The Van Halen Figure Set & My First VH album, Part 1

I had never compared the VH emblem to Superman's. Never thought they looked like super action heroes on that cover. But now I see it. I get it. I love it.

Someone should make little plastic dolls of the band. The David Lee Roth doll would be able to do splits. Michael Anthony would look loaded on Jack Daniels. Bottle in hand. Eddie would come with the racing-stripped guitar. And a synthesizer. Alex with a huge set of drums and a headband. And then there would be a little person, the guy who served the original line up whiskey mid-show at the US festival in 1983. And then there would be Sammy, joint in one hand, looking more and more like Animal from the muppets. And then the next singer, whoever that was. And then included on a little card would be this old Mother Goose rhyme:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.

I even see a cracked egg holding a red guitar with black and white stripes all over it.

Do I sound irreverant? Only because I used to revere this band. Used to dream they would visit Tulsa in the late 80s so I could camp out for tickets. Used to dream I'd get my hands on a pick thrown by Eddie. Used to dream I could play the guitar like he did, as expressively as he did. It was his playing that ignited my imagination when I was in the 9th grade.

Sure, in 1985, I owned a copy of 1984 and loved it--technically my first VH album. And I loved it when the "Panama" and "Jump" videos aired on MTV. But I wasn't ready for VH in fifth grade. I just liked their music tossed into the pop mix on K107, which featured other great songs like "Man Eater" by Hall & Oates and Prince's "1999."

But then visiting a friend of mine--David Kessinger--he played "Eruption" for me over the loud speakers throughout his house. I sat there in his living room, that fiery guitar sound echoing from the kitchen, the hallway, the dining room, his room. I couldn't believe my ears, the rise and fall of sound, as if Eddie were piloting some stunt plane, taking it up high, 5,000 feet, before cutting the engine and letting it drop low, low, dangerously low to the earth before suddenly evening out and turning on the jets and breaking the sound barrier. Later that night, David's father drove us to a record store and I bought Van Halen I on cassette. On the airplane home, the lady behind me asked me to stop stomping my feet while the record blared in my ears. I couldn't hold still. She might have also asked me to turn down the volume. I remember thinking "Fuck off" but also turning it down a notch, either my feet or the tape player. When one side ended, I flipped the tape and promptly pushed play.

After that, my life was not the same.