2008 – The Times: The story in this morning’s paper is on the ruses various celebrities use to evade reporters outside the main criminal courthouse in Manhattan. Actor Rip Torn, for example, once led paparazzi through a park and past a gaggle of chanting construction workers before jumping into the cab of an occupied 18-wheeler, jumping out again, and rolling underneath the truck. Kirk Jones snuck in a side entrance while his driver successfully impersonated the rapper to photographers, sultry actress Uma Thurman enlisted the help of court officers and producer Sean Combs has a mini secret-service brigade. But the most fascinating courthouse celebrity by far is criminally insane singer Courtney Love, who sashays in and out of the building as though surrounded by adoring fans:
Courtney Love used the sidewalk like a red carpet, chatting and joking with reporters…
Sometimes celebrities do what they do best: bask in the attention. Ms. Love latched onto her lawyer, Scott B. Tulman, as they left the courthouse and gushed as if they were an item:
“Isn’t he handsome? Isn’t he beautiful?” Ms. Love then suggested she was pregnant with Mr. Tulman’s child.
“Are you out of your mind?” Mr. Tulman recalled telling her. “What are you doing?”
Another day outside the courthouse she finished off a partially smoked cigarette that she bummed from a passer-by.
“It’s like having a wild kid,” Mr. Tulman said. “After a while, you just shake your head.”
PR consultant Eric Dezenhall told the Times Love’s antics are fine, since “anything that extends the half-life of her career is probably a net positive.” Uh, sure. Maybe even get charged with more crimes like disorderly conduct and so forth and get spotted outside the glamorous criminal courthouse even more often, maybe!
1955 – Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony is born in Chicago.
Michael Anthony Sobolewski (born June 20, 1954) is an American musician. He is best known as the former bassist and a founding member of the hard rock band Van Halen. Anthony joined the band in 1974 and was their official recording and performing bassist for most of their career until he was replaced by Wolfgang Van Halen, son of fellow founding member Eddie Van Halen, after the band’s 2004 tour.
Anthony is known for his stage antics, his effects-laden live solos, and his number of custom-made bass guitars including a Jack Daniel’s model shaped like a whiskey bottle. He also has a signature Yamaha bass guitar series. In total, Anthony is known to have in excess of 150 bass guitars. In addition to his musical career with Van Halen and other acts, Anthony markets a line of hot sauces and related products named Mad Anthony.
Anthony has been married to his wife Sue since 1981 and they have two daughters: Taylor (born 1991) and Elisha (born 1985). Anthony now lives in Glendora, California and can be frequently seen driving his prized hot rods.
Biography
Early life (1954–1966)
Anthony was born in Chicago, Illinois, USA to Polish immigrant parents, and was one of five siblings (Nancy, Michael, Steve, Robert and Dennis). He later moved to California where he attended Arcadia High School, graduating in 1972. He developed his interest in music in childhood, playing the trumpet. He became interested in playing mainly rock, blues, and jazz, taking after his father Walter.
Musical career begins (1967–1974)
While Anthony was a promising catcher in baseball, he also competed on the Dana Junior High School track team (long jump) and played in the marching band there from 1967–1969. He took an interest in guitar as a teenager, but picked up the bass instead since most of his other friends already played guitar or drums. Anthony’s friend Mike Hershey gave him a Fender Mustang electric guitar that Anthony converted by removing its top two strings and playing it as a bass guitar. Eventually, his father bought him a Victoria copy of a Fender Precision Bass and a Gibson amplifier. Anthony modeled his bass playing after Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones mostly, but also admired Jack Bruce of Cream, and Harvey Brooks of Electric Flag. His main interest in life was music once he left high school. His first band was called Poverty’s Children. Other bands he played in included Black Opal, Balls and Snake. Although Anthony is naturally left-handed, he plays right-handed.
Snake, a three-piece group featuring Anthony on lead vocals and bass guitar, was the last band Mike played in before joining Van Halen. Snake played covers of ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Foghat, along with some original songs. They played a lot of the same types of gigs as did the Van Halen brothers’ band Mammoth. Snake even opened for Mammoth at a show at Pasadena High School one night. Mammoth’s PA failed that night, so Anthony lent them Snake’s PA.
While attending Pasadena City College, Mike pursued a degree in music. Alex Van Halen took classes there too and they would often see each other on campus. During this time, Mark Stone was kicked out of Mammoth and the Van Halens decided to audition Anthony to be their new bassist. Anthony was impressed by their skill during subsequent jam sessions even though he had seen the brothers play before. After the session, the Van Halen brothers asked Anthony to join the their band. He said he had to think about it and consulted Snake guitarist Tony Codgen who advised Anthony to go ahead with joining Van Halen. However, according to Michael Anthony’s web site, when asked if he wanted to join Van Halen, Anthony immediately said yes, that there was no consulting with anyone.
Van Halen (1974–1996)
Main article: Van Halen
In 1974, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen along with David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony became known as Van Halen, dropping the name Mammoth because they discovered that another local band was using that moniker. They were signed to Warner Brothers in 1977 and released their self titled debut album on February 8, 1978. Anthony’s bass lines and high vocal harmonies became a distinctive part of the Van Halen sound. The band released a total of ten studio albums from 1978–1995, along with a live album and a compilation CD in 1996 that featured two previously unreleased songs. Despite the Van Halen brothers falling out with both their vocalists frequently (David Lee Roth in 1985, 1996, 2000 and 2001 and Sammy Hagar in both 1996 and 2004), Anthony maintained positive relationships with all of the musicians.
Diminishing role with Van Halen and side projects (1996–2003)
As early as 1996, rumors periodically surfaced that Anthony had been fired from Van Halen. Despite claims to the contrary and his continued work with the band, these persisted until his final departure.
