Speaker 1: One, two, one, two, three four, Hello everybody, and welcome
back to the Shirley You Can't Be Serious Podcasts. Are
you guys ready?
Speaker 2: I'm ready.
Speaker 1: It feels so good to be here with mister Jeff Johnson.
I am all fired up. I got my salt and
a little lick a lime. Whether you want to love
her or a friend, we have the tools to satisfy
ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to the Shirley You Can't
Be Serious podcast where after three long years, we are
finally tackling Van Halen again. Hi you going, Jeff.
Speaker 2: It is going great, guys. Thank you for having me.
I always appreciate any opportunity I get to talk music.
Most of the time it's always movies or TV, but
I love talking music, so I appreciate especially one of
my all time favorite bands. Jeff.
Speaker 3: Tell us a little bit about the Film By podcast.
Speaker 2: As far as what we do at a Film by podcast,
me and Brad Kozo, my co host, We basically wax
intellectual about our favorite directors, their underrated hits, and what
we love about them. Kind of started us off, and
then we kind of led into a couple smaller limited
series that we had some fun with nineteen eighty six,
we covered a lot of fun movies. Obviously you guys
were a part of that. We're in the middle of
nineteen seventy six, you know which D joined me for
the very first episode when we covered Outlaw Josie Well,
so I was a fan. We thank you D. We
like to have we like to have a good conversation
about movies and the directors that we that we we appreciate.
Speaker 1: So we are here today to talk about Van Halen's
OU eight one two. It was their second album with
singer mister Sammy Hagar, came out in nineteen eighty eight.
This is a part of our Summer of eighty eight
series and comparing it to Cinderella's album Long Cold Winter.
Jason picked both of these and I'm happy about your
picks man. Thank you boys, Thank you very much.
Speaker 3: These albums were both huge for me the summer of
nineteen eighty eight. This is actually going to conclude our
deep dive into the Summer of nineteen eighty eight. Released
May twenty fourth, nineteen eighty eight, so right about the
same time as Cinderella. I think that was the first
week in July, so I think It's a perfect matchup.
I'm excited to dive into this with you guys. Jeff,
what did this album mean to you?
Speaker 1: Man?
Speaker 2: I was introduced to van Halen. I want to said.
The first time I ever heard van Halen was third grade.
A group of kids at a talent show at my
elementary school were doing jump and they were sixth graders.
They were way older than me, so you know, I
just was like, these guys are awesome. I didn't understand
that this wasn't really van Halen, but fell in love
with the band, love their music. I was one of
the people, you know, when Dave left and Sammy shows
up for fifty one to fifty, I was like, Okay,
this is different and I still love it. So this,
being their second one was Sammy. I feel like this
one kind of solidified that Sammy was here to say
he could handle the job, and we had van Halen again.
Speaker 3: What about you, Dee? What do you think?
Speaker 1: This one is another album that I didn't own. Both
of these albums were albums I didn't own. An eighty
eight I think I've kind of mentioned before. Eighty eight
was the time that I was starting to learn how
to play the guitar and started to listen to all
the music from the seventies, and so I wasn't buying
a whole lot of albums in eighty eight. I think
the last new album that I bought in eighty eight
was Boisome. So I got introduced to some songs that
I hadn't heard before when I listened to this album,
and I'm excited to talk about awesome.
Speaker 3: So this is the summer I turned fifteen. I'm not
quite driving yet, but music is very important to me.
It's the time of my life where I carried cassettes
around just in case somebody had a boombox, right, And
so I know I bought this album within a week
of its release date. I don't think I bought it
day of, but within a week. I mean when I
heard When It's Love, I'm like, Mom, can you take
me to the record store.
Speaker 1: I talked to Arlen, friend of the show. He called
me right before we started recording and I told him
what we were doing, and I said, who were comparing
it to? And he said he can remember Long Cold
Winter came out. He was with his friend who had
just set up his new amp in his car. They
put Long Cold Winter In and the Amp Caught on Fire. Wow,
he said had these albums wrapped around him in nineteen
eighty eight. They were both big movers and shakers for
him back then. But just to give you a tip
of the hat for him, he picks van Halen over
Cinderella for this matchup.
Speaker 3: Okay, interesting, Arlen's got good taste.
Speaker 1: He always sides with you as well as as a
matter of fact, I think that's exactly his exact word.
So I'm siding with Jason on this one. Like, well,
what does that mean. I don't know what he's picking.
He's like, oh, he's picking van Halen.
Speaker 3: We will see very shortly.
Speaker 1: Okay. So guys, if you are sort of new to
the Shirley Podcast, this group is one that we've covered before.
I think this was like our fourth episode. We had
a three part episode on this deal. We talked all
kinds of h So if you're interested in the deep
dive of van Halen history, go back to our van
Halen versus Van Hagar parts one, two, three, and four
and check that out. We had a great time because
we loved this band so much. But just to sum up,
Alex van Halen was born in nineteen fifty three. Eddie
van Halen was born in nineteen fifty five, and in
November of that year, Marty McFly accidentally invented rock and
roll music and the rest history real. Briefly, they formed
a band. Eddie had initially wanted to play the drums,
but then Alex took over that job. Eddie bought a guitar.
Because they didn't have a PA system. They said, hey,
let's stop renting one for ten bucks a month, and
let's let's see if that guy who owns his own
PA system wants to sing for us. So they had
that singer for a little while, actually had him longer
than the PA system because it eventually broke down again.
And another band called Snake had a bass player who said, hey,
you guys can use our PA system. That guy's was
Michael Anthony and that's how he joined the band, and
then they met Gene Simmons. Things didn't work out, but
eventually they did produce their first album under their name,
which their singer had suggested they use their own name
for the band, and that was Van Halen, and they
actually had a guy that they wanted to come sing
for the band. The producers, the managers of the band
had this guy that they wanted to come sing for
the band because the singer that they had was a
little iffy, and he turned him down. It was a
lead singer from a band called Montrose, a guy named
Sammy Hagar, and he's like, nah, I don't think I'm
interested in doing that. Well, Sammy Hagar ends up getting
together with these guys a few years later when that
sketchy singer that they have finally fades out, and what
we get first album from the new singer is an
album called fifty one fifty, which has an entirely new sound.
And then this, the album that we're here to talk
about today, is called Oh You eight one two.
Speaker 3: Okay, So you're exactly right. When the previous singer whose
name shall not be mentioned in this episode, right because
we don't want to be a comparison episode. But when
he left there was a vacancy obviously. And Eddie's a
car guy, Sammy's a car guy. Their cars in the shop.
They have the same mechanic. His name is Claudio Zampulli,
and he's there and Eddie says, whose car is that?
That Ferrari right there? He says Sammy Hagar. He's just
completed his Boa tour where he had the big hit
song I Can't Drive fifty five, And he said, why
don't you call him up? He's available. You need a singer,
He's a solo guy. Why don't you call him. Sammy
had just finished his tour. Eddie calls him up and says, hey,
let's jam. Maybe you can join vn Haleen. Same, He's like, dude,
I'm burned to a crisp. I can't do it right now.
