covers recorded by Van Halen

tough!

leaning towards "Dancing," which is pretty killer. also so weird to think that that terrible Jagger/Bowie version happened just 2-3 years after Van Halen got a much better cover of the song into the top 40.

I appreciate the breadth of material they covered, but c'mon... You Really Got Me kind of stomps all the rest of these.

David Lee Roth "I Ain't Got Nobody" is better than all of these

but i'm gonna vote "ice cream man"

By that logic, DLR's "Tobacco Road" must be the champion, because it's even better than "I Ain't Got Nobody." xp

props to "where have all the good times gone" and "dancing in the street" but "you really got me" owns this.

amazing really that this ultimate boogie-woogie bar band was ever filed under "metal"

By that logic, DLR's "Tobacco Road" must be the champion, because it's even better than "I Ain't Got Nobody."

Big time truth.

Went with "Good Times", but except for "Pretty Woman" I like 'em all. And even that isn't horrid or anything.

tough. probly ice cream vs really got me. VH1 is unstoppable! v much in love with the idea of DLR as an actual ice cream man, and eddie's lick at the beginning of the solo is a top shred, but the YRGM riff + VH1 guitar tone is just so shit hot. those pinch harmonics.. yes. and roth backing himself with screeching and yelping on the break! no idea what VH guys or listeners thought at the time, but it feels like more of a statement - we're the future.

no idea what VH guys or listeners thought at the time, but it feels like more of a statement - we're the future.

this is OTM iirc - it really did feel like a statement plus rocked balls

love this band. hard to choose - Ice Cream Man seems the most fun

"You Really Got Me" walks this

"You Really Got Me"

i read a DLR quote about how in the early days the band learned like half of a Kinks best-of and even later in their career could play a half dozen of their songs...would love to hear all those.

"You Really Got Me"...took 'uge balls to cover that track, and they nailed it...(not ducking)

early Kinks did "Dancing in the Streets" too. I'd love to have heard early VH do "Something Better Beginning" xp

Bootlegs of the very early VH era are readily available on the net. The one you want is called "Looney Tunes:Merrie Melodies" - a 4CD set with an amazing track listing, check this:

Disc 1

1. Black Star 5:10
2. All That I Need 3:59
3. Sleepless Nights 4:21
4. Believe Me 3:56
5. Last Child 2:45
6. Live For The Music 3:08
7. The Rover 4:18
8. Sweet Emotion 5:39
9. Walk This Way 3:23
10. Still Alive And Well 2:15
11. Twist And Shout 2:17
12. 30 Days In The Hole 2:32
13. Instrumental Jam 1:36
14. Eyes Of The Night 4:21
15. I Wanna Be Your Lover 3:01
16. Wild Fire 1:22
17. (Here's) Just What You Wanted 2:52
18. No More Waiting 3:31
19. Young And Wild 2:03
20. Honolulu Baby 3:13
21. Don't Call Us, We'll Call You 3:08
22. Jean Genie 4:40

Running Time - 1:13:30

Disc 2

1. Voodoo Queen 3:34
2. Last Night 3:23
3. Get The Show On The Road 2:53
4. Babe Don't Leave Me Alone 2:58
5. Big Trouble 3:35
6. She's The Woman 3:02
7. Put Out The Lights 3:32
8. Bullet Head 2:30
9. Down In Flames 5:03
10. House Of Pain 3:42
11. Woman In Love 3:25
12. Rock Steady 5:38
13. Rock'n'Roll Hoochie Coo 7:23
14. La Grange 6:08
15. Walk Away 3:36
16. In For The Kill 5:25
17. (Bad Women) Peace Of Mind 3:48
18. Instrumental 3:40

Running Time - 1:13:15

Disc 3

1. Act Like It Hurts 3:31
2. Bright Lights, Big City 2:56
3. Lucille 2:57
4. Beer Drinkers And Hell Raisers 2:38
5. 79th And Sunset 1:49
6. Summertime Blues 3:40
7. Heartbreak Hotel 2:39
8. Instrumental 1:52
9. Growth 2:28
10. Wild Thing 5:05
11. Make It Last 3:31
12. Rock Candy 1:40
13. Superstition 2:56
14. It's Only Rock And Roll / Woman From Tokyo 1:56
15. Runnin' With The Devil 2:30
16. My Generation 2:18
17. Waiting For The Bus / All Right Now 5:53
18. Young Man Blues 3:56
19. Unchained 3:07
20. Rockin' In The Free World 4:19
21. Mississippi Queen 4:36
22. Finish What Ya Started 6:46