Anthony’s involvement in the 1998 album Van Halen III was less than for previous albums. Anthony performed on only three songs; Eddie Van Halen recorded the others. Anthony is credited as a songwriter for the album along with the rest of the band as is always the case for Van Halen albums. Anthony performed with the band for the 1998 tour, and was credited for messages from the band thereafter. He participated in the band’s three reunion attempts with David Lee Roth from 2000 through 2001. Anthony’s name was also credited in a few band newsletters during this time, and he appeared in band interviews. Sometime after this, however, Anthony disappeared from public view until the 2004 reunion.
In interviews, Eddie and Alex Van Halen suggested they were jamming and writing/recording new material during this time period but appeared to be working without Anthony.
Anthony began periodic appearances with Sammy Hagar during his solo tours. He usually played as part of The Waboritas, Hagar’s band. During 2002′s David Lee Roth/Sammy Hagar tour, both Michael Anthony and ex-Van Halen vocalist Gary Cherone make guest appearances at concerts, sometimes together. Anthony never performed during Roth’s segment however.
In 2002, Anthony, Hagar, Neal Schon, Deen Castronovo, and Joe Satriani formed the “supergroup” Planet Us and Anthony began making more frequent performances at Sammy Hagar concerts. Planet US recorded two songs, one of which was intended for the Spider-Man soundtrack but ultimately did not make the album. The band did perform the unreleased song Vertigo on the Internet radio show RockLine.
Van Halen reunion (2003–2005)
Initially when Eddie and Alex asked Hagar to rejoin at the end of 2003 for a 2004 tour, the plan was not to invite Anthony back. Hagar, however, refused to perform if Anthony did not rejoin, and Anthony agreed to play but on a reduced royalties contract. The contract drawn up was for the duration of the tour only, with his role within the band resting in the hands of the Van Halen brothers thereafter. Throughout this time, and during the Van Halen III period, the public was unaware of Anthony’s tenuous status within the band and was led to believe that he was still a full-time member.
In 2004, Van Halen released the compilation album The Best of Both Worlds which included three new songs. Anthony did not participate in the writing and recording of the new songs and was not credited on the album for the new material.[1]
Anthony now states in media interviews that he has not spoken to the Van Halen brothers since the 2004 tour. He has also speculated that since the brothers were not pleased with Hagar’s commercial ventures such as the Cabo Wabo product line, their similar displeasure with Anthony’s hot sauce brand may have caused the rift that ultimately separated Hagar and Anthony from the band.[2]
Departure from Van Halen and recent projects (2006–present)
Anthony spent the Summer of 2006 touring as a member of The Other Half during a segment of the Sammy Hagar and the Waboritas tour. The Other Half featured Anthony and Hagar performing classic Van Halen songs from both the Roth and Hagar periods.
On September 8, 2006, Eddie Van Halen announced that his son, Wolfgang, was replacing Michael Anthony as Van Halen’s bass player. On February 2, 2007, it was announced that Van Halen was reuniting for a tour with original vocalist David Lee Roth. The tour began on September 27, 2007. Anthony commented that he heard about his replacement “on the Internet” and stated, “I’m a little miffed that they’re calling it a Van Halen reunion. If I was dead and they needed someone to play, that’s one thing, but to me this is not a reunion.”[3]
Anthony surprised his former bandmate and good friend Sammy Hagar on live national TV on February 25, 2007. During a pre-race performance for the California race on FOX television, the bassist jumped onstage and joined Sammy Hagar during a performance of “I Can’t Drive 55″. Hagar could only respond “Michael Anthony’s in the house.”
Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar were the only members, former or current, to appear at Van Halen’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 12, 2007. Eddie Van Halen was in rehab at the time, and Alex Van Halen and David Lee Roth declined to appear.[4]
Anthony is currently developing a side project called “Chickenfoot” with Sammy Hagar, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and guitarist Joe Satriani, which will include a yet unnamed studio album release. He has also recently established a band named the Mad Anthony Xpress that will tour with Hagar in 2007 and 2008.
2002 – Lonnie Donegan, known as the “king of skiffle’ dies in his sleep in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. He is 71.
Lonnie Donegan MBE (29 April 1931 – 3 November 2002) was a skiffle musician, possibly the most famous of them all, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. He is also known as the King of Skiffle and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of British musicians who became famous in the 1960s.
Early life and trad jazz
He was born Anthony James Donegan in Bridgeton, Glasgow, Scotland, the son of a professional violinist who had played with the Scottish National Orchestra. His father was unemployed in the 1930s, and in 1933 the family moved to East London. In the early 1940s he mostly listened to Swing jazz and vocal acts, and became interested in the guitar. Country & western and blues records, particularly by Frank Crumit and Josh White, attracted his interest and he bought his first guitar at the age of fourteen, around 1945. From listening to BBC radio broadcasts in the following years he began learning songs such as “Frankie and Johnny”, “Puttin’ On the Style”, and “The House of the Rising Sun”. By the end of the 1940s he was playing guitar around London and visiting small jazz clubs.
The first band he played in was the trad jazz band led by Chris Barber, who approached him on a train asking him if he wanted to audition for his band. Barber had heard that Donegan was a good banjo player; in fact, Donegan had never played the banjo at this point, but he bought one and tried to bluff his way through the audition. More on personality than playing, he was brought into Barber’s band. His stint with the band was interrupted when he was called up for National Service in 1949, but his military service in Vienna gave him contact with American troops, and access to records as well as the opportunity to listen to the American Forces Network radio station.
In 1952 he formed his first group, the Tony Donegan Jazzband, which found some work around London. On one occasion they opened for the blues musician Lonnie Johnson at the Royal Festival Hall. Donegan was a big fan of Johnson, and took his first name as a tribute to him. The story goes that the host at the concert got the musicians’ names confused, calling them “Tony Johnson” and “Lonnie Donegan”, and Donegan was happy to keep the name.
In 1953 cornetist Ken Colyer, enjoying hero status for having spent time in a New Orleans jail (due to a visa problem), returned to England and, when invited to play with Chris Barber’s band, became the moving figure in it, more or less taking it over and running it as if it were his own creation. It actually was very much a cooperative. With the new name, Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen, the group, with Donegan, made its initial public appearance on 11 April 1953 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The following day, Chris Albertson recorded the group (as well as a Monty Sunshine Trio, with Donegan and Barber) for Storyville Records. These were Lonnie Donegan’s first commercially released recordings.
