May 19, 2016 - Van Halen - And the Cradle Will Rock... (1980)

And I say ROCK ON....So, the opening to this song still surprises and freaks me out just as it did when I was young-er. It is one of my all-time favorite song openings, I love the scary. Like the opening to Dream Weaver by wait, whatshisname...Gary Wright. Or Pink Floyd's One of These Days I'm going to cut you into little pieces, or the spoken part in the Moody Blues Nights in White Satin. Hide under the covers, safe in the protective red glow of my Zenith clock radio. Then I found out it's not a guitar in the opening but a phase shifter-effected Wurlitzer electric piano played through Eddie Van Halen's 1960s model 100-watt Marshall Plexi amplifier. Wow, that makes it sound even more ominous. I am also still somewhat alarmed by David Lee Roth's line 'have you seen Junior's grades?' Like, uh, no I haven't dude, why are they bad or something? Arghh!! It's that opening scary part again! Abrupt and sinister. Then a sweet little Eddie solo there. A stone rock classic.

Ah, but so much of the fear factor for me wore off once I realized what a goofball David Lee was, a total ham, camera mugger. He was also really athletic and could do all sorts of splits and leg kicks. A show off but totally awesome. Oh yeah, and I frickin hated the Sammy Hagar albums. But that all happened in the awful synth electronic drums late 80s, so I cut them a tiny slack, but not much. Fortunately, I started listening to Metallica around that time.

April 21, 2016 - Van Halen - Dance the Night Away (1979)

Where the loud intensity of 'Runnin with the Devil' and 'Eruption' bombarded my little junior high ears, 'Dance the Night Away' was a total opposite. It is a fun party song, with great harmonies on the chorus. I love the part when David Lee Roth cracks up at his own screechiness on 'across the room'. Of course this song was a hit. It opens with some hi hat and cowbell, then a happy guitar riff comes in and adds some bite to the chords as the drums propel it into the first verse. Eddie Van Halen taps out some harmonics instead of a blazing guitar solo, a little break in the action that nicely complements the fun atmosphere. Naturally, the guys ended up scaring me later with 'And the Cradle will Rock.'

January 4, 2016 - Van Halen - Eruption (1978)

I was twelve when I first heard this at a friend's house. I listened through headphones. It felt like I was in some sort of loud thrilling electric church. I'm sure I just sat there with my mouth open. My friend let me borrow this album, and I let him borrow my copy of Genesis' Duke. I still have his copy of Van Halen.

Eruption is pretty much all about what happens after the 25 second intro, when it becomes a pure electric guitar tornado of classical music style. This is the church part of it, it reminds me of the organist I grew up listening to at First Presbyterian.

Favorite moments:
0:57 - 1:24...wow, just blinding and beautiful.
last 12 seconds - vaguely recalls some sort of industrial service vehicle being fed materials to shred, or a partial warning siren.

July 23, 2016 - Van Halen - D.O.A. (1979)

This is classic David Lee Roth as buffoonish hard rock lounge lizard. Reminds me of Bill Murray as Nick the Lounge Singer on SNL or one of the Rat Pack. Listen to the end of certain lines like 'they sent the sheriff down to try and drive us awayyyy-uh' and 'dead or alivevvvv-uh', the guy should be draped across a piano in a feathered boa, winking at the gals sitting at the tables in front of the stage with a drink in his hand. No one like him.

But, hey, this is also a Van Halen song, so we get Eddie cranking out a great heavy rock riff and some awesome guitar pyrotechnics. Check out 1:52 til 2:15 or so.

February 18, 2026 - Shin Joong-Hyun & Questions - In-A-Kadda-Da-Vida (1970)

Shin Joong-Hyun is the godfather of Korean rock, the most important figure in the history of rock music in South Korea. In 2010, he became the first Asian musician and the sixth in the world to be the recipient of a Fender Custom Shop Tribute Series guitar, joining Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Eddie Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. You can have your k-pop if you must, children, but please know that this guy runs rings around BTS in my book.

Why is it spelled with a Kadda instead of a Gadda? The Korean translation contains the consonant and vowel combination 가, which is often pronounced "ka". This is my theory, at least. It's not important. I'm sure the Iron Butterfly guys didn't care.

