1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:15,880 Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. The stories about 2 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:20,680 Speaker 1: Van Halen are insane. They hunted down bootleggers with the 3 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:24,759 Speaker 1: help of US marshals. They barely escaped the wrath of 4 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: an angry fan after cracking open his head with a 5 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:32,120 Speaker 1: beer bottle. Their singer was arrested after violating the fire 6 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:35,519 Speaker 1: code at a venue where eleven people had been killed 7 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:39,840 Speaker 1: just months prior. Their guitarist had a drug dealer on call. 8 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:42,280 Speaker 1: Twenty four to seven, the Fly around the World and 9 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:46,080 Speaker 1: scorm Dope, and on the backs of one of rock 10 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:50,920 Speaker 1: and Roll's greatest innovators and its greatest ring master, Van 11 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 1: Halen made great music, unlike that clip I played for 12 00:00:56,920 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 1: you at the top. 13 00:00:57,560 --> 00:00:58,040 Speaker 2: Of the show. 14 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:02,279 Speaker 1: That wasn't great music. That was a preset loop from 15 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:08,760 Speaker 1: my mellotron called Neither Husk nor Cobb MK two. I 16 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 1: played you that clip because I can't afford the rights 17 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:15,280 Speaker 1: to a clip from Say Say Say by Paul McCartney 18 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:19,200 Speaker 1: and Michael Jackson. And why would I play you that 19 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:23,720 Speaker 1: specific slice of Ooh Ooh ooh cheese? Could I afford it? 20 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:29,080 Speaker 1: Because that was the number one song in America on 21 00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 1: January ninth, nineteen eighty four, and that was the day 22 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:37,319 Speaker 1: Van Halen released their sixth studio album, an album that 23 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: was intended to keep the band together but instead wound 24 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:44,479 Speaker 1: up being the thing that finally tore them apart. On 25 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:50,520 Speaker 1: this episode Cracked Heads, drug dealers on call, bootleggers, us. 26 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 2: Marshals, ooh ooh, ooh, cheese and van Halen. 27 00:01:54,920 --> 00:02:24,480 Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan, and this is disgracelant. Eddie van Halen 28 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:27,920 Speaker 1: was not like other guitar players. I'm not talking about 29 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:30,600 Speaker 1: a sheer musical talent, which was light years ahead of 30 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:33,799 Speaker 1: his peers. I'm talking about the way he looked when 31 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:37,680 Speaker 1: he played guitar, The joy that radiated from his face. 32 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:41,800 Speaker 2: It was infectious, It was unique. It was a look 33 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:44,520 Speaker 2: that said, holy shit, can you believe that I'm doing this? 34 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:49,280 Speaker 1: Playing amused him, just as it amused kids like me, 35 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 1: those of us lucky enough to come of age when 36 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:53,960 Speaker 1: Eddie van Halen was making some of his greatest music, 37 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:56,840 Speaker 1: and lucky enough to watch Eddie play with the same 38 00:02:56,919 --> 00:02:58,600 Speaker 1: effort it took the rest of us. 39 00:02:58,440 --> 00:02:59,840 Speaker 2: To eat our wheaties in the morning. 40 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 1: Eddie van Halen his two hand tapping his lightning speed. 41 00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:08,280 Speaker 1: Both sets of fingers attacking the next simultaneously with complete 42 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:13,720 Speaker 1: ingenuity and exhilaration. He was chaos and creativity, a trickster 43 00:03:13,919 --> 00:03:19,519 Speaker 1: and a comic bugs bunny with a six string. Eddie 44 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:21,880 Speaker 1: van Halen didn't just play things that others had failed 45 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:24,760 Speaker 1: to play. He played things that others had failed to imagine. 46 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:27,840 Speaker 1: And he did it all with a huge smile on 47 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:28,320 Speaker 1: his face. 48 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:31,359 Speaker 2: It's so refreshing. It was then and it is now. 49 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:34,000 Speaker 2: But it's not like Eddie van Halen. 50 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: Just woke up one morning a guitar guy. He worked 51 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:39,720 Speaker 1: for it. He fought for it, just like he fought 52 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:43,640 Speaker 1: for everything. The son of a Dutch father and Indonesian mother, 53 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:46,520 Speaker 1: Eddie was just seven years old when his family moved 54 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:50,240 Speaker 1: from Holland to America. He and his older brother Alex 55 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:54,480 Speaker 1: didn't catch rays or waves in Pasadena, California, not at 56 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:55,200 Speaker 1: first anyway. 57 00:03:56,040 --> 00:03:57,480 Speaker 2: Instead, they caught beatings. 58 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 1: Local kids saw them as outcasts, weirdo freaks who couldn't 59 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:04,880 Speaker 1: speak a lick of English, and bullies were everywhere. They 60 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:08,800 Speaker 1: ripped up Eddie's homework and they made him eat sand, so. 61 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:10,320 Speaker 2: He retreated to his room. 62 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:14,040 Speaker 1: Not unlike another California musical genius, at the very same 63 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:17,120 Speaker 1: time searching for something in the sandbox in his living 64 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: room Brian Wilson. Just like Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys, 65 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: Eddie van Halen ran from what scared him and chased 66 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: the sounds that he heard, sounds no one else could hear, 67 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:32,560 Speaker 1: and the chase thrilled him. 68 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 2: He knew the sounds were out there. 69 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:38,920 Speaker 1: Hot rotting through southern California car culture, garage culture, a 70 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:42,320 Speaker 1: gold rush landscape of beaters and cherries, junk yards and 71 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:45,599 Speaker 1: chop shops, a world where scraps can build something new. 72 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:49,040 Speaker 1: But the van Halen's found building a new life harder 73 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:49,760 Speaker 1: than expected. 74 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 2: In the land of. 75 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:55,839 Speaker 1: Opportunity, all they found were the scraps. A respected musician 76 00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:59,039 Speaker 1: back home in Holland, Eddie van Halen's father was no 77 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:02,960 Speaker 1: more than a jan in America. The family had little money. 