So, apparently the train wreck that is Van Halen continues to provide great entertainment, if not any real rock ‘n roll. It seems that Eddie Van Halen has completely lost his marbles and certifiable wacko David Lee Roth has now become the voice of reason in Van Halen, Inc. Eddie fired Mark Anthony and replaced […]
Written by randomfool on February 24th, 2007 with
1 comment.
Read more articles on General Folly and Music.
So, apparently the train wreck that is Van Halen continues to provide great entertainment, if not any real rock ‘n roll. It seems that Eddie Van Halen has completely lost his marbles and certifiable wacko David Lee Roth has now become the voice of reason in Van Halen, Inc. Eddie fired Mark Anthony and replaced him with his 15-year old son, Wolfgang. Then, after setting up a tour, decided not to tour. Whatever.
I prefer to relish my teenager memories of bands like Van Halen and The Police and I am somewhat luke warm on the idea of seeing 55-year-olds fill up an arena to make a buck on their dusty brand name long after they have passed their prime. While I probably would do the same thing if I was them and, if they can sell tickets, they should but I am not necessarily going to line up to see Genesis play Dodger Stadium. I never really liked Genesis to begin with but I will probably make an exception for The Police.
So, I was trying to figure out something witty to say about the Van Halen debacle. The term “Theatre of the Absurd” came to mind but, I must admit, I really didn’t know what that term meant. So, like I do for just about everything these days, I checked it out on Wikipedia (even a former boss of mine has a Wikipedia entry which is kind of creepy). I didn’t realize just how good of a term it was to describe Van Halen (and a lot of other things too, by the way), until I read this (and slightly modified it for my purposes):
In practice, [Van Halen] departs from realistic characters, situations and all of the associated theatrical conventions. Time, place and identity are ambiguous and fluid, and even basic causality frequently breaks down. Meaningless plots, repetitive or nonsensical dialogue and dramatic non-sequiturs are often used to create dream-like, or even nightmare-like moods. There is a fine line, however, between the careful and artful use of chaos and non-realistic elements and true, meaningless chaos. While many of the [rock bands] described by this title seem to be quite random and meaningless on the surface, an underlying structure and meaning is usually found in the midst of the chaos.
I think I would rather go watch one of these plays than to see a Van Halen reunion show with the now “rational” David Lee Roth and Wolfgang Van Halen on bass while pappa Van Halen passes out. It would cost to much to go and see it just for the laugh.
Written by randomfool on February 24th, 2007 with
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#1. March 7th, 2007, at 10:15 AM.
Yeah, you’re on your own for that show. I know my standards are low, but not that low.