Van Halen continues its quest to erase the existence of Michael Anthony

Posted August 20th, 2007 by eric

Fuck Eddie Van Halen. I can’t wait not to give him my money on this farce of a reunion tour. First, estranged bassist Michael Anthony was photoshopped out of classic Van Halen album covers on the official Van Halen website (even though the band plans to use Anthony’s pre-recorded back-up vocals on tour). And now Idolator has received a tip that during the closing credits of  the new film, Superbad, which features Van Halen’s “Panama”, the songwriting credits have been changed from Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony, and David Lee Roth to exclude Michael Anthony. That is such a low blow. What could the guy have possibly done? So he sells hot sauce. There are worse offenses. The common denominator in almost every in-band fight over the years has been Eddie Van Halen. And his self-righteous bullshit is cheating fans out of a real reunion.

Tags: commentary · gossip

29 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Andy Taylor // Aug 22, 2007 at 6:38 am

    pathetic

  • 2 Michael Anthony is way classier than Eddie Van-Halen // Aug 23, 2007 at 10:23 pm

    […] of silence, as Eddie Van-Halen has literally tried to remove his very existence from every facet of Van-Halen’s illustrious history, much-maligned ex-Van-Halen bassist Michael Anthony has […]

  • 3 Billy // Aug 24, 2007 at 10:32 am

    Roth and Sam always fought to have mike in the group. He was a stand in. He never wrote any music and eddie played most of the bass lines. Eddie gave him songwrighting credits and a career. Now he takes it away. He has said he always wanted a bass player that would help with the process of creating music. I bet Wolf has that gift. It’s his band, his musical gift. Mike will make a fool of himself with his cover band.

  • 4 Eric Greenwood // Aug 24, 2007 at 10:59 am

    eddie should have thought of that before he let mike in to begin with. once a group is established and fans make a connection, you can’t just have a revolving door policy or fans will invariably revolt. granted, this reunion will probably make shit tons of money for the simple fact that dlr is back in the fold, but a lot of people will have a bad taste in their mouths because of eddie’s disrespectful treatment of the band’s legacy.

  • 5 steve // Aug 26, 2007 at 12:28 pm

    I’ve wated long enough,you are so right though,”the fans will have a bad taste in thire mouth”,over all eddie and band will be also be judged if they can’t top the older music.fan’s will love the older songs and pay big money for the first tour but they better kick some seious ass to get that the next tour.Music has evolved from that band to todays music.SONG WRITING has reached great levels since,to gain new fans they have to step it up.they made a good move thoe with thire son,i’m sure he keeps his ear down to the under ground.well lets see how it all ends up,good luck V/H.

  • 6 john // Sep 2, 2007 at 2:25 am

    On the band’s website, every album cover that ever had Anthony on it-all two of them-are intact. Maybe you should actually go to http://www.van-halen.com and look at the pictures on the site, Eric. Obviously, you have some kind of anti-EVH agenda, which is fine. But don’t create things to “prove” your argument.

  • 7 Eric Greenwood // Sep 2, 2007 at 10:17 am

    well, jackass, the album covers were eventually restored because of fan backlash. but as of the time i wrote the original post, they had been modified. and if you bothered to click on the relevant link in this post, you would have seen the photoshopped cover as it was on the official van-halen site, which is obviously where i got it.

  • 8 john // Sep 5, 2007 at 7:29 pm

    Wow, a resort to name calling. Your ability to write without resorting to name calling bodes well for your future in food service or waste hauling.

    The huge backlash was a whole article on Rollingstone.com….Huge backlash, my foot.

  • 9 Eric Greenwood // Sep 5, 2007 at 10:17 pm

    you’re obviously a van-halen apologist, which, in 2007, definitely requires the jackass epithet, as that’s a sad state of affairs indeed. you’ll be relieved to know its use was out of utter bewilderment at your lack of research and complete disregard for the obvious and in no way a reflection upon your very discerning musical tastes and/or skills at debate. but in the future i would recommend your using google a little more wisely when trying to make a point.

  • 10 Vigo // Sep 30, 2007 at 12:58 am

    Van Halen, 2007, sucks dong

  • 11 J // Nov 4, 2007 at 11:52 pm

    Wow, Eric. So much hate… Did Michael Anthony leave you, on top of it? Something does not sound right with you, get some help.

    And regarding the whole band thing, First, who cares for rock bass players? In some 95% of rock bands, they are accessory. Sad, but true. Few honorary exceptions I can think of. And even when they ARE very good (not Anthony’s case), regular fans don’t even have a clue. All they care for is the singer and the guitar player.

    I did see VH last week and Wolfgang did quite well. Not that any special effort was really required, since he replaced Anthony, the master of the eighth-note bass line. Dum-dum-dum-dum-dum… But, whatever, it would have been good even if it was Anthony there, because, as I said, bass players like him are accessory and anybody would be the same.

    Anyway, get a life and try to find something actually important to rant about, man…

  • 12 Wood // Nov 30, 2007 at 8:21 am

    Led Zeppelin without John Paul Jones? Kiss without Gene Simmons? The Beatles without Paul McCartney? Iron Maiden without Steve Harris? Black Sabbath without Geezer Butler? Fleetwood Mac without John McVie? Guns N’ Roses without Duff McKagan? Motley Crue without Nikki Sixx? U2 without Adam Clayton? The Who without John Entwistle?

