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Michael Anthony and Van Halen

#61
BTW, a fun story:

My fiancee was born and raised on Maui... spent all but three years of her life here.

That three years off was spent in LA working for Marta Kaufman (tv producer) and some nanny duty on the side for Valerie Bertinelli... she helped take care of Wolfgang Van Halen in the early years.

Not having been exposed to the music, she was only dimly aware that all these guys she was around- Sammy, Eddie, Micheal, Alex- played in a band together. So you can imagine my hysterical laughter when she tells me one evening "You and Valerie's husband Ed would get along real well... he's a pretty good guitar player".
 
#62
Stinsok said:
When musicians get old and at the end of the gravy train, their mindset is MINE, MINE, MINE!"
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Which is the same as their mindset at the beginning. That's how rockstars are made. Old ruts are hard to break. ;)

I never much cared for any of Van Halen's material. Didn't get it then, and I still don't now. I do have to give them credit though for chops and being musically tight. I always found them falling short in their songwriting though for my taste.
 
#63
avvie said:
BTW, a fun story:

My fiancee was born and raised on Maui... spent all but three years of her life here.

That three years off was spent in LA working for Marta Kaufman (tv producer) and some nanny duty on the side for Valerie Bertinelli... she helped take care of Wolfgang Van Halen in the early years.

Not having been exposed to the music, she was only dimly aware that all these guys she was around- Sammy, Eddie, Micheal, Alex- played in a band together. So you can imagine my hysterical laughter when she tells me one evening "You and Valerie's husband Ed would get along real well... he's a pretty good guitar player".
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Very cool story - I'll bet she has some others about working with the stars? Bring 'em on!

And while we're waiting here's the link to the article in Rolling Stone with Sammy;

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/n...o-make-another-record-with-van-halen-20110302

I think Sammy Hagar is an amazing musician, and a rather astute businessman. (He's also an avid mtn biker and owns several bicycle shops for fun). It occurs to me he could hire pretty much any bass player he wants, and he's playing with Michael? Michael is definately doing something right!
 
#64
I'm 41 and never got to see Van Halen until the 2004 tour. The way that Sammy and Michael worked together was nothing short of amazing. These two guys were locked in with each other it was a sight to see. They both anticipated every move the other made.

As for Michael's skills as a bass player, everyone needs to get a copy of Women and Children First and some headphones and enjoy the spectacular bass playing on that record.

Ed and Alex and the rest of Pasadena thought he was pretty good because he had a very popular pre-Van Halen band that he led and they asked him to be part of their band based on seeing him play and sing.

All I know is, I have been playing bass since I was 16 and I still can't play some of the stuff that Michael did and continues to do.

And to the OP, yes, Michael has gotten a raw deal in recent years from the Van Halen camp.
 
#65
avvie said:
BTW, a fun story:

My fiancee was born and raised on Maui... spent all but three years of her life here.

That three years off was spent in LA working for Marta Kaufman (tv producer) and some nanny duty on the side for Valerie Bertinelli... she helped take care of Wolfgang Van Halen in the early years.

Not having been exposed to the music, she was only dimly aware that all these guys she was around- Sammy, Eddie, Micheal, Alex- played in a band together. So you can imagine my hysterical laughter when she tells me one evening "You and Valerie's husband Ed would get along real well... he's a pretty good guitar player".
Click to expand...

Hey Avvie, Michael been hanging on the island the last couple weeks, he was at our gig the other night.
 
#68
My dad was the keyboardist for Black Opal and related to me many stories of how they would play at picnics opening up for Mike's dad's band. The whole family were musicians, at least one person walking around blowing on a trumpet mouthpiece constantly. He says MA was the most rock solid bassists he has ever worked with. And that was in high-school.
 
#69
MA does seem to get a fair amount of flack compared to say...Cliff Williams - I would see them as having had relatively similar roles {give or take a rhythm guitarist ;) } and I would say they both filled those roles just right - hard to imagine their bands being so successful with a member incapable of doing their job.
 
#71
Michael Anthony is a great bass player and a great singer. There's a vast difference in what he played on record and could play. Listen to Women & Children or Fair Warning. He got such a raw deal from Eddie and Alex that it isn't even funny. it's plain sickening and cast a pall over a band I idolized as a teenager. Hats off to him though, he's been given chances to badmouth the brothers several times in interviews and always took the high road.

Just to be able to take part in the 2004 reunion he had to give up all future VH royalties and the only reason he was asked was because Sammy refused to do it if MA wasn't doing it. A lot of the problem from what I've read with Michael, Eddie and Alex started when Sammy left and was on the outs with Eddie and Mike Anthony continued to hang out with and went on tour with Sammy and also that both of them were pursuing outside interests and business outside of VH instead of sitting around for a few years at a time twiddling their thumbs waiting for the call to make a record.

