Interlude and Van Halen

Interlude: 

E: where are we going with this, Bottle? 

B: awfully editorial of you for asking, Skip. What if i said "dunno?" 

E: i'd think you were lying. 

B: i believe you, that's totally a thing you'd think. I don't plan this stuff, you know? I really do just pick out whatever strikes my fancy from the available options, then try to write about the sculpture they form when you stick 'em all together. This one is definitely lending itself to a kind of "hate the game, not the player" sort of thingamabottle. 

E: how so? 

B: well look. Pearl Jam was pointing out just how unsavory and depressing actual life was in 1990/91. Yes it has a fair bit of hyperbole and sad boi melodrama, but that's a legitimate reaction to being pounded to a greasy pulp by the meat tenderizer of the mid to late 80s. Equal and opposite reaction sort of conservation of energy type thing. 

E: so what, you're gonna blame Van Halen? 

B: no, actually. Don't you see, we're going to look at first round Van Halen, Van Roth if that helps clarify. How crazy the coincidence that i have a brand spanking new copy of their self-titled 1978 debut and their final titled after the year it was, 1984. Something changes in that portentous year, not the least of which is Van Halen transitioning to Van Hagar (mostly because even Eddie Van Halen was tired of David Lee Roth by that point). We'll ask the question "is Van Halen problematic," but i think the answer is a resounding "no." Complicated isn't problematic, especially when it's also completely and realistically self-aware. The non-coincidence is that all 5 of the albums in this run are arguably the biggest and most famous of each band (we're completely limited by the available options as evidenced by my having to pick from the cream of the Classic Rock crop inside the Walton family dumpster), the actual coincidence is how empty and alone everyone feels on the inside while having no choice but to actually live it. 

E: ok, i can live with that. 

B: good, 'cause you don't actually get a choice. My brain, my rules, remember? Of course i'm a monster, just remember that i'm not a complete one. 

Van Halen: 

The first time we listened to Van Halen, Eddie was still alive. If you can remember that far back, then you might also remember that i salvaged it from a crate of rain damaged records with dish soap like it was a duck caught in an oil spill. This time it shows up to the party in a proper jacket like the master class of a self-titled debut it really is. We are Van Halen, enjoy the spectacle of us being complete rock star lunatics for the next 36 minutes. Exactly as the cover tells you, we're attending a Van Halen concert. Some of the deep cuts and covers might change from night to night, but this is the show they are touring. It seriously rocks. 

What's the message? Well, there's a consequence to running with the devil like there's no tomorrow. You don't have real love in your life, nobody's back home caring about you, and if you did go back home you'd basically just be out on the street panhandling and/or running amok. We are after all casualties of the atomic age. 

Conversely, Jamie's at home crying because even though she wants to love me and have a meaninful life she knows that if she does invite me to call her it'll either turn out to be another one night stand, or else i'll just occasionally drop by around 11:00 in my creepy ice cream truck. Either way it's not actually meaningful for either of us. The message is that there's nothing but sadness and loneliness on either end of the rainbow. He's not talking about love because he knows his love is rotten to the core. 

That's where we start in 1978, next let's see where we actually end up in 1984....

1984