78 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:07,800 Speaker 1: Innovation was all Eddie had. Necessity, being the mother of 79 00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:11,320 Speaker 1: invention and all that. Eddie van Halen literally built himself. 80 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 2: A guitar that didn't exist for cheap. 81 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:16,720 Speaker 1: He bought a factory secondhand stratocaster body from a repair 82 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:21,240 Speaker 1: shop that specialized in aftermarket hardware, cost him fifty bucks, 83 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:23,680 Speaker 1: and then he spent another eighty bucks on the neck 84 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:26,200 Speaker 1: and then a strat tail piece with a Whammi bar 85 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:29,800 Speaker 1: and some jumbo Gibson Fretz and vola a guitar of necessity, 86 00:05:30,279 --> 00:05:31,279 Speaker 1: a Frankenstrat. 87 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:33,360 Speaker 2: But he didn't stop there. 88 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:38,000 Speaker 1: The guitar's body, being a stratocaster style, was pre routed 89 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:40,800 Speaker 1: for three single coil pickups, which I don't get deep 90 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:42,640 Speaker 1: into the weeds here on Nerdy guitar Ship, but just 91 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:45,120 Speaker 1: hear me out. Pickups are the things in the guitar 92 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:49,279 Speaker 1: that amplify the guitar. A Fender stratocaster has space in 93 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 1: the body of the guitar for three skinny pickups, and 94 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: that's just the way they're made. If you want something different, 95 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 1: you gotta get a different guitar. Eddie van Halen did 96 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:01,440 Speaker 1: want something different, but he couldn't have it, so he 97 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:04,760 Speaker 1: chiseled out a bigger cavity in the guitar's body to 98 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:07,400 Speaker 1: be able to fit in a single humbucker pickup, which 99 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:10,640 Speaker 1: is more common with Gibson guitars than with Fender guitars. 100 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:14,719 Speaker 1: Like the stratocasters, Eddie preferred the humbucker pickup because it 101 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:18,520 Speaker 1: gave him a fatter sound, and this in turn left 102 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:21,440 Speaker 1: his Frankenstrat with two gaping holes in the middle of 103 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:23,480 Speaker 1: its body because there were no pickups in there, and 104 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:25,440 Speaker 1: he just sort of covered that up with this narrowly 105 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:28,680 Speaker 1: piece of black vinyl. It was a monstrosity, but it 106 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: didn't matter. The guitar wasn't the important thing. The sound, 107 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:37,320 Speaker 1: the tone, that was the thing. Eddie van Halen chased 108 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:40,080 Speaker 1: that thing while his brother Alex, already an incredible drummer 109 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:42,359 Speaker 1: in his own right, chased tail at high school parties. 110 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:45,800 Speaker 1: Alex had a sound. Every time Alex hit his snare, 111 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:50,440 Speaker 1: Eddie went full synesthesia and saw a color brown. Thus, 112 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:55,720 Speaker 1: the brown sound a tone so elusive and so impactful, 113 00:06:55,839 --> 00:06:58,159 Speaker 1: as I understand it, when you find it and play 114 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:00,000 Speaker 1: it out loud, you immediately shit your pants. 115 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:01,799 Speaker 2: No wait, I'm thinking of the brown note. 116 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:03,960 Speaker 1: Sorry, I know that's gross, but this is an episode 117 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:06,039 Speaker 1: on van Halen, so get ready to be grossed out. 118 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:10,239 Speaker 2: My point is Alex van Halen would return home from. 119 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:12,960 Speaker 1: Those wild parties find Eddie van Halen right there where 120 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:14,720 Speaker 1: he left him, sitting on the corner of his bed. 121 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:18,280 Speaker 1: Franken Stratton hand six empty Kansas Schlitz at his side 122 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:20,440 Speaker 1: and thinking about the Zeppelin show with the form they'd 123 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:23,880 Speaker 1: just seen Jimmy Page hammering the strings with a single hand, 124 00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 1: thinking why couldn't you do that with both hands. A 125 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: smile crept across Eddie van Halen's face as he began 126 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:33,280 Speaker 1: to let his own hands do. What they did, and 127 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:38,880 Speaker 1: what they did amused the hell out of him. Eddie's 128 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 1: innovations were on full display on his band van Halen's 129 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:46,720 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy eight self titled debut, an album that introduced 130 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 1: the world to not just Eddie and Alex, but to 131 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:55,040 Speaker 1: bassist Michael Anthony and the incredible and flamboyant lead singer 132 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:58,560 Speaker 1: David Lee Roth. It's an album that went platinum in 133 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:01,680 Speaker 1: a little over six months. It featured their lethal cover 134 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:04,360 Speaker 1: of the Kinks You Really Got Me, and also killer 135 00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: original tunes like Ain't Talking About Love and Eddie's mind 136 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:11,760 Speaker 1: blowing solo guitar track eruption. It is so fucking good 137 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:14,480 Speaker 1: this record. Okay, this record when you first hear it. 138 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:16,040 Speaker 1: If you're a young kid out there who has not 139 00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:19,440 Speaker 1: heard this album before, just go stop Stop. I'll take 140 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:22,840 Speaker 1: the hit on the podcast download Just stop go listen 141 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:25,640 Speaker 1: to the first Van Halen record, It will blow your 142 00:08:25,680 --> 00:08:28,600 Speaker 1: fucking mind. I remember exactly where I was when I 143 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:29,960 Speaker 1: first heard it. I was sitting in the back of 144 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:32,320 Speaker 1: rich host car. They were passing a bong into the 145 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:34,679 Speaker 1: back seat. I was fifteen years old. I hit it, 146 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:39,079 Speaker 1: eruption hit. My mind was blown. As Eddie van Halen says, 147 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:40,439 Speaker 1: so Brown, Okay. 148 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:41,640 Speaker 2: Back to the. 149 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:46,120 Speaker 1: Episode, Eddie was extremely proud of this record, and of 150 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:48,960 Speaker 1: his innovations and how his guitar and his playing were 151 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:53,640 Speaker 1: unlike anyone else's. He was also extremely protective of these things. 