5 Ways Eddie Van Halen Breaks the Rock-Star Rules

I actually agree with him.. bagging on Mike is bullshit.

I can see where ed is coming from if Mike never reached out to him as a friend, band mate or fellow human being during the time between VH3 & the 04 reunion. Ed went thru a bunch of shit death divorce cancer drug & alcohol abuse. If I had eds number I would have been checking up on him, why wasn’t Mikey? Of course Mike really doesn’t address any details, you never know if Ed had a bad blow up & went off on him, ed isn’t gonna bring that shit up even if he does remember it or was blacked out drunk at the time. Mike is was & always has been the weakest link in the VH chain. VH is much better with Wolf any day….But Mike does deserve at least a little respect. I get the feeling Ed feels ill will toward Mike on a personal level & lets it show through his opinion of Mikes contribution to the band.

The interesting thing is that all of this mud-slinging is getting tons of press. Just dunno if its the right kind of press to sell tickets….

Ed was bagging on Mike back in 1980, so this has nothing to do with any reunions or any perceived loyalty to Sammy. Ed has felt Mike didn’t contribute since the third album and he carried him along for the ride through the 2000′s. So there is pent up hostility. He feels Mike made a living off of his name and talent and everything that happened through the lead singer changes and reunions, “The Other Half”, Chickenfoot, The Circle, etc is just fuel on the fire. Mike is a decent bass player, but people are freaking out and putting him up there with Entwistle or Geddy Lee or JPJ and it’s just not warranted. His falsetto harmonies were part of the original VH sound, but they really aren’t THAT irreplacable. I think Mike is a hell of a nice guy and I think he is certainly talented, but this steadfast loyalty to him and this diehard “Van Halen isn’t Van Halen without the bass player” argument is just ridiculous, IMO. I would LOVE to see Mike come back and join the band for a full reunion, but I don’t think that his absense is detrimental to the legacy of Van Halen. Maybe Ed should bite his tongue and let things go, but then again, everyone has been asking for Ed to do an interview without telling the “He took my drums and I took his guitar” shit for decades. So, Ed’s telling things as he sees them and everyone is flipping out again.
The way I see it, Ed had issues with Mike for years back in the late 70s and early 80s, but kept him on board through the Hagar reunion in ’04. When Mike basically showed he was loyal to Sam after the break up and was touring with Sam, that was the end of it. I get his side of the argument that they’re out touring as “The Other Half”. That is touring and making money off of the Van Halen name and when Van Halen isn’t touring and one of your band members is out touring with the guy that left or was fired or whatever, it shows that you’re not really dedicated to the band.
As long as people keep buying the magazines and going to the shows and engaging in the debates, these media battles will rage on.

voodoo: Ed was bagging on Mike back in 1980, so this has nothing to do with any reunions or any perceived loyalty to Sammy. Ed has felt Mike didn’t contribute since the third album and he carried him along for the ride through the 2000′s. So there is pent up hostility. He feels Mike made a living off of his name and talent and everything that happened through the lead singer changes and reunions, “The Other Half”, Chickenfoot, The Circle, etc is just fuel on the fire. Mike is a decent bass player, but people are freaking out and putting him up there with Entwistle or Geddy Lee or JPJ and it’s just not warranted. His falsetto harmonies were part of the original VH sound, but they really aren’t THAT irreplacable. I think Mike is a hell of a nice guy and I think he is certainly talented, but this steadfast loyalty to him and this diehard “Van Halen isn’t Van Halen without the bass player” argument is just ridiculous, IMO. I would LOVE to see Mike come back and join the band for a full reunion, but I don’t think that his absense is detrimental to the legacy of Van Halen. Maybe Ed should bite his tongue and let things go, but then again, everyone has been asking for Ed to do an interview without telling the “He took my drums and I took his guitar” shit for decades. So, Ed’s telling things as he sees them and everyone is flipping out again. The way I see it, Ed had issues with Mike for years back in the late 70s and early 80s, but kept him on board through the Hagar reunion in ’04. When Mike basically showed he was loyal to Sam after the break up and was touring with Sam, that was the end of it. I get his side of the argument that they’re out touring as “The Other Half”. That is touring and making money off of the Van Halen name and when Van Halen isn’t touring and one of your band members is out touring with the guy that left or was fired or whatever, it shows that you’re not really dedicated to the band. As long as people keep buying the magazines and going to the shows and engaging in the debates, these media battles will rage on.

I believe it was a loyalty issue from Ed’s perspective. People forget that Ed spent many years defending Mike in the press, even though he wasn’t happy with him; the “Other Half” was the straw that broke the camel’s back. When Sam was gone, so was Mike. End of story.

It’s definitely a hell of an article to release a few weeks before a tour…

Mike’s bass solos over the years have been some of the coolest things ever.

I don’t think Ed taught these notes & solos to Mike. Not sure what to think of this.

voodoo: Mike’s bass solos were noise. A couple little patterns here and there in the middle, but nothing really musical or original. Mostly effects and noise.

Listen to any solo from the 5150 tour. He plays for awhile & then he makes noise.

You can’t run around the stage & play at the same time, so some noise is necessary.