Music Diary – 26th January

Welcome to my Music Diary – today for the 26th January!

Happy birthday to Eddie Van Halen, who was born on the 26th January 1955 in Nijmegen, The Netherlands!

 

1957, Born on this day, Eddie Van Halen, Dutch guitarist with Van Halen who had the 1984 US No.1 & UK No. 7 single ‚Jump‘. His guitar solo in the track ‚Eruption‘ was voted No.2 on Guitar World magazine’s readers poll of the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Van_Halen

Edward Lodewijk „Eddie“ Van Halen (born January 26, 1955 in Nijmegen) is a Dutch-born American musician, songwriter and producer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen. He is considered to be one of the world’s greatest guitarists, and one of the most influential rock guitarists of the 20th century. In 2011, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Van Halen number eight in the list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists. In 2012, he was voted in a Guitar World magazine reader’s poll as the number one of „The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time“ over Brian May of Queen (number two) and Alex Lifeson of Rush (number three).^[1]

https://melomaneblog.wordpress.com/2014/10/10/music-diary-10th-october/

In 1972 David Lee Roth met the Van Halen brothers Eddie and Alex who had a band called Genesis. Bass player Michael Anthony completed the line up and shortly after that they changed the group name into Mammoth. In 1974 Roth suggested to change the name again – into Van Halen. Under the new moniker the quartet performed in several clubs in Pasadena and Hollywood and they became famous in California, especially in and around Los Angeles. In 1977 Gene Simmons of Kiss produced a demo tape but Van Halen didn’t succeeded. Shortly after that Mo Ostin and Ted Templeman of Warner Bros. Records attended a Van Halen show at the Starwood in Hollywood and they were deeply impressed by the performance and offered the band a recording contract. In September/October 1977 Van Halen recorded their self titled debut at Sunset Sound Recorders studio, which was released in February 1978 and reached Nor. 19 on the Billboard charts. It features classics like “Runnin’ with the Devil” and the outstanding guitar solo “Eruption“, which showcased Eddie’s use of a brandnew technique at that time – the so-called “finger-tapping”. In 1979 the follower “Van Halen II” with the hit single “Dance the Night Away” hit the stores. With the albums “Women and Children First” (1980), “Fair Warning” (1981) and “Diver Down” (1982) the fanbase grew bigger and bigger. The LP “1984” marks Van Halen’s big breakthrough. The single “Jump” went No. 1 and also the other three outtakes “Panama“, “I’ll Wait” and “Hot for Teacher” charted. Due to personal tensions David Lee Roth decided to leave the band on the 1st April 1985 and started his successful solo career featuring his big hits “California Girls” and “Just like Paradise” (from the album “Skyscraper“) and “Just a Gigolo” right after leaving Van Halen. In 2006 David Lee re-joined Van Halen and recorded the comeback album “A Different Kind of Truth“, which was released finally in 2012.

Get your Van Halen stuff here (for Austrian customer):

                                                 Shop for VAN HALEN here (worldwide):

             
GERMANY                                UK                                      USA

Werbung

Music Diary – 30th November

Welcome to my Music Diary – today for the 30th November!

On the 30th November 1982 the most successful album until today was released: Michael Jackson’s „Thriller„. The LP spent 190 weeks on the UK chart and became the biggest selling pop album of all time. Until today „Thriller“ was sold over 50 million times worldwide. Also all seven singles outtakes charted, including the legendary hits „Beat it“ and „Billie Jean„. The pop milestone was produced by Quincy Jones with a production budget of $750,000. „Thriller“ received eight Grammy Awards in 1984, including for „Album of the Year„.

Also the video of the title song was game-changing in those days and became a classic of pop videos.

Get your Jacko stuff here (for Austrian customer):

                                           Shop for MICHAEL JACKSON here:

                               GERMANY                                      UK                                            USA

Music Diary – 10th October

Welcome to my Music Diary – today for the 10th October!

Mr. David Lee Roth was born on the 10th October 1955. The American singer was and is again the lead vocalist of the hard rock band Van Halen. Roth is also known as a successful solo artist and as a radio personality with his show „The David Lee Roth Show„, a short-lived morning radio program in 2006, which was aired in seven markets on CBS-owned-and-operated stations in the USA.

In 1972 David Lee Roth met the Van Halen brothers Eddie and Alex who had a band called Genesis. Bass player Michael Anthony completed the line up and shortly after that they changed the group name into Mammoth. In 1974 Roth suggested to change the name again – into Van Halen. Under the new moniker the quartet performed in several clubs in Pasadena and Hollywood and they became famous in California, especially in and around Los Angeles.

In 1977 Gene Simmons of Kiss produced a demo tape but Van Halen didn’t succeeded. Shortly after that Mo Ostin and Ted Templeman of Warner Bros. Records attended a Van Halen show at the Starwood in Hollywood and they were deeply impressed by the performance and offered the band a recording contract. In September/October 1977 Van Halen recorded their self titled debut at Sunset Sound Recorders studio, which was released in February 1978 and reached Nor. 19 on the Billboard charts. It features classics like „Runnin‘ with the Devil“ and the outstanding guitar solo „Eruption„, which showcased Eddie’s use of a brandnew technique at that time – the so-called „finger-tapping“. In 1979 the follower „Van Halen II“ with the hit single „Dance the Night Away“ hit the stores. With the albums „Women and Children First“ (1980), „Fair Warning“ (1981) and „Diver Down“ (1982) the fanbase grew bigger and bigger. The LP „1984“ marks Van Halen’s big breakthrough. The single „Jump“ went No. 1 and also the other three outtakes „Panama„, „I’ll Wait“ and „Hot for Teacher“ charted. Due to personal tensions David Lee Roth decided to leave the band on the 1st April 1985 and started his successful solo career featuring his big hits „California Girls“ and „Just like Paradise“ (from the album „Skyscraper„) and „Just a Gigolo“ right after leaving Van Halen.

In 2006 David Lee re-joined Van Halen and recorded the comeback album „A Different Kind of Truth„, which was released finally in 2012.

Get your Van Halen gear here (for Austrian customer):

Shop for Van Halen (Europe):                                   Shop for Van Halen (USA):                                

Music Diary – 29th August

Welcome back to my Music Diary – today for the 29th August!

Today in 1958, Michael Joseph Jackson (singer, songwriter, member of The Jackson Five, The Jacksons) was born in Gary, Indiana. Starting his solo career in the seventies his big breakthrough was the legendary release „Thriller“ in 1982, which is still the best-selling album of all time. Nearly all songs charted the single charts worldwide and the video for „Thriller“ was game-changing at that time and is still a timeless clip.

 

Guiness World Records recognises Michael „Jacko“ Jackson, who was also called „The King of Pop“ still as the most successful entertainer of all time. On the 25th June 2009 Jackson died after suffering heart failure at the age of 50 years.

Buy recommendations (Europe):

Buy recommendations (USA):

My library

Hey people!

I deliver you an insight into my library (from Charles Bukowski to William S. Burroughs and tons of music books) – so here we go:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.488434541187861.118812.100000639577123&type=3

Cheers & Enjoy!

Alex Melomane