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Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga By Ian Christe ( Wiley )
Release Date: 2007-08-27
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List Price: $25.95
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Product Description
The first definitive biography of the ultimate American rock band
How did a pair of little Dutch boys trained in classical music grow up to become the nucleus of the most popular heavy metal band of all time? What's the secret behind Eddie Van Halen's incredible fast and furious guitar solos? What makes David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar so wacky? And, are all those stories about groupies, booze bashes, and contract riders true? The naked truth is laid bare in Everybody Wants Some--the real-life story of a rock 'n' roll fantasy come true.
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 Worst excuse for a biography ever
Worst excuse for a biography ever. I've literally read blogs on random myspace pages with more depth, passion, guts and style. Where is the scandal? Where are the gripping tales? Where is the band? Aside from being a powerful force of nature Van Halen was also one of the rowdiest and hardest living acts in rock history. Led by guitarist wunderkind Eddie Van Halen they kicked tail and took names both onstage and off. Though you'd never know it reading this sorry thing. The blame rests solely on the shoulders of its creator who fails miserably to even break the surface. True biographies such as Heroin Diaries and the recent Slash bio to name but a few have certainly raised my expectations as a reader. I've grown accustomed to books written by authors in collaboration with their subject. Hence providing fans with a deeply personal read told in the first person by the artist in their own voice. Books like Heroin Diaries are brutally honest, gripping reads that are near impossible to put down. In this instance we get some clown who has nothing to do with Van Halen painfully dragging us through nothing more than a lackluster tired never ending rehash of everything that classifies as common knowledge to even the most average of fans. Plagiarizing old music magazines and previously released Van Halen books does not a bio make. Somebody please call me when the band or at least Eddie finally releases a proper bio.
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Amateur Nite
How many more lackadaisical $$$ grabs from pseudo authors must we be made to endure before the group wakes up and gives us the real uncut story in their own words? Every last word here is old hat to us. The only people who would find this remotely informative or revealing would be those who know nothing about the group. Which renders this virtually useless when you consider a person who knows nothing about the group would not be inclined to purchase this to begin with. Its almost as if the author sat there and went 'Hey the group is back and touring so I'm going to quickly slap together a book using all past books and release it just in time for their big tour'. Thus the wretched stench of "cash grab" emanating from cover to cover.
Numerous times throughout the course of the read I had to put this down and walk away due to my level of frustration and indignation. Seems the author believes the Van Halen fanbase is comprised entirely of unknowledgeable dimwitted newbies and he is schooling all of us.
FYI Captain Obvious we don't need to be told the brothers came over from Europe.. or that they banned brown m&m's backstage.. or that David Lee quit the band.. or that Edward and Val had marital issues.. or that Edward battled cancer. Who the heck doesn't already know this stuff?
What we as fans so direly want and need to know is how these people FELT during all of these endeavors. Like how did Edward react when he first learned he had cancer? Where was he when he got the news? How did his wife and child react? His brother? What did the doctors say? What toll did the chemo take physically and emotionally? How did the band react when David Lee quit? How did David Lee feel? How did management and label heads feel? How did other musicians feel about the shocking split? How did Sammy feel when he joined them? How did he feel when he left them a decade later? How did Gary Cherone feel about being recruited? How has Edward dealt with his infamous lifelong battle with alcohol?
These questions and more don't come close to being answered because apparently Captain Obvious couldn't be bothered to acquire a single first-hand account/interview from anyone.
They committed the cardinal sin: NO NEW COMMENTARY. This book is entirely devoid of interviews. They didn't interview the group, their wives or girlfriends, kids, roadies, other musicians, label heads, producers, engineers, guitar techs, groupies.. NOBODY. All we get is CO endlessly rambling on in their own words about the group's career with the occasional "Eddie told Guitar Player magazine this and that" or "David Lee said this to Creem back in 1982" thrown in. You can NOT be serious? Needless to say by page ten I was bored to tears and ticked off.
What in the world would possess a person to write a book and call it 'DEFINITIVE' without making even the slightest effort to speak with anyone in or relative to this group? Some nerve.
For Pete's Sake even the fan who wrote VanHalen101 interviewed hordes of musicians and managed to have Brian May write that book's intro. Inexcusable best describes this latest offering by Ian Christe. You get the sense this seasoned author, journalist and radio show host wanted nothing more than to make a quick buck off the group's recent well publicized reunion tour whilst desperately seeking to weasel his way into the ranks of legitimate biographers such as Stephen Davis, Anthony Bozza and other noteworthy authors who've penned classic bios.
Instead Christe dropped the ball and ended up looking like a major tool.
Had someone advised Christe to dedicate more time to actual research and conducting interviews rather than spending what appears to be every waking second calling in favors from all his music journalist pals in exchange for glowing reviews he and his publisher could quote and paste on here so they could fleece the fans for more $$$ maybe just maybe this book might've amounted to something halfway interesting rather than this pedestrian turd in the proverbial punch bowl. Any one of us could've written this. Don't bite. Don't bother. Don't be a sucker. Skip it and grab one of any number of other superior books such as The Encyclopedia, the brand spanking new Zlozower Van Halen: A Visual History photo book or the aforementioned cult fave VanHalen101.
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 Decent Overview ( glennjwiener )
Like the masses, this book offers a decent overview of Van Halen especially those who are not too familiar with the band. It was a light and enjoyable read.
However, there were several spelling and grammatical errors. Many quotes seem second hand and incomplete. One still is not completely sure if David Lee Roth was fired or quit. To me it seems like a mutual disolvement. In general there are a lack of details.
The band members seem like your typical rock n rollers who are all about sex, drugs, and rock n roll. David Lee Roth showed me something by volunteering as a EMT specialist as well as being an adventurous soul. Eddie Van Halen certainly is a talented musician but seems like a terminal alcoholic. What has he learned from this experiences? The band members seem to constantly be quarreling with each other.
A few interesting anecdotes kept my attention. However, a more first hand account with more exclusive details would have made this book more appealing.
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I'd rather listen to Gary Cherone than read this again. ( sweet_pickle_media )
Sadly, this is a book that any Van Halen fan with a library card could have written. In fact, they probably could have written it better. Not only is the book filled with old information from less than credible publications, it also features poor grammar, inaccurate (or just plain wrong) facts, and even misspellings! In the age of spell-check, there is simply no excuse for such an amateur effort. Van Halen fans deserve more, and like the Roth reunion, we're just going to have to be patient.
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I DID NOT READ THIS BOOK: ( paulhleaver )
I just have to comment on the stupid editorial review at the top. I was a VH fan at the age of 8 and savagely loved every tune til Sammy arrived. To call them "the best heavy metal band of all time" is a joke. Even they would agree. That honor MUST forever go to the Grandfathers of Metal: LED ZEPPELIN!! LZ eats Van Halen for breakfast. Zeppelin were monsters of metal that came bashing down out of the sky bringing earth to its knees.
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