Let me hear rest for a few days and I'll
call you back. And so ultimately they got together. When
they met up, Sammy said the studio looked like a
bar that had never been cleaned before in like thirty years.
Said there were cigarettes everywhere, it smelled terrible. There's trash
and pizza boxes. And he said they were both just
drunk as skunks. And then when they started to play,
magic happened. And so he said, if these guys can
play this well when they're this hammered, I mean, these
guys are just truly gifted musicians. Ultimately, Sammy joins Van Halen.
Of course, he goes on to make fifty one to fifty,
which I absolutely love. But the price for Sammy to
leave Geffen Records at the time, he was Geffen's biggest
artist at that moment, and so the price for him
leaving Geffen and going to Warner Brothers with Van Halen
was he had to come up with a solo album,
which a lot of people forget. Sammy Hagar dropped the
solo album between fifty one to fifteen, oh UA one
two called I Never Said Goodbye, and it actually had
a hit song called Give to Live and another one
called Eagles Fly. Right after Sammy finished his tour pushing
his solo album, the Brothers, Van Halen had been working
on tunes. He flies back home and immediately they pick
him up the airport. They say, hey, good to see you.
Check this out. I want to play a song for you,
and he said magic came through the speakers that day,
and we'll talk about that song in two songs when
o UA one two comes out. It's May twenty fourth,
nineteen eighty eight. Now the interesting thing to me is
the timeline here. Okay, they are recording through April of
eighty eight. It drops May twenty fourth of eighty eight.
They've got no time to shoot a video. Their first
thing has no video. It drops May twenty fourth. Then
they go onto the Monsters of Rock Tour May twenty seventh,
so literally finish recording, mix it, put it out, no video,
instant touring starting May of nineteen eighty eight. On that
Monsters of Rock tour, you had Kingdom, Come the Scorpions,
Docin Metallica, van Halen a very.
Speaker 2: At the time unknown Metallica.
Speaker 3: That's an interesting lineup to me. I don't think those
really go together super well.
Speaker 2: The Monsters of Rock Tour, I think it originates over
in Europe and it's known for a heavier sound. I
think I even remember reading something where Van Halem took
a little issue with the controversy around the name because
in America people are like, this isn't this isn't heavy.
Metallica was standing, you've got some great rock bands, but
you don't have a heavy metal lineup. Yeah, we're the
Monsters of Rock. But it's kind of weird. You look
at those vintage posters, those playbills. Docin is actually above
Metallica's name. You know, crazy right, which is crazy, but
you know you have to remember this is this is
maybe what a year. Six months to a year after
Nightmarent ONLM Street three, the Dream Warriors comes out. So
Docin has resurged with their Dream Warriors song and everyone
loves Docin.
Speaker 3: I called friend of the show Blaine Peterson before we
started today because I know he went to the Monsters
Rock tour in Dallas. He did not answer the phone call.
So Blaine, I'm mad at you, But he has told
me about that before. I think he and just a
few buddies just scrounged together some money drove down to
Dallas and he got separated at the concert and had
a really hard time getting back to the hotel. Because
this is before cell phones. You got separated from your
buddies at a concert and you didn't know you were going.
It was a tough deal. But anyway, So.
Speaker 2: Oh you ate one two.
Speaker 3: The original working title.
Speaker 1: Is bone Bone, Bone Bone Terrible. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Alex van Halen thought so as well.
Speaker 1: So yeah, the guy that used to sing with Vanna
Haleen had come out with an album just a bit
before called Eat Him and Smile. He was not happy
about the breakup and the way that they talked about
him after he left, and so in an interview, he
said something to the effect of, oh, you want to
play that way, well we can do that too, just
eat him and smile. So that became his album, and
a lot of people think that the album title that
they ultimately came up with was a response to that title,
but I think they have denied that.
Speaker 2: I've actually got something interesting on that story. So Sammy
claims that he got the idea when he saw it
on a delivery truck on the freeway. It was a
you know, on the panel truck. He got a laugh
out of it and thought, yeah, that's that's great. But
I decided to prepare because you guys are famous for
going down the rabbit hole, the deep dive. So I've
got something I'm gonna try, and I'm gonna try and
blow your mind with a little bit more on the
U eight one two title bring it? How about this?
In nineteen EIGHTYU eight one two was that actually the
license plate on the stolen red Ferrari in a film
called Cheach and Chong's Next Movie. Do you guys ever
see that one? Remember that one?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 3: It's steal the car at the.
Speaker 2: I definitely was not, but uh, in my years, I
was now it goes a little bit further here, Cheaching
Chong's next movie. That's the feature film debut of a
character that Paul Rubins creates. Talking about Pee Wee Herman
are everyone assumes that Pee Wee's big adventure is like, Hey,
this is the first time we see pee on the
big screen. It's not. And if you watch Cheach and
Chong's next movie, you know a lot of a lot
of the action takes place at the comedy store in
l A and Pee Wee Herman is one of the comedians.
He also plays the desk clerk at the hotel where
Chiach and Chong are staying. So yeah, it was not yeah,
he had some uh yeah, not his first time doing
the desk clerk. But I got a kick out of that,
you know, I think.
Speaker 3: I think is awesome. You blew my mind with that
one man.
Speaker 1: That's fantastic.
Speaker 2: And I'll go one more. And I can't really confirm this. Allegedly,
if you go back to the first season of Taxi,
they're actually the first episode of Taxi was all about
the payphone, where it was given free phone calls away.
If you take a look at that pay phone, the
concrete cinder wall Payphon's on you'll see amongst the graffiti,
OU eight one two is written on the concrete. I
watched that episode and I was trying to pinpoint it,
but you know, it's not not exactly four K, so
I didn't really I couldn't really see it. But and
I didn't have time to watch the entire run of
all taxi shows to see where it was lested. But
apparently you can see.
Speaker 3: It there too, Thanks job man. Nice mind blown. I tried.
Speaker 2: I tried so.
Speaker 3: By the way, when OU eight one two was released,
this is the second out of four straight number one
albums by Van Halen. Fifty one to fifty was their
first album hit number one. OA one two hits number
one in June of eighty eight, stays there for four weeks,
ultimately sells four million copies in the US.
Speaker 1: Okay, guys, before we jump into the album, let's talk
about the cover real quick.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the black cover, the white faces.
Speaker 1: Very reminiscent of the Beatles first album called With the Beatles.
We kind of we had a text thread that we
were sending all kinds of album covers at the same
style of black and white, you know, deeply shadowed sides
of the face.
Speaker 3: That was a pretty funny text threat because I just
sent a picture of it, and then I sent the
Kiss Dynasty album, and then I sent the Beatles with
the Beatles album, and then you replied back with get
the Knack, and then Jeff replied back with the Cramps.
It was there was no words exchange, just pictures of albums.
Speaker 2: I remember walking down the down the road and I
see that I started seeing the text chain go off,
no frame of reference, no no words. After like the
third ones like I know what we're doing here, I
was like, I can play this. Let me pull up
the We pull up the Googoup guys, the Cramps. Yeah.