Skiffle
Donegan was the first person to become famous playing skiffle in the United Kingdom, and went on to have an influential hit in Britain and America with “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour”, released in 1959 and 1961 respectively.
While playing in Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen with Chris Barber, Donegan sang and played both guitar and banjo as part of their Dixieland jazz, and also began playing with two other band members during the intervals to provide what was called on their posters a “skiffle” break, a name suggested by Ken Colyer’s brother Bill after recalling the Dan Burley Skiffle Group of the 1930s. In 1954 Colyer left, and the band became Chris Barber’s Jazz Band.
With a washboard, a tea-chest bass and a cheap Spanish guitar, Donegan had a lot of fun entertaining the audiences with folk songs and blues by artists such as Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie, casually giving the impression that anyone could do it. This proved so popular that in July 1954 he recorded a fast-tempoed version of Leadbelly’s “Rock Island Line”, featuring a washboard but not a tea-chest bass, with “John Henry” on the B-side. It was an enormous hit in 1956 (which also later inspired the creation of a full LP album, “An Englishman Sings American Folk Songs”, released in America on the Mercury label in the early 60s) but ironically, because it was a band recording, Lonnie made no money from it beyond his original session fee. It was the first debut record to go gold in Britain, and reached the top ten in the United States, and Donegan has suggested that it might have influenced the beginnings of white rock and roll, and certainly was an influence of a hybrid version of American country-rock later called Rockabilly.
The skiffle style encouraged amateurs to get started, and one of the many skiffle groups that followed was The Quarrymen formed in March 1957 by John Lennon. Donegan’s “Putting On The Style” / “Gamblin’ Man” single was number one on the British charts in July 1957, when Lennon first met Paul McCartney.
After splitting from Barber, Donegan went on to make a series of popular records as “Lonnie Donegan’s Skiffle Group”, with successes including “Cumberland Gap” and, particularly “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour”, his only hit song in America, released on Dot Records. He turned to a music hall style with “My Old Man’s a Dustman” which was not well received by skiffle fans, or in an attempted but ultimately unsuccessful American release by Atlantic Records in 1960, but reached number one in the UK singles charts. Donegan’s group had a flexible line-up, but was generally formed by Denny Wright or Les Bennetts (of Les Hobeaux and Chas McDevvit’s skiffle groups) playing lead guitar and singing harmony vocals, Pete Huggett on upright bass, Nick Nichols – later Pete Appleby – on drums or percussion and Lonnie playing acoustic guitar or banjo and singing the lead. Despite appearances that the style was simple and somewhat ‘unpolished’, all were accomplished and highly talented musicians.
Later career
Donegan was unfashionable and generally ignored through the late 1960s and 1970s (although he wrote “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” for Tom Jones in 1969), and he began to play on the American cabaret circuit. There was a reunion concert with the original Chris Barber band in Croydon in June 1975 – notable for a bomb scare, meaning that the recording had to be finished in the studio, though patrons were treated to an impromptu concert in the car park.
He suffered his first heart attack in 1976 while in the United States. Donegan underwent quadruple bypass surgery. He returned to the public’s attention in 1978, when he made a record of his early songs with such figures as Ringo Starr, Elton John and Brian May called Putting on the Style. In 1992 Donegan underwent further bypass surgery following another heart attack.
Then in 1994, the Chris Barber band celebrated 40 years, with a long tour with both bands, rather than just a concert. Pat Halcox was still on trumpet (a position he retains as of 2006). The reunion concert and the tour, were recorded on CD, and also on video (and later released on DVD, though the quality isn’t up to digital standard). As is Chris Barber’s normal style, he generously featured Lonnie in the concerts and the whole original band were much more relaxed than in 1954, making these real collectors’ items as the stereo was real and not electronically created.
He experienced another late renaissance when in 2000 he appeared on Van Morrison’s album The Skiffle Sessions – Live In Belfast 1998, a critically acclaimed album featuring Donegan sharing vocals with Van Morrison and also featuring Chris Barber, with a guest appearance by Dr John. He also played at the Glastonbury Festival, and was awarded the MBE in 2000.
His last CD was “This Y’ere the Story”, which tells his story – complete with the inaccuracies as to his introduction to the banjo and the Barber band as related above…
Donegan’s influence on the generation of musicians that followed him is unquestioned. He inspired both John Lennon and Pete Townshend to learn to play the guitar, and was responsible for hundreds of other skiffle groups being formed. One of them, The Quarrymen, later evolved into The Beatles.
Personal life
Lonnie married three times. He had two daughters by his first wife, Maureen Tyler (divorced 1962), a son and a daughter by his second wife, Jill Westlake (divorced 1971), and three sons by his third wife, Sharon, whom he married in 1977.
Death
Lonnie died in 2002 aged 71, after suffering a heart attack in Peterborough mid-way through a UK tour and shortly before he was due to perform at a memorial concert for George Harrison. He had suffered from cardiac problems since the 1970s and had several heart attacks in his last years.
Legacy
Musician Mark Knopfler released a tribute song to Lonnie Donegan called “Donegan’s Gone” on his 2004 album Shangri-La and said that he was one of his greatest musical influences. Donegan’s music formed the basis for a musical starring his two sons. Lonnie D – The Musical took its name from the Chas & Dave tribute song which starts the show. Subsequently, Peter Donegan formed a new band that performs his father’s material. Lonnies eldest son Anthony also formed his own band under the name Lonnie Donegan Jnr
Quotations
* “In England, we were separated from our folk music tradition centuries ago and were imbued with the idea that music was for the upper classes. You had to be very clever to play music. When I came along with the old three chords, people began to think that if I could do it, so could they. It was the reintroduction of the folk music bridge which did that.” — Interview, 2002.
