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Speaker 1: Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast AM on iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 1: The Chronicles of Michael Christopher is available at Coast to

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Speaker 1: Coast am dot com. Just link up to him through

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Speaker 1: our guest page for tonight, you'll see him writing about

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Speaker 1: not just Van Halen, but all sorts of things regarding

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Speaker 1: music history. And so I go back to this point though, Michael,

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Speaker 1: which is that we are just still I think, appreciating

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Speaker 1: what he did and his unique genius, and also for

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Speaker 1: the fact that, oddly enough, and this doesn't happen very

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Speaker 1: much in music, where he really started a band along

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Speaker 1: with his brother, and that band survived a couple of

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Speaker 1: major lineup changes over the years and still kept producing

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Speaker 1: popular and worthy music. Right. I think that over the

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Speaker 1: years he had some issues with singers because he didn't

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Speaker 1: really care about the vocalist or really the lyrics. He

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Speaker 1: careless what they were singing about. At his core, he

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Speaker 1: was he was a fan of the Power Trio. He

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Speaker 1: was obsessed with Eric Clapton, but only the Cream Error,

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Speaker 1: and he loved the sound of the album Live Cream.

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Speaker 1: And I think if it were up to him, he

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Speaker 1: would be happy just playing with his brother Alex and

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Speaker 1: later his son Wolfgang on basse that was maybe the

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Speaker 1: ideal for him, and he got and Michael Anthony, who

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Speaker 1: was obviously terrific, And well, what is interesting about that

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Speaker 1: power trio thing, I think is that some people have

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Speaker 1: argued that that's the purest form of rock, in the

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Speaker 1: sense that like a triangle replicates a pyramid, it's sturdy

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Speaker 1: from every direction. And if all three performers are equally yoked,

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Speaker 1: you get these amazing albums like Cream, or you get

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Speaker 1: the work of people like Van Halen, with or without

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Speaker 1: a lead singer like David Lee Roth. But when David

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Speaker 1: Lee Roth left and I happen to be a fan

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Speaker 1: of the Sammy Hagar period two, I think that was

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Speaker 1: much to his credit as well that the band's sound changed.

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Speaker 1: I mean, there's no denying how it changed, but it

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Speaker 1: was cool and kind of a whole new way, and

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Speaker 1: that was that's like never happens, right. And there were

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Speaker 1: two main differences between Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth.

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Speaker 1: The first is that Sammy Hagar is miles away a

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Speaker 1: better singer, and the other is that Dave is a

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Speaker 1: better lyricist by leaps and bounds than Sammy is. But

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Speaker 1: with Sammy, Eddie felt that he could express himself more

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Speaker 1: through his musical training, and the band incorporated a lot

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Speaker 1: more keyboards into the room. Eddie was, of course, still

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Speaker 1: able to shred. I mean, you listen to all those

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Speaker 1: records that he did with Sammy. He's still ripping it

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Speaker 1: up on guitar. But so many of those songs mean

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Speaker 1: you hear a song like when It's Loved the Ballad

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Speaker 1: or right Now of course they're they're all led by

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Speaker 1: the keyboards and the piano. Well that and Love Walks

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Speaker 1: in which I'll be popping on later on as a

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Speaker 1: bumper too, which I just happened to think as an

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Speaker 1: amazing melody. But it's what's interesting about that is that

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Speaker 1: Sammy Hagar was no slouching guitar either. I was. I

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Speaker 1: was a fan of him back into like the Red days,

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Speaker 1: you know, I remember him kind of when he was breaking,

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Speaker 1: And so that was an interesting confluence that they were

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Speaker 1: able to put together what something wasn't really considered a

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Speaker 1: super group. It was Sammy Hagar has taken over the lead,

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Speaker 1: but he could play guitar, not like Eddie, but he

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Speaker 1: wasn't a bad lead guitar player. On his own right. Well,

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Speaker 1: Sammy Hagar, of course, he was around one of the

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Speaker 1: best teachers someone could have. And that's Ronnie Montrose when

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Speaker 1: he was in the band. I love that. So what

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Speaker 1: a great band. Yeah, I love I love Montrose's version

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Speaker 1: of Town without Pity. That's that's a great version of that.