Speaker 1: This album was dedicated to Alex and Eddie's dad, Jan
van Halen, who had passed away just in December of
eighty six, little less than a year before they started
the recording process on this album. He was a musician.
He was the one that had initially introduced them to music.
He played with the band on the cruise liner that
they came to America on and they got to get
up on stage and play piano and were the hit
of the show.
Speaker 3: They literally played for their supper on the way over
from the Netherlands to the US. Yep, can I try
to blow your mind one more time? So she brought
up their father. Yeah, so van Halen is not for anything.
They're all about family, right.
Speaker 2: A lot of people don't really know this, but their
father actually played on the Diver Down album. Wow. So
yeah he played. He played clarinet for one of the songs,
technically making him the third of four van Halen men
to be in the lineup. Everyone just assumes you got
the brothers and you got Wolfgang.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Actually dad was there on Diver Down, so wow, that's cool. Okay,
are you guys ready to dive in? Track by track?
I know you want to.
Speaker 2: I am all fired up, all right, I'm not really
wired right now, man.
Speaker 3: Okay. First song out of the Gate is a song
called Mine All Mine.
Speaker 1: Okay. So, if you've just bought this album for the
first time and you push play and you're listening, you're
suddenly confused because the tracks on the album listed in
alphabetical order instead of the order of the songs on
the album, and so you're like, wait a minute, this
doesn't sound like the right song. You're right, it's not.
This one is called mine, all mine, And it was
actually the last one that Sam he recorded the vocals did.
Speaker 2: Why is that?
Speaker 1: Because he was going nuts trying to write this song.
It's like he said, this was one of the hardest
songs he ever had to write the lyrics to. Kind
of got mad through things through the window, just went
crazy trying to get the right lyrics to this song.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he said, he wrote it and rewrote it like
ten different times. Said his first time in his life
that he really struggled with the lyrics, beat himself up
about it, said he took him ten torturous days, during
which time he had a bad hangover and private vocal
training session with Don Landy. When he finally brought the
song to the Van Halen Brothers, he said he was
very insecure about it and when he hit play, they
went ef Yeah.
Speaker 1: Man, So you you mentioned Landy on this one. He
was their engineer, He did the recording. There's not a
producer listed on this album.
Speaker 3: I think the fact that they don't have a producer
on this album actually hurts it a little bit. You know.
We talked about how Andy Johns recorded the f uc
K album with him and gave them that Cinderella type
of direction on that album. So when you've got guys
just kind of calling their own shots, I think you
end up with some highs and lows in quality on
this particular album.
Speaker 2: You run the risk of getting a little sloppy. Absolutely,
Mine All Mine.
Speaker 3: This song Mine All Mine is Sammy Hagar's favorite Van
Halen song. Wow, just I that surprises me. Maybe not
favorite is the best word. I did see that. I
think maybe proudest moment lyrically for him.
Speaker 2: Okay, that I could that I could see. I'll tell
you one thing I would love to hear. If there
is is a world's biggest Van Hanlen fan, it happens
to be my best friend and co host at a
film by podcast Brad Kozo. I told Brad I was
gonna be on here. He was obviously just you know, envy, jealousy.
You know, He's like, what your talk? I was like, hey, man,
I got I got the call. So we were talking
about the tracks and he goes, Man, he goes, I
would love to hear the original version of mine online.
And I was like, what are you talking about? And
he's like, there is a much heavier version that exists
that's never been released. I was like, well, where is
it at? And he goes, well, let's it's locked away
in Alex van Hanleen's vault. I guess, you know, maybe
someday they'll release it on a remaster or something like that.
But you know, we were talking about the monsters of
rock Tour and how they aren't like a heavy metal group,
but and especially with Hagar, they get you know, with
Hagar they got a little softer like the music, you know,
the ballads, the ballads starts showing up. So anytime you
get an opportunity to think, like there's a heavier version
of a of a Hagar van Halen song, I would
love to hear it.
Speaker 1: The drums, I mean the start of the song, the
drums coming in that lends itself to a heavier, thrashier
metal if you will. I thought it was a great
intro to the album. The song itself is not one
that wowed me, but I thought just the intro to
the song was a great way to jump in. Give
it good hard beat right out of the gate. I
thought that was a nice touch. Would you guys think
of the song?
Speaker 2: I think it's middle of the road.
Speaker 3: I think it's good particularly on this album. There are
great songs, there are not great songs, and very few
kind of in the middle. But I think this one's
good but not great.
Speaker 2: I think I'm gonna agree with the great music in
this one. I don't know that it really tells a story,
though the lyrics I can. I can understand why he
rewrote it seven or ten times. The lyrics are kind
of a little all over the place. I don't really
follow it, you know what I mean. So, yeah, I
would say middle of the road. It's It's not a
bad way to open the album. I would have picked
a different song to open the album, which we'll get
to in a couple tracks, but overall, I still like it.
Speaker 1: My alle.
Speaker 3: Okay guys onto song number two. This song is called
when It's Left.
Speaker 1: So this one jumps out at me. And the thing
that interestingly jumps out at me first is this really
cool echo effect that happens throughout the song. It's like
this slap back click that I don't think I've ever
heard on any other song. And I'm fascinated by how
this beautiful song is enhanced by this little raspy click,
like the click of a piano key or the click
of a drum rim. I'm not sure what it is.
I tried to figure it out. I tried to find it.
I can't. I can't figure out what it is, but
I love it. And then you're talking about that, Yes,
that is what I am talking just making sure we're
at the same page.
Speaker 2: Okay, I knew what he was talking about. I could
hear it in my head.
Speaker 1: And then when they come in with the harmonies on
this song, there's a reason that this is one of
the top power ballads of all time. It's too beautiful
to turn it down.
Speaker 3: When you talk about radio friendly hits for Van Haler,
I mean, this is ought to be the first one
that comes out of your mouth. It's a pinnacle right
for radio friendly hits for them. Absolutely yeah. This is
like a warm Snickers bar. I mean it just it
just is so easy on the soul. When I hear
this one, it's just beautiful, goes really well together. Love
Sammy's vocals just before melts right before it is too melty.
Speaker 1: Yes, well, the chocolate's still there, but the caramel center
is nicest pretty yeah. Yeah. So this song, this song
started as a piano and drums combination. Eddie gave it
this guitar riff that he says is a nod to
Eric Clapman, and this is not his speed solo style.
This is more like slowhand, very beautiful, slow melodic Eddie
van hand.
Speaker 2: I absolutely adore this song. It is one of the
greatest power ballads ever written. Minunderstanding is it's the first
song written for the album. When they heard that piano
and drum when he played it, they're like, you know.
Sammy immediately was like, you know, he he's known for
when he doesn't have lyrics, just just humming. And he said,
I just heard it in my head. Just how do
I know when it's love? And I just started singing it.
And before we got to this udio, it was done.
It was a done deal. We knew it. We had
it ready to go.
Speaker 3: This is the song that they played in the car
when they picked him up from the airport. He said, hey,
listen to this. This is what we've been working on.
