Modern Rock Band Van Halen

What do you think of when someone brings up the 80s, classic sci-fi movies, ridiculous fashion trends, the introduction of modern video games? How about the peak of heavy metal bands? One can’t talk about 80s metal bands without mentioning Van Halen. The band’s amazing instrumentals, predominantly it's blindingly swift yet controlled guitar playing, helped reinvent heavy rock, and they still stand as examples for many modern rock musicians and bands. Van Halen’s introduction to the music industry wasn’t something out of the ordinary, like many other legendary bands they had numerous hits, yet, they also had many internal conflicts and break ups. Despite going through many conflicts and replacements, the band is still together, and it and its

Van Halen stands true to this belief. The band came to fruition when in 1974 a group of college students in Pasadena, California, decided to make a band, drop out of school, and pursue their dreams of becoming a part of the music industry (The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum, n.d.). The band originally consisted of four members: Eddie Van Halen, who was the band’s guitarist, Alex Van Halen, Eddie’s brother and the band’s drummer, David Lee Roth, the lead vocalist, and Michael Anthony, the band’s bassist and harmony singer. The band would later end up signing a contract with Warner Bros., and changing its name, which had been Mammoth, to Van Halen, because another band with the name Mammoth already existed. (The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum, n.d.)It wasn’t until 1978 that the band received public attention with the release of their self-titled debut album (The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum, n.d.), which quickly launched them onto a long

Van Halen is still together today, despite the numerous members that have been instilled since their debut. Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Wolfgang Van Halen (Eddie’s son), and David Lee Roth, who was the lead singer for the group from the 1970’s to the mid 1980’s, are all part of the “modern” Van Halen band. The group has continued to make songs since the 2009 reunion of Roth, with their latest album “A Different Kind of Truth”, as well as several tours in 2015. They have also made remasters of their older songs, such as “Jump” and “Panama”. As for the ex-group members, Mark Stone is not entirely credited with Van Halen, even though he was the bass and backing vocals for the first two years of the group. Not much is known about Mark Stone, but some say that he is still trying to compose his own music. Gary Cherone is also a little known member of Van Halen, but was the lead vocalist from 1996-1999 and is now the lead singer for the band Extreme. Mike Anthony has also broken up with the band, changing from Van Halen bassist to Chickenfoot bassist. He claims he left because of Eddie Van Halen asking whether or not Mike was “in or out”. Eventually, Mike chose out. Through that time, however, it was apparent that Eddie didn’t really want Mike to stay