MovieChat Forums > The Wild Life (1984) Discussion > Van Halen

Van Halen

posted 19 years ago by shinramen
9 replies | jump to latest

just saw this last night...typical teen movie..not as cool as fast times but loved the EVH original score. something about his guitar playing that even though it was more laid-back soundtrack score, his riffs still stand out. david lee roth often sites this project as one of the reasons van halen broke up. he felt eddie was out doing solo projects and when DLR came out with crazy from the heat LP, it created all kinds of tension that ultimately ended in one of the most infamous break-ups in rock. again, the playing wasn't intense as the "fair warning" album, but you could hear the 1984 style playing in the keyboards and upbeat leads.

[–] chriso728762004 19 years ago

One of the background tracks in TWL was clearly reused to make the main hook to the Van Hagar song "Right Now".

Any rate, if this project hurt Van Halen, what do they have to say for the album "Diver Down"? That album was a slap in the face to their fans (with covers like "Dancing In The Streets") and it had Dave's fingerprints all over it.

[–] shinramen 19 years ago

i agree. it was one of many reasons. i'm in the middle when it comes to the "breakup" DLR was at fault, and so was the VH brothers. diver down was DRL and ted templeman's fault. greed over creativity and substance..but is till like diver down. but all i'm saying is it's funny how a simple project that probably took EVH a week to cut was such a sore in DRL's eyes. he calls this movie out in his autobiography, crazy from the heat.

[–] MonteCarloMan 19 years ago

IMO this movie kicks Fast-times ass...it's the ultimate teen movie, Chris Penn, the EVH score, the strip club, the landlord, Lee Ving, Ron Wood, Rick Moranis, and the guy at the Army Navy store make it the ultimate movie. I thought they could have cut out the vietnam vet part of it though, that just didnt fit in the movie. I wish this would come out on DVD already...

Master card player? Resort casino owner?? or SS car enthusiast??? Make your best guess!

[–] tylerdurden389 16 years ago

I'm watching this for the first time right now. God I love the 80's. I wish so badly I could've been around for it (born in 84'). Eddie's work on this is just one of the many reasons why I'm finally seeing this. Anyway, after the scene where Chris Penn tries to buy alcohol and the guy in the store turns him down, the music playing is the main riff for "Good Enough" from "5150". I love hearing this stuff. The keyboard version of "Right Now" is great to.

[–] MonteCarloMan 14 years ago

Its ironic that these songs that made the movie so great are what are hamstringing its release on DVD all these years later...

[–] MonteCarloMan 14 years ago

BTW...Diver Down did seem like the beginning of the end for DLR...those
crap covers really stood out like sore thumbs on that album and EVH could
just as easily point the finger of blame at DLR for including those two
songs on the album. Funny how "Happy Trails" seems to have them all at a
lighter moment on that record.

With his instrumental soundtrack for the movie it has always been suprising to me that EVH never made any solo albums during Van Halen's downtimes in the late 90s and beyond. His creativy could have easily outsold what Steve Vai, Eric Johnson & Joe Satriani did in comparison in sales figures...why no instrumental solo albums Eddie???

[–] kjones1067 14 years ago

Diver Down was just an album that Van Halen had to put out. They signed a bad deal with Warner Brothers(they put out 6 albums in 6 years, unheard of today). So Diver Down had a lot of covers, but it still sold like hotcakes.

Anyway, I love to watch this movie. Eddie Van Halen's guitar/keyboards sounded great. A few of the ditty's ended up being on later Van Halen albums. Its cool to hear some of the stuff he was working on at the time.

Also, around that time he did his solo on "Beat it" w/Michael Jackson. Apparently, Ed never got paid for it, he just went into the studio, did 2 takes, and that was it. Then it became the biggest crossover hit of all time.
I think Ed got paid scale, but he didn't get any royalties, which he probably could have lived off of forever. He probably regrets it. Just my opinion.

[–] RockytheBear 13 years ago

Yeah I heard Eddie actually turned DOWN the royalties for Beat It from Michael Jackson's camp. Hell, if he doesn't regret it, I'll regret it for him. He has also performed the song on stage with Mike a few times live.

"I fulfilled a lot of people's predictions about me. I've become a real scumbag."

Danny Vermin

[–] SteveHerold 9 years ago

yup this is true. Van Halen came off a long tour and decided they were gonna take a little break. So they put out the "Pretty Woman" single just as a sort of "gift" for fans to hold them over. That single becomes a big hit and Warners is like we want an album to back that single up. So VH had to rush something together at the insistence of the label. Thus we get Diver Down.

But I'll be honest I love Diver Down. If you take it for what its worth it's just a fun summer time kind of record.

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