What do you think they pop it in? You have
that little tune that they played for him and the
lyrics just fell out.
Speaker 2: They pick him up at the airport, they say, hey man,
we got to play something for you. We kind of
stayed up all night doing this, and he jokingly takes offense.
He's like, you guys started without me, I mean in
the studio yet, But he fell in love with what
he heard, just like the rest of us. It's such
a beautiful song.
Speaker 3: Second single released June of nineteen eighty eight. This is
the first video with Sammy and the band No videos
from fifty one to fifty the first single from this
album gets no video treatment, which I found out the
reason why you know why, No told me Warner Brothers
didn't like to pay for music videos mistake, but they
got on the train with this album because they realized
what a juggernaut. MTV was a little late to the party.
This is nineteen eighty eight, you know, it was already
a juggernaut in eighty three. They didn't like to pay
for music videos, but they decided, hey, we want to
move records this time, and so they upped the enny
and paid for this music video. Now then it's performance based.
I think it's really cool. Sammy is wearing a red suit,
and as we know, he is known as the red Rocker,
the red Rocker, yeah, red rocker, so also in the
music video, it's pretty cool. You do have Eddie playing
that slow solo and he does one of his standard
moves where he hits a note and then he kind
of wiggles his hair and then goes back to it
and Sammy does this little squeal, but they actually get
Eddie lip syncing that squeal. It's kind of a neat
little trick in the music video.
Speaker 2: Now, as I say, you mentioned, this is you know,
one of the one of the first singles. This is
number five out of all the four singles they do,
this is the one that ranks the highest number five
on the Billboard Hot one hundred.
Speaker 3: Do you want to hear the four better songs I
do off Ball Live?
Speaker 2: I don't know what was listen. I'm a fan of
the show. I know I know JA and goes with
the openings. Yeah, I want to know what's better? What
four options are better than when it's love? Because I'm
I'm ready to fight on them.
Speaker 3: Okay, so this reaches number five, as you said, September
tenth of nineteen eighty eight, here we go, number four
Monkey by George Michael.
Speaker 1: That's interesting.
Speaker 3: Okay, Okay, Kelly, yeah, really, okay, all right, I like
that song. I'm a big fan of the Faith album.
I don't think this is that's a better song than
when it's Love Not a Chance?
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 3: Number three Perfect World by Huey Lewis and The News.
Speaker 2: I don't even remember that one.
Speaker 1: I love Huey Lewis and the News, but that song
is not better than the song.
Speaker 3: Number two Simply Irresistible by Robert Palmer.
Speaker 2: Okay, now that's a big one. It's a huge song.
Speaker 3: You've got the girls in the swimsuit and I'm playing
the instruments behind him and they kind of upped it
from the Addicted to Love video. And then finally number
one Sweet Child of Mine.
Speaker 2: Ah, Okay, huge.
Speaker 3: Song summer of nineteen eighty eight and continues to be
a classic.
Speaker 2: Can I can see that?
Speaker 3: Okay, one more thing on the video. Sammy does not
see himself as an actor. He doesn't like acting and
he doesn't like lip sync, like that is not his thing.
So he doesn't like the lip sync. So when he
does these music videos, he just belts out the lyrics right,
he belts out the words and he just sings. Well.
When he was recording this video, he sang so strong
that he blew out his voice and they had to
actually cancel a concert that they had set up.
Speaker 2: Suffering for your art, but maybe a little too much.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So this was the second single released from the album.
The B side for this one was Cabo Wabo, which
we'll talk about here in just a second. Yep. But
I mean that's a worthy song to have on your
B side.
Speaker 2: I can't believe that was on the e that's surprising
that that's a B side.
Speaker 1: It didn't get released as a single, So I mean
that's the next best thing, right, Yeah, that's so smart.
Speaker 3: Okay. Song number three, This song is called a f
U Naturally wired.
Speaker 1: All right, very up tempo drum beat and then guitar
comes in. Now I don't I don't think I mentioned this,
but I'm pretty sure this is the transition album where
Eddie starts to go to the earning ball guitars. This song,
it sounds to me like he picked up the old
Frankenstratt again and started going at it with a more
raw feel on the guitar sound on this one throw
back to Van Halen's earlier days. What did you guys think?
Speaker 2: I think you're absolutely right. I have to believe that
this is this is the Franken Drug because like it.
It just it just sounds like classic van Halen when
he when that guitar comes in. I love this song.
Every band has what they call the road song, you know,
like Metallica has Wherever I'm a Room, Beastie Boys have
No Sleep till Brooklyn. This is the road song for
van Halen. Sammy loved it so much that this is
the opener for the Ou eight one Tour eight one
two tour, So I think it's fantastic.
Speaker 3: This is a great concert kickoff song.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I might call it the eight one tour as
an absolute miss. They should have called it the eight
one tour.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, by the way, when I say that this
is a great concert opener, which clearly they agreed with me,
they closed the Monsters of Rock shows with this song.
They ended the night with af You and rock and
Roll by led Zeppelin.
Speaker 2: That's a good yeah, absolutely yes.
Speaker 1: But that is a throwback to the first time that
they performed together during farm Aid. First time that Sammy
plays with them, they play that led Zeppelin song because
they literally they haven't played together before, and so that's
right Zeppelin song that they played.
Speaker 3: That's right. How about this little Nugget on this song.
On the album, they have a guest appearance by Patty
Smythe from a scandal and maybe you know her from
the Warrior of Goodbye to You.
Speaker 1: Well. You mentioned in our earlier van Halen episodes when
they were trying to decide who will be the replacement
singer for He who shall not be named, Patty Smythe
was top on the list.
Speaker 3: Eddie van Halen wanted Patty Smythe as their replacement singer.
And she's got a great voice.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, great voice.
Speaker 3: But that takes them a totally different direction.
Speaker 2: I'm glad we didn't go down that road, honestly.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: While I was preparing for this episode, I read Sammy's
book called Red. During the time of this album, Sammy's wife,
her name is Betsy, She had some really crazy mental
issues and I just found this story kind of interesting.
I want to drop it right here. During this time,
they would go back and forth to Cabos and Lucas, Mexico.
One time, when they were flying back from Mexico, her
anxiety was off the chart and she started to freak out.
At twenty six thousand feet. She started to pull her
own hair out and at twenty six thousand feet she
starts screaming and tries to open the door and jump out.
Oh so this is kind of what is going on
with him during this time. I mean, he's transitioned, he's
in a fantastic rock band and there got the number
one album in America, and his wife is going.
Speaker 2: As This song was actually inspired by a very bad
show they had. There was a stage fire, the attendance
was over capacity. So when you listen to the lyrics
say kind of you know, there's a little bit of
that interjected into it, which you know, a lot of
people I've always wondered, is that real? Is it not real?
Why would they do that? But when you have a
bad show that inspires a hit song like this, that's
why you have crazy stipulations like that in your contract.
Speaker 3: Tell us about that eminem stipulation.
