The cover album (and I don't say that positively)

by Busco21, Friday, May 15, 2026, 15:33 (10 days ago) @ Jay

Van Halen Diver Down. They wanted to take a break, but once Warner Brothers had Oh Pretty Woman, they were forced to hurry another album. Which meant covers. Pretty Woman was solid, but an easy layup.

Where Have All the Good Times Gone is excellent.

Big Bad Bill is Sweet William Now is a fun little off kilter number. It allowed the Van Halen brothers to have their Dad Jan play clarinet on one of their songs. Definitely a DLR song, he loved doing those strange covers.

Happy Trails is so Dave it's crazy. Dude was born too late for Vaudeville, which is too bad. An entertainer, not a singer haha.

And the biggest waste of a great guitar innovation in the history of music: Van Halen covering Dancing In the Street. Probably my most hated VH song. That guitar work could have been on a darker song and it would have been excellent.

As usual, I have no idea how to link any of this stuff. Look it up if you care haha!

The crazy thing is, the originals are some of my all time favorites. Little Guitars is the happiest song since the Beach Boys. Probably my all time favorite. Full Bug and Hang em High are great. Secrets is a sneaky good song. And then you have Intruder, where Eddie makes the guitar sound like a Church Organ. Which was included in his live solos til he passed.

But it all made Eddie build the 5150 studio and take control of the rest of the albums. No more covers. Cheers to mighty VH on a Friday night!!!