The Bobby Rock Newsletter #95 (2-19-23) - Playing the "Hunger Game" (with early Van Halen)
The Bobby Rock Newsletter #95 (2-19-23) - Playing the "Hunger Game" (with early Van Halen)
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Hey Kids -
It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood here in LA. Life continues to be an around-the-clock proposition as my girl and I navigate parenthood, but we are finding our footing. We have a healthy (and hungry!) baby boy on our hands and all is well. Meanwhile, road life picks up again in two weeks, starting with Lita Ford shows in Vegas and LA.
For now, let’s get right into this week’s offerings, keeping in mind that our “weekly” newsletter schedule might continue to be a bit in flux in the days ahead.
In This Issue:
- Reflections on a Classic - Van Halen 1: Examining one of the great works of our time, and revisiting its significance 45 years later.
- The "Hunger Game” and Why I Still Play It: Cliche as it may be, “stay hungry” has been a long-time cultural directive. But is there still something to be said for its practice as we get older, or is it strictly a younger person’s mantra?
- A Journal Reflection: Yet another contemplative journaling exercise to illuminate more about what makes us tick and why…
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This old pic continues to tell an
accurate story about the plight of writing!
Note: As mentioned, creating this Newsletter is a dynamic, ever-evolving process where publishing and content decisions are made, and directions are abruptly shifted, from one day to the next, in any given week. I’m sure there is a less time-consuming and more efficient way I could create the damn thing, but hey—I feel like it’s all been working as is, so why fuck with it?
Case in point: I’ve been wanting to reflect on the mighty Van Halen debut since my most recent binge of it this past September, but haven't quite been able to work it into the agenda. This issue, I was determined to riff on it a bit, in the context of a When was the last time you really listened to this masterpiece? kind of vibe. But as I sat down to reflect, it took on a life of its own (as often is the case around here), conjuring up a few existential reflections that I could sew together through the four-plus decades since the record came out. And, oh yeah, by the way… last week on Feb 10, the record celebrated its 45-year anniversary!
It’s all about timing, my friends. Enjoy...
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Van Halen 1 and the Adventures of
the Mega-Hungry Madmen!
The debut effort from Van Halen would have to reside in most everyone’s Top 10 Greatest Hard Rock Records of All-Time list. This album represents everything the genre should abundantly portray: vibe, attitude, a signature sound and feel, classic songs, fiery ensemble playing, an unmistakable identity of the lead vocals, and just for good measure, a style of guitar playing that was so innovative and exciting, it ushered in a whole new era of guitar heroism. For these reasons and more, it would be difficult to think of another “Top 10 Greatest” that would go on to alter the industry landscape on so many levels. Simply put, things would never be the same post-Van Halen 1.
Most of us remember the moment we first experienced the record back in ’78. Either you heard this hellacious new sound blaring out of the radio with their first single, “You Really Got Me,” or you were blindsided by the epic intro to the album’s opening track, “Runnin’ With the Devil.” In fact, my longtime bro, melodic rock guitar virtuoso Neil Zaza, can recall with striking clarity his initial "moment of exposure.” He will tell you how he was rolling through a Cleveland suburb in a ’72 Oldsmobile Cutlass with three other passengers, the oldest of whom was driving. He will mention the suffocating grey haze of weed in the car and how all the windows remained rolled up. And then, he will describe how the cassette player strained to contain that iconic battle-horn sound effect… that blasting bass pulse intro… and then Eddie’s scorching guitar entrance, as the band exploded into “Runnin’." And Zaza remembers all the particulars of this epiphanal moment because his life would forever be changed as a result of it: he instantaneously decided to become a guitar player.
And while millions of other guitarists could tell you their own version of a similar experience—and most would agree that Eddie’s contributions, in particular, are perhaps most enduring—Van Halen was a band in every sense of the word. Roth’s raw and spontaneous vocal stylings oozed a whole other level of rock-god confidence and attitude; Alex’s signature drum sound and feel were almost as identifiable to the band sound as the guitars and vocals; meanwhile, Michael Anthony glued it all together with those anchoring bass lines and high harmonies (as the band’s lush background vocals lent a breezy, poppy edge to all that monster riffage); and Eddie, obviously, brought his game-changing tone and pyrotechnics, but also his stellar rhythm guitar playing—an often overlooked, yet vital, aspect of the band’s unique, “swinging” kind of feel (and no doubt a byproduct of Eddie and Alex jamming together through the years, for hours on end, just the two of them).
Put all of these elements together in the LA club scene, and it’s easy to understand how Van Halen's impact as a live act would inevitably get them noticed. And I think this is one of the main elements of their debut that still stands out, especially in today’s reality of isolated, digital performances. The rhythm tracks, and even many of the guitar solos, were recorded live in the studio, with that 2” tape absorbing all of their magic like a sizzling chemical dye. The result? Excitement! Energy! Adrenaline!