Speaker 2: Oh well, for those who don't remember. So, you know,
every celebrity, every band always has some crazy stuff that
they want, whether it's like I have to have this
very specific brand of paper towels, you know, or you know,
this is our dietary needs, or here's the sound check
that we want, here's the lighting that we want. Van
Halen put it in their contract that a bowl of
Eminem's must be in the green room, the dressing room,
and there cannot be a single brown eminem And they
said that was kind of like their thing. He who
must not be named, as he's saying, he was on
a show one time and said, look, we did that
as a detail, as a fine detail, because if we
saw that that wasn't something little like that wasn't taken
care of, something big probably wasn't taken care of, and
then we would stop everything, and then triple check all
the lists and go through and stop everything because it
was in their contract. If that happened, they could walk
away and the promoter would have lost hundreds of thousands
of dollars, you know, maybe millions. So you think you
hear stories like that, you think, man, that's just rockstars
being crazy and foolish. But for Van Halen, it's it's
a it's a very small minor detail that they snuck
in there just to see is this guy reading everything
that we're asking for before he signs on the dotted line.
So I think it's I think it's brilliant.
Speaker 3: Yeah, crazy like a fox, right mm hmm, Okay, we
done with this one, all right. Next song on the
album is a song called Cabo Wabbo.
Speaker 1: A Better Wrong. Okay, So this big, warm guitar that
you're hearing is not the Frankenstrat. This is that Ernie Ball.
This is that different sound. This is that round, fuzzy,
totally different style. But I just eat it up on
this song. Love how he comes in on this one.
They had finished with the music already by the time
they hook up with Sammy because obviously the solo tour
that he had gone on, so they had finished with
the music and he went away to go work on
the lyrics, and the place that he went was Abo,
San Lucas, and so that's where he got the lyrics
for this. But the melody actually comes from a song
that he had when he was with Montrose called make
It Last seventeen. My father told me, so, he's not
even trying to hide this.
Speaker 3: He's not right, total thievery right.
Speaker 2: Jason, If you're stealing from yourself, it can't be theft, right,
So good boy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I got to give a little shout out to
Sammy Hagar at this point. Okay, So Jason and I
are both from Oklahoma, we were both living here in
nineteen ninety nine. In May third, nineteen ninety nine, we
had some of the worst tornadoes in Oklahoma history passed
just a couple of miles north of where we lived
at the time, and Toby Keith did a benefit concert
at the ou Stadium. I went to that concert with
my wife. Toby Keith obviously played. Willie Nelson came out
and played, a lady who became our very dear friend
named Kelly Coffee, who was a big country singer at
the time. She played, and then Sammy Freakin Hagar came out.
Mister Red Rocker himself came out, and he was such
an incredibly fun guy that even all these people, these
country folks who showed up for country music absolutely ate
it up. He was shooting off like these confetti cannons
and having a great time. And one of the best
parts of the show was him playing this song.
Speaker 3: That's awesome man that I love what he is selling
on this song. This is like Jimmy Buffett meets Van Hand, right.
This is about having a great time on vacation at
the beach. White Sandro make a tan look nice, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2: This is the party song. This is this is like
everyone's having fun. Everyone's having a good time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's seven minutes worth of fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: This is the longest song on the album and just
kind of meanders around talking about the beach having a
good time. Actually, the inspiration for this song Sammy was
down in Comba San Lucas writing lyrics for the album.
He's driving around he's going to breakfast one morning and
it comes around the corner. He almost takes out a
like a pedestrian he's walking across the street who's drunk
as a skunk. And he said to himself, He's like,
that guy is doing the Cabo wobble because he's drunk,
And so he shortened that to Cabo Wabbo. And then
of course that goes on to become the name of
his nightclub that he establishes with the Van Halen Brothers
in Cabo San Lucas. And also his tequila, his world
changing tequila.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's his, I mean, his wonderful, delicious tequila. Yeah.
References the mescal and the worm and the song, which
then inspires him to start his own tequila company.
Speaker 3: He drinks mescal right from the bottle and the guave
worm is mine all mine.
Speaker 1: Hey, I got my salt and my little lick a
lime ready to go, hassam.
Speaker 3: Right before you got on with this, Jeff, I was
watching on YouTube. MTV ran a contest and I love
mentioning these MTV contests. It's just fun to remember those. Anyway,
they had a contest. Ten winners would have won a
trip to Cava San Lucas and they got to spend
the week down there and get to open the club.
That was April of nineteen ninety. That was the opening
for the Cabo Wabo CANTEENA.
Speaker 2: What an awesome time that would have been.
Speaker 3: Wouldn't that have been great?
Speaker 2: I would have loved it. I've been to Cabo Wabo
in Las Vegas.
Speaker 3: The oh you have cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've been there a couple of times.
Speaker 1: I have.
Speaker 2: I have had one too many surveys, maybe a little
too much tequila there with that place. If you ever
in Las Vegas, that is the place to go to.
Speaker 3: It.
Speaker 2: It's a lot of fun. He's known to show up
every now and then and perform a set, so he
didn't he I've not caught him there yet, but you know,
anytime I'm in Vegas, I'm like head Nicabo Wabbo.
Speaker 3: I love this song. I think it is the second
best song on the album.
Speaker 1: This is definitive, Sammy Hagar to me, right after I
Can't Drive fifty five, this is the next song in
the line that says Sammy Hager, I.
Speaker 2: Agree, curious to see what you're what you're saying is
the first. But I'm with you on that, okay. So
that's the end of side one.
Speaker 3: Hit stop on your tape player, kick it out, flip
it over for side too, and the first song on
side two is Source of Infection.
Speaker 1: I me even this song up. This is not the Frankenstrat.
This has got to be the Ernie Ball guitar in
my opinion. I'm just guessing here. But he's playing it
just like he did back in the seventies, with that
brown sound, that finger tapping. I'm loving it. And then
Alex comes in with the drums from Hot for Teacher.
I mean, it's all kinds of yet warm feelings in
my tummy about this song. I loved it. And then
the lyrics aren't even really lyrics at all. It's just
kind of screams from Sammy, like as if to say, hey,
I realize your old singer could do this, I can
do it too.
Speaker 5: Let me show you what I got.
Speaker 2: I love how this one starts. It's definitely the hot
for teacher drums. Eddie is absolutely shredding on this thing,
and musically it is fantastic. It's weird when you think
about the inspiration behind it, but you know still, I
think it's awesome. Absolutely love this one.
Speaker 3: Tell us about the inspiration behind this one.
Speaker 2: This is a source of infections, all about Eddie and
Valerie's time in Australia. He actually he got sick, he
got really sick. He got the dinky fever. I'm not
a doctor. I mean I play one on television, but
my understanding is it's a viral disease contracted by mosquitoes
in the tropics, causes sudden fever and acute joint pains.
So to take something like that and turn it into
a song like this is it's wild.
Speaker 1: He's been married to Valerie Burtinelli for seven years at
this point. They go down for their anniversary and this
is what happens. But hey, you get a pretty kick
butt song out of it. I don't know what do
you think of this song? Well, I'm I can see
the skepticism on your.
