] Speaker A: I think one of the greatest Eddie Van Halen openings, when he had the power drill for Pound Cake, he uses Weird shit, man. I love that one. [00:38:37] Speaker B: I like reverse background vocal at the end of the chorus. Those are pretty cool, too. [00:38:41] Speaker C: No, I. I wasn't paying attention to that. [00:38:43] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm gonna back it up a little bit so you can hear it. [00:38:45] Speaker C: I'LL check it out. [00:38:46] Speaker B: Here we go. [00:38:51] Speaker D: The end. It's for the opening. Simply scream Another world, some other time you lay your sanity on the line Familiar faces, familiar sights Brings back remember with all the might O there she stands in a silken gown with silver lights shining down and then you send a change Nothing feels the same all your dreams are strange Love comes walking in some kind of alien. It's for the opening. [00:39:56] Speaker C: So I think this is one of those oddities where I do like the verses better than the chorus. I think the melody is better. And then it's. Even the last two lines kind of work as a pre chorus because he does change the melody in that. And I know that we spoke about. I think it was a pre chorus in Dreams as well, or the. The bridgie part, whatever that was. [00:40:14] Speaker B: But I also noticed that his snare sound is prominent here. [00:40:19] Speaker C: Yeah, but I did notice that. That I did. Yeah. I didn't know exactly. I was. I don't know. I think I thought it was more. But yeah, that whole. Before it goes back into the verse, like a leader. [00:40:30] Speaker B: That's pretty cool. [00:40:30] Speaker C: With the vocal. Yeah. [00:40:32] Speaker B: Listen, I give them credit for not putting any drumbeat in the chorus. That's a weird arrangement idea. [00:40:39] Speaker C: I mean, it does kind of work. But, I mean, in general, I'm just. I think it's the melody itself. I'm just not crazy about it. In. In here, I feel if it kind of builds up and then it kind of like falls. It's like go a trance. [00:40:54] Speaker B: I do think the verses are better. [00:40:56] Speaker C: Yeah, I definitely do. [00:40:58] Speaker B: The verses are definitely better than the. I mean, I don't hate the chorus. [00:41:01] Speaker C: No, it's fine. [00:41:03] Speaker B: Hey, listen. Number three, four, whatever it was. [00:41:05] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, this was big. It's still played now on rock radio. [00:41:09] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. And I'm gonna back it into. There's a little cool filler guitar to start. Let's listen to that here we. [00:42:08] Speaker C: It's a very catchy solo, very melodic. I mean, I like what's going on too. Once it goes back into the music part and you're just kind of doing little fills and stuff over it. I mean, that part. Cool. So technically, a little bit longer than usual, right? [00:42:24] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, It's a little bit longer than usual. You could easily wank over that and make it not very good. That's kind of where his genius comes in. It's a little hard. You listen to him play guitar solos, then you listen to other people play guitar solos, and you're just like. It's Just not as good and not everybody. But then you'll hear like, you know, generic metal, melodic metal stuff. And sometimes it's just not that good. You know, it might be fast, it may do whatever, but it just doesn't have the. The thing. Whatever that thing is. So he's just very good. [00:42:49] Speaker C: Listening to it piecemeal the way I've been doing and isolating the solos, I mean, I can really appreciate. I mean, not that I never thought he was a really good guitar player, but just hearing some of the stuff he does and. Yeah, I mean, I don't always think it fits. Sometimes it's kind of way off and like, whoa, no matter what, it's good as standalone solos. I mean, you can appreciate what he's doing. No matter what. [00:43:11] Speaker B: Yeah, this solo is very. For the song. [00:43:13] Speaker C: Yeah, very melodic. But I remembered it too. I mean, like, hearing it. I definitely remember this solo. [00:43:18] Speaker B: That's what makes a good solo, if you remember it 40 years later. Yeah, that's all it is. You know, he's serving the song in here more than anything because the keyboards are really the thing here. Right. So his guitar playing is serving the song, which is what you want. And then they did that reverse vocal thing again. Did you like the little drum fill thing right before the solo? [00:43:36] Speaker C: Yeah, I remember. I remember that little. I wish they had a little bit more force behind them, though. I will say that the snare is definitely prominent, but I feel like the rest of it isn't. It's produced slightly less. I think the keyboards really are supposed to take the forefront, but, yeah, I always remember that little. [00:43:53] Speaker B: It's a keyboard vocal song. Let's continue. Here we go. [00:44:07] Speaker D: A master I become a slave to it Be again some day When S speaks as loud as war Earth Return what it was before and the new sense of change Nothing feels Feels the same all your dreams are strange I'm walking in some kind of alien it's for the open me Simply P. A string of love Comes walking in I. [00:45:42] Speaker C: Mean, I always like that outro too. Kind of has a little bit of an off time when it goes into it. But even the guitar at the end, obviously it's very melodic. Pretty sure they were like, yeah, this could probably be a hit when they were done recording it. And clearly it was the drum part. [00:45:56] Speaker B: At the end I really like a lot. I'd like all the off time stuff he does. But you're right, like, if this had, like, real drums on it, how much better would it be? [00:46:03] Speaker C: Yeah, just up again up front, up Front in the mix a little bit, but, yeah, obviously, especially the fills at the end. It just. When he hits those pads, it just loses any power it has. [00:46:14] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm not the biggest fan of his guitar sound in this album as much. It changed a little bit. I think it got better at, like, the. Or unlawful time. I think I like that one better. This one's a little. I don't know. It's the transition time. He hasn't really transitioned to what he really wants to change it to yet. He's kind of stuck in one place a little bit. And in certain parts, I don't like the way it sounds as much, but, I mean, obviously his playing is great as far as sound goes. I would like it a little bit different. And we haven't really mentioned, like, Sam Hager's vocals. Like, he can really sing. Like, in this song. You can hear. [00:46:41] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. [00:46:41] Speaker B: The power, his voice and the range that he has destroys David Lee Roth as far as, like, technical ability and range. [00:46:49] Speaker A: Relax. [00:46:50] Speaker B: No, it does. And I'm a big David Leroth fan, I will say. [00:46:53] Speaker A: Definitely has great chops here, for sure. [00:46:55] Speaker B: He has a great range. Yeah, his range is really good. [00:46:59] Speaker A: He does have a great range. Yes. What was that song that he sang in very high pitch? What was the name of that one? [00:47:04] Speaker B: Dreams. Dreams was the high one. [00:47:06] Speaker A: I mean, he nailed it. Sure. [00:47:07] Speaker B: Yeah. He can't even do that song