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As a member of Generation X, I can assure you that I engaged in several discussions, primarily in the late 80’s, where I took a specific stand on who was a better front man for the band Van Halen.
Whereas back then I maintained a very white knuckled grasp on my opinion on the matter, I can say now that even though I hold the same belief emotionally, the supporting reasons behind that belief have matured as I’ve figured some stuff out in the 30 years since my last heated exchange.
Irregardlessly, I saw one of the craziest comments about that particular discussion from another member of the Gen X cast the other day:
“Van Halen with Sammy Hagar was Fake Van Halen for me. I know none of their music, but I think there was one song used for TV commercials.”
Ummmmmm, what?
Okay, let me see if I can think of a band who
a) has no songs that I know, and
2) has changed their lead singer.
Once I think of one, I’ll make an assessment on whether the band with the new singer is just a bastardized, fake version of the original.
For any of you who wonder why I don’t engage people on social media in response to political commentary and other low hanging fruit, understand that such behavior involves bad decisions.
Bad decisions are a dime a dozen.
I ain’t gonna chip any in for that nonsense.
This last Tuesday, I was sitting in a lavishly furnished conference room decked out with all of the necessary technology to carry out a standing weekly meeting created to discuss ongoing projects and issues of the day. The cafeteria had provided a tray of refreshments. Office Services made it a point to have the room stocked with plenty of coasters, napkins, notepads, and pens, all emblazzened with the company logo.
Okay that’s a lie. I haven’t been in a conference room since the first week of March. I was in the Bloggery here at home using conferencing software with screen-share capabilities. My colleagues and members of management were discussing some cockamamy file transmission at that time, and we had a few more items on the agenda, two of which were mine.
The dog was on her bed on the floor behind me, emitting odors of excitement in anticipation of her afternoon walk which was on the calendar right after the conference call.
Barely a quarter of the way into the call, and well before the roundtable discussion, one of my colleagues broke meeting etiquette and turned the conversation to a new development. “Eddie Van Halen died.”
Wow.
Let’s do another flashback to the 80’s again.
Who among my generation *didn’t* have the Van Halen logo drawn on the outside of their spiral notebooks and Trapper Keepers in tandem with the logos for a host of other bands? Who didn’t have the posters, the t-shirts, and the tapes in their Walkmans?
Who among you in high school speech class didn’t give a speech on why Eddie was the best guitarist to ever walk this planet?
Even though we knew Eddie had battled cancer, we didn’t really know it had come back and that he was in his final days.
I made a sad realization a few years ago when the sources of our inspiration began to pass away a lot earlier than anticipated. When the likes of Tom Petty, Prince, David Bowie, Glen Fry, and Neil Peart passed, it surprised the public because they didn’t see it coming. We didn’t know that Bowie and Fry were fighting cancer, and we had heard reports about Peart.
As the years go by, that stuff is going to happen.
Profound, I know.
Don’t get me wrong here. Let these people maintain the privacy they desire. They can either tell us or not, and we will mourn their loss either way.
Let’s get back to the discussion about the front man for Van Halen.
There’s a lot of stuff they did with David Lee Roth (inventor of the Roth IRA) that I really like.
There’s a lot of stuff they did with Sammy Hagar that I really like.
There’s even stuff they did with Gary Cherone that I really like.
For that matter, one can also work in the comparisons where original bassist Michael Anthony was replaced with Eddie’s son Wolfgang.
Looking back on that discussion in 1988 with the other young gentlemen working in Paint and Hardware at Sears about the finer points of who was a better vocalist for Van Halen, I can tell you now that those of us on both sides of the discussion were correct.
The thing we didn’t realize back then is that it was never a discussion about the lead vocalist.
The primary driver behind the success of Van Halen was the things Eddie could do with a guitar.
With that, I’ll say this.
Eddie, we will miss you.
Thank you for the innovation you offered on what can be done with an instrument.
Thank you for blowing our minds with the things you could do with a guitar.
Thank you for inspiring a whole generation of musicians who have and will endeavor to reach the high bar you set.
Rest in Peace.
