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redbarchetta

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Why I prefer Van Halen to Radiohead

May 05, 2008, 12:07

My wife, bless her heart, has booked two tix to see Van Halen at Madison Square Garden for my 40th.

Aside from the massive hole this is blowing in our savings, I am absolutely beside myself with excitement as I have never been to America before and the last time I saw VH was at Donington in '84.

Van Halen were, with Dave, the wittiest, sharpest, funkiest, most knowing rock band to have ever come out of Southern California. Any band which can go from a Motown cover, to flamenco guitar, via bruising heavy metal, Dixieland Jazz and Country in the space of one LP side gets my vote every time (Diver Down, side 2).

David Lee Roth's book is one of the more self-aware rock-bio's I've read, a man blessed with huge intelligence and an extremely well developed sense of the absurd.

Radiohead, on the other hand, are a rather serious bunch of chaps who have a very well developed social conscience and seek to challenge boundaries with their music. Which is interesting, because Van Halen inspired millions of young guys to pick up the guitar and in doing so redefined the vocabulary of the instrument, without being so damn earnest about it. How much fun can you have at a Radiohead gig?

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Why I prefer Van Halen to Radiohead – redbarchetta, May 05, 2008, 12:07


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