anymore. He hasn't done that song in a long time. Not at the regular key. In that key. He can't even do it anymore. It's too fucking high for him. Is rough. You record something like that, then 40 years later, you don't expect to still be singing that song, I don't think. [00:47:20] Speaker C: Yeah, well, you got to do the best you can when you can, right? [00:47:23] Speaker B: Yeah. He doesn't even attempt it. [00:47:24] Speaker A: It's insane. It's like, you know. So I have a. A white collection of live concerts on DVD and VHS and stuff like that. And when you listen to these artists when they're first starting and then listen to them as each year they record these concerts, you start noticing the difference in their voices, that they move along. It's amazing. [00:47:43] Speaker B: Rock and roll is a young man's game. I mean. [00:47:45] Speaker A: Yeah, a little bit. [00:47:46] Speaker B: How old was he? Here? I'd have to look when he was born. I'll look it up and then I'll tell you. He was older than. He's like eight years older than the rest of them, I think. [00:47:54] Speaker C: Oh, was he. [00:47:55] Speaker A: So he was already in his 30s. [00:47:56] Speaker B: I think so, yeah. I have to look at his. He was born in 47. 57. 67. 77. He was almost 40. [00:48:05] Speaker A: Oh, wow. He was 40. He had that range at 40. [00:48:09] Speaker B: He was 39, but even still. [00:48:11] Speaker A: He had that range at 39. [00:48:12] Speaker B: Yep. [00:48:13] Speaker A: Wow. [00:48:14] Speaker B: His voice is still good. I mean, they drop it down a whole step when they play. But he was good, right, Savino? I thought he was good. [00:48:20] Speaker C: Yeah, he sounded really good. [00:48:21] Speaker B: I mean, there were some spots where you could hear the strain. [00:48:24] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:48:24] Speaker B: But he's singing a lot of songs. [00:48:26] Speaker C: I never cringed at anything. I was there, like, ooh. You know what I mean? It was never one of those. And I mean, again, the fact that Mark Anthony still can do the high range. [00:48:36] Speaker B: Michael Anthony. [00:48:37] Speaker C: Oh, Jesus Christ, man. Michael Anthony. Yeah. [00:48:40] Speaker A: Although Mark Anthony thanks you anyway. He appreciates that. [00:48:46] Speaker C: But, yeah, I mean, you know, Michael Anthony. I mean, remember he just screamed a couple times just. Just to scream. And I mean, it was just. It was fun. Like, you could tell that they were having a fun time. [00:48:57] Speaker B: Verse three. So this is verse three. Oh, sleep and dream that's all I crave Travel far across the Milky Way to my master I become a slave Till we meet again some other day where silence speaks as loud as war Earth returns to what it was before so, Frank, why don't you go first? [00:49:15] Speaker A: I like the lyrics. I do. So I'm gonna give them a seven. The melody. Yeah, I'm gonna give that a seven as well. Music production. Oh, well, let's do the music. I give a seven. Production arrangement. I give those eight. I think it's very well produced and the arrangement is just very well put together. So I'm gonna give those a high score to me, Sav. [00:49:41] Speaker C: Yeah, I think I'm just gonna go straight. Sevens across. I mean, I can appreciate even. Even if the song was straight up about love, I think it's. I still think the lyrics are pretty good in that regard. I mean, you throw some of that alien in there too, and that's always cool for me. Again, I do like the. The verses better than the chorus, but it's not to the point where. Where it ruins the song. I said, well, I'm gonna give the melody at six. So, like I said, I'm just gonna go straight up. Sevens across. [00:50:07] Speaker B: Nikki Titty Baby Quintuple 7, Zippity Bippity. [00:50:12] Speaker C: Bop Imagine we get like a cease and desist from him saying, don't you ever use me when you're doing a Hagar album. [00:50:19] Speaker A: I don't blame him. I Wouldn't blame him. [00:50:22] Speaker C: You'd be pissed. [00:50:24] Speaker B: Mark, seven on the lyrics, seven on the melody. I'm gonna do eight on music, eight on arrangement for no drums in this, in the actual chorus, and then seven for production, because I think the drums could be a little louder. I do like the song, though. All right, so next song is 5150. This is my favorite song on the record, I believe. I like this song a lot. [00:50:43] Speaker C: Oh, wait, I don't know this one. [00:50:44] Speaker B: Is this the title track at least? [00:50:46] Speaker C: Not offhand. [00:50:46] Speaker B: Frank, have you heard this? [00:50:48] Speaker A: I. Yes, I have. [00:50:49] Speaker B: Okay, so here we go. 5150. [00:52:01] Speaker D: Is never spreading narrow Unless your love trying to we take our chance with new beginnings still we try, we lose Take the. With the I never satisfied One for all with you it's only one for me. [00:53:10] Speaker C: 5150 is like code, right, for crazy person insanity. [00:53:16] Speaker A: No, that's not properly correct, Marcus. [00:53:20] Speaker B: Then what is it? [00:53:22] Speaker A: It's the California code for someone who's having a mental crisis and they being held involuntarily. [00:53:29] Speaker C: Here's the reason. Because, I mean, I knew it was in relation to that. So I will say, without a doubt, 100,000%. If you give David Lee Rob the title, 5150, these are not the lyrics he would come up with. [00:53:41] Speaker A: Not even a little bit. [00:53:42] Speaker C: I always thought. I thought 5150 was an instrumental. I'll be honest with you. I don't know why. There's no reason for me to think that, but I thought it was. I just. I don't get. [00:53:51] Speaker A: I don't get the relation either. [00:53:52] Speaker C: I mean, unless there's something coming down the pike. [00:53:55] Speaker B: I don't think so. [00:53:56] Speaker A: Yeah. I don't know the meaning of the song if it's not related to that in any way. [00:54:00] Speaker C: Just sounds like a. Another love song. [00:54:03] Speaker B: What do you think about the music, though? We think about the riff and all the other stuff. [00:54:06] Speaker C: I like the music. I don't like his melody. I mean, I know, Mark, you said this is your favorite, so I don't want to like that. Feels a little sloppy. Kind of. I think it has more to do with his melody than the music. [00:54:17] Speaker B: I think when I say it's my favorite, it's. For me, it's more about the music than it is about the melody and the lyric. [00:54:23] Speaker C: I liked that beginning part, which, according to this, is a minute and nine seconds. [00:54:28] Speaker B: Big intro. [00:54:29] Speaker C: Yeah, I know that it carries over, but, yeah, like, I feel like kind of like when he starts singing, he doesn't find that melody. And again, maybe that's another thing where I know we talked about some of the weird music that David had to write. Lyrics too. And maybe this is one of those situations. Lyrically, I think he definitely would have done something different, but melody wise, I think he would have done something different as well. [00:54:50] Speaker B: That little instrumental part right before the chorus is some big stretches and stuff that goes on. Playing that correctly, I just like the music more than the lyrics. This feels a little more of a holdover for me. And this could have been a David Lee Roth song. Easy. It would have been better, I think, as far as lyrics go and melody. [00:55:06] Speaker