152 00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:56,120 Speaker 1: It had been a struggle to get to this point, 153 00:08:56,760 --> 00:08:59,240 Speaker 1: the humiliation that he and his family had endured as 154 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:02,679 Speaker 1: immigrants trying to make it, the countless hours of practicing 155 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:06,839 Speaker 1: and building and rebuilding, gouging, routing, painting, only to now 156 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:10,320 Speaker 1: watch all of his innovations, his ideas, his struggle, they 157 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:16,000 Speaker 1: were all now incredibly being stolen from him. Other guitar 158 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:18,880 Speaker 1: manufacturers were now on the heels of Van Halen's hit 159 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:22,360 Speaker 1: new record, making their own freaknstrats, flooding the market with 160 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:28,280 Speaker 1: pale imitations, copycats, con artists, Charlatan's hawkers, trying to make 161 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:30,800 Speaker 1: a quick buck with a knockoff, just like the grifters 162 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:33,920 Speaker 1: slinging fake gucci on the streets of La just like 163 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:39,720 Speaker 1: the bootleggers selling bogus van Halen merchandise. The bootleggers were fearless, 164 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:43,280 Speaker 1: and they were everywhere, working the arenas and parking lots 165 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:47,280 Speaker 1: at every stop of van Halen's tour. And these bootleggers, 166 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:49,840 Speaker 1: they were selling fake shirts for a fraction of the price. 167 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:53,280 Speaker 1: And by the early eighties, a few records deep into 168 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:56,640 Speaker 1: their career, van Halen were grossing two hundred and fifty 169 00:09:56,679 --> 00:10:01,880 Speaker 1: thousand dollars in merch sales alone every night night, all cash, 170 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:05,400 Speaker 1: big money again, quarter million dollars. 171 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:06,760 Speaker 2: A night in cash. 172 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:11,080 Speaker 1: The bootleggers naturally wanted a taste of that action, but 173 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 1: soon they had other action headed their way. 174 00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:18,040 Speaker 2: Not Eddie. 175 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:20,480 Speaker 1: Eddie was busy installing a dummy pickup in one of 176 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:23,160 Speaker 1: the holes in this frankenstra a second pickup that wasn't 177 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:26,120 Speaker 1: actually wired to anything, but through the guitar manufacturers for 178 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:30,360 Speaker 1: Loot fucked up and fucked the bootleggers too. They messed 179 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:32,280 Speaker 1: with the bull and they were going to get the horns. 180 00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:35,960 Speaker 1: Van Halen's manager, a guy with a background in martial 181 00:10:36,040 --> 00:10:38,680 Speaker 1: arts and a permit to carry a concealed weapon. Which 182 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:42,280 Speaker 1: isn't to say that Noel Monk handled these clowns unlawfully. 183 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:46,760 Speaker 1: Their manager, Nol Monk, actually obtained a nationwide injunction against 184 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:50,679 Speaker 1: bootleggers which allowed for the assistance of US marshals and 185 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:55,280 Speaker 1: taking these bootleggers down. But knockoff t shirts weren't high 186 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:58,120 Speaker 1: on the purp list, and the marshals weren't always. 187 00:10:57,800 --> 00:10:59,559 Speaker 2: There right when you needed them. 188 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:02,280 Speaker 1: The urge to go after a bootlegger the moment you 189 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:05,400 Speaker 1: saw them was just too tempting to pass up. Some 190 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:08,640 Speaker 1: caught one glimpse of Noel Monk took off running. Others 191 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:12,800 Speaker 1: weren't so lucky. Their bullshit merch confiscated the keys to 192 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:16,080 Speaker 1: their van tossed them a nearby lake. Some had a 193 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:19,760 Speaker 1: deal not just with Monk, but with Pack Kelly, former 194 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:23,400 Speaker 1: Chicago cop now head of Van Halen's merch team. 195 00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:25,079 Speaker 2: Pack Kelly used. 196 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:28,440 Speaker 1: Cop intuition and cop intimidation to get the job done 197 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:31,920 Speaker 1: and get his man go after the little guy, some 198 00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:34,600 Speaker 1: foot soldier with an armful of knockoff teas he's selling 199 00:11:34,679 --> 00:11:37,160 Speaker 1: for eight bucks a pop. Pack Kelly put the fear 200 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:39,679 Speaker 1: of God and kids like that, or rather even better, 201 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:42,720 Speaker 1: the fear of a retired police officer with zero focks 202 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:45,200 Speaker 1: to give and even less to lose, a real tough 203 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:48,120 Speaker 1: guy who now made ends meet by ringing the next 204 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:50,439 Speaker 1: little dickheads for one of the biggest rock groups in 205 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:52,560 Speaker 1: the world. So what's it gonna be? 206 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:55,520 Speaker 2: Pat would say, speak up or eat shit, fuckstick. 207 00:11:56,080 --> 00:11:58,800 Speaker 1: Pretty soon that little punk is telling pack Kelly what 208 00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:01,760 Speaker 1: he wants to know, who's running this sad excuse for 209 00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:03,360 Speaker 1: business and where the fuck is he? 210 00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:05,959 Speaker 2: And that's when the local PD and. 211 00:12:05,920 --> 00:12:08,640 Speaker 1: The marshals get there and the whole thing is squashed, 212 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:13,120 Speaker 1: at least for tonight. Noel Monk and Pat Kelly's efforts 213 00:12:13,160 --> 00:12:16,319 Speaker 1: helped to protect their employer van Halen's brand and their 214 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 1: bottom line as well, and thus allowing Eddie van Halen 215 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:22,439 Speaker 1: to focus on the things he wanted to do. Play 216 00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:26,240 Speaker 1: innovat and grim ear to ear caught up in the 217 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:53,040 Speaker 1: chase searching for the sound. By the time van Halen 218 00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:55,720 Speaker 1: had a security team big enough to run interference on 219 00:12:55,800 --> 00:13:00,200 Speaker 1: merchandise bootleggers, they were sitting pretty in the catbirds see 220 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:04,800 Speaker 1: Cocky Ubiquitous Hair Tea's tall with sight set higher than 221 00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:07,920 Speaker 1: a David Lee Roth split jump off Alex's drum riser, 222 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:11,560 Speaker 1: and to get that high diamond, Dave knew you had 223 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:12,400 Speaker 1: to put on a show. 224 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:15,240 Speaker 2: The greatest show on Earth. 225 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:21,320 Speaker 1: Dave was Tarzan and spandex p t Barnum reaching down 226 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:23,440 Speaker 1: between his legs to ease that seatback. 