The 5 Best Songs of Van Halen - Classic Hard Rock Review and Trivia Question

Led by the lead singer David Lee Roth and the amazing guitar talents of Eddie Van Halen, this band is considered revolutionary and has helped to change the sound and style of hard rock music, which shows in quite a few of today's bands. Bassist Michael Anthony and drummer Alex Van Halen team up to form one of the most dynamic and original rhythm sections ever heard in rock music. The signature sound in Van Halen's songs can be recognized by the near perfect backing vocals and harmonizing of Michael Anthony. This makes him one of the most important and talented musicians to come out of the hard rock/heavy metal music scene.

Eddie Van Halen formed this band back in the 70's. My trivia question to you is: Eddie Van Halen married an actress in April of 1981. Can you name this actress? I will give the answer after I name my choices of the 5 best Van Halen songs.

Runnin' With The Devil is the song that started if all for this band. Their début album opens with this track and is by far the perfect introduction to what has become their trademark sound. The opening bass riff is one of the most recognizable intros to a song ever in hard rock music.

Ice Cream Man begins with a little acoustical talent, showing us why Eddie will become one of the biggest guitar heroes of his time. In mid song, the tempo changes over to a faster, louder pace still keeping its melodic flavor and showing off its unique style. This song is one of many covers this band recorded, but don't be fooled as they made this top song all their own.

Commercially speaking, Jump is one of the most popular VH songs and introduces us to the many different talents of Eddie Van Halen as we discover his keyboard playing as well. It became a huge hit single and the only single from the band to reach #1 on the billboard charts.

Hot For Teacher starts with that now famous drum groove that grabs you and pulls you in, without ever letting up. Add to that a brilliant music video, set in a High School classroom, it was obvious that this furious rocker would become a trend setting hard rock masterpiece.

With Why Can't This Be Love, Eddie Van Halen gets guitar savvy and Sammy Hagar knocks out the vocals. Released from their top-selling album 5150, this song became one of the most requested VH songs ever. This song has a catchy groove to it that doesn't let up, leaving you ready to hear it again.

At present, founding member and bassist Michael Anthony is not in the band. He has been replaced with Eddie Van Halen's son, Wolfgang Van Halen. Wolfgang's bass playing is obviously different from that of Michael Anthony's, but he has been very successful at filling the spot and contributes his own style as well to keeping with the sound that distinguishes this band from other classic hard rock bands.

Now for the answer to my trivia question. The actress that Eddie Van Halen married in 1981 was Valerie Bertinelli.

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Keep Rockin,
Teri L. John