‘Now he’s seen as a symbol’: Republicans rally around Trump

https://www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/?tab_active=default-award&se=Van+Halen#search_section

From the Sammy era, I count 18 million copies. A very respectable sum.

From VH 1 to 1984, I count 30 million.

Sadly, the Gary Cherone album went “only” Gold.

As I said elsewhere, I’m not a Sammy hater. He added substance and depth that Dave could never deliver, when they needed it.

But Dave wasn’t about that - he was about gyrations, over-the-top performance, and a scream that was all his. Their Romeo Delight at Us Festival slays. https://youtu.be/7E9n8RXAQbI?si=ZFDHgQArG99a_Mkm.

America no longer wants a policy wonk, or a dottering old fool, or a doormat. America wants a Frontman. In that contest, Diamond Donald wins.

That was Van Halen, but after DLR had left, and Sammy Hagar replaced him. And yes, that was actually the best example if a song with guitars that literally “scream” that I know of. Those are technically called harmonics, and no one could do them that well, before or since.

These VH songs would probably be more your taste, from the Diver Down album.

Big Bad Bill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkxqcWhym9U

Little Guitars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd0i4cnzdJc

Pretty Woman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLaFiKfpcVQ

Dancing in the Streets

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIfotf13gzE

Thanks for the link, but that’s not counting single, radio, or concert sales, which per my understanding were up noticeably after Hagar joined.

Dave was great on the albums, when Ted Templeman could control what actually got distributed on the label. But he was a wreck on the road, where he seemed messed up half the time, couldn’t even remember the lyrics, etc.

America doesn’t need that right now. The left is organized, focused, and winning at every turn. Only that type of response can win for the right. Smarts, not emotion, almost always wins in the end, and this will be no different.

Thanks for the concert link by the way, I’ll probably try to watch the whole thing sometime as Dave does at least appear to be sober and giving it his best effort. But tonight I couldn’t make it past like the third or fourth song Jamie’s Crying, where he’s horribly off tune flat in his singing.

Full disclosure I have friends who are professional musicians who have probably shaped me to notice things like that, and be disappointed when a performer doesn’t deliver their product in tune. From what I understand, the range of vocalists does often go down over time, but they are supposed to modify their delivery and sing one octave lower, so they are at least still in tune and don’t stick pit like a sore thumb.

Ken Tamplin vocal academy often talks about these same things and even has made some videos comparing these two, which I think he sums up well. DLR is an incredible “showman” but his actual musical ability is nowhere near Hagar. Give me proof over pudding every time as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ-oLMrg-ew

Since you’re showing some interest let’s get a little more specific about “screaming guitars” and “harnonics.”

The most common way to create a “screaming guitar’ is to move the left hand that holds the string against the fretboard, up the fretboard closer to the picking hand, while picking. You can see Van Halen demonstrating that in its most basic form at 1:43 to 1:48 of the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2qaYdYIuvI

Then, there are two types of harmonics that can go even higher in pitch than can be achieved by normal playing, but are very difficult to produce by the average player. The first is an open string harmonic, where in just a few locations on the fretboard, you can produce a chime sound by barely touching the string while picking. It has to do with creating resonance. You can hear him do that at 0:28 to 0:30 and 0:52 to 0:54.

Finally, and by far the most difficult to produce, are the pinched harmonics. Most average guitar players can’t really even do these at all, even after years of playing. You have to hold the thumb of your picking hand barely on the string while picking, to create the resonance. These are the loudest wails possible on a guitar, and the tone can bent unlike the open string harmonic, because the left hand is holding the string against the fretboard. You can hear that at 0:43 to 0:46 and 1:20 to 1:23, among many other places.

Before Van Halen, no one had been able to produce that sound, as effectively and frequently as he can do it. His other revolutionary technique was the fretboard tapping, which you can see at 0:59 to 1:02 and 1:10 to 1:15. Others before had experimented with these sounds, but no one before or since could produce them so effortlessly.

One of my my favorite parts of that video is the screaming harmonic Van Halen does at 0:44 to 0:47, then the look Hagar (who is a great player himself) gives down to Van Halan’s guitar, with a smirk like how in the world do you do that so easily?

Those Ken Tamplin videos are fun to watch too, at least if you like the band. He speaks about how DLR and his amazing flamboyance, and Hagar’s incredible musical talent, were both a good fit for the band, but in the end, it was really more about the energy from the guys playing the instruments, especially lead guitar.

Even though Eddie died from throat cancer likely due to early years of partying, he had settled down completely the last ~10 years of his life and hopefully knew Christ. He was a very private person with his personal life, but many believe he was raised as a Catholic and believed in Jesus until his death. The album cover for Live Right Here Right Now does give that impression.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live:_Right_Here,_Right_Now#/media/File:Van_Halen_-_Live-_Right_Here,_Right_Now_CD.jpg

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