227 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:28,920 Speaker 2: This was his circus. These were his monkeys, and make 228 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:30,120 Speaker 2: no mistake about it. 229 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:33,880 Speaker 1: The pistons on the tour bus were popping, and the 230 00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:35,680 Speaker 1: top of the big Top was down, and it was 231 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:45,000 Speaker 1: party time. April nineteen eighty, Cincinnati, five months after eleven 232 00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:47,839 Speaker 1: fans were crushed to death during a concert by The Who. 233 00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:51,960 Speaker 1: It happened at the Riverfront Coliseum, the same venue that 234 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:54,960 Speaker 1: Van Halen's circus was now pulling into for a stop 235 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:58,760 Speaker 1: on their World Invasion Tour, or is the band referred 236 00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:01,880 Speaker 1: to it internally the Party Till You Die Tour. Not 237 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:06,800 Speaker 1: exactly in the best taste given the circumstances. The Riverfront 238 00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:11,880 Speaker 1: Hood tragedy was still fresh. The press called it a stampede, 239 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:16,080 Speaker 1: people trampled underfoot, which was true. But the people who 240 00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:20,360 Speaker 1: died they died standing up, squeezed together so tightly that 241 00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:23,840 Speaker 1: their lungs couldn't expand strangled by the body. 242 00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:25,280 Speaker 2: Standing next to them. 243 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:30,160 Speaker 1: And now tonight security was on high alert, enforcing the 244 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:32,760 Speaker 1: new safety measures put in place to ensure that no 245 00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:36,320 Speaker 1: one would die at Riverfront again, including the rule that 246 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:40,160 Speaker 1: banned open flames of any kind, a rule that David 247 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:43,840 Speaker 1: Lee Roth didn't know about or didn't care about. All 248 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:46,720 Speaker 1: he saw were people having a good time, which is 249 00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:47,920 Speaker 1: what Van Halen. 250 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:49,960 Speaker 2: Delivered a party. 251 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:54,360 Speaker 1: The crowd was wild, close to two hundred arrested for 252 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:57,640 Speaker 1: drugs and booze, another one hundred tossed for violating that 253 00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:01,560 Speaker 1: open flame rule, and Diamond Dave in handcuffs, hauled off 254 00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:03,920 Speaker 1: to a Cincinnati jail cell for playing the part of 255 00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:08,280 Speaker 1: pied piper, not just a master of ceremonies, an inCider 256 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:12,320 Speaker 1: of riots, charged with encouraging the audience to violate the 257 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:16,400 Speaker 1: fire code. In his defense, Dave said he was merely 258 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:18,760 Speaker 1: caught up in the moment, repeating a line from their 259 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:22,040 Speaker 1: song Light Up the Sky, over and over. But when 260 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:25,080 Speaker 1: the crowd heard Dave chant light him up, they did 261 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:27,920 Speaker 1: as they were told. Smoked them if you got them. 262 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:30,520 Speaker 1: The cops did get Dave, but only for a few hours. 263 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:34,200 Speaker 1: Released on a five thousand dollars bond, back to the band, 264 00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:37,360 Speaker 1: back to the party, more emboldened than ever to carry 265 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:39,880 Speaker 1: out his mission. People are going to walk out of 266 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:41,560 Speaker 1: a Van Halen show. They're going to feel like the 267 00:15:41,560 --> 00:15:43,760 Speaker 1: building can fall on them, feel like a car hit him. 268 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:47,760 Speaker 1: Dave told the DJ later that summer. Again, not really 269 00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:49,600 Speaker 1: in the best taste to talk about your bed as 270 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:51,840 Speaker 1: something that can kill a man, given the fact that 271 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:54,160 Speaker 1: the who tragedy wasn't all that far in the rear view. 272 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:57,720 Speaker 1: But that was Dave's party, party that worked best, and 273 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:00,000 Speaker 1: it was out of control when it had no bounds. 274 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:04,920 Speaker 1: Unlike Dave, Eddie didn't drink to party. He didn't do 275 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:08,160 Speaker 1: coke just to have a good time either. Cocaine kept 276 00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:12,040 Speaker 1: him up all hours, hours he spent practicing getting a 277 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:13,239 Speaker 1: leg up on the competition. 278 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:16,480 Speaker 2: Alcohol, on the other hand, lowered. 279 00:16:16,240 --> 00:16:19,400 Speaker 1: Eddie's inhibitions, allowing him to attempt things on the guitar 280 00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:22,760 Speaker 1: that he wouldn't have tried sober. Eddie Van Halen did 281 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:26,920 Speaker 1: drugs and alcohol for work, and work is what the 282 00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:30,160 Speaker 1: band needed to do a few years earlier, at the 283 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:33,840 Speaker 1: end of nineteen seventy eight, fresh off their first World tour, 284 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:37,640 Speaker 1: readying their second LP, Van Halen TiO for release in 285 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:40,840 Speaker 1: the spring of seventy nine. But what should have been 286 00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:44,960 Speaker 1: a moment of celebration instead was one of frustration and confusion. 287 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:49,280 Speaker 1: They were stuck with a massive bill roughly one point 288 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:52,960 Speaker 1: two million dollars owed to their record label, despite their 289 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:57,720 Speaker 1: great success to Warner Brothers, it was just business to 290 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:01,120 Speaker 1: Van Halen, especially to Eddie and Alex, still living at 291 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:05,600 Speaker 1: home with their parents dead broke. It was motivation, motivation 292 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:11,119 Speaker 1: to work harder, sell more records, play bigger venues. Debt 293 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:14,480 Speaker 1: was just another bully on the playground. To be the 294 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:16,960 Speaker 1: biggest band on Earth meant putting on the greatest show 295 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:18,640 Speaker 1: on Earth, Dave's show. 296 00:17:19,320 --> 00:17:20,960 Speaker 2: So everything got bigger. 297 00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:24,840 Speaker 1: The horse when he said, Eddie coach from his frankenstrade, 298 00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:30,080 Speaker 1: Dave's unhinged screams, Michael Anthony's pitch perfect backing vocals, thirty 299 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:32,679 Speaker 1: six tons of lighting and sound equipment one year, and 300 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:35,959 Speaker 1: one hundred and seventy five thousand tons the next, nearly 301 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:39,800 Speaker 1: five times more. A sound system that ran on ninety 302 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:42,680 Speaker 1: thousand watts, which, if you're curious, is enough power to 303 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:46,440 Speaker 1: supply the electrical demand of like seventy five houses. It 304 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:49,199 Speaker 1: literally took a village to make the Van Hammon machine go, 305 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:54,000 Speaker 1: and that machine went straight to their heads into their balls. 