* “He was the first person we had heard of from Britain to get to the coveted No. 1 in the charts, and we studied his records avidly. We all bought guitars to be in a skiffle group. He was the man.” — Paul McCartney
* “He really was at the very cornerstone of English blues and rock.” — Brian May.
Discography
* Rock Island Line/ John Henry (1955)
* Diggin’ My Potatoes/ Bury My Body (1956)
* On A Christmas Day/ Take My Hand Precious Lord (1956)
* Lonnie Donegan Showcase (December 1956)
* Jack O’Diamonds/ Ham ‘N’ Eggs (1957)
* Lonnie (November 1957)
* The Grand Coulee Dam/ Nobody Loves Like An Irishman (1958)
* Midnight Special/ When The Sun Goes Down (1958)
* Sally Don’t You Grieve/ Betty Betty Betty (1958)
* Lonesome Traveller/ Times Are Getting Hard Boys (1958)
* Lonnie’s Skiffle Party Pt.1/ Pt.2 (1958)
* Tom Dooley/ Rock O’ My Soul (1958)
* Tops with Lonnie (September 1958)
* Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour/ Aunt Rhody (1959)
* Fort Worth Jail/ Whoa Buck (1959)
* Fort Bewildered/ Kevin Barry / It Is No Secret / My Lagan Love Buck (1959)
* Battle Of New Orleans/ Darling Corey (1959)
* Sal’s Got A Sugar Lip/ Chesapeake Bay (1959)
* San Miguel/ Talking Guitar Blues (1959)
* Lonnie Rides Again (May 1959)
* My Old Man’s A Dustman/ The Golden Vanity (1960)
* I Wanna Go Home (Wreck Of the John B.)/ Jimmy Brown The Newsboy (1960)
* Lorelei/ In All My Wildest Dreams (1960)
* Lively/ Black Cat (Cross My Path Today) (1960)
* Virgin Mary/ Beyond The Sunset (1960)
* (Bury Me) Beneath The Willow/ Leave My Woman Alone (1961)
* Have A Drink On Me/ Seven Daffodils (1961)
* Michael Row the Boat/ Lumbered (1961)
* The Comancheros/ Ramblin’ Round (1961)
* Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It’s Flavor (On The Bedpost Over Night) (1961)
* More! Tops with Lonnie (April 1961)
* The Party’s Over/ Over the Rainbow (1962)
* I’ll Never Fall In Love Again/ Keep On The Sunny Side (1962)
* Pick A Bale Of Cotton/ Steal Away (1962)
* The Market Song/ Tit-Bits (1962)
* Sing Hallelujah (December 1962)
* Losing My Hair/ Trumpet Sounds (1963)
* It Was A Very Good Year/ Rise Up (1963)
* Lemon Tree/ I’ve Gotta Girl So Far (1963)
* 500 Miles Away From Home/ This Train (1963)
* Beans In My Ears/ It’s A Long Road To Travel (1964)
* Fisherman’s Luck/ There’s A Big Wheel (1964)
* Get Out Of My Life/ Won’t You Tell Me (1965)
* Louisiana Man/ Bound For Zion (1965)
* The Lonnie Donegan Folk Album (August 1965)
* World Cup Willie/ Where In This World Are We Going (1966)
* I Wanna Go Home/ Black Cat (Cross My Path Today) (1966)
* Aunt Maggie’s Remedy/ (Ah) My Sweet Marie (1967)
* Toys/ Relax Your Mind (1968)
* My Lovely Juanita/ Who Knows Where the Time Goes (1969)
* Lonniepops–Lonnie Donegan Today (1970)
* Speak To The Sky / Get Out Of My Life (1972)
* Jump Down Turn Around (Pick a Bale of Cotton) / Lost John Blues (1973 – Australia only)
* Lonnie Donegan Meets Leinemann (1974)
* Country Roads (1976)
* Puttin’ On The Style (February 1978)
* Sundown (May 1979)
* Muleskinner Blues (January 1999)
* The song Lost John was used to open the John Peel tribute album
* This Y’ere The Story (2000?)
* The Last Tour (2006)
1999 – Veteran rock band Santana sees its newest release “Supernatural” jump to the top spot at the nation’s retailers. It’s the Carlos Santana-led group’s first No. 1 release in 28 years.
1999 – The Best of Van Halen, Vol. 1 [Japan Bonus Tracks]
Release date: 1999-10-05
By trying to give the David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar eras equal space, The Best of Van Halen, Vol. 1 winds up a little uneven. The first eight songs run through several of Diamond Dave’s biggest songs — “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love,” “Runnin’ With the Devil,” “And the Cradle Will Rock,” “Jump,” and “Panama.” It’s hard to argue with any of the choices, yet significant songs like “You Really Got Me,” “Beautiful Girls,” “(Oh) Pretty Woman,” “I’ll Wait,” and “Hot for Teacher” are missing. Similarly, the Sammy era has many big hits — “Why Can’t This Be Love,” “Dreams,” “When It’s Love,” and “Right Now” — but skips over hits like “Love Walks In,” “Black and Blue,” and “Finish What Ya Started.” Clearly, the collection would have been better served if it had been assembled as a double-disc set, with Dave and Sammy getting a disc apiece. Furthermore, the much-hyped reunion tracks with Roth, “Can’t Get This Stuff No More” and “Me Wise Magic,” are a slight disappointment; the band sounds good, but neither track contains a memorable hook. Nevertheless, Best Of, Vol. 1 remains a good single-disc encapsulation of Van Halen’s career, even if it isn’t a definitive retrospective. [The Japanese edition wisely includes "Hot for Teacher."] Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Tracks:
Title Composer Time
1 Eruption Roth, VanHalen, VanHalen, Anthony 1:42
2 Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love Roth, VanHalen, VanHalen, Anthony 3:48
3 Runnin’ With the Devil Roth, VanHalen, VanHalen, Anthony 3:37
4 Dance the Night Away Roth, VanHalen, VanHalen, Anthony 3:08
5 And the Cradle Will Rock… Roth, VanHalen, VanHalen, Anthony 3:34
6 Unchained Roth, VanHalen, VanHalen, Anthony 3:29
7 Jump Roth, VanHalen, VanHalen, Anthony 4:03
8 Panama Roth, VanHalen, VanHalen, Anthony 3:32
9 Hot for Teacher Roth, VanHalen, VanHalen, Anthony 4:44
10 Why Can’t This Be Love Hagar, VanHalen, VanHalen, Anthony 3:46
11 Dreams Hagar, VanHalen, VanHalen, Anthony 4:54
12 When It’s Love Hagar, VanHalen, VanHalen, Anthony 5:39
13 Poundcake Hagar, VanHalen, VanHalen, Anthony 5:21
14 Right Now Hagar, VanHalen, VanHalen, Anthony 5:22
15 Can’t Stop Lovin’ You Hagar, VanHalen, VanHalen, Anthony 4:08
16 Humans Being Hagar, VanHalen, VanHalen, Anthony 5:09
17 Can’t Get This Stuff No More [Radio Edit] Roth, VanHalen, VanHalen, Anthony 4:12
18 Me Wise Magic Roth, VanHalen, VanHalen, Anthony 6:06
Releases:
Year Type Label
1999 WEA International
2007 CD WEA/Warner
1997 – A memorial service is held for Michael Hutchence in Sydney. Attending are his band INXS, his girlfriend Paula Yates, his former girlfriend Kylie Minogue, Nick Cave, Jason Donovan, Tom Jones, and Midnight Oil. The service is interrupted when a man tries to jump from the balcony of St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, crying, “He’s dead, he’s dead.”
