KING EDWARD: Thoughts on Van Halen part 2

It was only in retrospect that anyone ever considered Diver Down to be a divisive record in the Van Halen catalog. I was 15 years old in 1982 and as far as I was concerned the band could do no wrong. Sure, the album was heavy on cover tunes, and the band was already in the routine of releasing albums that barely ran over half an hour. (Diver Down maybe the worst offender, containing barely 20 minutes of original music.) But still they somehow managed to soar above the fray, effortlessly, drunkenly even, throwing sparks unlike any other act of that time. They not only made it look easy, they were fucked up on weed, whiskey and cocaine when they did it. The Big Hair Metal craze they set the template for was barely underway in '82. And their live show continued to be light years beyond anything before or since. This band at this moment in time was setting the gold standard for Arena Rock. It's not likely what they were doing then will ever be surpassed.

I saw Van Halen for the first time when my Dad took me to Riverfront Coliseum on Friday November 5, 1982. It was a guitar school master class, a religious experience, and the most insane party you can imagine. This Largo show is from just 3 weeks earlier:

Legend has it that Van Halen’s contract for the 1983 US Festival stated that they would receive one million dollars for their performance. Said contract also stipulated that no other act would be paid more than Van Halen for their appearance at the festival. So when event organizers signed David Bowie to play for $1.5 million, Van Halen pocketed another $500,000 simply for having that clause in their contract. To this day there are precious few broadcast quality Van Halen bootlegs in circulation featuring the classic line up. Since this show was recorded for cable television the tape and video have made the rounds for years. Unfortunately the band was in pretty rough shape for the cameras, with close to a million people in attendance at their largest gig to date. Knowing them as we do, you’d think by this time they’d have it down to a science just how to party all day long and take the stage feeling good but still capable of playing. Clearly it was singer David Lee Roth who was overserved, with the rumor being that he drank a fifth of Jack Daniels before 10am on the day of the show. Not on tour at the time, the band came together for this one-off, cash-in performance. So there’s probably a few reasons why they sounded so rickety. Notice how no one seems to mind and the band still puts on an amazing show in spite of themselves. For a band with close to a decade of experience playing BIG backyard parties before they were even signed to a record deal, this was a drunken cakewalk payday.

This piece originally appeared on themusicroom.me.

Special thanks to Tony Keefer!