C: But not the production, though, I feel. I think that's. That's maybe the thing too. Maybe a kind of a dirtier production, but I don't know because, I mean, again, once he comes in with this melody, it's kind of happy. And I want to say that I do remember this now, though. Like, the chorus, and maybe I've heard it, but never knew what song. You know what I mean? Like, which. What it was, that it was 5150. I just kind of knew of the song without knowing what song it was. Keep listening. [00:55:33] Speaker B: Well, I'll read words. The love line is never straight and narrow Unless your love is tried and true we take a chance with new beginnings still we try Win or lose Take the highs with the blues and the chorus is always one more. You're never satisfied. Share all, share one for all with you it's only one for me. Oh, why draw the line and meet you half the way and you don't know what that means? I really don't know what this has to do with 5150. I never really thought about that. But it doesn't really have anything to do with 5150. [00:56:02] Speaker A: Absolutely nothing. [00:56:05] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. No, that's what I'm saying. I think that. I mean, 5000, 150 is something very specific. It isn't like 1984, where it's the year you could say whatever you want. I guess you can technically make it into whatever you want. But this is very specific. Kind of ignores that. And maybe that's the point. I don't know. Maybe there's a story behind this. [00:56:25] Speaker A: Yeah. Mark, can we find out what the story is behind it? Because I'm a little confused. [00:56:29] Speaker C: Yeah, you're pissed. [00:56:29] Speaker B: Yeah. We're gonna have to find out, Sammy. Yeah, but this is where Sammy Hager doesn't excel. Like, his voice is good on this. He can sing, right? Sometimes I think when the music is not straightforward, I think that's where he struggles a little bit, and that this. If this was a David Lee Roth song, he would have been able to figure out how to write a melody in a chorus that would have worked better. It's not horrible. It's too straightforward. It's too happy. I don't know. Not that the riff is not happy. I don't know what I'm trying to say. [00:56:59] Speaker A: I don't think that's something. That's what I was trying to say. [00:57:01] Speaker C: No, I think I need a new. I need another run through, like I said, when. On my first run through him, like, this sounds like a mess to me. That's kind of. That was my initial note. Like, it's. It's messy. It feels like they're doing different things and they kind of caught it in the chorus. [00:57:15] Speaker B: It seemed like the challenge on Eddie Van Halen's when the riffs are not Straightforward is a little tough. You listen to earlier stuff, stuff that's on, like, Fair Warning and even Women and Children First. I don't even know how he wrote words to that or melodies to that. It's so out there. It's not straightforward. Where most of the stuff, I think on this record is pretty straightforward. There's not as much conflict going on as there was with David Lee Roth. You know what I mean? That conflict made certain kind of music. We're here. Everyone's really happy with each other at the moment, which is not the way it's going to be forever. Right now, everybody's super happy. Everybody's bros, man. We're on the same page. We all hate David Laroff, and we're on the same page. All this stuff's happening. But then you get a song like this. We'll listen to the part again when the. For the chorus and listen to that. There's a reason why there's nothing over that, because I don't think he could write anything over that, because I don't think he's as good at that as David Lee Roth is. [00:58:02] Speaker C: No, I'm definitely going to see if it sounds as off to me. [00:58:05] Speaker B: All right, here we go. [00:58:06] Speaker D: I feel like a running politician. [00:58:12] Speaker C: Just. [00:58:13] Speaker D: Trying to please you all the time with no conditions going wide, running, feeling lost oh, you're never satisfied TR1 for all with you it's only one for me so I draw the line need you halfway when you down Know what that means? [00:59:09] Speaker C: Yeah, See, I mean, I think it's a little sloppy. I didn't think it was as bad as the first time. Maybe. It reminds me too of Vesta Built Worlds melody a little bit, maybe, I'm thinking. And that drum fill was a bit. It was a good fill, but it didn't seem to fit there. It's weird. [00:59:23] Speaker A: It kind of makes you wonder. This was like the last song that was recorded and it was just put somewhere in the middle. [00:59:28] Speaker C: It's one of those last or first, maybe. [00:59:31] Speaker B: I'm not sure what the sequence was. As far as this song goes, it. [00:59:34] Speaker A: Definitely missed the mark. It doesn't fit with what we heard so far. [00:59:38] Speaker B: For me, it's the outlier. This could be an older Van Halen song. It's hard to write lyrics to this kind of stuff because it's so not straight. And he's not really good at that. [00:59:46] Speaker A: Yeah, there's something off about it for sure. And it makes you wonder again, if it's just something that they recorded as the last song and they just threw it in the middle as to kind of blend it in. [00:59:54] Speaker B: It could have been something earlier that was written before this record even started. [00:59:58] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:59:58] Speaker B: And it was maybe something that David Lee Roth was going to work on. That's possible. [01:00:02] Speaker A: That is possible. And they just figured, hey, let's just start somewhere in the middle where it doesn't feel sloppy. [01:00:08] Speaker C: I also think it's one of those songs where we talk about. Sometimes when you break songs up, they don't work as well. I think this is also kind of one of those examples where hearing a piecemeal like this makes it even more jarring. Maybe if we heard it kind of like straight through, it may have a different effect. And I mean, it could also. It's. I think it could be one of those songs, too, that kind of grows on you. I mean, Mark, how many times have you heard this song? 5150 times. [01:00:34] Speaker B: 5151 times now. [01:00:37] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly. [01:00:38] Speaker B: I've heard the song a lot. So it's not very jarring to me as far as, like, lyrics and melody and stuff. I don't think it's the best. I never thought about the 5150 part about why is this a love song for or whatever this is. [01:00:50] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:00:51] Speaker B: So I never really thought of it that way. But yeah, you're right. If it's 5150, why is it written about this? I never really thought about that. I still like the song. It's not going to change my opinion about. This is like my favorite song on the record. But it's More about the music to me than it is about the lyrics. Like, I could take the lyrics out and there's no instrumental on this. I think this may be the first album there's no instrumental on. I have to think back, but I think every other album had some kind of instrumental on it. Some sort. Maybe they wanted to change that too. [01:01:16] Speaker C: Yeah. Or just like, hey, here's our new singer. He's gonna sing on everything. [01:01:20] Speaker B: Here's verse two. Oh, yeah I feel like a running politician or just trying to please you all the time I'm giving