What was Van Halen thinking when they covered 'Dancing in the Street'?
 

:Oh crap

They said: lets try something new and not play the same songs we have done a million times.

so out of all the new stuff they could have done, they picked doing a cover of a Martha and the Vandellas song with an underlying message about blacks & civil rights?

Besides that it's kind of an unimaginative cover that hasn't aged well sound-wise, I don't see the problem?

according to eddie van halen in a doc i recently watched, he wondered in retrospect why the band took dlr's suggestion to do the cover. not sure when that interview took place, obviously after dlr was out and while eddie was still super pissed at dave (he prolly still is!). but in the interview clip, eddie was very much wtf were we thinking covering that fucking song?

I *think* it was this doc, watched a couple, this one is good, either way, real good, really.

the brothers were going to be huge rock stars from the getgo.

What were they thinking... :upsidedow





:stoned

ADG

Perhaps eddie looking back on the track as an artist agrees that it hasn't aged well and that is the reason for his wondering wtf about recording it?

but at the time, vh was invincible and they knew it. the album was a breakthrough album and turned r&r on it's ear with synth. so they were prolly thinking they could crush any fucking song they wanted. it's a well-crafted song to be sure



but srsrly, wtf!
:1orglaugh

thread bomber! arggggggggggg :1orglaugh

i'm not even clicking those. :mad:

Bah...Dance! Dance! Dance! :)



:stoned

ADG

The best cover ever is GWAR doing a Billy Ocean song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMkA76KpWO8

2 of my rock & roll heroes going totally teh gay. I can't watch it. Heck, although it's prolly more gay that I could watch the original Martha and the vendelles version before I would mick and david's hahahahahah! :1orglaugh doh.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:thumbsup

they kill it!

<- was not expecting the mash up with the who. :1orglaugh

You're aware Mick and David had a sexual affair together, right?

I will no longer be participating in my own thread.

:warning

:1orglaugh

lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala

la

Haha owneddd

wait, what? who owned who about what? fill me in!

Jagger and Bowie basically swapping spit in that video is absolutely disgusting

Van Halen's 1982 album Diver Down where this song appeared is comprised mostly of covers of popular songs by other artists as well as instrumentals with very little original full band material including vocals.

http://www.bohomoth.com/wp-content/u...ick+Jagger.jpg

And in the middle of it all...



:stoned

ADG

I bought this LP the first day it was released. Down at the record store! :1orglaugh

Another good VH cover of a Kinks song, that appeared on Diver Down:



I was stationed in Japan when the first Van Halen album came out, and bought the record without having heard a single song, just because I thought the cover was so baddass... :1orglaugh :anon

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...lbum_cover.jpg

http://www.vhnd.com/wp-content/uploa.../DaveBack1.jpg

I was not disappointed...still love that album. :GFYBand



I saw Van Halen for the first time later that year in Japan - one of the best live shows ever! :thumbsup

:stoned

ADG

the 1st Van Halen LP plays like Dark Side of the Moon. roll a fattie, grab the headphones, turn the volume to 11, and play it all the way through from runnin with the devil to on fire.

I bought 1984 the day it was released. Many of their albums I bought within the week they came out. The one with Gary Cherone I left it in the bargain bin...never bought it.

Diver Down was really strange - but I always liked their acapella Happy Trails - and Big Bad Bill. Little Guitars was my favorite track(s).

Me too. On cassette.

I like Van Halen's version... but Jagger and Bowie's version is just soooooooo, sooooo awful....

I vaguely remember hearing the Dead play Dancing in the Streets several times over the years... :smokin



4/20/67

:stoned

ADG

You know what? I prolly misspoke earlier. I actually boycotted this album. Fair Warning wasn't really that special and the pre-release on Diver Down I don't think impressed me none too much, now that I've thunk about it a bit.

I was also making a segue to alternative at that point, back when alternative actually was alt. Joe Jackson kicked it off for me, and The Cars.

But I was still rockin when VH released 1984 and I was pretty stunned when I heard it.

They did a good job, but I always thought it was a strange choice.

This was released in 1982.

/thread

What was dyna mo thinking when he started this topic?

That song was a vast improvement over their costmes and stage performance.

They should have renamed themselves Van Lame Men.

so's your mustang/truck/whatever, yet we hear all about it all. :1orglaugh

This song by VH is awesome! I loved it as a teen and it motivated me.

Van Halen rulez

What were they thinking. Hmm. In light of the fact they made huge bank on that tune I'm going to guess they really did it to cash in on the millions upon millions of twits out there who prefer dance music rather than real rock.

Conclusion: They were visionaries. :D


Not unlike Kiss and their choice to do the contraversial "I was made for lovin' you" back in that same era.


Huge bank.


Visionaries.

did you dance in the street?