Speaker 3: No, no, It's okay. I far be it from me
to critique Eddie van Halen on anything musically, But this
is one of those songs where I think a producer,
a strong producer, would be like, all right, guys, this
is a lot of fun. You guys are kind of
screwing around. But this is just you guys screwing around
in the studio. This seems a little bit sloppy for me.
It's not a skipper, but they can do better. You
know who agrees with you, Eddie and Sammy.
Speaker 2: Eddie and Sammy. This is Sammy's least favorite. They regret
the whole James Brown spoofing that they were doing with
the owls and the hey and you know, you look
at the lyrics though, the ones where he's not like
be bopping and scatting. It's a little politically incorrect and
because of that, they're, you know, in retrospect, they're not
happy with it. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I do like the beginning of the song. And
you have the very audible take one, and it seems
to me like this song was recorded in one take.
Speaker 2: I think this is then going you know what we
could do whatever we want. We're Van Halen.
Speaker 1: I think you guys are off base. This was the
hidden gym for me. This was something I had not
heard before that I was like, ah, all right, this
is fun, this is a throwback. I'm digging it. I
really really enjoyed this song. So I'm sorry. You guys
are just wrong.
Speaker 3: Okay, Sammy, you're wrong.
Speaker 1: You and Sammy and Eddie all wrong.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 3: Moving on to the next song on the album. This
one is called Feels So Good, another song made for radio.
Speaker 1: This is the most Van Hagar of all of the
Van Hagar songs, in my opinion. You've got the strong synthesizer.
I don't dislike it. It is just it is that sound.
It is the sound of the new Van Halo. It's
like the new Coke.
Speaker 3: Oh out.
Speaker 2: Better than New Coke.
Speaker 4: It is.
Speaker 2: It's specifically designed to sound like Genesis. As someone that
loves Phil Collins and Genesis, I love this song.
Speaker 6: It feels so good to hear feel good.
Speaker 1: Do you know that they actually had that as their
name for a brief period of time. They had the
name Genesis as the name of this band back in
the mid seventies and they went, Oops, somebody already has that name.
I got good music.
Speaker 4: Hey.
Speaker 3: I love that this is modeled after Genesis because I
had to love Phil Collins and Genesis. I love radio
friendly hits with a rock edge to them. This is
right down my wheelhouse. I'm with Jeff. I love this
song too.
Speaker 2: Roll down the windows, you're on the highway, crank it
up right.
Speaker 3: Yes, right after Kaba wobbo. This just makes you feel good. Now.
I know this song has been divisive among Van Halen bands. Okay,
is it a cheesy, radio friendly love song? Yes? Is
it super catchy? Yes? Does it have a killer guitar solo?
Yes it does. It has a blistering guitar solo. I absolutely.
I mean people sleep on it, but it is awesome.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with you there,
because not that I disliked the song at all, loved
the song, but the guitar solo performed by ninety percent
of the musicians in the world at that time. Yes,
it would be screeching performed by Eddie van Halen. It's okay,
It's nothing compared to many of his other solos.
Speaker 3: Jeff, he's off his rocker.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 2: He does not feel so good about this.
Speaker 1: I don't feel so right.
Speaker 3: And this was the fourth single off the album. Fourth
and final single reached number thirty five in the Hot
one hundred. I think they may be an ode to
Message in a Bottle by the police.
Speaker 2: It's gotta be right. I think there's a connection there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Rady Friendly hit love it? So?
Speaker 1: Did you did you watch the video on this one?
The director for this one is a guy named Andrew Morahan,
and this was the second video off of this album
that he had directed for him. He also did the
video for Finish What You Started, which we'll talk about
here in just a second. To say, this guy was prolific.
This was the fifteenth music video that he had directed
in nineteen eighty eight. Among the others, we have Scritty
Politi and multiple George Michael songs, including Father Figure, Faith,
Kissing a Fool.
Speaker 2: And Monkey, Oh There It is.
Speaker 1: Wow. He was a part of the decision to have
George Michael wear that hat.
Speaker 2: Oh Wow.
Speaker 3: Okay, moving on to the next song on the album.
This is called Finish What You Started.
Speaker 1: The question is can Eddie van Halen pick country?
Speaker 3: Answer is yes, can Eddie van Halen interrupt sex and
come up with a great song.
Speaker 1: This, I answer, is my favorite story you told during
part three of our Van Halen Versus Van Hagar episodes,
So please please share the story with us again.
Speaker 3: Okay, So here's the story. Eddie and Sammy live next
door to each other, and one night, Sammy is, you know,
feeling frisky, and so he starts to make moves on
his wife, warming her up and getting ready to enjoy
a moment with his wife, and some fool is banging
on his back door and he gets up to kind
of look outside. He says dark, looks down. All he
sees is the red light from the cigarette that Eddie
is smoking, and he screams down and he was like,
go away, dude, it's late. And he's like, no, I
got an idea for a song. Come down here. And
he's like, dude, I'm in and I'm doing something right now.
And he's like, no, come on down here. So Eddie
quit us interrupt us messes up Sammy's love session. So
Sammy's like, what can I do? He was my best
friend and my songwriting partner. My wife could wait. So
he comes downstairs and her rule was no smoking in
the house, so he had to sit on the back
patio bathrobe and that is all hiding the band behind
the bathrobe. Ain't no attention, and they sit down and
they start to compose this song, which Eddie had kind
of come up with the idea of the guitar and
the lyrics come from a interrupted sex session with Sammy
and his wife.
Speaker 1: Stop interrupt us.
Speaker 2: One of my favorite things when when Sammy was talking
about this story. This is two o'clock in the morning
when this happens, and when asked like, how could you
possibly go down and do what you did? Sammy says,
and I quote anytime anybody's got a good song, idea,
or some good dope or some good tequila or some
good I will be there. Okay, there it is, I mean.
Speaker 3: Words to live by, right, Sammy is not wanting to
miss out on a good time.
Speaker 1: I guaran.
Speaker 3: Did you know? This was the third single. It reached
number thirteen on the charts. Let's talk about the video
for this song filmed in black and white. So I
saw Sammy interviewed. He said Andy Moorehan's biggest contribution to
the band was bringing in hot girls for the video.
And in this video, there are some eye catching women.
Speaker 1: Jason and I had a debate about this. We were
watching the video before we started and I was like,
that's Cary from the Remote Control game show on MTV.
I was like, nah, it just looks like her. I'm like,
that's her, and He's like, well, they did an interview
with her, so I don't really think it's her. I'm like,
that's probably how she got the interview, and she was
smoking hot back then. I'm a.
Speaker 2: Man, just start. Cary War is still smoking hot. I
don't know if you've seen her lately. She is still
bringing the heat.
Speaker 3: She was one of the major reasons for me watching
Remote Control all the time.
Speaker 2: The only reason.
Speaker 1: Stars As said.
Speaker 3: It wasn't Colin Twinn and it wasn't that exactly. That's right.