you my share with no condition Pre chorus is going wide running long feeling lost but not for long and then back to the chorus. I appreciate the musicianship in here. Like, I played this song before. That middle part is a little bit of a. Right before the chorus play. This is a big stretch in there that doesn't really feel normal, for lack of a better term. I can play it, but it's really weird. It took a while for me to get that right because just. It's just a strange stretch. He does a lot of that stuff. Tell me if you like the solo because he's gonna change it up a little bit. [01:01:55] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm very curious. [01:01:56] Speaker B: Yeah, it's going to be not the same as anything. I think that's in the rest of the song. There you go. [01:02:00] Speaker D: Half away. When you don't know what that means. [01:03:06] Speaker C: Yeah, it's good. Very shreddy, huh? But it was good shred. He's. I mean, listen, he can shred. [01:03:13] Speaker B: So, yeah, there's shred playing in there. But there's still melody in the playing, though. [01:03:18] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. It's melodic shredding. I mean, it's. [01:03:20] Speaker B: It's. [01:03:21] Speaker C: It's kind of. I mean, when you think of people like Eddie Van Halen or George Lynch. Right. It's melodic shredding. It's not shredding just to shred. There's always some kind of melody going on to. To what they're doing. But, yeah, I liked it. I liked it the more it went on, you know what I mean? I think it got better and better as it progressed. [01:03:39] Speaker B: You like the rhythm behind it. They changed it up. Right. It's not the same kind of thing. [01:03:42] Speaker C: And then it got kind of. They did the double time with the two, which was cool. I mean, I like that it got heavier. I think Van Halen does good heavy when they want to and they don't always do it. It's like. I remember when we listened to Aerosmith. Right on. Was it whatever album we did by them. And, you know, there's a couple of heavy songs for them. And it was, like, good, you know, like, oh, you should do a little bit more stuff like this. [01:04:05] Speaker B: I think we did rocks. [01:04:06] Speaker C: Rocks. [01:04:07] Speaker B: Yeah. I like the solo. One thing I did notice is. Is that the farther we get into the catalog. The more of the squealy kind of, like, weird kind of noise thing happens. I don't know if that's on purpose. Like, I know my style now, and this is what I'm gonna do. Where at the beginning. Maybe he's trying to figure it out a little bit more. So there's a lot of that squealy noise. Tremolo bar. I like the tapping part. I like that fast where it double times, where he's playing, like, the rhythm part over there. That's one of the reasons I like the song. This. That part there in particular. I really like that part a lot. [01:04:40] Speaker C: It was a really good solo. [01:04:41] Speaker B: Yeah. And the stuff behind is different. It's not what the rest of the. [01:04:44] Speaker C: Song is, which, I mean, is a common theme. [01:04:46] Speaker B: I was gonna say they do that a lot, which is a cool thing to do. Like, don't. [01:04:49] Speaker C: Yeah, it keeps it interesting. [01:04:50] Speaker B: Don't do the chorus underneath it. We're just gonna do something different. Keeps it interesting. [01:05:30] Speaker D: I wanna. One more. You're never satisfied Never one for all with you it's only one for me Sorrow and Dr. We do have the way when you don't know what day. [01:05:55] Speaker C: Me. [01:06:01] Speaker D: To have. [01:06:23] Speaker C: I mean, the chorus isn't bad. I think kind of the things that I felt I was noticing, they kind of evened out in the chorus. Yeah. I mean, the music is cool. [01:06:34] Speaker B: It's one of the more interesting things on this record. Why don't you go first, then? [01:06:37] Speaker C: Yeah. This is hard, man. Because I'm gonna say four in the lyrics. I mean, they're just cliches, basically. I don't think they're bad, but I mean, they're just. Especially if I'm gonna say. Based on the. On the title. But I won't ding it any further for that music. I don't think the music is bad. I'll say six on the music. I'm gonna say five on the melody. Just because of the chorus. I do like the chorus arrangement. I'll say six on arrangement. I'm gonna say six on production. Again, those fills. Especially when he's doing, like, some heavy fills. And then all of a sudden he throws those Simmons shits in the middle of it. It's so it just sounds so funny to me. It just. It sticks out so much when. When he hits those things. I would have rather he just kind of keep doing fills on the. On the stand, whatever the hell. It wasn't electronic, Frank. [01:07:41] Speaker A: You know, I'm a sole believer that the title of a song is our destination. And each verse is a mile marker towards that destination. The fact that the title and the lyrics don't line up kind of lost. As far as lyrics, I'm gonna give it a five. Out of respect that it's Sammy Hagar and Van Halen. I would give it less, but I don't want to do that because again, out of respect. The music I like a lot. So I'm gonna give the music a seven. The melody. Yeah, there's nothing memorable about this song, so I'm gonna give that a 5. And the production and arrangement, I'm gonna give those a six. They lost me title. The lyrics don't align. They lost you from the start. I would have given a lower grade, but again, it's Sammy Hagar, it's Van Halen. Don't want to be disrespectful. Mark. [01:08:32] Speaker B: I can 100 agree with what you're saying. I don't look at it that way because I've heard this song so many times. I never really thought of the 5150 thing, not having lyrics that met. 5150. I didn't really put those two things together. I just thought it was a title track and this is what he wrote about. But yeah, you're right. So in that case, I do like the song. I'm gonna get lyrics a six. I'm gonna be respectful on that side. I don't think they're the greatest here at all. Melody. I'm gonna give that a six. Musicianship, I'm gonna give an eight because I like the stuff that's being played. Music wise arrangement. I'm gonna give that an 8 too because I like the middle part a lot. I like the pre chorus instrumental part a lot. In production. I thought it was produced. Okay, I'm gonna give that a seven. Actually. I'm giving eight. I do kind of like that a lot. I like the song a lot. It's my favorite song on this record. But I think more because of the music than the lyrics. And I really thought about it. I don't really pay attention to lyrics that much. When I listen to this. I'm really. I'm listening to guitar and other stuff. I'm really not listening to Lyrics or melody. I could care less. He could have not sang on this and it would have been totally fine. [01:09:35] Speaker C: Yeah, I don't know. It's just weird. I mean, listen, if anybody who listens to this and puts the two and two together and gets the five that we're not getting, please let us know again when you would just. Because it's something so specific and the lyrics are just really so simplistic and, you know, it's not even about tortured love. You know what I mean? It's not about anything like loss or. It's just a happy go. Lucky little thing. [01:10:03] Speaker A: Yeah. Mark, can you just share the email address for everybody so they can fill us in in case we miss it? Just please, because I need to understand