Another of my favourite musicians gone. Doesn’t seem like two minutes since I was bopping to his music at a beach party in Holland several decades ago.
Another reason not to put my life on hold
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If I was a con-testant on 'millionaire', and the top question was "name any song by EVH", I would have to return home with a measly 500 notes but,
Having just listened to: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwYN7mTi6HM I have clearly been missing out.
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"Van Halen struggled with alcoholism and drug abuse. He began smoking and drinking at the age of 12, and he stated that he eventually needed alcohol to function" [wiki]
Say n'more!
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Yes the booze finally caught up with him and he hee died of throat cancer aged 65. Horrible way to go but I guess he enjoyed the sex drugs and rock and roll lifestyle while it lasted. His biography looks like a good read
Manager Noel Monk reveals the lurid details of Van Halen, one of the most popular bands of the era in his new book Runnin' with the Devil
He tells how Eddie Van Halen met 20-year-old Valerie Bertinelli
On their wedding day, Bertinelli held Eddie's hair back while he was vomiting. They were married for almost two decades
Van Halen attracted crazed groupies and suffered constant STD outbreaks
Drug and alcohol addiction was rampant, writes Monk
Alex Van Halen faced alcoholism to the extent that at one point he hallucinated that there were 'giant penises' coming out of the wall
The band ultimately collapsed in 1985 because of clashing egos and drug and alcohol addictions
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Sounds like he was lucky to make it to 65 - probably outlived many of his contemporaries who were equally committed to the R&R lifestyle.
Not a criticism - if I had the talent I would probably have been equally attracted in my teens and twenties!
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>>if I had the talent I would probably have been equally attracted in my teens and twenties!
Same here :( .. I was 'into' drugs in the 60's, alcohol in the 70's, even had a bit of a band going at one time, but the lead guitarist wanted me to play bass so the hits never materialised :)
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Well I guess he did have a talent but having tried to listen to some of his music I must admit that it’s not my cup of tea and never really was. I guess that it sounded better if you you had taken some of the same stuff he was on.
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Funny how multi millionaire drugged up alcoholic rock stars are treated like Gods yet if a footballer is caught smoking a cigarette everyone is full of moral outrage about "Overpaid prima donnas, role models, etc.
Could it be how most footballers are working class and expected to "Know their place?"
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>> Could it be how most footballers are working class and expected to "Know their place?"
Are rock stars from upper class backgrounds?
Last edited by: VxFan on Wed 7 Oct 20 at 14:04
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>> Are rock stars from upper class backgrounds?
>>
Many are from middle class backgrounds and perceived to be artistic and to have the correct political leanings.
Football doesn't have it's Lily Allens (Thank goodness).
Last edited by: VxFan on Wed 7 Oct 20 at 14:04
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snip - no need to keep quoting everything, please do as the pop up message requests - thanks
>> Football doesn't have it's Lily Allens (Thank goodness).
Fair enough, I can't say I know or Iook up a singer's background.
Although like brompt says it's a bit different from an athlete and a rock star. Might be a bit of what you say as well, I suppose it's hard to compare.
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 8 Oct 20 at 10:40
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>> Funny how multi millionaire drugged up alcoholic rock stars are treated like Gods yet if
>> a footballer is caught smoking a cigarette everyone is full of moral outrage about "Overpaid
>> prima donnas, role models, etc.
Footballers today are expected to be at peak fitness. That's not compatible with smoking or for that matter even a little drinking never mind the epic consumption that any number of big names from a generation or too managed. Hedonism is out . Add that to their wage packets and hoo ha is inevitable.
There's a meme doing the rounds on Facebook now with a picture of George Best in his MUFC pomp and the speech bubble 'Hey (insert current star of your choice) I played better pi**ed than you can sober'.
We still expect rock stars to be drunks/addicts.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Wed 7 Oct 20 at 14:08
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>>
>> Not a criticism - if I had the talent I would probably have been equally
>> attracted in my teens and twenties......
>>
...thirties, forties, fifties and sixties. ;-)
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Ah, that's why your knees have gone?
Did wonder...
;-)
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I’d no idea. That’s shattered all my illusions. And I didn’t know there was a correlation between alcohol and throat cancer...I thought in my naivety it was tobacco.
Glad I don’t smoke or take drugs, apart from a few pints of decent beer and G & Ts in warmer climes. I rarely drink at home and as the weather cools and beer gardens become out of bounds I’m turning into an abstemious person. Almost.
Last edited by: legacylad on Wed 7 Oct 20 at 22:04
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"I didn't know there was a correlation between alcohol and throat cancer."
Not just throat cancer - mouth cancer too. One of the reasons, I believe, that most mouthwashes are now alcohol-free.
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Did Van Halen do anything other than "Jump"?
Not my sort of thing though I must have heard other tracks over the years.
Seems like the last 20 years of his life were trying.
From Wikipedia...
"Health and death
Van Halen struggled with alcoholism and drug abuse. He began smoking and drinking at the age of 12, and he stated that he eventually needed alcohol to function.[71] He entered rehabilitation in 2007,[72] and later shared in an interview that he had been sober since 2008.[71]
Suffering from lingering injuries from past, high-risk, acrobatic stage performances and crashes, Van Halen underwent hip replacement surgery in 1999, after his chronic avascular necrosis, with which he was diagnosed in 1995, became unbearable.[73] He began receiving treatment for tongue cancer in 2000. The subsequent surgery removed roughly a third of his tongue. He was declared cancer-free in 2002.[74] He blamed the tongue cancer on his habit of holding guitar picks in his mouth, stating in 2015: "I used metal picks – they're brass and copper – which I always held in my mouth, in the exact place where I got the tongue cancer. ... I mean, I was smoking and doing a lot of drugs and a lot of everything. But at the same time, my lungs are totally clear. This is just my own theory, but the doctors say it's possible."[75]
In 2012, Van Halen underwent an emergency surgery for a severe bout of diverticulitis.[76] Recovery time required due to the surgery led to postponement of Van Halen tour dates scheduled in Japan.[77] Van Halen was later hospitalized in 2019 after battling throat cancer over the previous five years.[78] He died from the illness at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California on October 6, 2020, at the age of 65
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Eddie Van Halen - Dog