Running Time - 1:13:03

Disc 4

1. The Ocean 1:36
2. Communication Breakdown 1:57
3. Dazed And Confused 5:28
4. Don't Fight It 3:07
5. Crossroads 3:32
6. Goin' Down 4:13
7. "Fur Elise" 1:15
8. Eagles Fly 5:00
9. Drum Solo 1:57
10. Born On The Bayou 2:18
11. Outside Woman Blues 2:29
12. Time's A Waste 1:26
13. Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay 1:32
14. The Love 3:53
15. One Night 2:37
16. Someday 4:08
17. Amnesty Is Granted 4:42
18. Baby What You Want Me To Do 3:25
19. You Don't Have To Go 1:04
20. Love Walks In 5:16
21. Right Now 7:17
22. Spanish Fly 1:02
23. Best Of Both Worlds 4:31

This link might still be good: vivalesbootlegs . b l 0 g s p 0 t . c 0 m / 2009 / 04 / van-halen-looney-tunes-merrie-melodies . html

I'm listening to something from "Gazzaris Dance Contest 11-74+75" called "Trampled Under Foot"

plus, it's a flac, so you know it's audiophile on my dell.

Huh, thought I was the only one who rates their "Dancing in the Street" (aside from ZZ Top using it as a template to relaunch their career, maybe.) Eddie Van Halen himself considers it their worst track ever, but his brain died long ago. So "Dancing" gets my vote, just ahead of "Ice Cream Man". But "Big Bad Bill" is pretty noteworthy too - the VH brothers inviting their dad to play along on a multiplatinum album was a pretty classy thing to do.

"You Really Got Me" = way overplayed and "Good Times" is a better Kinks song anyways.

he sounds a little more proud of it in this quote from the diver down wiki entry at least:

Eddie: "It takes almost as much time to make a cover song sound original as it does writing a song. I spent a lot of time arranging and playing synthesizer on 'Dancing in the Streets,' and they (critics) just wrote it off as, 'Oh, it's just like the original.' So forget the critics! These are good songs. Why shouldn't we redo them for the new generation of people?'

"You're No Good."

evh otm

xhuxk otm

Bootlegs of the very early VH era are readily available on the net. The one you want is called "Looney Tunes:Merrie Melodies" - a 4CD set with an amazing track listing, check this:

Yeah, that looks awesome. Thing is, I swear I've read a few times that they used to cover early disco stuff, too, like say KC & the Sunshine Band. Don't think I'm seeing any on those CDs, though maybe I missed it.

Holy Christ that bootleg with the tracks listed above must be awesome. I heard a VH boot where they did Montrose's "Dancing Feet", it was in the DLR era. If it was in this poll, id vote for that, it kicked serious ass.

audio only but hahahah ond owowowowowowow ohhh yeaaahhhhhfgghghghg:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZAS36yQRMo&feature=related

wow - those bootlegs look awesome - how are their zz top covers?

I like how their Kinks covers made the Kinks up their heavy metal game in the 80s, leading to Give The People What They Want (the source point for Steve Albini's approach to recording, whether he knows it or not). So I'm going with the boring choice (YRGM).

Van Hagar also covered "Won't Get Fooled Again" on their live album. But it's beyond horrendous.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Most of the covers on Diver Down were pretty uneventful. You Really Got Me narrowly edging out Ice Cream Man

Eddie really knew how to make the riff in "You Really Got Me" sound even more amazing than it already was.

yea, not to take anything away from the original but the solo is awesome in that instead of just repeating the verse riff over and over underneath, the bass modulates upwards which opens up more possibilities....

Man, if they did a small club tour, revisiting their playlists from 1974-76, that would be tits.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

ILX gets a poll result right shockah

didn't expect this much of a landslide, but YRGM got my vote. suppose it would be asking too much for every song to get its deserved weight in an internet poll. good to read people repping for other tracks itt

check out eddie van halen throwing in a tribute to larry carlton's Kid Charlemagne solo during his solo to You Really Got Me.

I do not hear this.

You Really Got Me solo

Kid Charlemagne solo