the meaning of this song. So if somebody out there can share that with us and what we're missing, greatly appreciate it. Mark, what's the email? [01:10:19] Speaker B: Just go to rockroletpodcast.com you can send us a message right there. [01:10:22] Speaker A: Thank you so much, please. Thank you. [01:10:24] Speaker C: 5150 at Rock Roulette. Just kidding. Just kidding. Nobody emailed that. [01:10:32] Speaker A: WTF? [email protected]. [01:10:37] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:10:37] Speaker B: All right, so this is the last song. This is called Inside. This is one of the songs that a lot of people don't like. They think it shouldn't be there or. I know some people probably like it. I'm indifferent to this, but I know some people do not like this. You make your decision up when you hear it and you let me know. All right, here we go. This is Inside. [01:11:00] Speaker C: Man. What kind of crap is this? [01:11:02] Speaker D: I don't know. I thought it was really gonna be different. You actually got three points there. [01:11:21] Speaker B: Okay. [01:11:21] Speaker D: Where do you get that clothes out of your. On the inside. Now listen here. It's not what you are, you see. [01:11:58] Speaker B: It'S how you dress. [01:12:00] Speaker D: Cause that's one thing I learn from these guys I must confess to. Let me. Look, I got this job not just being myself. I went out, I bought brand new shoes Now I walk like someone else Maybe I'm crazy I'm just too high and I guess more something special. Give me someone. [01:12:41] Speaker B: New. [01:12:56] Speaker D: Hey, don't touch me there. Okay? [01:12:58] Speaker C: Just don't do that. [01:13:09] Speaker A: I don't know. [01:13:09] Speaker D: I might be able to take it through. [01:13:22] Speaker C: Here's how I think this song would have worked. If David Lee Roth sang this song, it would have worked. [01:13:27] Speaker A: Yeah. Maybe this was like the other song that they should have sang. [01:13:32] Speaker C: Yeah, I. I think with him doing this, it would have made sense. I Don't think it would be questioning as much. I mean, it sounds like they're having fun. And I mean, the riff is cool. It's very Stevie Wonder. I think you're gonna laugh when I say this too, but I can picture Slaughter doing this as well. That talkety kind of high pitched thing. I mean, Mark, I don't know where you stand on this song. I don't think that riff or that bump, bump, bump, even though it does kind of remind me of something Stevie Wonder would do. I just think that it'd be more forgiving if David Lee Roth were singing. [01:14:12] Speaker B: I think this is in David Lee Roth's wheelhouse, the idea of this. Now there's some lyrics at the end where it's kind of a little bit of shot at the old singer in this whole like speaky talky thing because there's a bunch more that happens. So I'll read you what the ad lib stuff is. So it's. Hey, what kind of crap is this? I don't know, kind of negative. I thought it was really going to be different this time. It is. Ah, yeah. Hey, I don't know, man. We're dying. We're dying. Hey, you got a point there. This is a fact. You actually got three points there. Ah, yep. Oh, yeah. Hey, what the. Hey, where'd you get those clothes out of your. You mean my wife's closet? JCPenney, man. JCPenney. The thing about the clothes, I wonder if that's like a little bit of a dig at David Lee Rod somehow. Then the chorus is. That's what's coming down on the inside. Don't let this get around to the outside. I don't hate that melody there. It's not horrible. The verse is. Now listen here. It's not what you are, you see, it's how you dress. Because that's one thing I've learned from these guys, I must confess. Now me, look, I got this job not just being myself, Huh? I went out, bought some brand new shoes Now I walk like someone else. [01:15:23] Speaker C: I kind of like that line. I thought that was okay. [01:15:25] Speaker B: Maybe I'm crazy or just too high. But all this can't be worth my piece of the pie. Sitting around, just getting high Temporarily pacified I guess less is more, Ha ha. Something special Give me something new, Some brand new group to sink my teeth into. Sitting around, just getting high Temporarily pacified Ha ha ha. Hey, hey, hey. Don't touch me there, okay? Just don't do that, okay? Oh, why? Just pay my accountant. [01:15:51] Speaker C: I mean, I don't know. Is that an any? [01:15:53] Speaker B: I don't know. Maybe that. I mean, that could be a dig too. And the chorus is. That's what's coming down on the inside. I don't know. Might be able to make it through. What the. Hey, don't get this around to the outside. Please, please, please. [01:16:04] Speaker C: I mean, unless it's just him being tongue in cheek. [01:16:07] Speaker B: No, I feel there's a little bit of digs in there to the other guy. [01:16:09] Speaker A: Yeah, I can hear that. [01:16:11] Speaker B: All right, so let's continue. [01:16:26] Speaker D: Anyway. [01:17:11] Speaker C: I didn't like the song that. The fact that the solo was panned to one side because I think that the. The rhythm music on the. On the left side was much louder than the solo. I don't know. The solo sounded like old School Eddie played by New Sound Eddie. It's. It's just weird, you know? I feel like I want to like this song more. [01:17:34] Speaker B: A lot of people don't like it. [01:17:35] Speaker A: Really? I like the funkiness of it. [01:17:38] Speaker C: Yeah, I like that too. [01:17:40] Speaker B: I don't have a bad opinion about this. I'm okay with this. [01:17:44] Speaker A: Mm. [01:17:44] Speaker B: What you always can understand is that even if you don't like the song that much generally, hopefully the solo is gonna be okay. And I thought the solo was good. It does sound like old Eddie being played by new Eddie, though, is that. I never thought of it that. But yes, it does. Now here's some stuff coming up here that I think that's a little more about the other guy. I mean, there's a lot of stuff here. This is like the end part. So let's play it out. [01:18:09] Speaker D: I'm serious. [01:18:13] Speaker C: Let's blow it out. [01:18:35] Speaker D: There it. [01:19:42] Speaker B: Here. Michael Anthony with the high scream laugh thing. The chorus is, are you all right? Oh, man, I don't feel so good. I'm serious, man. I don't feel too good. Hey, let's blow it out here right now, man. All right. Eddie, can you read lips? Hey, hey, hey. I came to this thing with an open mind. Mike. Mike, what was that shit you gave me last night? Oh, man. Get out. Operator calling. Get out. Operator. Ahaha. Okay. Hello? Hello, this is the operator. Hey, Sammy, I found a hat and a pair of shoes. Are they yours? That's the dig to David the world right there. Hey, somebody get me a cheeseburger. Hey, is Greg back yet? Alimony, alimony, alimony. Ha ha ha. And then just random stuff. But that one line, I think that's Eddie Van Halen saying, hey, Sammy, I found the hat and pair of shoes. Are they yours? [01:20:32] Speaker A: That's not nice. That's not nice. [01:20:35] Speaker B: There's always two sides to the story, David. The Russ said he was fired, and the other side says he quit. [01:20:41] Speaker A: Well, you know what I say? There's three sides to the story. There's your version, there's my version. [01:20:46] Speaker B: And the truth is somewhere in the middle somehow. Who knows what exactly happened? You want to like the song more because the groove is pretty