306 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:56,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, I made the ball so big that. Yeah. 307 00:17:56,920 --> 00:17:59,880 Speaker 1: Their tour rider did infamously include a demand for back 308 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:02,040 Speaker 1: stavee bowls of M and M's with the brown ones 309 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:02,439 Speaker 1: picked out. 310 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:03,399 Speaker 2: That's a true story. 311 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:06,280 Speaker 1: And the bigger Van Halen gut, the more out of 312 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:10,560 Speaker 1: control the situation became. Soon it was more than fire 313 00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:14,040 Speaker 1: codes that were being violated. And look, don't even get 314 00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:16,359 Speaker 1: me started on shit like the homemade pornos shot in 315 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:20,919 Speaker 1: hotel rooms by Van Halen's sleeves bomb manager. Pornos at 316 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:23,480 Speaker 1: the same sleeves bamb manager later played for Warner Brothers 317 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:27,680 Speaker 1: secretaries women at Warner Brothers offices. Again, their manager shot 318 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:30,720 Speaker 1: pornos and then played the videotapes for secretaries at their 319 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:34,320 Speaker 1: record label. Which is behavior beyond the realm of the bodged. 320 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:38,160 Speaker 1: It's fucking predatory, it's harassment, it's gross. I warned you, 321 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:40,120 Speaker 1: thinks we're gonna get gross. This is the gross part. 322 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:43,560 Speaker 1: Some of the wildest, most unhitched behavior by. 323 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:45,919 Speaker 2: A rock band in the nineteen eighties and that's saying something. 324 00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:48,720 Speaker 1: Behavior that once put David Lee Roth in a strait 325 00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:51,600 Speaker 1: jacket deemed fifty one to fifty by his own damn crewe, 326 00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:54,280 Speaker 1: long before Eddie turned that section of the California Penal 327 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:57,400 Speaker 1: Code into the name of his home studio. Because no 328 00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:01,800 Speaker 1: one partied as hard as van Halen, no one violated 329 00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:05,280 Speaker 1: more rules, no one banged more groupies, no one hoovered 330 00:19:05,359 --> 00:19:09,080 Speaker 1: up more lines. Van Halen were true to David Lee 331 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:12,760 Speaker 1: Roth's were his credo. Van Hamlon were a house falling 332 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:17,000 Speaker 1: on top of you, a car crashing into you, rendering 333 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:31,240 Speaker 1: you dumb struck, awestruck, sometimes even physically struck. Nineteen seventy eight, England. 334 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:35,680 Speaker 1: Van Halen's manager, No monk was panicking. No one told 335 00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:37,879 Speaker 1: them managing a rock band meant he'd have to do this. 336 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:41,920 Speaker 1: Not hunting down merch boot layers. That came later, and 337 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:44,240 Speaker 1: that was easy compared to dealing with dudes like this. 338 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:47,959 Speaker 1: A dude who was both unlucky and pissed off a 339 00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:52,920 Speaker 1: potentially lethal combination. His skull cracked open, a lump size 340 00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:55,760 Speaker 1: of Van Halen soon to be enormous balls, forming blood 341 00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:59,240 Speaker 1: pouring down his face. A victim of David Lee Roth's 342 00:19:59,359 --> 00:20:02,120 Speaker 1: good time hit on the head with a full beer 343 00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:04,480 Speaker 1: bottle that David thrown into the audience at the end 344 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:07,640 Speaker 1: of the show. The worst of it was the guy 345 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:11,480 Speaker 1: wasn't even a van Halen fan. He was Team Black Sabbath, 346 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:13,800 Speaker 1: the band that Van Halen had just opened for, and 347 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:18,199 Speaker 1: frankly blown off the stage. Ozzy Osbourne, like Western civilization 348 00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:21,879 Speaker 1: was at this point and decline. Van Halen was in 349 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:24,480 Speaker 1: the ascendant. But now was no time to set your 350 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:28,440 Speaker 1: sights high. Now was time for horizontal motion. Time to 351 00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:31,520 Speaker 1: leave the band. Did what Monk told him to do, 352 00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:33,640 Speaker 1: Get the fuck out of the dressing room, go straight 353 00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:35,639 Speaker 1: to the fucking bus, and don't ask any questions, and 354 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:37,120 Speaker 1: don't stop to talk to anyone. 355 00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:40,560 Speaker 2: Monk was trying not to stare at the Sabbath. 356 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:43,520 Speaker 1: Fans gaping wound, trying not to say the wrong thing, 357 00:20:44,119 --> 00:20:46,800 Speaker 1: the thing that would get them all killed. Dude wanted 358 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:49,760 Speaker 1: an eye for an eye, David le Roth's blood for 359 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:52,920 Speaker 1: his own, but Monk figured that cash would. 360 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:55,240 Speaker 2: Work just as well. If I gave you one thousand 361 00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:58,560 Speaker 2: pounds so that make all this go away. Money talked. 362 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:01,160 Speaker 2: Dude with the head wound walked. 363 00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:04,720 Speaker 1: But not before signing a disclaimer that monk hastily wrote 364 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:08,040 Speaker 1: up a classic case of covering your ass, which is 365 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:11,320 Speaker 1: what no monk was there to do. Cover van Halen's asses, 366 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:14,240 Speaker 1: protect them from the things threatening to tear them apart, 367 00:21:15,119 --> 00:21:16,240 Speaker 1: which he did very well. 368 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:24,840 Speaker 2: He just couldn't protect them from each other. We'll be 369 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:26,119 Speaker 2: right back after this. 370 00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:35,760 Speaker 1: We're, We're, We're. Michael Anthony, you just wanted to play. 371 00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:39,719 Speaker 1: He had the greatest job in the world, bass player 372 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:42,680 Speaker 1: for one of the biggest bands on the planet, also 373 00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:46,199 Speaker 1: recognized by those in the know as the band's secret weapon, 374 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:49,000 Speaker 1: blessed with a voice that produced some of the most 375 