For this, we must offer a nod of credit to their producer, Ted Templeman, and engineer, Donn Landee. Their job, it would seem, was simply to capture what Van Halen was already doing around LA, and not try to mold them into something different. So, in an effort to preserve their potent live sound, they basically treated the recording process like a demo session: Set 'em up, mic 'em up, then let them play complete passes live to tape. Only four tracks even had guitar overdubs: "Runnin' with the Devil," "Jamie's Cryin'," "Feel Your Love Tonight," and "Ice Cream Man.” Record budget? 40 grand. Sales in the US alone? Over 10 million. Mission accomplished.
The Birth of Eruption
One of my favorite stories from the making of this record was told in Templeman’s book, Ted Templeman: A Platinum Producer’s Life in Music. The story really speaks to the “just hit the record button” mentality that he wisely employed.
Here’s how Ted tells it:
During our last sessions for the album, something serendipitous happened. We’d moved from Sunset’s studio 2 to studio 1. I’m still not sure why. One of the days we worked in studio 1, Donn and I were preparing to track something in the next few minutes. Ed was by himself in the studio. I remember he was kind of noodling around on his guitar. I was out in the little side room getting coffee. I headed back and walked out into the studio. Ed was playing what would become “Eruption.” My ears perked up.
I stopped him and asked, “What’s that?”
“Ah, nothing. It’s just something I warm up on.”
“Well, let’s hear it again. We gotta record it.”
“Are you kidding?”
“No, we have to record it. Right away.”
He really didn’t think it was anything. But it was astounding. I walked into the booth, thinking Donn hadn’t been listening to what Ed was doing. I said, “You’ve got to hear this. Turn on the monitors.” Donn turned on the speakers, and we listened. I said, “We’ve got to record this. Let’s roll tape.” Donn looked at me and said, “I’m already rolling.” So it turned out that he had heard Ed playing and had turned on the tape machine. We got Al and Mike in the room. I don’t think more than ten minutes went by from the moment I first heard “Eruption” to the time we recorded it. After we’d gotten it on tape, Ed looked uneasy.
“What’s wrong, Ed?”
“Ah, I dunno. I think I can do it better.”
I said, “No. No. That’s good.”
I didn’t let him do it one more time. Sometimes I regretted that, because, I swear to God, three, four years later he’d remind me that he “could’ve played it better” than the version that ended up on the record. Even more mind-boggling to me is that Ed wasn’t even going to show this piece to me or to Donn. If I hadn’t walked by at that moment, it wouldn’t have ended up on the album. Now it’s universally recognized as the greatest guitar solo of all time.
Can you fucking imagine a world without “Eruption”?
Which indirectly leads us to...
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The "Hunger Game"
I recently ran across a familiar philosophical anecdote that conveyed something to the effect of (paraphrasing):
Everyone is running toward one thing,
while simultaneously running away from something else.
What a fascinating notion... that we can be equally motivated to pursue one thing, as we do everything possible to avoid another. What an interesting intersection to live from, and how valuable it might be to understand precisely how these polarities inform our own journey.
While I’m pretty clear about what I’m running toward, I thought about what I was running away from. And then it hit me, once again, what it was: Losing the hunger, becoming complacent, and getting “fat and happy” with the current state of my affairs, as I carry on expressing a subpar version of my potential. And as I thought about how deeply-rooted this aversion was for me, and when I likely first fell into this feeling, I realized it probably began as a young concert-goer, as a result of seeing some of my heroes drift past their prime, get soft around the midsection, and lose the taste of blood in their mouth, as the urgency and magic began to drain from their performances.
“Ah, the good life,” I would think to myself as I watched them (in all of my judgmental teenage "wisdom"). “Life atop the hill is no doubt a lot cozier than brawling it out from the bottom.”
This was, of course, a highly-speculative observation that, when and if at all accurate, speaks to the human nature aspects of achievement and success, and how they both can affect our motivation game. But where did it begin, I wondered?
VH’s First World Tour: I Was There!
Back in ’78, I was still all about Black Sabbath, although, regrettably, their star had fallen over the past few years. There had been a couple lackluster records and half-ass concert appearances and, well… let’s just say I was holding out for a return to form along the lines of their first five albums. (Of course, we would find out later that drug-related lifestyle issues had caught up with the guys.) But on the last time I saw Sabbath with Ozzy in November of ‘78, the mighty Van Halen opened the show and… holy fuck! It was the classic "David vs. Goliath" scenario (no pun intended with the Roth reference there) of the new bucks stepping up and taking care of business in a way that the old bucks couldn’t (at least given their current state of brain fog and burn-out). And I will never forget the raw power and energy that surged from that Sam Houston Coliseum stage that night. You could not see them play without glimpsing the historical significance of this band's future… releasing platinum records and blowing arenas apart the world over.