cool. Mark. [01:20:54] Speaker C: What? I think you should go first on this one. [01:20:57] Speaker A: Yeah, Mark, I think you should go first, bro. [01:20:59] Speaker B: I don't know what to do here. Lyrics. I don't know. 5. Like, I don't know what to do with that melody. I like the chorus. I'll give that a six. I like the chorus. The melody's okay. Musicianship, hard to tell because I don't know what's going on here. I have to give it a seven because it's Eddie Van Halen, and I don't hate, hate it. I'm not one of these guys that goes, oh, my God. I skip that every time when it comes on. I listen to it. It has a cool little groove. I like the speaky talky things in the middle. So I'm gonna give it a seven just for that, for the arrangement. As far as the music goes, I don't think it's badly produced, but there's so much talking and so much. Especially at the end, it's hard to hear stuff. I'm assuming that's on purpose. So I guess I'll give it a seven. I mean, it's a little hard for me to judge this because it's almost not really a song. I like the solo, Frank. [01:21:41] Speaker A: You know what? I'm gonna give the musicianship, the production arrangement, eights. I love the funky sound. I love what they were doing here. Very different what we heard before now, right? Totally awesome. Love it. Give it eights across the board here. The lyrics and the melody, I think they could have done a better job. I'm not crazy about it. I get it. It's all over the place. It's supposed to be that way. I don't know. It feels more like a. A salty song almost. They're salty towards David Lee Roth. That's what it comes across to me. So I'm good at the lyrics. Again, I hate. I hate to do this because it's Sammy Hagar and Van Halen, but I'll give the lyrics and the melodies of four here because they just come across as salty. [01:22:25] Speaker C: This could be the hardest one. I thought the Other one was hard. Yeah, I'll probably say a four on the lyrics. I mean, they're kind of. I mean they're fun for what. What it is. It's just some ad libbing, but there really aren't much when actual lyrics. Music. I'm gonna say six on the music. I mean, I do like that main riff. Production. I'm gonna say six on production. It's not terrible. I mean, it's kind of balanced. I do wish the. The drums were louder at times and the. The rhythm wasn't as loud. Like I said, especially during the solo. I feel like the solo kind of gets overshadowed by what's going on. Maybe if the solo was on both channels instead of just being split arrangement. What can you say about arrangements? Really? There's nothing that really goes on. It's kind of like the same thing throughout. So say six and melody, say five. I mean, I know the scores are kind of low, but I mean, I think there's part of it. I don't know. Mark, if you would know if they ever played this live, I'd be curious to hear if they kind of ad libbed on the stage and just kind of really rocked it out. Hearing like Michael Anthony played on bass. Kind of like a heavier kind of thing. I think, I think it would really, you know what I mean? Like it could really open up the song. It's fun, it's. This song belongs nowhere else on this album other than at the end, I think. [01:23:48] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't know if they've ever played it live. I doubt it, but I don't know. I can't say 100%. Now that we've gotten to the end. What is your thinking now? So you heard from 1984 into this. Did you think about the transition, Frankie? [01:23:59] Speaker A: I mean, you know, it's not as rough as I thought it was going to be. Honestly, my bias is less for sure after listening to this album. And when I say listening, I mean listening to the whole thing. Lyrics, music composition, all the ranges, all the topics that we talk about in this podcast. So I'm a little bit less. What's the word I'm looking for here? How about. How about say I'm a little more open minded to the idea of Sammy Hagar and Van Halen. After listening to this and doing the side by side comparison, for sure, Seth. [01:24:31] Speaker C: I don't feel the transition was as jolting per se. I think there's stuff on 1984 that had a little bit of that vibe and it probably has to do with the keyboard. I mean, maybe more than anything else. But I mean, Mark, like you said, there's definitely different sound for Freddie. You can absolutely tell the difference in sound. I felt that the stuff on 1984 that sounded more like old Van Halen is the stuff I liked more. And some of the stuff here that. I don't think it's a bad album. I mean, I probably liked it better than I would have thought I did. I mean, again, I'm still first four. That's what I. And again, I. I don't really know. Ou812. I may know it even less than this one. Hearing this, to me, it makes for a lawful carnal knowledge stand out even more. I think it's kind of maybe where they found that right balance. It captured a little bit more of the rock. Even though there's some here, it's. Again, I don't. I don't think this album is incredibly jarring because I think there is stuff that I could picture David Lee Rob doing. But I also said on 1984, there was at least one song where I said I could totally picture this being a Sammy Hagar song. I mean, ultimately, it really. He's the driving force, right? Eddie Van Halen is a driving force of what happens. Obviously, having somebody like Sammy Higar come in, it expands what you can do in terms of vocals. He's got a good voice. I mean, not that David Lavron didn't have a good voice. I mean, but he wasn't maybe. I don't know if I'm the word. If it's vocalist or singer. You know what I mean? There's a difference. I mean, it's the whole. Even Paul Diano versus Bruce Dickinson. Is Bruce Dickinson a better singer? Yes, absolutely. Are some of my favorite songs with Paul D'Anno? Absolutely. So it's kind of one of those things, I think, I guess now you hearing it now, years later. Right. Hearing it fresh and back to back and. And bit by bit. What. What are your thoughts? [01:26:25] Speaker B: For me, I always thought it was a transition thing. It had some of the things that were going to happen later. The more straightforward because Van Halen got straight. More straightforward after this. To me, this has a foot in the old and a foot in the new. You can see David Leroth doing some of those things. It's not as tongue in cheek as David Lee Roth would have been. I feel that David Lee Roth would have strutted through the songs a little bit more with a little more tongue in cheek. The Hagar is A little more down the middle as far as vocals go. I mean, he has a great voice. His voice undoubtedly is technically better than David Lee Roth's. I also think that, you know, sometimes a little bit of the conflict that they had made better songs. The same thing is like here everyone's getting along. At least at this point, everyone's getting along. I think the songs reflect that too. A lot of songs I'm like, here I like. I mean, I like this album. I don't hate this album. This is probably my number two record. I would probably think for Unlawful is my first, and then this is the second. And then probably I would say, oh, you 812 then balance. I'm not a gigantic Balance fan. I mean, there's some stuff on there I like. I never liked it as much. I know there's probably Van Halen. People are probably going to crucify me. There's a lot of good guitar playing on there. But as far as, like, the ranking of the four