Friday, March 20, 2020

Listening to Crap Music on Day 5 of the COVID-19 Lockdown

How am I coping? Well I work from home, so I am doing that. That being said, for some reason I starting playing music today that I don't normally like to listen to. The first of the bunch was Van Halen III - you know...the one with Gary Cherone as lead singer. Am I sick? I almost was when I got to the end and listened to the song How Many Say I that Eddie Van Halen sings. Jesus. I still remember really trying to actually like this record when it came out as I always considered myself a "ride or die" Van Halen fan. I did end up liking maybe 3 songs, but they aren't great: Without You, One I Want, and Fire in the Hole.  The rest? Dumpster fire.

The red-headed step-child of the VH catalog
Knowing what I know now and have read about over the years, this album is an even bigger disappointment to me now than it was then. This was when the VH brothers really started to screw over bassist Michael Anthony (arguably the heart and soul of his band), and was more or less the end of his tenure. People have said that this was essentially an Eddie Van Halen solo record with hired gun musicians, and it might be true.  Anthony supposedly only played on 3 of the album's tracks while Ed did the rest. What Mikey did end up playing was very dictated by Ed. Just sad all across the board. As everyone knows the Cherone experiment only lasted one album, however there is allegedly material from a 2nd album they were working on. As bad as Van Halen III was, I'd still be curious to hear that music if they ever let it out of the VH 5150 vault.

Second up on the crap music list:  Motley Crue's album New Tattoo. This one came out during the years when various members were in and out of the group. For this one, Tommy Lee was no longer a member and was replaced by Randy Castillo of Ozzy Osbourne fame. This album is often at the bottom of Motley fans' favorite albums, mainly because the songs are without-a-doubt cheesy and lyrically lame. The lead single, Hell on High Heels is enjoyable enough, but just corny.  The albums's two ballads, New Tattoo and Hollywood Ending are bad, but for me - a guilty listening pleasure. Vince's voice is not made for Hollywood Ending's note changes, therefore it's so bad it's good.  The one true good song on the album is called Fake. It is a nice shot at all the record executives from all the past years for making a gazillion dollars off of Motley Crue. They kept the band coked up and so drunk that they almost killed them just to keep the money machine going. At least that's how they tell it. I'm sure Vince, Nikki, Tommy, and Mick didn't conduct any self destructive behavior on their own at all.

Well that's all I have time for today.  I will be sure to update you with the additional crap I listen to in the coming days.  What else am I going to do?



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