Few bands in rock history could create such a seismic shift in popular music in such a short time as Van Halen. In a recent interview, musician Roger Joseph Manning Jr (Jellyfish, Beck, The Moog Cookbook, Imperial Drag) recalled the first time he heard Van Halen and compared the band’s impact to Nirvana’s in the early 90s.
“I remember being on my school playground and somebody had the brilliant idea of, during lunchtime, they hooked up speakers and they would have a little kid-like DJ in the cafeteria and we just heard music coming out of the speakers like, ‘What’s this? This is so cool,” said Manning Jr during a recent appearance on The Paltrocast hosted by Darren Paltrowitz. “That happened and then three weeks later Van Halen one came out and so the kid just played Van Halen one all day and we were all like, ‘Oh my God. What is this? It’s so freaking good. So Van Halen was front and center as a soundtrack to growing up at that time and I did genuinely like them.
“Without analyzing it, it’s very clear that their pop writing sensibilities are what hooked me in,” continued Manning Jr. “I would hear Eddie Van Halen play fast and stuff but they just sounded like a regular rock band to me. I mean everybody was doing that, everybody had a blazing lead guitarist at the time whether it was Frampton or Jimmy Page or Ace Freely and so it wasn’t until later that I grew to appreciate them as actual musicians and as a band. Michael Anthony’s incredible harmony vocals, and the Ted Templeman production, the very stripped [down sound], you know was like Nirvana for the late 70s kind of thing and, to this day I love Van Halen.”
Paltrowitz is the author of the DLR Book: How David Lee Roth Changed The World. He can be heard on the David Lee Roth podcast The DLR Cast with co-host Steve Roth. You can also catch his interviews with various celebrities on his podcast The Paltrocast.