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Speaker 1: Oh my god, I love that song. But when Sammy

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Speaker 1: into Van Halen, he was already a well established solo

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Speaker 1: artist and he was playing he was playing state and

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Speaker 1: not stadiums, he was playing arenas. And when he joined

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Speaker 1: up with the band, it was pretty exciting for a

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Speaker 1: lot of people because it was in a way like

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Speaker 1: like a supergroup. You had this well eyed singer. They

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Speaker 1: didn't just find a nobody. It wasn't like ACDC when

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Speaker 1: they found Brian Johnson and it was somebody who, well,

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Speaker 1: who's that guy. It's everybody knew I can't drive fifty five.

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Speaker 1: Everybody knew three lock box right, and it was it

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Speaker 1: freed up Eddie with Sammy's guitar playing. It freed up

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Speaker 1: Eddie to explore different textures within his own music and

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Speaker 1: within his own band. Yeah, that's very interesting. I like

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Speaker 1: how you're talking about that. There's no mystery surrounding the

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Speaker 1: death of Eddie van Halen. I mean, this was semi

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Speaker 1: predictable in a sad way, especially when you see those

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Speaker 1: early photos of the band and there's Eddie van Halen

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Speaker 1: with that distinctive cigarette stuck on his lower lip while

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Speaker 1: he's playing, you know, for hours on end, and I mean,

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Speaker 1: you hate to see it, you hate to think about that,

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Speaker 1: but it's a good reminder that there are, you know,

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Speaker 1: health implications that come from smoking, and this is one

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Speaker 1: of those. It ends people's lives too early, too often.

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Speaker 1: But what is interesting to me is that there was

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Speaker 1: a kind of he was able to capture some real

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Speaker 1: chemistry in his lifetime that not many people do. And

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Speaker 1: in that, even with those lineup changes, he was able

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Speaker 1: to come up, at least for several albums at a

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Speaker 1: time with other performers, some pretty unique sounds through that chemistry.

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Speaker 1: And that's the mystery that's so elusive, because so many

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Speaker 1: other bands could never pull it up. I mean, when

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Speaker 1: Freddie Mercury died, I mean, Queen's still tours and there's

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Speaker 1: been a couple of people in the lead position and

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Speaker 1: that's kind of cool, but it'll never be Queen and

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Speaker 1: it was still Van Halen even with Sammy Hagar as

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Speaker 1: lead vocalist, right, Especially when you have the guitarist who

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Speaker 1: is the centerpiece of the band, it's really hard to

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Speaker 1: find a great band to get around him. There's there's

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Speaker 1: dozens of phenomenal guitarists out there, but they never find

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Speaker 1: the great band to surround themselves with. And Eddie was

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Speaker 1: able to do that twice, which is it's unheard of

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Speaker 1: in music. And again he had to grow a lot

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Speaker 1: with Sammy Hagar, and I think that that contributed to

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Speaker 1: the longevity of the band. They were able to survive

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Speaker 1: the influx of grunge music because they didn't sound like

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Speaker 1: a band from the Sunset Strip. They didn't sound like

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Speaker 1: a hair metal band. Yeah, constant evolution within the group. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I love that. In fact, that's a really good point

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Speaker 1: because there were so many Van Halen wannabe bands that

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Speaker 1: came out and they were good. They had an album

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Speaker 1: or two, and I always a couple of good tracks,

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Speaker 1: and you know, I'm always game for a little great

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Speaker 1: light everything once in a while, or rat or you know,

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Speaker 1: thrown around the round. You've got me all in. But

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Speaker 1: there's a difference with Eddie and all those other guitarists

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Speaker 1: in those bands. You never saw him without a guitar

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Speaker 1: in his hands, and by all accounts, he wasn't really

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Speaker 1: comfortable without it in his hands. And that's that's how

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Speaker 1: he chose to speak to people, not true interviews or

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Speaker 1: coming up to the microphone door in concerts, and when

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Speaker 1: the band wasn't on the road or on the stage,

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Speaker 1: ninety percent of the time, Eddie would be in the

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Speaker 1: studio or in his hotel room practicing. Now, he did

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Speaker 1: his share of partying, and that's well documented. Yeah, he

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Speaker 1: was most at home with his guitar, and I think

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Speaker 1: that's one of the things that separated him from other

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Speaker 1: musicians who were watching the clock in the studio, waiting

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Speaker 1: for the time and there to end so they could

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Speaker 1: get out, go to the clubs, experienced their fandom. They

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Speaker 1: wanted to get all the accolades from being famous, and

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Speaker 1: I really don't think Eddie cared much for that. He

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Speaker 1: cared about the music. We're talking with music historian Michael Christopher.