records, I think bounces. My last. But this record for me has always been the transition. I can hear parts of it. I still believe that he's at his pinnacle of technical playing. Especially if you watch, like Live Without a Net. His playing there is ridiculously great. I think that he hit his stride right here because it's right after 1984, rolling into this. And listen, you can't say anything about the success of the Van Halen with Sammy Hagar. They had four number one albums in a row. They probably made more money with Sammy Hagar than David Lee. They sold more records, definitely with David Lee. I mean, there's two diamonds in that six. [01:28:04] Speaker A: And that's the rub. Mark Van Halen is one of those rare case studies where the bang continue to have success after their front man left or fired or whatever story you want to believe. You know, it's. It's kind of like, all right, you know, they had this all the success. But are they still the same band that you recognize? Almost like. Kind of like I recognize it as Queens Reich. When Jeff Tate left, you put another vocalist. Is that still Queens Reich? No next vocal is going to have a different sound because Jeff Tate brought in such a unique sound, unique void, you know, lyrics and songs and everything else that goes with it. Queensbreak as a band after he left, I don't think it was as successful. But this is one of those rare case stories where the frontman leaves and the band is still continue to be successful. [01:28:49] Speaker B: Usually when the front man leaves, it's done. I mean, like Motley Crue didn't have a lot of luck when Vince Neil left. And John Karabi is definitely a better vocalist. [01:28:57] Speaker A: Oh, by, by, by two lunar miles by two lunar miles better, you know. But the thing is that Motley Crue wanted to sound like they. Where Ben's deal was around, and that didn't work for. That did not play to John Karabi's, you know, pluses. It just didn't. He was a different sound. And at the end of the day, they wanted Vince Neil again. And that's why the band didn't evolve. If they just accepted and played to John Karabi's strengths, I could promise you Motley Crue would be a much different band today. [01:29:31] Speaker C: But, Mark, I guess the question I was going to propose to you is, let's say, like, fair warning going into Diver Down. Diver down is considered kind of really a mess of an album, right, in. [01:29:44] Speaker B: Terms of what was going on, because it was rushed. They put out Pretty Woman as a single so no one would forget that they were there. And then Pretty Woman hit so hard and did so well that they had to put an album out. So they had a lot of covers, but there's a lot of good original stuff. Even though half of it is covers. Even the covers are good. There's a good original little guitars is on there. There's lots of good stuff, original stuff that's on there. I don't hate Diver Down. I know Eddie Van Helen doesn't like Diver down, but I don't hate it. [01:30:11] Speaker C: So considering, let's. Let's say you go diver down, 1984, then 1984 into this. I mean, you do. I mean, listening to 1984, even with we. I mean, we always talk about David Lebrex lyrics, right? But I mean, we did kind of say, especially compared to Women and Children first, right? The lyrics did become a little bit more straightforward, right, on 1984, as compared to some of the stuff we picked out on women and children first. [01:30:40] Speaker B: I don't think the music on 1984 is as adventurous, except for the last couple. And I do love that record. The change is happening before Sammy Hagar gets here, so you can't blame him 100% for this. It was changing on 1984. It was getting more standardized. It was getting more straightforward. Whereas before it wasn't as straightforward. I mean, that has to do a little bit with the keyboard stuff and that he was writing songs that were more straightforward. So when they got to this record, that just continued. So I don't blame Sammy Hagar for, like, keyboard songs or, you know, for it being more straightforward, because that's really what was happening. I'm Hell or High Water. That was happening because he was writing the music. Get out of the way, because this is the way it's going to be. And now that he had a singer that he could write more melodies and stuff in higher keys and go to standard tuning and not be tuned down, those things, you know, had an effect on what it is. But I think it was heading in that direction. Just like you said, from. From Fair Warning to DIVER down to 1984, there's a big change. [01:31:41] Speaker C: I mean, ultimately, you would say from your perspective, it's not as much Sammy Hagar that's making the difference. It's Eddie and what he wants to write and. Right. Because, I mean, again, I mean, we did talk about the solos on both these albums that no matter really what's going on, the solos always seem to have a life of their own. And not only the solos that. The background, the music, the melodies that are going on behind the solo solos. I would say. Let's say there's. I don't know how many songs there are, but let's say there's 20 songs between the two albums. I would say a good 15 to 16, if not more than. When it comes to the solo. Something else out of the blue is really what's. What's coming on, where a different melody is coming on and he's playing something like, whoa, wait, did we transition to a different song? At least I think he's keeping that interesting. But ultimately, right, he is the driving force of. Of this band. [01:32:32] Speaker A: Well, I mean, at the end of the day, it is the family name. That's the name of the band. [01:32:36] Speaker C: But I'm saying, if people want to blame Sammy Hagar. [01:32:39] Speaker A: No, you can't blame Sammy Hagar. No, no, no, no. This is. At the end of the day, this is the. The name. The name of the band is the family name. So this is their vision. This is the direction they want to go in. Sammy Hagar, listen, he's a great singer, end of story. It's just that when you think about certain frontmen and certain bands, you just can't picture anybody else in that band. And then the same thing goes for sports, right? Like, can you picture Derek Jeter playing for the Red Sox and not being a Yankee? No, you can't. It's just unrealistic. At the end of the day, you identify Derek Jeter as a Yankee, just like you identify David Lee Roth as being part of Van Halen. Anybody else who sits in that. That throne, they're not bad. It's just that you have a different vision of that team, of that band. That's it. [01:33:27] Speaker B: I don't think it's 100% Eddie Van Halen. I mean, because David the Ruth had a big hand in writing and Alex Van Halen had a big hand in arranging and doing other stuff. Sammy Hager has some say about way it's happening. His lyrics, his melodies, whatever, do influence what he's writing. I'm sure it was heading in this direction, and it just continued to go in the straightforward direction a little bit more. And again, they were happier at the beginning. There wasn't, as. There was always conflict with David Lee Ross. There was conflict in style of music and the things that he did, in the way that he spoke and the things that he did. So that conjures up certain music. And then when you have everything all happy and good, you know, maybe you get more straightforward stuff. I don't know, down the middle, stuff where it's not as controversial or it's not. There's not as