It's recorded live. Out of the gate the song isn't mind-blowing; it's like two guys after a few rounds in a karaoke bar. Fortunately, they only stick around until 2:38, then the long middle instrumental section begins. It plods along slowly with an organ solo, then picks up in intensity around 3:55, with added cymbals and Shin's guitar. He kind of feels things out, but then gets the wah pedal going after 5:30, and by 6:00 or so he's coaxing some nice shrieks from his guitar. The all-important drum solo begins at 8:00, and the organ returns at 9:18. At 10:52, we hear the "you cannot petition the lord with prayer" quote from The Doors' "The Soft Parade". More soju for the gentlemen please! Back into the heart of it all at 11:32, and the guys return at 13:13 for the final vocals.

He turned 88 last month. Go Shin go!

August 17, 2018 - Bee Gees - You Should Be Dancing (1976)

If you were to drive over Bee Gees mountain, the summit would be identified with a You Should Be Dancing sign. Behind and below were the quaint hamlets of To Love Somebody, How Can You Mend A Broken Heart and I Started A Joke. Straight ahead and just over the hill is the Saturday Night Fever momument, and a small theater that shows Sgt Peppers on a continuous loop (remember, folks, Peter Frampton's in it too!), followed by a sharp descent through the villages of Tragedy and Too Much Heaven, before ending up in the wasteland of The Woman In You (along with the video...in you).

It's hard not to dance to You Should Be Dancing, but you should also be listening closely. Maurice Gibb's bass is totally amazing. He also arranged the horns, which are like a cross between the sports themes of Johnny Pearson's Heavy Action and Bill Conti's Gonna Fly Now. Dancing certainly requires athleticism, just look at John Travolta there in the video! And check out Andy Gibb on stage with the other three, that's cool. Wow, it's a fantastic tune!

I thought the lyric was what you doin in your bed at night. Like, you shouldn't be sleeping, you should be out at some nightclub with your swinging neighbors. The actual lyric is what you doin on your back. Huh? I hear more than one syllable. There's a delay. They mean the same things anyhow, right? nudge nudge. Listen to Barry at 1:58 - goes right on to the dawn...2:00 - yeahhhh. lol.

I never hated disco. It was mostly the conformity of the dance moves, kind of like that country line dancing achy breaky heart stuff. It looked weird...heck, I was too young anyhow, not much frame of reference. Considering the first album I ever bought was Muskrat Love, I was not one to judge. I eventually learned to hide my love away for disco, especially after I Want You To Want Me and My Sharona came on the scene and blew my little mind. Hey Mark, you're getting too old for that Village People stuff, you should be listening to Van Halen.

April 1, 2018 - Krzysztof Klenczon/Trzy Korony - Spotkanie z diablem

Hey, once again here is our old friend Krsytof Kryzsztof Krzysztof Klenczon (it usually takes me about two minutes to type his name correctly), of Czerwone Gitary. This time around, we are returning to the album he made with the fellas in Trzy Korony, in particular a tune called Spotkanie z diablem (Meeting With the Devil). I don't suppose Van Halen recorded Running With the Devil as a follow up to the meeting, hmm? And then Mostly Crue did that Shout at the Devil song, and so on and so on (check the card catalogue: went down to Georgia, Sympathy for, Christmas with, Friend of).

Similar to this classic song, we begin with a dark and stormy night. One can't expect to meet the devil on a sunny morning, can one? After 0:15, the electric guitars bop on through the rain and announce themselves. K comes in at 0:39, his voice strong and clear...'yes, excuse me, I have a ten o'clock appointment with Lou Siffer.' K is told to wait, but he becomes perturbed and raises his voice at 1:00. 'Sir, please relax. Mr. Siffer will see you shortly.' That's the devil's receptionist.

1:13, K says 'Forgive me, but I am concerned because I made this appointment months ago, and we made a deal, and where the hell is he?!' Receptionist says, ' yes sir, exactly.' yuck yuck. The music fades out at 2:20, and K enters into the meeting, as the storm continues unabated.