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Speaker 1: You can link up to him through Coast to Coast

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Speaker 1: dot com. Yeah, everything you said is true. I think

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Speaker 1: what's interesting to point out, though, is that I met

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Speaker 1: him a couple of times. Have you did you ever

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Speaker 1: meet him? Well, no, I met him in nineteen ninety eight,

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Speaker 1: but it was in one of those backstage kind of

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Speaker 1: cattle call things where you go up through the quick

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Speaker 1: meet and greek, get a picture with a bunch of

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Speaker 1: people that you don't even know, and then you move on,

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Speaker 1: so you get to say something like thank you very

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Speaker 1: much for the music and move along. Now, yeah, that's

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Speaker 1: that's pretty much what I had too, although I was

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Speaker 1: I was the morning host on a rock station at

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Speaker 1: the time, so I got a little bit more time,

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Speaker 1: but it was it was very much like the same thing.

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Speaker 1: And what I somebody asked me on Twitter about this

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Speaker 1: tonight and I told them that what I my memory

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Speaker 1: of every time I met the Sammy Hagar led van

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Speaker 1: Halen backstage was just how nice they were, and they

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Speaker 1: were never I mean, I've been backstage on my whole life, right,

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Speaker 1: And I mean it got to a point where it

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Speaker 1: was just another day at the office. It's cool as

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Speaker 1: it is to meet famous people and get autographs and whatever,

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Speaker 1: and I'm as dopey as the next guy, but here

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Speaker 1: we were all geeking out because it was Eddie when

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Speaker 1: Eddie van Halen walked into the room, and he was

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Speaker 1: just perfectly nice about it. Introverted, but he just could

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Speaker 1: He never he didn't make anybody feel uncomfortable for the fawning,

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Speaker 1: and that's I measure somebody's worth on that. I don't

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Speaker 1: know if everybody's had that same experience, but that's how

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Speaker 1: I will remember it. And I saw it. It happened twice,

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Speaker 1: So I had a feeling much about Eddie van Halen

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Speaker 1: that he would almost go out of his way to

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Speaker 1: make people feel more comfortable around them because he knew

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Speaker 1: what it was like. He knew what it was like

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Speaker 1: to be to sit there and be in the presence

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Speaker 1: of one of your idols and and freak out a

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Speaker 1: little bit. But he wanted to make whoever it was,

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Speaker 1: whether it was a stand coming up to meet him

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Speaker 1: for the first time or some guitarists. It was even

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Speaker 1: very well known on his own. I mean, there's there's

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Speaker 1: legions of guitarists out there who are well known by

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Speaker 1: their first and last name that they were quaking in

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Speaker 1: their boots they first met right and he was just

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Speaker 1: as kind as could be with them. Yeah, like Joe

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Speaker 1: Satriani Steve. I mean, some other people are pretty pretty

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Speaker 1: darn good, and you know, people forget like he also

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Speaker 1: had a little bit of fun with doing the whole

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Speaker 1: thing to beat it solo, right, and uh, working with

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Speaker 1: Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones that seems so out of place.

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Speaker 1: He knew Quincy Jones and that's that's one of those

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Speaker 1: great stories in rock and roll where Quincy Jones called

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Speaker 1: up Eddie and he said, hey, Eddie, it's Quincy and

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Speaker 1: Eddie Quincy who he said, it's Quincy Jones and Eddie

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Speaker 1: hung up the phone on him, called back and he said, hey,

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Speaker 1: it's it's really is Quincy and he said, what do

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Speaker 1: you what do you want? He's like, look, I'm I'm

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Speaker 1: producing Michael Jackson's new album. You know he did the

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Speaker 1: album Off the Wall. He's got this new album that

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Speaker 1: I'm working on, and I'd like you to come down

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Speaker 1: and maybe play a play guitar solo or something on it.