But what of my heroes? This was probably the first time I would make a clear distinction between what I perceived to be “young and hungry” vs. “old and soft.” And man, would this "young and hungry” ethos ever influence how I lived my life in the decades ahead.
In retrospect, this has been a double-edged sword for me, because to stay hungry usually means to remain “in the hunt”… perpetually in pursuit of something. And, at least in my experience, this state is most efficiently maintained by not acquiring too much, which is usually the natural state-of-being for the young and hungry. You are on your way up the mountain, struggling and scrapping, yet unencumbered by much of anything to distract you, or that you have to protect and hang on to. This makes for a simple life, which I’ve always preferred. But to the extent that you ever evaluate your existence on the merit of “assets”—especially as you get older—it’s not always such a pretty picture.
In general, though, the most reliable explanation I’ve pieced together about this phenomenon stems back to our neurobiology. This is obviously a deeper discussion, but at a quick glance, it deals with the science of what actually drives us to do what we do. This is probably best explained these days via the connection between our addictive behaviors (especially where our digital inputs are concerned) and those small but steady hits of dopamine we take in throughout the day. But our neurochemistry doesn’t begin and end there. As author Steven Kotler explains, as we navigate various stages of life and move from that “seeking/acquisition” mode of a younger person, to more of a "settle down and hang on to what we got” mode a bit later, the actual neurochemistry can look different, and our reward system can shift, right along with our motivations and behaviors. (More on all this soon…)
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Still "Runnin’ With the Devil"
Back to the Van Halen debut and what I would consider one of the greatest “stay hungry and crush it” anthems ever: that infamous opening track, “Runnin’ With the Devil.” Here’s what I find so compelling about it:
The way the song is played and sung tells us everything we need to know about its meaning—so much so, in fact, that the actual lyrics are almost incidental! It reminds me of some of the classic, old-school blues records from the early days: there are ultra-simplistic lyrics that hint at the true blood, guts, and bone marrow of what the artist is trying to convey. But it’s in the way the lyrics are sung and the music is played, that truly expresses the meaning.
Same thing with “Runnin’.” I mean, look at these fucking lyrics below. Not much there, really. But when you hear the ferocity with which the band lays down the track, and you step into the raw emotion and energy of every nuance in Roth’s vocal performance… you feel everything you need to know about what it means to tour the world, as a young, hungry rocker, fighting for every dollar, and pillaging every city you visit, like a Viking (in any of a number of different ways!).
Click on image to hear the tune
For full effect, scope these lyrics while you listen to the song:
Yeah, yeah, ah, yeah
I live my life like there's no tomorrow
And all I've got, I had to steal
Least I don't need to beg or borrow
Yes I'm livin' at a pace that kills
Ooh, yeah
(Ahh)
Runnin' with the Devil
(Ahh-hah, yeah)
(Woo-hoo-oo)
Runnin' with the Devil
Let me tell ya all about it
I found the simple life ain't so simple
When I jumped out, on that road
I got no love, no love you'd call real
Ain't got nobody, waitin’ at home
(Ah, yeah-ah!)
Runnin' with the devil
(God damn it lady. You know I ain't lyin' to ya.
I'm only gonna tell you one time-ahh, ya!)
Runnin' with the devil
(Yes I am! Yeah!)
You know I,
I found the simple life weren’t so simple, no
When I jumped out, on that road
Got no love, no love you'd call real
Got nobody, waitin' at home
Aahhh, yeah!
Runnin' with the Devil
(Hold on, hold on I'm runnin’, ah yeah)
Runnin' with the Devil
(Ooh ooh, one more time)
Ha-yeah!
Runnin' with the Devil
(Oh, yeah, ya-yeah)
Runnin' with the Devil
(Woo! Woo!)
Runnin' with the devil
(Ah-ha, yeah! Ah-ha, yeah! Ah-hah, yeah!)
Runnin' with the devil (Woo!)
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Timeless badassery, my friends… timeless!
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The Polarities Contemplation
Okay, gang… let’s see if we can learn something new about ourselves. I would suggest pulling out that journal or notebook and taking a few notes. This will be in two parts:
1. What is the essence of what you are running toward? What is it you are most in pursuit of?
For this, you have to look beyond the literal thing—money, a relationship, a creative goal, weight loss—and consider what you think the acquisition of the thing will give you. Give this some thought…
2. What is the essence of what you are running away from? What are you most trying to avoid?
Once again, you have to look beyond the thing you’re trying to avoid—loss of this, failing at that, losing financial security, facing public embarrassment, etc—and consider what the deeper consequence of this thing would be and how it would affect you.
Ready, set, go!
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Thanks again, everybody. Connect next week!
Until then,
BR
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