Running with the Devil: A Backstage Pass to the Wild Times, Loud Rock, and the..

thismusicsux: I had much higher hopes coming from Noel.it was way too negative in general i thought.like there isn’t any memory of the fun times… just highlighting the shit-show.

there were a few cool nuggets to be learned though

Agreed. It kinda glossed over everything, without going into much detail about anything. Almost the opposite of VH Rising, which was very carefully-researched and factual. Monk’s book gave some interesting perspective on how/why events unfolded the way they did, but I guess it wasn’t thorough enough. If a casual reader picked it up, without knowing the full history of the band to begin with, I’m not sure they would get it.

But if you’ve read DLR’s autobiography, Crazy From the Heat, you’ll recognize that several of the best stories in Monk’s book were already told in a way more more interesting fashion by DLR. And in each book, DLR and Noel Monk each claim to have come up with the idea for the brown M&Ms contract rider, the paternity insurance, etc.

Runnin’ With The Devil is definitely an essential read for hardcore fans of VH, but just understand it is not a thorough history of the band, and it is written from the perspective of someone who obviously had an axe to grind from his experience of having been screwed over by the band when he was let go in 1985.

Thanks for everyones 2 cents, I ordered mine today..

PT5150: https://www.instagram.com/p/BVinr80DHJa/

Wow, first post in 8 months! Hope it’s a great album!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4600892/Inside-drug-ridden-sex-crazed-world-Van-Halen.html

EXCLUSIVE: Inside the drug-addled, sex-crazed world of Van Halen: How sitcom star Valerie Bertinelli fell in love with Eddie Van Halen from an album cover and cried as she held her drunk groom’s head over a toilet bowl after their wedding

Manager Noel Monk reveals the lurid details of Van Halen, one of the most popular bands of the era in his new book Runnin’ with the Devil
He tells how Eddie Van Halen met 20-year-old Valerie Bertinelli
On their wedding day, Bertinelli held Eddie’s hair back while he was vomiting. They were married for almost two decades
Van Halen attracted crazed groupies and suffered constant STD outbreaks
Drug and alcohol addiction was rampant, writes Monk
Alex Van Halen faced alcoholism to the extent that at one point he hallucinated that there were ‘giant penises’ coming out of the wall
The band ultimately collapsed in 1985 because of clashing egos and drug and alcohol addictions

By Caroline Howe For Dailymail.com
Published: 17:17 EDT, 20 June 2017 | Updated: 17:17 EDT, 20 June 2017

[click the link to read more]

Just got my copy yesterday – gonna give it a read and report back……

http://www.themaineedge.com/buzz/music/runnin-with-the-devil-…-and-with-van-halen

posted by Mike Dow
edge staff writer
‘Runnin’ with the Devil’ … and with Van Halen
July 5, 2017

Band’s former manager reveals all in shocking new book

As road manager for Van Halen during their first national tour in 1978, Noel E. Monk proved to the guys, and to Warner Bros. Records, that he had what it took to lead the fledgling Pasadena-based band to the top. Beginning in 1979, Monk became their full-time manager, an all-encompassing, life-altering position which consumed him for the next six years.

As Monk reveals in a new book, being the manager of one of the most unmanageable bands of all time provided him a front-row seat for rock’s wildest ride.

Formerly a stage manager at the 1969 Woodstock festival and later Bill Graham’s right-hand man at the Fillmore East in New York City, he was also tour manager for The Sex Pistol’s only U.S. tour. Monk shepherded Van Halen from regional popularity to eventual global domination.

For the first time, the unadulterated true story of Van Halen has been told from an insider in Monk’s new book “Runnin’ With the Devil: A Backstage Pass to the Wild Times, Loud Rock, and the Down and Dirty Truth Behind the Making of Van Halen” (HarperCollins), co-authored with Joe Layden. It’s one of the most fascinating and fast-paced rock reads of recent memory.

From Van Halen’s fledgling early days when they would play backyard barbecues for extra exposure to the drug-fueled debauchery and greed which triggered the end of the band as we knew them, Monk’s book brings the story of Edward and Alex Van Halen, David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony into focus, with shocking details that have never been shared before.

Noel E. Monk checked in with The Maine Edge to talk about his new book.

[click the link to read more]

wjamflan: Noel Monk’s Runnin’ With The Devil promises to be two things: a backstage pass to wild times; and the truth behind the making of Van Halen. Most who have commented have focused Monk’s failure to actually bring anything substantially new to the former. I agree. It is a run of the mill re-hashing of many stories we’ve heard before. The latter promise is far more interesting.

Why?

Because Noel spends the entire book trying to illustrate how he was the fifth member of Van Halen, and, by the way, the most important. He was the confidant, fixer, and promoter; he alone helped the band “grow from club performing novices to hardened veterans who sold out stadiums”; he got them out of their first contract; he was responsible for their merchandising; etc.

In the end, two things are clear: his ego now allows him to wax nostalgic about a band he feels he was an integral part of, and he despises all involved but Michael Anthony. Don’t waste your time or money. This is no follow up to Van Halen Rising. This is a hatchet job that should be re-titled, Grindin’ the Axe.

^ sounds about right