Speaker 2: No, you know, we talked about Kabo Wabbo being the
party song. I think finish what you started as like,
it's right in that wheelhouse. It's this is one of
the funnest tracks and it appeals to everybody. You know,
it's you know, a little bit acoustic guitar, a little bit,
it's slow, it's fast, it's it's just fun. And the
double entendres that are that are in the song make
it fun. I love this song. It's try, it's great.
Speaker 1: This guitar solo, even though it is totally different than
any other Eddy van Halen guitar solo, is a far
better guitar solo than the one you referenced earlier. It
is fantastic, it's fun, it's silly, it's country, and it
is great.
Speaker 3: I've heard Sammy say that this is actually the real
van Halen.
Speaker 1: Like it.
Speaker 3: You wanted to come and hang out with van Halen
like on a daily basis, this would be more of
what they play. By the way, this song was used
as the theme music for a short lived nineteen ninety
sitcom called Sydney, which starred Valerie Burton Elli.
Speaker 2: Okay, my mind is blown now.
Speaker 3: By the way, the rest of the story is Sammy
came back to bed and could not quite generate the
same spark that was there earlier. Oh no, come on, baby, baby,
you say yes? All right? Moving on to the next song,
the best song in.
Speaker 1: My opinion, whoa?
Speaker 2: Okay, whoa.
Speaker 3: This song is called black and Blue.
Speaker 1: What do you guys think this song's about.
Speaker 2: I know exactly what it's about.
Speaker 3: Push it in. You've got the rhythm.
Speaker 1: This is quite as uninterrupted. Yes, this song. I cannot
listen to this song because of our van Hagar episode
without thinking about strippers. Jason said, this is the ultimate
stripper song and now I can't hear it without going yep.
I can see how this will go, yep, I can.
I can imagine how this part's going. Yep. It's all
that I can.
Speaker 3: This is a total strippers a yeah, and it's a
fantastic strippers.
Speaker 2: It is you know, hey, good writers write what you know.
Speaker 1: And this movie.
Speaker 2: This song comes from Sammy's experience during the fifty one
fifty tour. He literally was black and blue and had
to abstain for a week because he was he was
hurting in some tender areas. Do it to me, baby
to where black till it's black and blue. He is
quoted as saying, this is a masterpiece of phrasing in
this song.
Speaker 3: In this track, Hey, this song just oozes sex. I
think Gosha, So for me, this is the best Sammy
Hagar van Halen song. This is my absolute favorite. It's irresistible.
It's a turn it up to eleven, top down, turn
it up. But I also think this is the Sammy
Hagar song that's most like Dave. I could totally see
Dave singing this song.
Speaker 2: This is definitely yeah, I could see that.
Speaker 1: I don't know who you're.
Speaker 3: Talking, I say, Dave, I'm sorry, this is this is
his kind of callback.
Speaker 2: Like I can be a little trashy too, I can
be a little I can be a little wild, canne.
Speaker 3: A little reached down between his legs, and he's the
seaback with the best of them, right, with the best
of them. This is the first single release. This reached
number one on the Rock charts, number thirty four on
the Hot one hundred. For me, this is the best
song on the album.
Speaker 2: You'll stand by that.
Speaker 3: I'm standing by it. I'm spiking the football. This is
the best song on the album.
Speaker 2: Okay, I love it, but I can't say it's the
best song on the album.
Speaker 1: Okay, agreed, it's good. It's not a tentpole man. It's
maybe a stake, but it's not a.
Speaker 3: Temp Okay, all right. You know. I saw Sammy talking
about what it was like being in a band with
two brothers. He said that they always had the majority
in the band, right, they always had each other's back
and they loved each other dearly, but they would fight
like cats and dogs. And when he said they would fight,
they would actually fist fight. These are, you know, thirty
and forty year old men. And he said it would
start like this, Hey, can I have a cigarette? Hey man,
get your own cigarettes? Heymn f you, Oh yeah fu.
And that was it. That's all it took. Fist fight,
he said. When they got really mad, they would yell
at each other in Dutch. And when they were yelling
at each other in Dutch, they said, just got out
of the way, you know, and just let them go
for it, all right. Next song of the album is
called Sucker in a three piece.
Speaker 1: So this one is again a throwback to the sound
of early Van Halen very very much. Show, however, does
not hit me in the fields the way that the
others do. This one is, it's not. It's probably my
least favorite song on the album.
Speaker 2: It definitely harkens back to the earlier sound. If you
listen carefully, you're gonna hear the drums from Panama. I
don't love it, but I won't skip it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm kind of with the this is This doesn't
quite do it for me. This is the one of
the valleys on the album. For me, now, it's a
val it's hardcore van Halen and it's fun, I mean,
but not my favorite.
Speaker 1: It probably is better live. I think they missed maybe
missed something in the studio when they were recording it.
I couldn't tell you what it is. I couldn't put
my finger on it. The song itself is about a
gold digger woman. They've got a roback on it, though
they One of the lyrics is nine on a ten scale,
which is an album from Sammy Hagar from like nineteen
seventy six.
Speaker 3: I think, yeah, I think that's really cool.
Speaker 1: I little rowback there, that's pretty cool. But it doesn't
save this.
Speaker 3: As you like the lyrics. Her legs go straight up
to her lunch pale.
Speaker 2: This is Sammy trying to you know, we talked about
this with Black and Blue. He can be dirty with
the rest of them. I could see this being a
track that they would have played with with the former
front man based on some of the lyrics. Yeah, it's
about that goal there. He's writing this song in Kabba
San Lucas the same time he's doing Kaba Wabbo and
he was at the twin dolphins when he saw what
he said was a gorgeous, like twenty something year old
girl with a sixty year old, fat, ugly, balding guy,
and he was like, how how could you possibly think
she loves you? You know, this guy's a sucker, as they.
Speaker 1: Doesn't care if she loves it. Maybe he just thinks
it feels so good. Maybe he just wants to do
it till.
Speaker 2: He's black end.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I saw that story that he saw her pool
side and was knocked over by her beauty, but when
he saw the person she was with, that guy's a sucker. Okay,
So that actually takes us to the end of the
cassette tape.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you had the cassette or the vinyl, that
was the last song that you got to hear. But
if you got the CD you could get in nineteen
eighty eight. If you got the CD, you've got one
more song on this one and OnCore if you will,
a cover of a Little Feat song called a Political
Luis It's told me it was taming. This song when
it was done by Little Feet, was actually produced by
Ted Templeman and Don Landy, So Don you just had
to set up the microphones he was ready to go.
He's like, I got this, guys, I got it. I
feel like listening to this song, I love it, like
I would love to see them in a club playing
this song. But I also just feel like they could
have been in a club playing this song. This is
I feel like they're like, hey, let's throw one extra
song in for the CD since we got a little
extra time, and they probably did this in one take.
Speaker 3: I agree with that. I think this is a club
only type of song back in the day when I
had a cassette player and I had a CD player.
Which do I want? Is a political Blue is worth it? Nope,
it's just them screwing around. If they did something else
really cool, now, that would have been great, But this
ain't it.
Speaker 2: If there's one skipper on this whole album, this is it.