much conflict going on. It's easier to write songs. But are they as good? I don't know. That's really, you know, subjective to who you are. I like the Sammy Hagar period. I like the David Lee Roth period. I don't consider them separate bands, even though some people say Van Hagar or whatever. To me, it's Van Halen. Eddie Van Halen's writing the music. It's Van Halen. For me, the singer does have a change. But this change was happening because Eddie wanted it to happen. He wanted to write more straightforward. He wanted more keyboard. Sammy Hager didn't have as much, I don't think, impact on that kind of thing as people want to make it out to be. [01:34:45] Speaker C: I mean, that's ultimately what I'm saying, right? I mean, obviously there's a different voice. So you say, oh, well, different voice. That's. That's the change, right? That's what the. The. The thing is. Just like if you have a series of movies and you may have, well, different director or different character. I mean, look at the Batman movies, right? Just as an example. Well, different director, different style, different whatever, Whatever. But then you say, well, I mean, is it. Is it the actor? Is it the part that's being written for them? At the end of the day, the world could have turned their backs on them in a sense, right, if it kind of was going. But they didn't they plunged ahead until their very last album with hits, at least from that standpoint, nobody can argue the fact of whether or not they were doing something right. [01:35:31] Speaker A: Hey, listen, you know, for me, for Unlawful Conduct Knowledge is my best Sammy Hagar Van Halen version. I still listen. Yeah, Many fans out there listen to it. Still listen because it's Van Halen at the end of the day. [01:35:45] Speaker B: Listen, this was a number one album. Bottom line. I mean, did it help that 1984 was so big? Yes, of course. I'm sure there are a certain amount of people that turned their back on them, but they did really well. Not everyone turned their back on them. And I think a lot of people think like, I think Eddie Van Halen's there, so everything's okay, even if the singer changes were good. [01:36:02] Speaker A: So here's the question I have for you. Let's just say this album was released today where you're able to listen to buy one song from whatever social platform or listen to whatever streaming service you can. And you say, it's not for me. You think it'll be as big? Because back then you had to buy the whole. You had to buy the album, you had to buy the cassette. [01:36:25] Speaker B: It's a good question. I don't know if any band. Any band that sold that many records would have done the same thing. It's a different time. [01:36:32] Speaker A: Yeah. Because you said 1984. People excited about it. It was Van Halen, 1984. I need to hear it. And also hear this. They're buying the records, they're buying the albums. [01:36:41] Speaker C: Right. [01:36:41] Speaker A: The LP, the vinyl, the cassettes, thinking that it's 19. You know, there's a continuation of 1984. And they hear this, they're like, maybe not so much. [01:36:50] Speaker B: Well, I don't think so. I think there's lots of parallels on this side. There's keyboard songs that sound very similar. Like I said, the straightforwardness of 1984 and most of the tracks, I think, translate over to this a little bit. I think the biggest thing would have been either you'd like Sammy Hagar as the frontman of anyone, or you'd like David the Roth. And you're not going to like this because you don't like David Lee Roth. I'm going to go listen to Eat him and Smile, because that's more like my Van Allen that I won't listen to, as opposed to this. There's always going to be those camps, right? [01:37:18] Speaker A: Mm. [01:37:19] Speaker B: I say you can enjoy both of those things. You can enjoy Van Halen with Sammy Hagar, you can enjoy David Lee Rod solo stuff. And if you like both of those things, you like both of those things. I don't take the sides of I have to like one or the other. Again, if you press me and say pick an era, I will pick David Lee Roth's error. [01:37:35] Speaker A: Oh, wow. Really? [01:37:37] Speaker B: Of course. If you push me and you say one or the other. [01:37:40] Speaker A: Wow. I, I, I gotta say, I'm surprised to hear that. I am very surprised to hear that. [01:37:46] Speaker C: I'm not surprised. [01:37:47] Speaker A: Okay. I mean, you hate, I mean, you know, you know. [01:37:49] Speaker C: Well, I mean, no, but he's also mentioned it before on the podcast. [01:37:54] Speaker A: Yeah, I didn't hear that. [01:37:56] Speaker B: Well, look, you can come into any band at a certain time. If the people came into Iron Maiden during Bruce Dickinson, that's their Iron Maiden. If you come into Kiss after Ace and Peter left and it was your 80s, maybe that's your Kiss and not the early Kiss. Same thing with Van Halen. If you came in 78, that's your van Halen. But if you came in in 84 or 85, the Sammy Hager version is your Van Halen. All right, Saf dude. [01:38:21] Speaker C: So we are part of the the Deep Dive Podcast network. Again, like I always say, great bunch of guys. Sick us in right away. If you want individualized podcasts about bands like Rush, Judas Priest, Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Tom Petty, you name it, it's probably on there. Check them out and mark, where can they find us? And write to us on the Interwebs. [01:38:41] Speaker B: Rock with that pod on all the social media. Rockwithladpodcast.com Please submit a new bets so we can stick it on our little wheel that we spin every week with new songs. And if you can put us on automatic download and review us on whatever platform that you have podcasts on, that way we can move up an algorithm and more people listen to us and we get our reach spread out a little farther. But yeah, we'd like to hear about all your stuff on social media when we do. So it's always awesome to hear from people. And I guess we get to spin really next week. It's not going to be any shenanigans going on next week. It will be a spin. [01:39:14] Speaker A: No, no audibles, no mulligans next week for sure. Sure. No audibles, no step up to the. [01:39:21] Speaker C: Line, but we may do something like this and in the future. Well, if I think if we can all agree on transition, either singer, musician, maybe, who knows, maybe a producer or just style, it could be interesting, kind of revisit this somewhere in the future. I think we've kind of all talked about it. It may happen again. [01:39:40] Speaker B: It's cool. Especially when there's a change of some sort. We never get to do that. It's always random. So when we, if we pull an album, you know, oh, the next. Next one's going to be this. We may decide, hey, let's do that. Just because we don't really get the option to do that very often because it's so random for us. [01:39:53] Speaker C: Yeah. Especially if this goes over well. [01:39:56] Speaker B: Yeah. Hopefully the Van Halen people like it. [01:39:57] Speaker A: Hey, we're honest, you bunch of douchebags. You know what you're talking about? [01:40:02] Speaker B: It is the Internet. You know how that goes. [01:40:04] Speaker A: Yeah, I can't wait to hear the ratings on this one. [01:40:07] Speaker B: No, hopefully it's good. Hopefully everyone likes it anyway, so we will see you next week. [01:40:11] Speaker C: Ciao. Ciao. [01:40:12] Speaker A: Thank you so much. Good night. [01:40:15] Speaker B: Later.