1991 – Van Halen’s “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge’‘ debuts at No. 1 on Chart Toppers’s pop album chart.
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (also known as F.U.C.K.) is the ninth album by the American hard rock band Van Halen, released in 1991. The album’s title came from lead singer Sammy Hagar, who wanted to push the issue of censorship with naming Van Halen’s album with a vulgarity, stating, “That’s when censorship was a big issue. I wanted to name the album just Fuck.” Hagar eventually backed away from the outright vulgarity after he was (mis)informed by his friend, former world lightweight boxing champion Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, that the word “fuck” was an acronym for the phrase “for unlawful carnal knowledge.”. Their tour promoting the album was named F.U.C.K. ‘n’ Live.
The album itself was marketed as the “return” to Van Halen’s rock roots, with most songs being guitar driven, and the synth sounds being replaced by pianos, as the synth sound had become very dated by the time of the album’s release. This can be prominently heard on “Right Now,” the most popular song from the album. The band also reconciled with producer Ted Templeman who produced earlier Van Halen albums to return to work on the album. This was the first album that Eddie Van Halen recorded without his trademark overdriven Marshall heads. It was said in interviews with Ted Templeman that Eddie’s Marshalls kept breaking down due to their age and the fact that Eddie overdrove the power amp stage to achieve his tone, so Ted helped Eddie settle on using a Soldano SLO-100 to record the album. Shortly after the recording of the album, Eddie started his long-time use of the 5150 series of custom amplifiers, manufactured by American instrument company Peavey.
“Poundcake” featured the sound of a battery operated power drill, which Eddie held to the pickups of his guitar and revved, creating the intro. The song “Top of the World” features a riff that was first heard during the outro of the 1984-era hit “Jump.” For this reason, “Top of the World” is frequently played directly after “Jump” and appears immediately after it on the “Best of Both Worlds” compilation. The instrumental “316″ is named for the March 16 birthday of Eddie’s son Wolfgang, who is currently Van Halen’s bass player, although the song predates his birth (as it can be heard on “Live Without A Net”.
Contents
* 1 Track listing
* 2 Personnel
o 2.1 Band
o 2.2 Guest musicians
* 3 Production
* 4 Miscellaneous
* 5 Charts
o 5.1 Album
o 5.2 Singles
* 6 Awards
* 7 References
Track listing
All songs by Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar, Eddie Van Halen and Alex Van Halen.
1. “Poundcake” – 5:22
2. “Judgement Day” – 4:41
3. “Spanked” – 4:53
4. “Runaround” – 4:21
5. “Pleasure Dome” – 6:57
6. “In ‘n’ Out” – 6:05
7. “Man on a Mission” – 5:04
8. “The Dream Is Over” – 4:00
9. “Right Now” – 5:21
10. “316″ – 1:29
11. “Top of the World” – 3:55
Personnel
Band
* Sammy Hagar – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
* Eddie Van Halen – lead guitar, keyboards, electric drill (used on “Poundcake”), background vocals
* Michael Anthony – bass, background vocals
* Alex Van Halen – percussion, drums
Guest musicians
* Steve Lukather – background vocals on “Top of the World”
Production
* Producers: Andy Johns, Ted Templeman, Van Halen
* Engineers: Lee Herschberg, Andy Johns, Michael Scott, Mike Scott
* Mixing: Andy Johns, Michael Scott, Ted Templeman
* Art direction: Jeri Heiden
* Photography: David Seltzer, Glen Wexler
Miscellaneous
* The opening riff of “Pleasure Dome” is highly similar, and most likely an homage, to a prominent guitar line in the Rush song “Xanadu,” which is about the fabled “pleasure dome” of Mongol/Chinese emperor Kublai Khan. Coincidentally, Rush had just recently signed to Atlantic Records, a sister label to Van Halen’s then-label Warner Bros. Records.
* “Right Now” was used by Pepsi in their TV ads to introduce Crystal Pepsi. Adidas also used it in some ads for overseas markets.
* When playing the song “Poundcake” in concert, Eddie Van Halen often slides the rotating drill up and down the fret board.
* At the beginning of “Poundcake” you can hear band members talking before the song begins.
