What can I say. I really love this band. These pictures makes being in Van Halen, a ten times platinum band of the 1980's, look like a hoot. Who the hell knows what was going on when these got taken. Who even knows if these guys remeber? All that matters is that they where fricken' rocking it.
All the guys in this band are virtuosos, but for the purposes of this blog I will focus in on one member. 'Diamond Dave' aka David Lee Roth is an amazing vocalist and can pretty much wear what ever he wants. DLR left his mark on the 1980's being one of the main exponents of 'wearing a snappy jacket contrasted against a sheer wall of chest hair'. He of course was continuing the great work in that area, pioneered by KISS front man Paul Stanley. Daves' work with Van Halen is amazing, and although I rate the band over all, Van Halen lost a little bit of bare chested magic when Dave left the band to record 'crazy form the heat'. Sammy Hagar took the vocalist job with Van Halen upon Dave leaving, and his vocal work on 5150 is a credit to him. But DLR is, in my opinion, an example of a very raw and powerful vocalist fronting a band in their prime.
To me this band at their height was an explosive commodity, that went over the top in every sense. These four guys existed in a cocoon of rock awesomeness, perhaps oblivious to a normal life where people don't write song lyrics in Limo's on the way to the studio at 3 in the morning and create obscene guitar collections. They did this so we could look back, revel in their stories and experience an simply say - AHAAA YEEAAAH!
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