Eddie squash rot has gotten worse over the years and Alex from what I've heard has been all but broke because of a few bad marriages/divorces and poor business decisions. How many of you have been told by some dick head guitarists "Don't play that, I didn't write that for you!!", I'm sure this was the case. I have many times and I put up with it for a while in a few bands till I got tired of it. I'll bet Cliff Williams of AC/DC can play the crap out of his bass but chooses to play the way he does because it fits the songs.

I really dug the Chickenfoot record and even though it's sort of a fluke that it sold 500,000 copies in this day and age I think it's a great representation of that bands collective talent. I'm looking forward to a 2nd record.
 
#72
Well all I know is he made it, and he is still making it.
How many in TB have ever thrown it all away to pursue an almost impossible chance of actually making it? Not me, I know better.
Sounds like a lot of armchair quarterbacks in here, IMO.
 
#74
Cree said:
I'm 41 and never got to see Van Halen until the 2004 tour. The way that Sammy and Michael worked together was nothing short of amazing. These two guys were locked in with each other it was a sight to see. They both anticipated every move the other made.

As for Michael's skills as a bass player, everyone needs to get a copy of Women and Children First and some headphones and enjoy the spectacular bass playing on that record.

Ed and Alex and the rest of Pasadena thought he was pretty good because he had a very popular pre-Van Halen band that he led and they asked him to be part of their band based on seeing him play and sing.

All I know is, I have been playing bass since I was 16 and I still can't play some of the stuff that Michael did and continues to do.

And to the OP, yes, Michael has gotten a raw deal in recent years from the Van Halen camp.
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Like we've never heard "Women and Children First"?????
His bass playing on that one was as boring, drab, and un-imaginative as it is on the rest of their albums.

And by the way, in this pre-Van Halen band you reference, Micheal Anthony played Guitar, not bass! He never played bass previously and has been cave-manning the instrument ever since.
 
#75
prd004 said:
And by the way, in this pre-Van Halen band you reference, Micheal Anthony played Guitar, not bass! He never played bass previously and has been cave-manning the instrument ever since.
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This is absolute BS.

DID YOU KNOW!... that you are posting from the greatest research tool known to modern man?... and that your assertion is easily disprovable?
 
#77
prd004 said:
Like we've never heard "Women and Children First"?????
His bass playing on that one was as boring, drab, and un-imaginative as it is on the rest of their albums.

And by the way, in this pre-Van Halen band you reference, Micheal Anthony played Guitar, not bass! He never played bass previously and has been cave-manning the instrument ever since.
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You need to take your un-constructive criticism elsewhere. Bashing someone doesn't make you better, it only reveals your own insecurities riddled with jealousy.
 
#78
fourstringburn said:

You need to take your un-constructive criticism elsewhere. Bashing someone doesn't make you better, it only reveals your own insecurities riddled with jealousy.
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It's a free country and it's a free internet. I don't "NEED" to do anything you tell me to do! I have every right to post my opinions on this chat forum, and just because you happen to disagree with me, doesn't make you my boss or correct!

There is no level of insecurity involved, I could play circles around this guy twenty years ago. Has he had more sucess than me? Of course he has. But he didn't write any of VH's music and in fact I have read an interview with Eddie in some Guitar mag where Eddie himself ripped the guy for being a non-contributor to the music, and buying Porsches and houses without having any talent! And this was an old magazine from back when HE WAS STILL IN THE BAND! Am I jealous? Of his money, perhaps. Of his talent, no fargin way!
 
#79
People do this "no talent", "hack" thing way too much.
I would think the vast majority of us would trade places with Mike, Cliff, Adam, Gene, Pete, Nikki, (insert your "hack" here) in a second.

I would also suspect that everyone previously mentioned could raise a few eyebrows with their instrumental prowess.
OK, maybe not Pete. These guys are seasoned pros with staying power. They don't get there, they don't stay there by hammering root eights. Get these guys outta their "band box", I'd bet most of us would be stunned. They fit their bands and were instrumental in their success. How you interact & "fit" with a band trumps technical expertise.
 
#80
prd004 said:
It's a free country and it's a free internet. I don't "NEED" to do anything you tell me to do! I have every right to post my opinions on this chat forum, and just because you happen to disagree with me, doesn't make you my boss or correct!

There is no level of insecurity involved, I could play circles around this guy twenty years ago. Has he had more sucess than me? Of course he has. But he didn't write any of VH's music and in fact I have read an interview with Eddie in some Guitar mag where Eddie himself ripped the guy for being a non-contributor to the music, and buying Porsches and houses without having any talent! And this was an old magazine from back when HE WAS STILL IN THE BAND! Am I jealous? Of his money, perhaps. Of his talent, no fargin way!
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Yes it is a free country and all that but this forum has rules. You are offending some and irritating others. You made your point earlier that you don't like this man. So why must you keep on?

You are in no position to judge him or anybody being you haven't done nothing of merit yourself.
 

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