Charts
Album
Billboard (North America)
Year Chart Position
1991 The Billboard 200 1
Singles
Billboard (North America)
Year Single Chart Position
1991 “Poundcake” Mainstream Rock Tracks 1
1991 “Right Now” Mainstream Rock Tracks 2
1991 “Runaround” Mainstream Rock Tracks 1
1991 “Top of the World” Mainstream Rock Tracks 1
1991 “Top of the World” The Billboard Hot 100 27
1992 “Man on a Mission” Mainstream Rock Tracks 21
1992 “Right Now” The Billboard Hot 100 55
1992 “The Dream Is Over” Mainstream Rock Tracks 7
Awards
Grammy Awards
Year Winner Category
1991 For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge Best Hard Rock Performance
1987 – Levon Helm discovers the perils of playing the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, N.J. Bruce Springsteen jumps onstage and joins Helm’s band to play “Up on Cripple Creek” and “Lucille,” the rocker originally made famous by Little Richard.
1984 – No. 1 Chart Toppers hit: “Jump,” by Van . Eddie Van Halen writes the music for “Jump” two years before band member David Lee Roth agrees to write the lyrics and record it.
1984 – No. 1 Chart Toppers Pop Hit: “Jump,” Van Halen. The song is the first top 10 single for the group, which has already placed 11 songs on the Hot 100.
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California in 1972. They enjoyed success from the release of their self titled debut album in 1978 until the late 1990s when various troubles overcame the band. As of 2007 Van Halen has sold more than 80 million albums worldwide and have had the most number one hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Van Halen is the 19th best selling band/artist of all time with sales of over 56 million albums in the USA and is one of five rock bands that have had two albums sell more than 10 million copies in the USA.
In addition to being recognized for quality and success, the band is known for the drama surrounding the exits of former members. The (multiple) exits of singers Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth were surrounded in controversy and mass press coverage with various contrasting press statements between them and the band. More recently, founding bassist Michael Anthony was kicked out of the band for controversial reasons. Following their 2004 concert tour the band was on a hiatus from the public until September 2006, new bassist Wolfgang Van Halen’s place was confirmed and Roth-reunion rumours began to re-surface coinciding with the band’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction on March 12, 2007. After years of speculation, Van Halen began a tour with Roth in late 2007 across North America, which has been extended into early 2008. An album is proposed to follow
Members (2006–present)
David Lee Roth – lead vocals, acoustic guitar (1974–1985, 1996, 2006-Present)
Eddie Van Halen – guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (1972–present)
Wolfgang Van Halen – bass guitar, backing vocals (2006–present)
Alex Van Halen – drums, percussion, additional studio backing vocals (1972–present)
Former members
Mark Stone – bass guitar (1972–1974)
Michael Anthony – bass guitar, backing vocals, additional live keyboards (1974–2002, 2003-2005)
Sammy Hagar – lead vocals, guitar, live acoustic guitars (1985–1996, 2003–2005)
Mitch Malloy – lead vocals (1996)
Gary Cherone – lead vocals (1996–1999)
Influence on culture, music, and business
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The Van Halen album introduced the guitar world to the band’s signature “Brown sound,” a nickname given to the result of Eddie’s guitar/amp combination and technique. With Templeman’s production, this tone was carefully defined.
The song “Everybody Wants Some!!” appears in the movie Better Off Dead. While Lane Meyer (John Cusack) works in a burger restaurant wishing he were elsewhere, he imagines the food singing and dancing to the popular track via claymation. In the 1985 movie Back to the Future Marty McFly uses a portable cassette player to torture his father by playing Van Halen at excessive volume. The music was taken from Eddie’s demo tapes.
Van Halen pioneered the modern rock music tour with their use of the concert technical contract rider. Van Halen’s use of contract riders to specify their “wish list” was new, and established practices now used throughout the music industry. As one of the first major bands with a travelling stage show, Van Halen had extensive requirements including power availability and stage construction details. Many venues were not equipped to handle the requirements, resulting in damage to band equipment, once nearly killing a roadie. The band’s demands were not limited to technical issues: their now-infamous rider specified that a bowl of M&M candies, with all of the brown M&Ms removed, was to be placed in their dressing room. According to David Lee Roth, this was listed in the technical portion of the contract to check if venue staff were correctly honouring the contract as specified. If there was no bowl of M&Ms, or if there were brown M&M’s left in the bowl, then the band knew the contract was not being fulfilled entirely correctly and had to check every detail.
On Cartoon Network in the late 1990′s there was a series called The Justice Friends, a group of superheroes who exist in the universe of Dexter’s Laboratory. One of the main characters, Valhallen (a contraction for Valhalla and Van Halen), an axe-wielding Viking God of rock with Southern Californian mannerisms, is a melding of Norse God Thor and Eddie Van Halen. His axe is shaped like a guitar to re-enforce this.
Influential American punk trio The Minutemen recorded a 40-second version of “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” for their landmark double album Double Nickels on the Dime, though the arrangement was changed significantly to fit the time. Rapper Tone Loc used uncredited samples from “Jamie’s Cryin’” on his hit “Wild Thing,” but when asked about it later Alex Van Halen said “It was 1987, who knew?”. In 1989, 2 Live Crew sampled the riff of “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” for thir single “The Fuck Shop”. Dance music act Apollo 440 sampled the guitar intro from “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” for their 1997 single “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Dub”. Van Halen’s arrangement of the song “You Really Got Me” (performed by other artists) was featured in the video game Guitar Hero II.
Side projects and collaborations
Members of Van Halen have collaborated with ex-members numerous times, or even in each other’s side projects.
1967–1972: Eddie and Alex Van Halen begin learning instruments together, performing in various small venues. They then joined various “Top 40″ cover bands.
1972–1973: Mammoth, the band which would become Van Halen rented a PA system from David Lee Roth.
In 1983 Eddie played guitar on Brian May’s Star Fleet Project album which also featured Alan Gratzer, Phil Chen and Fred Mandel.
1987: Eddie played bass on I Never Said Goodbye, Sammy Hagar’s 1987 solo album and was one of the album’s backing vocalists and producers. Eddie also contributed a small guitar part, though it was uncredited.