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:52,879 Speaker 1: sublime backing vocals in hard rock. But don't tell that 376 00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:56,480 Speaker 1: to David Lee. Roth best not to out Dave, Dave 377 00:21:57,160 --> 00:22:01,200 Speaker 1: best to play it cool, and Michael Anthony was cooler 378 00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:07,880 Speaker 1: than cool. Michael Anthony was Switzerland. Even as Dave tried 379 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:11,000 Speaker 1: to push the band further into sideshow cheese and Eddie 380 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:14,720 Speaker 1: fought back with more innovation. Now in nineteen eighty three, 381 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:19,199 Speaker 1: obsessed with not one but two instruments, the guitar, and 382 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:24,239 Speaker 1: since Dave thought Eddie's synthesizers were lame, girls didn't want 383 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:26,840 Speaker 1: to fuck a dude behind a keyboard, and Eddie didn't 384 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:30,760 Speaker 1: really care what Dave thought. Eddie had a girl. His wife, 385 00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:35,880 Speaker 1: Valerie Bertinelli, had made him an honest man two years prior. Honest, 386 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:38,919 Speaker 1: of course being highly subjective in this situation, I know, 387 00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:43,280 Speaker 1: but maybe Dave was jealous, playing the grade school bullycard 388 00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:45,720 Speaker 1: that sent Eddie back to his room, back to the 389 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:48,840 Speaker 1: corner of his bed, where he pushed himself even further 390 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:53,280 Speaker 1: aid it as always, by more vodka and more cocaine. 391 00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:57,520 Speaker 1: He was evolving as a player, maturing two words that 392 00:22:57,760 --> 00:23:01,680 Speaker 1: David Lee Roth hated. Dave didn't want to make smart music. 393 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:04,840 Speaker 1: He wanted to keep it simple, but Eddie didn't do simple, 394 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:07,920 Speaker 1: so they met in the middle. One of the new 395 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:11,679 Speaker 1: songs that were working on, Hot for Teacher allowed for 396 00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:14,600 Speaker 1: Dave's corny shtick, but wrapped it in some of the 397 00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:18,040 Speaker 1: most complex guitar and drum work of Eddie and Alex's career. 398 00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:22,640 Speaker 1: The creative tension made for great music, but it wasn't 399 00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:26,600 Speaker 1: made to last. At least that's what Michael Anthony feared. 400 00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:30,560 Speaker 1: Whatever was going on between Dave and Eddie was compromising 401 00:23:30,600 --> 00:23:34,560 Speaker 1: This incredible band of Michael Anthony's incredible day job, a 402 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:37,960 Speaker 1: job he wanted to keep, so whatever it took to 403 00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:41,320 Speaker 1: keep van Halen running was fine by him, even if 404 00:23:41,359 --> 00:23:46,120 Speaker 1: sometimes that meant running with the devil. In nineteen eighty one, 405 00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:50,640 Speaker 1: it took money. The album Fair Warning was undoubtedly Van 406 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:55,520 Speaker 1: Halen's best record to date, heavy, groovy, real, unchained, mean, 407 00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:59,040 Speaker 1: street shit, but it wasn't selling. It was the only 408 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:01,440 Speaker 1: one of the band's first four albums that didn't immediately 409 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:04,480 Speaker 1: do better than its predecessor, and it looked like it 410 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:07,360 Speaker 1: would be their first to fall short of platinum sales too. 411 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:11,520 Speaker 1: That was a problem both for the band's bottom line 412 00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:16,919 Speaker 1: and for their egos. The solution money two hundred grand 413 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:21,120 Speaker 1: greasing the palms of music directors at radio station's Coast 414 00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:26,320 Speaker 1: to coast Radio got paid, so Fair Warning got played, 415 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:29,639 Speaker 1: and by the year's end it was a platinum cellar, 416 00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:32,760 Speaker 1: just like every other Van Halen record. The crime of 417 00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:36,399 Speaker 1: Paola paying a radio station to play your record. 418 00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:38,520 Speaker 2: This was not a new concept. It had been around 419 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:41,479 Speaker 2: since the dawn of rock and roll. Money talked. 420 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:45,240 Speaker 1: Anything else was just a waste of breath unless it 421 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:49,480 Speaker 1: was Quincy Jones doing the talking. Q was money baby, 422 00:24:50,119 --> 00:24:52,879 Speaker 1: legendary producer wanted Eddie to play a guitar solo on 423 00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:56,680 Speaker 1: a new track by Michael Jackson. Remember this was the 424 00:24:56,720 --> 00:25:01,240 Speaker 1: early eighties, genre lines were drawn hard. A Van Halen 425 00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:04,760 Speaker 1: fan wouldn't be caught dead moonwalking to a Michael Jackson tune, 426 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:06,320 Speaker 1: or so the thinking. 427 00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:06,800 Speaker 2: Went at the time. 428 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:09,720 Speaker 1: And though the group did have an understanding that they 429 00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:12,840 Speaker 1: would consult one another before doing anything outside of Van Halen, 430 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:16,000 Speaker 1: Dave was currently off doing his Tarzan thing in the 431 00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:19,439 Speaker 1: Amazon rainforest or something, so Eddie wasn't about to. 432 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:22,240 Speaker 2: Track him down to ask for permission. He didn't even 433 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:23,800 Speaker 2: ask Quincy to pay him. 434 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:27,520 Speaker 1: But Michael Anthony, for one, didn't care that Eddie played 435 00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:30,560 Speaker 1: on Michael Jackson's beat it He wasn't about to hold 436 00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:33,240 Speaker 1: a grudge. The only thing he wanted to hold was 437 00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:36,480 Speaker 1: his base, and maybe this new record Van Halen were 438 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:39,600 Speaker 1: about to release would hold the band together. It was 439 00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:43,680 Speaker 1: poised to be their shining moment. The songs were anathemic 440 00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:49,640 Speaker 1: jump Panama, I'll Wait, a juggernaut of synthpop and hard 441 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:53,919 Speaker 1: rock that seemed to capture a moment in time the seventies, 442 00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:56,880 Speaker 1: hard rock finding its place in the emerging digital age, 443 00:25:56,920 --> 00:26:00,119 Speaker 1: of the eighties, the dawn of a new era. The 444 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:03,960 Speaker 1: album's title reflected this moment, like a time capsule for posterity. 