If it's up to me. Like we talked about Kabba
Wabo being the fun party, it's probably about twelve thirty
or one o'clock in the morning that cop when we
were doing Cobo Wabbo. This song is like three thirty
four am, when it's there's like four people left in
the in the bar. I hear this song and I
immediately see Anthony Michael Hall going you know fats Man,
let me tell you about this girl. I just take
it off of this album, and it's a good It's
a good bluesy song. It's fun, but it's it doesn't
I don't think he belongs on this album.
Speaker 1: I agree with you.
Speaker 3: This is the three thirty am. Everybody tip your waitresses,
be careful of the way home. Thanks for coming out.
Good night.
Speaker 1: This is the perfect song for us to transition into
final judgment on these two albums. I feel like this
could have been a great song, but they dialed it.
Speaker 3: In well before we three do our final judgment. Let's
listen to Kevin Davis, who was our guest on Cinderella's
Long Cold Winter. Let's hear his final judgment between Cinderella's
Long Cold Winner and Van Halen's Oh You eight one,
two albums.
Speaker 4: You're asking me to compare bands, I would have to
say Van Halen is by head and shoulders above Cinderella.
But whenever you put these two albums side by side,
Long Cold Winner is the better quality album, more hits
to it, more listenability. It's got a song on the
nineteen eighty eight Makeout List, got some other songs that
are contenders, But You eight one two was not one
of my favorite band Haleen albums by not even in
my top five. Any of those top five van Halen
albums would have blown anything Cinderella could do out. But
when you compare Long Cold Winner to You eight one two,
I'm going to give the nod to Long Cold Winner.
Speaker 1: Well there you go. I mean, the man obviously is
a van Halen fan who still appreciates that there was
a better album. Well, I guess I just tipped my hand.
I'll go first on my final judgment on this album.
This is not the most lopsided comparison that we've ever had,
but in my opinion, is very lop As I mentioned earlier,
I didn't own either one of these two albums, so
a lot of these songs I was here were the
first time. To me, Cinderella got that blues feel right,
where Van Halen missed the vote like they did with
the AA Political Blues. I like Ou eight one two.
I think there are several really good songs on the album.
It's not the best van Halen album, and it even
as a big van Halen fan, it's not even the
best Van Hagar album. It's a good album. It's worthy
of nineteen eighty eight's success for sure. So my opinion
is that Long Cold Winner is far and away a
better album of two albums.
Speaker 3: Jeff, thank you for guesting with us this week. What
is your opinion between these two albums.
Speaker 2: The big surprise for me when you asked me to
join you on this one again. I'm a huge Van
Halen fan, so I thought, well, this is gonna be fair.
But when I turned on A Long Hole Winter, it
blew me away because it had been probably I don't
know twenty years or more since I had heard it,
and it is. I think it's the best Cinderella album.
I mean you start right off with like it's like
four or five tracks right in a row that are
just hit after hit after hit. I was loving it,
and the whole time I'm listening to it, I'm like,
this might be better than OU eight one too. I
got it. I gotta be honest here, I gotta I
gotta look at this so you know, in the end
it comes down to this for me, Cinderella. There's sound,
it's it's fantastic, but it actually you know, like like
the last song on the album Coming Home. When I
listened to it, I'm coming home to the eighties. It
is quintessential eighties rock, like big hair rock, and sometimes
you're in the mood for that, sometimes you're not. Meanwhile,
OU eight one two, while it might not be the
greatest Van Helen album, it's still a great album. And
I don't feel like it's dated in any sense. You know,
I can hear Kabo Wabbo twenty years ago, I can
hear it now and it just sound it's a fun
party song. You know, Jason, you talked, you know, you
kind of said like it's like a Jimmy Buffett thing.
So for me, it's a photo finish. But I'm gonna
stick with van Halen. I'm gonna go OU eight one
two is the better album, and it's it's such a
close call because d is right. If you appreciate the
bluesy sound, turn on Cinderella because they nail it. But
I think van Halen has more fun. I'm going with
Van Halen.
Speaker 3: All right. So it's two to one currently, two for
Long Cold Winter, one FORU eight one two. Thank you
for that, Jeff, So for me, I love both these albums.
These were very important albums to me in nineteen eighty eight.
It comes down to the fact that on OU eight
one two you've got peaks and you've got valleys, and
the peaks are awesome. I love Kabla Albo, and I
love Black and Blue and when it's love and I
love feels so good. The valleys sucker in a three
piece source of infection, a political blues. Those peaks are
lower on OU eight one two than any of the
peaks on Long Cold Winner. Because of that, I am
casting my vote and spiking my football. Long Cold Winter
is the better of these two albums.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, Arln is going to be shaking his fist.
Speaker 3: Sorry, Irelen Radio right now.
Speaker 1: Arln always sides with you, but he called it wrong.
Speaker 3: Hey, I love them both, but I gotta call him
like I see it.
Speaker 2: I thought for sure you were lining up on the
Van Halen camp with.
Speaker 3: Me, Cinderella. Long Cold Winter is a minor.
Speaker 1: Masteriess lose rock Well, Shirley fans tell us what you think.
You can catch us at Twitter. You can email us
if you are pulling your hair out like you're stuck
on a jet at twenty four thousand feet. Because the
things that we have said, hit us up and tell
us where we got it wrong. We don't mind being corrected.
We hope we didn't come across as a bunch of
tools on this episode, a bunch of suckers, But tell
us what you think. You can catch us on Twitter
at Shirley podcast dot com. You can email us Shirleypodcast
at gmail dot com, or you can hit us up
on Facebook also at Shirley Podcast. Jeff, thank you so
much for coming and joining us. Man. I can't wait.
We've got an episode coming up again with the a
film by Guys where we're going to talk about the
what the heck happened with a couple of movies.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're talking about Last Action Hero with our good
buddy Jeff Johnson of the Film by Podcast, where he
is going to defend the indefensible.
Speaker 2: Tip of my hand already for me.
Speaker 3: Sorry, no, no, you have.
Speaker 2: You have been firing shots for a couple of weeks
now about about some of those movies. And I'm like,
you know what, I'll just I'll just wait, I'll state
my case when it's time. I'm looking forward to that one.
That's gonna be a fun to be it is. Where
can we find you man, you can hear a film buy.
We're streaming on all the platforms. If you want to
check us out on social media, you can hit us Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
at a film by podcast, and our website www dot
a film by podcast, and we're on Patreon as well,
a film by podcast where we have some fun. We're
new episodes every Tuesday, and usually bonus episodes usually on
Fridays and Sundays.
Speaker 3: So all right, everybody catch us next week when we
got Jeff and Brad back to talk about Last Action Hero,
and then I think we're gonna have you back again.
We're gonna talk about Alien.
Speaker 1: Three, an awesome film.
Speaker 2: D's d is this face is just all scrunched up.
I'll defend I will defend Fincher's Alien three.
Speaker 3: Oh wow, that's gonna be fun. We're gonna talk about
what the heck happened for those two movies.
Speaker 1: Thanks everyone, Hi guys