Quote Originally Posted by MindGoneHaywire
They fit the bill of stereotypical heavy metal ridiculousness, but for me they actually do rise to the point of worthy listening. In fact, I have rediscovered them recently to an extent, and if anything, I like them better than I did when I first started buying their records 25+ years ago.

Only the David Lee Roth stuff; I never heard one song with the other guy that I thought was worth a crap, and there's plenty of crap to wade through even on the first 6, but most of those records are at least half full of good stuff.

I can fit all the U2 songs that I like onto one CDR. I can't say that with Van Halen, and that's a compliment.

I saw videos on You Tube of EVH doing Eruption. That's what, a minute and a half on the record? Several minutes on the videos. Unwatchable, unlistenable. But that minute & a half, silly as it seems, just works in a way that I'm not sure I can put into words. There were and have been so many hard rock/heavy metal guitarists who fiddled around with a few licks & were in outfits that turned out absolutely execrable music. But this guy had, difficult as it may be to believe, what is to my ears, a very good pop sensibility. Hell, I listen to Secrets off of Diver Down, and it's just gorgeous. The guy had a very interesting approach towards the guitar, beyond any of the hackers who spooted in similar musical waters, and that includes Slash so far as I'm concerned, and in spite of how much I enjoy Appetite For Destruction (that was Izzy's band, though, the way I see it). Now, I'm not much for guitar hero worship, but I think that EVH is one of the few names amongst the usual suspects, that's fawned over, who deserves the accolades.

I think the 'heavy metal' label isn't really accurate when it comes to them, but whatever you want to call them, there ain't much that's similar that I have any use for. Motorhead, AC/DC, GnR, very little else. But even those bands were way more blues-based in their song structures, and to me the further away you go from blues structures, as a generality, the less likely it is I'm going to dig the toons. But they hit, with DLR, more often than they missed, threw some fun covers into the mix, and had elements, like good vocal harmonies, that set them apart from other bands who were trying to do similar things. Meanwhile, there were moments when they did things that remind me a lot of the White Stripes, on Women & Children First in particular, I think...and that's saying something. And outside of the obvious obnoxiousness of the rock star posing, guitar cliches, and all that sort of crap, the worst thing I can say about that incarnation of the band is that the rhythm section was a little too in-yr-face.

The recs are solid. But, all that said, I always loathed their general fan base, and I can't imagine going to see them in their prime, let alone now. It just seems like a freakshow.
Wow! Thats some sour sh$t.