445 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:10,480 Speaker 1: They called it nineteen eighty four. But unlike the eight 446 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:13,920 Speaker 1: bar guitar solo he gave away for free, Eddie van 447 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:17,080 Speaker 1: Halen was protective of what nineteen eighty four sounded like, 448 00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:20,160 Speaker 1: just like he was protective of the guitars he built, 449 00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:22,800 Speaker 1: the style he innovated, all the way down to the 450 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:26,439 Speaker 1: merch he sold. No one was going to compromise his sound, 451 00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:30,840 Speaker 1: not even Ted Templeman, van Halen's producer since the beginning, 452 00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:35,040 Speaker 1: clearly now on Diamond Dave's side of the group's growing divide. 453 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:39,240 Speaker 1: Eddie and his longtime engineer Don Laandie worried the Templeman 454 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:42,479 Speaker 1: would steal the master tapes from Eddie's studio fifty one 455 00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:44,280 Speaker 1: to fifty, the one he built at his home in 456 00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:47,480 Speaker 1: Studio City, not to burn them, but to mix the 457 00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:49,680 Speaker 1: record the way he heard it, which is to say, 458 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:51,159 Speaker 1: the way David Lee Roth heard it. 459 00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:54,840 Speaker 2: A simple way. Eddie did what he'd done since he 460 00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:55,480 Speaker 2: was a kid. 461 00:26:55,880 --> 00:27:00,879 Speaker 1: He protected what was his The phone rang inside fifty 462 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:04,440 Speaker 1: one fifty. It was templement down at the front gate 463 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:09,520 Speaker 1: on the street. Eddie buzzed him up. Don meanwhile grabbed 464 00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:11,720 Speaker 1: the master tapes and hopped in his car the one 465 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:15,119 Speaker 1: park next to Eddie's black Ferrari. He drove the driveways, 466 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:16,960 Speaker 1: loop around the back of the house down to the 467 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:20,840 Speaker 1: back gate, hiding the plain sight. Templeman rolled up, none 468 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:25,480 Speaker 1: the wiser. Where are the tapes? Where's Don? Eddie played, 469 00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:33,040 Speaker 1: dumb gad, I don't know. The Templeman left confused, suspicious, Irritated. 470 00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:36,960 Speaker 1: Don returned to the studio with the tapes and he 471 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:39,960 Speaker 1: and Eddie got back to working on their mix. The 472 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:44,200 Speaker 1: next day, the studio phone rang again, fucking Templament. Don 473 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:46,359 Speaker 1: got to work, taking the tapes off the two track 474 00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:48,439 Speaker 1: and putting them in their boxes, and he jumped in 475 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:50,080 Speaker 1: his car and he drove around to the back gate 476 00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:52,760 Speaker 1: as Eddie buzzed Templament up, and once again Eddie and 477 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:56,520 Speaker 1: Templeman had the same conversation, where are the tapes? Where's Don? 478 00:27:57,119 --> 00:28:00,200 Speaker 1: Gittaed I don't know? And this went on for two 479 00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:03,240 Speaker 1: whole weeks, This little game enough time for Eddie and 480 00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:05,760 Speaker 1: Don to get nineteen eighty four where they wanted it, 481 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:09,840 Speaker 1: to get the mix they wanted When the album finally 482 00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:13,400 Speaker 1: dropped on January ninth of the new year, it was massive, 483 00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:17,360 Speaker 1: as was the supporting tour, which began immediately. 484 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:19,800 Speaker 2: It stretched on for nine months. 485 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:23,480 Speaker 1: Nineteen eighty four was Van Halen's biggest year to date 486 00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:27,040 Speaker 1: and Van Halen's biggest record to date as well. But 487 00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:30,639 Speaker 1: despite this, the album nineteen eighty four only made it 488 00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:34,320 Speaker 1: to number two on the album chart. Why because Michael 489 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:35,400 Speaker 1: Jackson's Thriller. 490 00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:36,480 Speaker 2: That's why. 491 00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:40,680 Speaker 1: The album and cultural juggernaut that just so happened to 492 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:44,160 Speaker 1: feature the smash hit beat It, a song that crossed 493 00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:48,280 Speaker 1: genre lines, a song that featured an unmistakable Eddie van 494 00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:51,960 Speaker 1: Hanlin guitar solo, a solo he did not get paid for. 495 00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:55,680 Speaker 1: Thriller was not only the biggest selling record of nineteen 496 00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:58,240 Speaker 1: eighty four, it was the biggest selling record of nineteen 497 00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:02,800 Speaker 1: eighty three. Both then and now have heard Eddie van 498 00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:05,480 Speaker 1: Halen play on beat It than on any of his 499 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:12,960 Speaker 1: own bands songs. The irony was not lost on Eddie 500 00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:16,120 Speaker 1: and the rest of the group Todave. It wasn't just ironic, 501 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:20,400 Speaker 1: it was disloyal, weak shit, as lame as the synthesizer's 502 00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:24,840 Speaker 1: on Junk. Not that Dave wasn't being disloyal himself, dicking 503 00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:28,440 Speaker 1: around on a not so secret solo project. Eddie once 504 00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:31,800 Speaker 1: again didn't pay Dave much mind. He was focused on protection, 505 00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:37,880 Speaker 1: this time protecting his vices cocaine and alcohol, two things 506 00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:41,080 Speaker 1: that once allowed him to innovate habits now is out 507 00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:44,520 Speaker 1: of control as David Lee Roth's never ending party, and 508 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:47,480 Speaker 1: Eddie now had a personal dealer on the payroll and 509 00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:50,680 Speaker 1: on call twenty four to seven, some top Jimmy who 510 00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:53,000 Speaker 1: has flown around the world to procure the finest Peruvian 511 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:55,840 Speaker 1: cook at any time of day or night, and that 512 00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:59,680 Speaker 1: ain't cheap. To satisfy his habit, Eddie was forced to 513 00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:03,400 Speaker 1: advance some self cash from the group's coffers. Money came 514 00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:06,920 Speaker 1: in and money went out. Whatever it took to keep 515 00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:10,360 Speaker 1: the whole operation moving forward, whatever it took to keep 516 00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:15,400 Speaker 1: Eddie's search active and inspired, whatever it took to feel protected. 