1987: Eddie played bass and Hagar sang/played guitar on the song ‘Winner Takes All’ for the Over the Top movie soundtrack
1991: David Lee Roth had Extreme (featuring future-Van Halen frontman Gary Cherone) as a support act on tour
1995: On the front cover of the band’s Balance album, future member Wolfgang Van Halen is pictured
1996: The instrumental track ‘Respect the Wind’, for the Twister movie was by Eddie and Alex Van Halen. This is Alex Van Halen’s only work outside of Van Halen, largely because he insists on only performing with his brother. Alex also played keyboards, usually Eddie’s role. Often considered a Van Halen song – it was not released with any contributions from Michael Anthony, or Sammy Hagar (whose exit from the band had yet to be announced)
2001: Anthony joined Hagar for a few of his concerts
2002: Hagar and Roth combined for the Song For Song, the Heavyweight Champs of Rock and Roll Tour, also known as the Sans Halen tour
2002: On the first and second of June, Anthony came onstage for several songs during Hagar’s set in the Hagar/Roth tour. He continued to appear periodically. Gary Cherone came on stage for a Boston date on August 28 during Sammy Hagar’s set, as did Anthony
2002 – 2003: Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony were part of the Planet Us supergroup before leaving (and dissolving the band with them) for the 2004 Van Halen reunion tour
2003: Some of the recordings from Hagar and Anthony’s performances together in 2001 and 2002 were included on a new Sammy Hagar live album, Live: Hallelujah.
2004: Wolfgang joined his father on guitar in the 2004 reunion tour for some dates, before officially joining the band
2005–2006: Michael Anthony joined Sammy Hagar’s solo band at numerous live dates to jam with them during their set.
2006–2007: Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony formed the Chickenfoot project with Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith though no music was released.
2006-present: Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony’s ‘The Other Half’ tours. Gary Cherone appeared on occasion during the 2006 tour to perform too.
2007: Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony performed ‘Why Can’t This Be Love?’ at Van Halen’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame induction, and spoke in several interviews together
2007–present: Vic Johnson, guitarist from Sammy Hagar’s solo band is in Michael Anthony’s new band – Mad Anthony Xpress. They are joining Sammy Hagar’s latest tour for dates when Anthony is taking part in The Other Half performances.
1983 Bob Neal (DJ and former Presley manager) dies this day in rock history!
We didn’t have a picture of Bob, so here is a pic of the King to pay tribute to his former manager! He’s singing, ” He did it his way!”
BOB NEAL – MANAGING THE HILLBILLY CAT
This interview took place in June 1973 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Rockville International interviewed Bob Neal, one of Elvis Presley’s first managers, in the offices of his Bob Neal Talent & Booking Agency in Music City USA. Welcomed at the reception by Bob’s lovely wife and after some small talk about Holland, wooden shoes and tulips she introduced us to her husband who, after a firm handshake, offered us a seat and invited us to get the questions rolling.
The interview was originally published in the December 1973 issue.
Looking at your office I see a strong African motive with spears, drums and hides on the wall, not at all what I expected to see in the office of a manager and booking agent.
Oh the reason for the decoration of our offices goes way, way back. I was born in the Congo of Africa on October 6th, 1917. My parents were missionaries and as a youngster I traveled back and forth between Africa and Europe and later America many times. One time I actually stayed in Brussels, Belgium for over two months.
How did you become interested in music ?
My mother liked classical music a lot but I did not have a great interest in music while growing up. Like many other kids I took piano-lessons and while in college I joined the chorus-club, but that was about it. Then after I finished college I went into radio. I was a deejay. In fact at that time, it was before they called them deejay, back in 1939 you were an announcer or a newscaster or whatever. I was in radio for a number of years settling in Memphis in 1942 and I stayed there until 1958 and most of that time was in radio. In the late forties I started doing an early morning program on WMPS Radio featuring country music.
What kind of music had you been playing before that time ?
When I first got into radio in 1939, basically the music that we used then was just general music; a bit of pop music, some classical music, a few country programs. When I started this specialized program in 1948, called “The Bob Neal Farm Program”, I played country music entirely. The program relied basically on the requests of listeners as to the guidance of the music to play. I did that program from 1948 until 1956. Consequently becoming more and more familiar with country music and more found of it all the time. The reaction to the program was very good and I started occasionally doing some little shows within a 100 or 150 miles range of Memphis. I would take some local people, and every now and then some Nashville musicians like Johnny and Jack, Kitty Wells or Bill Carlisle, and I set up arrangements for them to play at a Highschool auditorium, a Gymnasium or a Ballpark or something. I would plug the shows on my radio program and I’d go out and be the host and MC and so on.
I understand everything was rather small until you decided to take a chance and organized a country show in Memphis at the Auditorium. The first show did quite well and more shows followed but your biggest success came after a phone call from Sam Phillips, right ?
Yes, Sam phoned me and said he had this new boy who just had a record out and would I put him on a show. I agreed with Sam and so I got Elvis on a show on August 10th, 1954. He got a tremendous reaction, which really amazed me, because he had just started. Then a couple of months after that I was thinking one day and asked Elvis had he got a manager. He said “No” and well I said I’ve never been a manager but let’s try it. So I was his manager for about a year and a half.
While managing Elvis you got a good look at the Sun Record Company and you worked with Sam Phillips before in radio. How do you recall the SUN days ?
Sam Phillips is credited with discovering a different sound but he had been a radio engineer prior to that time and I know we had done some things on radio programs in Memphis on commercials where we used the electronic-slap-back-type-sound and everything. Sam more or less was the first one that really capitalized on that sound on his recordings. He was also fortunate enough to see people like Elvis and Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins knocking at his door. It was like everything fitted together and clicked at the same time. Ofcourse a lot of people have criticized Sam about the way he drove the company business wise. He was not quite as good a merchandiser or salesman as he could have been, because with the material he had at that time, if he had had the imagination and sales concepts that some other record people have, Sun Records might have become a big record company instead of reaching a peak and sort of staying there and dropping off.
What are your views on the fall of SUN in 1963 ?
