Are Van Halen still the greatest hard rock band of all time?

[jnurp]

When they were at their peak, circa 1984 they were the #1 hard rock band ever I suppose, but the years have not been kind to the band and they didnt do much after ou812 and possibly unlawful carnal knowledge. Do they still belong at the top of that mountain or even in the top 5 in the annuls of hard rock history based on music, songs, image and height of fame.

Are they still considered bigger than Guns and roses, bon jovi, kiss, def leppard...etc.

[clipless bumper]

Yes - bigger than all those.

I don't know if I would put them ahead of the stones or the who though.

[neilrocks25]

Nope, AC/DC are the greatest hard rock band of all time.

[EndTime]

You'll never get a uniform answer on this, but they are certainly in the conversation. I think even with all of the fun loving attitude and silliness of DLR as the front man, musically they had some truly heavy stuff. And on all of the first 4 records he didn't even double track his rhythm guitars. And it still sounded fat and heavy. Especially Fair Warning.
To me, they are the best hard rock band without a doubt

[Tortuga]

Nope, AC/DC are the greatest hard rock band of all time.

This is the correct answer

['63-Strat]

Nope, AC/DC are the greatest hard rock band of all time.

This is the correct answer

I agree AC/DC is much more my taste and I'll definitely listen to them fairly often, vs not as often with VH.

That said, EVH is truly an innovator on guitar whereas Angus not so much. EVH deserves to be up there with guys like Les Paul, Clapton, Beck, Hendrix, as far as guys who really changed guitar playing period.

[Ry Manchu]

Metallica, Aerosmith, Queen, U2, Bon Jovi, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and AC/DC are all bigger.

[clipless bumper]

Bon Jovi is bigger than Van Halen?!!?!?!?!!!

wtf are you smokin'??

[Ry Manchu]

Bon Jovi is bigger than Van Halen?!!?!?!?!!!

wtf are you smokin'??

Bon Jovi has sold 20 million more albums than Van Halen. Look it up. Plus they never had Gary Cherone on vocals.

Since 1990, Bon Jovi had ticket sales of $1,030,000,000. Since 1991, Van Halen had ticket sales of $186,600,000. Bon Jovi sold 5 times as many tickets. And that includes the DLR reunion.

I am absolutely not saying Bon Jovi is better, mind you. Just better to more people than myself.

[clipless bumper]

we will just have to agree to disagree on this one.
No way was Bon Jovi as influential as Van Halen on the hard rock scene - nor were they are 'greater' hard rock band than Van Halen.
not even close.

[Walt]

They're big, and unparalleled IMO.
The first 4 albums are absolutely insane. particularly 1 and WaCF. As great as a lead player as Ed is, his rhythm playing, to me, is as good as it gets. The tone and swing...
It's funny. I put him, Jimi, Iommi, Rhoads, and Gibbons (along with Malcolm) as hard rock's greatest rhythm guitar players of all time. The leads are just icing on the fuckin cake.

[Tortuga]

I put him, Jimi, Iommi, Rhoads, and Gibbons (along with Malcolm) as hard rock's greatest rhythm guitar players of all time.

U be my brutha from another mutha

[RIFF]

You cant really put a BEST label on an great art. People are gonna like something for different reasons.
But I think its safe to say, theyre ONE OF the best, & most influential for that era. They definitely had their own vibe & they didnt seem encumbered by styles or expectations.
I didnt dig anything they did after sammy.

[ajaxlepinski]

If you want to use album sales as a bench mark: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_b ... ic_artists
The Wikipedia list has groups that sold 75 million albums sold and up. Looks like there are quite a few groups ahead of VH.

Although, it is reported that VH sold 96.5 million albums world wide, the Wikipedia list has certification requirements.
Nevertheless, there are still quite a few who sold more.
Guns N Roses, and Justin Beiber sold more albums.

If you want to go by guitar talent. Eddie is certainly one of the top 10 guitarists IMHO.

I'm not even sure you could call VH "Hard Rock"? I always thought of them as a Light/Pop Rock band.

[Walt]

I put him, Jimi, Iommi, Rhoads, and Gibbons (along with Malcolm) as hard rock's greatest rhythm guitar players of all time.