517 00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:43,480 Speaker 1: Van Halen's luxury tour bus rumbled through the Black Forest 518 00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:46,280 Speaker 1: n route to Paris, where a private plane waited to 519 00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:50,200 Speaker 1: take them back to America. The tour supporting their album 520 00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:52,400 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty four was at its end. 521 00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:53,680 Speaker 2: And the writing was on the wall. 522 00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:57,840 Speaker 1: Van Halen was bigger than ever, but the creative tension 523 00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:01,760 Speaker 1: between Eddie and Dave had reached a fever pitch, as 524 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:05,960 Speaker 1: feverish as the fights that were now commonplace, Alex yelling 525 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:08,480 Speaker 1: at Dave and Dave yelling at Alex, and Alex yelling 526 00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:11,200 Speaker 1: at Eddie and Eddie icing out Dave, all while Michael 527 00:31:11,240 --> 00:31:12,520 Speaker 1: tried not to rock the boat. 528 00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:15,880 Speaker 2: Right now, the boat was not rocking, and the tour 529 00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:16,480 Speaker 2: bus was. 530 00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:19,560 Speaker 1: Rolling at a steady clip, and no one was fighting. 531 00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:21,640 Speaker 2: Right now. 532 00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,560 Speaker 1: Dave was on his knees in the bus's tiny bathroom, 533 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:28,600 Speaker 1: puking his guts up, the booze, weed and coke spilling 534 00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:31,120 Speaker 1: out of his head and into the bowl the toilet, 535 00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:35,360 Speaker 1: a toilet that had already overflowed numerous times, a cauldron 536 00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:39,120 Speaker 1: of shit and hiss, a ransom concoction of the most vile, 537 00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:42,240 Speaker 1: smelling human waste that David lee Roth was now adding 538 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:46,040 Speaker 1: to with pints of his own vomit. Even at their highest, 539 00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:49,480 Speaker 1: van Halen were at their lowest, Even at their best, 540 00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:52,440 Speaker 1: they were at their worst, And even with a sound 541 00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:56,120 Speaker 1: unlike anyone else's, Eddie van Halen was still on the chase, 542 00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:01,240 Speaker 1: still making adjustments to his rig and adjustments to tone, 543 00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:04,520 Speaker 1: first trading in the Whammi bar tailpiece on his Frankenstrat 544 00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:07,120 Speaker 1: for a cutting edge Floyd Rose locking model that would 545 00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:10,400 Speaker 1: ensure he didn't fall out of tune, then trading in 546 00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:13,520 Speaker 1: the Frankenstrat entirely for a custom Bill Kramer. 547 00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:15,040 Speaker 2: He was still a. 548 00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:18,160 Speaker 1: Kid in many ways, gobsmacked by the sounds he managed 549 00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:21,440 Speaker 1: to get when he played, obsessed with finding scraps and 550 00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:24,800 Speaker 1: making something interesting out of them forever in that garage 551 00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:28,280 Speaker 1: culture state of mind. And just like he gouged out 552 00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:31,800 Speaker 1: the ash body of that original Frankenstrat, Eddie took the 553 00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:35,600 Speaker 1: gouging away at his own band. David Lee Roth's fate 554 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:41,320 Speaker 1: was inevitable. Lead singers, like guitars, were replaceable. Michael Anthony 555 00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:44,280 Speaker 1: tried to stay cool, but even mister Switzerland found himself 556 00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:48,040 Speaker 1: under the microscope. Michael just wanted to play, and that 557 00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:50,600 Speaker 1: was exactly the issue, at least to the rest of 558 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:54,120 Speaker 1: the band. Michael didn't write music or lyrics. He didn't 559 00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:55,680 Speaker 1: contribute to the creative. 560 00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:56,959 Speaker 2: Process, according to them. 561 00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:02,120 Speaker 1: Eddie, meanwhile, was obsessed with being created, evolve or die, 562 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:09,360 Speaker 1: innovate and protect bullies, bootleggers. Guitar manufacturers, record producers, Sabbath 563 00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:13,120 Speaker 1: fans with busted heads. Every single one wanted a piece, 564 00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:17,120 Speaker 1: and they got fuck all, just like Van Halen's bass player. 565 00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:21,360 Speaker 1: Eddie talked to Noel Monk, van Halen's manager, and Van 566 00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:24,600 Speaker 1: Halen's manager. Noel Monk talked to the band's attorney, who 567 00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:27,440 Speaker 1: put a document in front of Michael one which Michael 568 00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:30,200 Speaker 1: willingly signed as it was the only way he was 569 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:33,160 Speaker 1: going to keep on playing. And when the ink dried, 570 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:38,760 Speaker 1: Michael Anthony no longer collected songwriting royalties alongside his three bandmates. 571 00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:42,360 Speaker 1: David Lee Roth then packed up a shit a side 572 00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:44,680 Speaker 1: showed Jigglow, looking for the next place to set up 573 00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:49,080 Speaker 1: his tent. Eddie meanwhile, took his Jeff Black Ferrari out 574 00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:53,000 Speaker 1: into the warm California's sun and opened it up. The 575 00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:57,200 Speaker 1: car was as sleek as his signature guitar tone. Fast 576 00:33:57,360 --> 00:34:00,760 Speaker 1: like the instructions his brain sent to his fingers, he 577 00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:05,080 Speaker 1: downshifted and rolled into a local garage. His guy, Claudio 578 00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:08,520 Speaker 1: Genius Mechanic, a guy who would later create a badass 579 00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:11,440 Speaker 1: Italian race card with none other than Giorgio Moroder. But 580 00:34:11,520 --> 00:34:18,520 Speaker 1: I digress. Claudio tinkered away on another Ferrari five twelve model, modern, sophisticated, 581 00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:24,200 Speaker 1: slick as hell. Eddie perked up Claudio who owns this beauty? 582 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:29,600 Speaker 1: The question was kiss me that car? That car belongs 583 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:35,640 Speaker 1: to Sammy Hagar. Claudio set you want his number. I'm 584 00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:53,359 Speaker 1: Jake Brennan in This is Disgraceland. Disgraceland was created by 585 00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:56,360 Speaker 1: Yours Truly and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis. 586 00:34:56,680 --> 00:34:58,960 Speaker 1: Credits for this episode can be found on the show 587 00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:02,840 Speaker 1: notes page gracelampod dot com. If you're listening as a 588 00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:06,120 Speaker 1: Disgraceland All Access member, thank you for supporting the show. 589 00:35:06,200 --> 00:35:08,919 Speaker 1: We really appreciate it, and if not, you can become 590 00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:12,320 Speaker 1: a member right now by going to disgracelampod dot com 591 00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:16,600 Speaker 1: Slash Membership. 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