Well Sam seemed to loose interest. In the later Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee days, as I recall, he seemed to loose interest to a great extend in the recordings. He had Jack Clement working with him and Jack carried the ball a lot of times. Sam was involved in various other projects and investments and he just didn’t seem to have a great deal of interest in the record business anymore. For what ever reason I don’t know but it just looked like it had fascinated him for a while and then it just seemed that he got interested in other things.
Do you think that he one man type record company, where he was in control of the recordings, the pressing, the administration etc., contributed to his success ?
Yes it contributed to his success but then like I said a moment ago I think it also kept his company from becoming a huge strong company. Sam is the type, and always was, that believed in doing everything himself or supervising everything. He never thought in concepts of becoming like an RCA or Columbia or Mercury or anybody else, where you have a large number of people that have delegated authority and run the shop themselves. I think Sam always wanted to be the whole ball of wax, which possibly was the reason that Sun Records did not expand, and later on folded.
You worked with Elvis as his manager for about a year and a half when a certain Tom Parker came into the picture. When Parker took over the management of Elvis there actually still was a contract between you and Presley was there not?
Yes I had a contract with Elvis and when, through part of my efforts, Parker got interested we had a partnership agreement. You see I was doing quite well with my radio program in Memphis. We had a record store, a large family and I didn’t really … well I felt that Elvis was going to be very big, and I didn’t want to get into the picture of being gone from town all the time. So I preferred to stay there and more or less then turned everything over to the Colonel with no…. I mean it was a friendly relationship all the way.
Are you still following Presley’s career ?
Yes and I think the Colonel has done a tremendous job with Elvis. I possibly would differ a little bit with the ways he’s gone down the line as far as concerts go. Elvis always is very found of performing for a live audience and I think possibly instead of keeping him away from an audience for so long I might have felt that it would have been better to be back with a live audience every now and then. However who is to argue with success, because apparently it’s worked tremendously well and since he has come out to do live shows again everything is a sell-out …. so like I said who is to argue with success.
The unreleased Presley Sun tracks is a subject which always jumps up when rock & roll collectors talk about Elvis and Sun Records. What can you tell us about any recordings Elvis made for SUN ?
I was involved in working on that because the interest in Elvis was growing rapidly. At first when people talked to Sam it was a fairly moderate amount of money. I recall one time being on tour with Elvis out in Texas, when Mitch Miller, who was in with CBS, called, and asked about what the price was. And I told him since I had nothing to do with the record company I would simply find out and call him back. I think Sam at that time said he wanted $ 18.000 and I called Mitch and he laughed and laughed, because back at that time in the early fifties they were not making fantastic record deals and putting out a lot of money. Then later Colonel Parker worked on it with RCA and finally got the deal okay and they paid $ 35.000 for the complete masters, tapes and everything plus a $ 5.000 bonus that went to Elvis for signing. So back at that time in late 1955 that was considered a real big deal. Sam was happy with it because he had never had a lot of money or capital and that gave him some capital to operate with and to build and to make some investments and so fort for the future.
Do you know any reason why RCA is still denying that they have the Presley tapes ?
Well no, because that was part of the deal, of the contract. They bought everything… all the tapes… the masters… demos..it was all to be delivered to RCA.
After Elvis went with Parker you went back to radio but eventually you started organizing country shows and ended up in the managing end of the business and became involved with Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and also Carl Perkins. He is one of you favorites I understand.
Carl is a wonderful person. I met him about the same time I met Johnny Cash back in Memphis and that was about the time he came out with “Blue Suede Shoes”. He was always a very pleasant person, a fine showman and a very likable person. I’ve always had a high admiration for him. I think he is one of the most underrated performers and writers in country, country-rock, rockabilly or whatever you might call it. Down through the years I think he has had more recognition overseas then he has here at home, which is … you know, it’s great that he’s received recognition but he’s not been nearly as popular here at home as I think he could have been, and I don’t know the reasons. Basically I think it’s just that when he came into the rock area, back there with “Blue Suede Shoes”, the only thing that I’ve ever thought was possibly a reason is that Carl didn’t go the route of being the pretty boy rock type thing that so many of the performers came along to at that time. Like Frankie Avalon and others that really didn’t have the talent and everything but they got TV-exposure and the image type thing that Carl just never fitted into … he was just Carl Perkins !
Wouldn’t it have helped him if he had not been the friendly type of person he is. I mean from the first minute you meet him he is your friend, and in the record business you just cannot be friends with everybody….
That’s true, if Carl would have been like other people I know, more demanding and pushing harder and so fort, it’s possible that could have made a difference. Ofcourse he had a tremendous bad break too at that time as far as exposure is concerned when he had the huge record of “Blue Suede Shoes” going and went to New York to do the Perry Como Show and he had the car accident. When we went back and did the Perry Como Show it was good but this was several months later when the record had died off you know. There is so much involved in music whether it’s pop, country or rock where the element of timing gets into it you see and if Carl had been able to get the exposure at that time I think it would have been tremendously strong. In the meantime Presley had recorded the song and as a matter of fact on many jukeboxes around the country (because Presley had the image of having the screaming kids after him) Carl’s record would be on the juke-box but the juke-box operators labeled it Elvis Presley. Simply because they thought they would get more plays that way. So possibly the wreck may have been something, being more demanding might have been another and you know it’s just unfortunate because Carl is such a wonderful person and such a fine person… it’s just a shame that he hasn’t received the recognition that I think he deserves.
What do you specifically like about the music business ?
I don’t know, I guess I just like the business as a whole. I’ve always found it very interesting, it’s always exciting to find a new artist that has promise and that you can push. It was exciting to work with Presley in the old days and it still is to work with a professional artist like Sonny James. It was exciting to work with an artist who is a little bit different like Johnny Cash and it still is today with Tom T. Hall. It was exciting to work with a talented guy like Carl Perkins and it still is with Johnny Rodriquez. It’s rewarding and interesting and I’ve always enjoyed being involved in the business.
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