Free Everybody Wants Some by Ian Christe

major interview” with writer Jas Obrecht of Guitar Player . Eddie seemed almost unsure that he deserved the attention. “I’m always thinking music,” he said. “I’m always trying to think of riffs, using my head. Like sometimes people think I’m spacing off, but I’m not really. I’m thinking about music.”
    Van Halen were assaulting the monsters of rock on their own terms and winning. The other young bands playing Hollywood in 1978 were mostly punks or new wavers like Devo, X, and the Germs, who attacked from below—the punks couldn’t beat Peter Frampton at his own game, so they changed the rules successfully. Van Halen went gunning for the majors head-on. They knew all of Aerosmith and ZZ Top’s tricks—they had been practicing them for years in backyard parties.
    In October, Van Halen went platinum, a stunning mark for a debut album. It would remain on the Billboard charts for over three years—a total of 169 weeks. Edward bought a Porsche 911e Targa and practiced not smashing himself into pieces with it.
    At the end of the year, Warner Bros. threw a party for their newest platinum playthings at the Body Shop strip club in Hollywood. Newly annointed manager Marshall Berle wheeled out his legendary uncle Milton to present Van Halen with their shiny wall plaques. Afterward, the Van Halen brothers went back to their parents’ small house, where the whole family still lived. Thanks to the amazing math of the record business, where every limo and light bulb is eventually charged back to the band, for their labors Van Halen now owed Warner Bros. close to a million bucks for expenses paid on their behalf.

5. Back in the Saddle
    The production plan for Van Halen’s second album was simple: If at first you succeed wildly, retrace your steps and try, try again. The band returned to Studio 1 at Sunset Sound Recorders on December 10, 1978, within a week of completing its first world tour. Eddie was stressed out trying to bring the band down from full party mode. “I was trying to wake the guys up,” he said, “saying ‘Hey guys, we’ve got to chill out a little bit, because we’ve got another record to do’ ”
    Within a week the album was nearly finished—despite the success of the first record, their label allegedly gave them a smaller recording budget the second time around. Many of the tracks used were first takes. Though Eddie publicly mentioned his desire to bring electronic synthesizers into the mix, no such drastic changes were made. If anything, the songs were more focused, pointed rockers—probably because the more dynamic songs had been cherry-picked into service for Van Halen .
    Van Halen II kept the party rolling at close to full steam. At Sunset Sound they recorded with an old Putnam 610 console, a not at all state-of-the-art mixing desk that dated to the 1950s. Everyone from Frank Sinatra to the Doors to Walt Disney’s animated movies had recorded using that same equipment—a good representative survey of Van Halen’s forefathers and influences.
    There were fewer dizzying peaks than the debut, but the debauch-ery was more up front. The record was more fun, showing that the band wasn’t just some lethal-precision hit squad from Southern California. They laughed at themselves during a bebop bit in “Bottoms Up!” and offered a timeless pop single in “Dance the Night Away.” Written on the spot in the studio, the song was inspired by a drunk woman who had sex with her boyfriend in the back parking lot of Walter Mitty’s in full view of the band, then danced for hours in the front row of the club with her jeans put on backward.
    Though Roth’s aerial spread-eagle jump on the back cover was supposed to look like just another day at the dude ranch, it was a staged stunt for the photo shoot. On the third try, the singer landed sideways and broke a bone in his foot. The last panel in that Bazooka Joe comic could be found inside the sleeve—a photo of Roth with his bare foot bandaged,