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Speaker 1: And he goes, yeah, no problem, Quincy, I'll come down.

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Speaker 1: I'd be honored to come down and work with you.

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Speaker 1: And because Michael Jackson at that point wasn't Michael Jackson,

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Speaker 1: so Eddie, well, Off the Wall was pretty big, but

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Speaker 1: it didn't blow up like Thriller did. I mean, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I remember it was already a number one album on

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Speaker 1: R and B and pop charts, but I'll go with

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Speaker 1: you on a Thriller was a whole new level. That

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Speaker 1: just all there is to it. Yeah, that's just worldwide,

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Speaker 1: into the stratosphere. You could go into some cave somewhere

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Speaker 1: and had the Thriller record. But when Eddie did go

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Speaker 1: into the studio to work on the track that became Beaated,

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Speaker 1: he just did two improvised solos. They kind of melded

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Speaker 1: to two of them together, and that was it, walked

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Speaker 1: out and he was finished. Never got a dime for it,

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Speaker 1: never asked for one, and it went on to become

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Speaker 1: one of the biggest selling pop singles of all time. Well,

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Speaker 1: the album is still number one or the album, right,

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Speaker 1: I believe Thriller is still the number one selling single album,

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Speaker 1: that double album, but the number one singing selling single album,

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Speaker 1: Yes it is, it is, And that's that's one of

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Speaker 1: those things where you just marvel and say wow. And

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Speaker 1: he didn't get a dime for playing on that record, yea,

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Speaker 1: and he really didn't care. I think the even funnier

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Speaker 1: thing was that he didn't the band was off the

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Speaker 1: road at the time. Dan Helm was off the road.

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Speaker 1: They were all doing their own things. He didn't think

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Speaker 1: anyone would ever know. He thought that no one's ever

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Speaker 1: going to hear this. And there was a story where

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Speaker 1: a couple months after the or a couple of weeks

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Speaker 1: after the record came out, when Beat It came out,

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Speaker 1: David Lee Roth had pulled into a seven to eleven

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Speaker 1: pick up some soda or whatever before he was going

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Speaker 1: to the studio when he heard beat It blasting out

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Speaker 1: of somebody's car and he said, this guitarist, he's ripping

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Speaker 1: off Eddie. He sounds just like Eddie. And he got

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Speaker 1: to the studio. He was fuming. He said, you wouldn't

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Speaker 1: believe it. Michael Jackson has this guy on his record.

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Speaker 1: He sounds like you, and he, you know, bashfully kind

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Speaker 1: of said, well, David, it is me. That's me on there.

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Speaker 1: And they said, Marvel, what did we get for it?

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Speaker 1: How much money did you make? David Lee Roth? Oh yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 1: Not to mention in an out sort of way, you know,

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Speaker 1: everybody always accused David Lee Roth of selling out all

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Speaker 1: the time, right that he was he gave up on

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Speaker 1: his rock roots. And even though Eddie Van Halen cut

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Speaker 1: that solo, he never suffered that. It was always in

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Speaker 1: a way because I was working in hard rock radio

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Speaker 1: at the time, and it was always viewed the other

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Speaker 1: way around, that he elevated Michael Jackson, not he lowered

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Speaker 1: himself to perform on an R and B record or

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Speaker 1: a non metal album. That's really interesting that you've you've

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Speaker 1: mentioned that because it would be looked at if it

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Speaker 1: was anybody else, said, oh, what are they doing? What

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Speaker 1: they're taking a step down by going into this other genre.

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Speaker 1: And what it did was that brought Michael Jackson to

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Speaker 1: the rock audience. That brought him to the audience it

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Speaker 1: might not be into his music, and all of a

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Speaker 1: sudden they started thinking, Wow, well, this this Michael Jackson guy,

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Speaker 1: he must be cool. We's got Eddie Van hallm play

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Speaker 1: on his record, He's got Paul McCartney on there, and

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Speaker 1: we should give this guy a chance. And that's the

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Speaker 1: rock world. And then next thing you know, he transcends

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Speaker 1: all genres and a lot of that has to do

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Speaker 1: with Eddie Van Allen. Listen to more Coast to Coast

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Speaker 1: am every weeknight at one am Eastern and go to

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Speaker 1: Coast to coast am dot com for more