    Well, you get the point…

    I am interested in seenig the young Van Halen perform with his dad, but it isn’t going to be the same. Michael Anthony was an impotant part of the sound of Van Halen. You can’t take 25% of any well oiled machine, discard it, and end up with the same result. Its going to be different. Is it gonna suck? Probably not. Rock and Roll is about the experience. Who the hell cares if the experience is different. As long as it rocks.

  • 13 just dumb // Dec 4, 2007 at 7:58 pm

    just call me Just Dumb, for pissing away a few minutes in these sites obviously designed for those
    more interested in gossiping of the Arts than making it. now of course you’ll brand me a high brow elitist, or possibly gay, but in any case, with each letter i add, the less smart i feel.
    Long live Vans Halen and the groupies with dicks brigade!

  • 14 patrick // Dec 5, 2007 at 9:17 am

    what?

  • 15 spicoli // Dec 19, 2007 at 9:45 pm

    all i got to say is, steve…songwriting has not gottin better. Have you heard the shit thats on the radio?

  • 16 spicoli // Dec 19, 2007 at 9:46 pm

    o yea…and true that “just dumb”

  • 17 dickbean // Dec 24, 2007 at 11:59 pm

    van halen is way overated. During their time, it was cool but now they suck and they even suck harder for kicking out an originating member. Unless Michael anthony is dead or incapacitated, this can not be called a reunion and whats up with eddie van halen selling 25,000 dollar replicas of his strat? He’s incredibly greedy and is not cool anymore.

  • 18 Valdez ( Bass player myself ) // Jan 1, 2009 at 9:10 am

    Im the older fan of Van Halen,and until now I have not being keeping up with VH, its sad to see how things are now with the band. I always thought that eddie had class,but I guess I was wrong. wow, this is just not good.

  • 19 Robbie // Feb 18, 2009 at 3:53 am

    I’m getting in late in the game here, but I would like to see Billy’s (above) reference that says that Eddie played most of the bass lines. I don’t believe Eddie has ever even made that claim.

  • 20 frank m // Aug 31, 2009 at 12:19 pm

    There a washed 80’s band like poison maybe they can get a reality show on vh1

  • 21 Apaulo // Sep 10, 2009 at 9:42 pm

    Gotta weighin. Van Halen were a very influentual act. Edward’s playing did loads for guitar players everywhere. That said,it’s too bad that none of us can go back 30 years. Let’s stop living in the past and enjoy the old albums like we should. that first album was a solid rocker, it’s too bad Dave can’t admit that he can’t sing anymore. Oh well, that was yesterday.Viva Van Halen, Paul

  • 22 Joe // Sep 18, 2009 at 9:41 am

    Bottom line, doesn’t matter what we think of Michael Anthony being out. The band is called Van Halen… Eddie has written all the music… Eddie owns the rights to the music and the band… so right wrong or otherwise he can have whoever he wants play the bass. Don’t get me wrong I like Mike but the dumbest thing they ever did was get rid of Hagar! I’ve been a VH fan since their debut and seen every tour since 1984 which by the way was the worst with the exception of the Gary Cherone era because they were all entirely too wasted to play… i thought it was the coolest thing ever at the time of course… but after seeing them live with Sammy there was no comparison. Actually I’ve seen a lot of different bands over the years from McCartney to Linkin Park and the only band that has come close to Halen with Hagar in a live performance is Rush.

  • 23 Destiny // Sep 18, 2009 at 4:14 pm

    no matter what i will always be a van halen fan

  • 24 JET // Sep 22, 2009 at 1:17 pm

    Just check out “Chickenfoot”, now thats old school.

  • 25 Rocking' Bob // Oct 11, 2009 at 7:43 am

    The fact that VH didn’t hit the road following a new album says a lot about this version. Not to mention they didn’t immediately follow up with an album either says we have nothing new to offer. Just being talented musicians doesn’t make talented song writers. Aerosmith has proven both abilities while Van Halen hit a snag after Hagar leaving. Cherone never should have been a frontman for this band. Taking so long for the return of David Lee Roth hurt VH’s image. Sammy Hagar has been successfully writing hits since Montrose and with bands long before that. I say for VH to gain credibility it will need to put out a cutting edge record followed by an equally great live performance tour.

  • 26 Anonymous // Sep 1, 2010 at 11:52 am

    The new VH lineup sucks anyway. Eddie is half the guitarist he used to be and Roth is a washed up has been. Gotta love Sammy, He just starts his own thing with Mike and Chad Smith and then brings in the best guitarist in music to finish the lineup. Chickenfoot is a WAAAAY better band. If DLR would ever shut his mouth long enough to actually sing, Eddie would get over himself and Woofie would learn to play they might be ok again someday.

  • 27 tim williams // Oct 10, 2010 at 6:34 pm

    their will never be another eddie vanhalen.theirs no more guitar heros,no more guitar talent.

  • 28 big bill // Nov 26, 2011 at 3:50 am

    big fucking deal shit happens

  • 29 cfirob73 // Jan 1, 2012 at 1:54 pm

    I’ll miss michael anthony’s vocals and energy (and jack daniels bass), but bring it on wolfie!