U be my brutha from another mutha

Absolutely brutha.
Would've thrown Dick Dale, Kosoff, Joe Strummer, Mike Ness, Gilmour, and Setzer in there, too....but not really comparable stylistically.


Billy can you please change thread title to "is" instead of "are"? My OCD is palpitating.

[neilrocks25]

I will add Van Halen are not so big outside of the states.

[EndTime]

I'm not even sure you could call VH "Hard Rock"? I always thought of them as a Light/Pop Rock band.

Ajax... Dude..

While I agree they have their share of poppy stuff, especially the later years. The first 4 and even Diver down and 1984 are the epitome if hard rock. Van Halen was a HEAVY band back in the day. Like I mentioned Eddie didn't even double track his rhythms for the first 4 records. Just one guitar and 1 bass track. Sonically this simply didn't fill up a ton of space, but it still sounded big and heavy. To me anyway. If songs like Fools, Loss of Control, Dirty Movies, unchained, Light up the Sky, D.O.A, etc etc had a double tracked rhythm and was mixed more modern, that shit would have been as heavy as that time period had. Would have been on Black Sabbath's level.

[clipless bumper]

I'm not even sure you could call VH "Hard Rock"? I always thought of them as a Light/Pop Rock band.

Ajax... Dude..

While I agree they have their share of poppy stuff, especially the later years. The first 4 and even Diver down and 1984 are the epitome if hard rock. .......

When I started to think about this after my first answer - I had the same thoughts.
What is Hard Rock?
Scorpions and Van Halen are hard rock? but Metallica and Dokken aren't? (saw all four of these at Monsters of Rock)
G'nR are Hard Rock, right?
Are the Stones and The Who Hard Rock?
Where does it start and where does it end.

One think I know - Bon Jovi is NOT Hard Rock...........

[Tortuga]

Monsters of Rock, '87, baby!

Scorps and Van Halen are definitely hard rock. Not what I'd consider 'metal', but they absolutely had their moments in the late 70s/early 80s.

Metallica's music (at least the Metallica that matters) is metal/thrash - hell, they pretty much created and dominated that whole movement through the end of the 80s.

...don't even get me started on GnR and Bon Jeevi

[EndTime]

I'm not even sure you could call VH "Hard Rock"? I always thought of them as a Light/Pop Rock band.

Ajax... Dude..

While I agree they have their share of poppy stuff, especially the later years. The first 4 and even Diver down and 1984 are the epitome if hard rock. .......

When I started to think about this after my first answer - I had the same thoughts.
What is Hard Rock?
Scorpions and Van Halen are hard rock? but Metallica and Dokken aren't? (saw all four of these at Monsters of Rock)
G'nR are Hard Rock, right?
Are the Stones and The Who Hard Rock?
Where does it start and where does it end.

One think I know - Bon Jovi is NOT Hard Rock...........

Yeah, come on, throwing Bon Jovi into this equation is ridiculous. But anyone can Google something to support a point of view these days.

[primeholy]

I will add Van Halen are not so big outside of the states.

Outside the states doesn't count. Look at David Hasslehoff.

[long standing member]

What!! No grammer Nazi's yet?

IS Van Halen still the greatest hard rock band of all time?

[ajaxlepinski]

Well, what is Hard Rock?

This:


Or this:




This:


Or this:






If this, all girl band


Can beat up this all "male" band

It would be difficult to call them Hard Rock.





Jes kidding around! I have a lot of respect for VH... I just don't own any of their albums... too soft for me.

[Tortuga]

Ajax - awesome

[EndTime]

Ajax. I've never felt your points to be so off base before. Lol.

But..

It's not looks we are judging here. Van Halen dressed up like Hollywood did at the time, but they were heavy.

There were also a time when thrash bands, even heavily Satanic ones, teased their hair.
For example, this band Infernal Majesty. 1987. Made one of heaviest and sickest debuts at the time.
This is how they looked.
I mean, they are ugly no doubt. And wore thE leather and spikes. But also had chokers, teased hair and makeup.



But they sounded like this.

[video]https://youtu.be/Et3Yf-vZ6Mw[/video]