Brothers, Alex Van Halen

The Van Halen fans have been waiting a long time for this. This book is only the Roth years of the band. Perhaps Alex will write a second book about the Hagar years. We learn that the bond between these two brothers was extreme, through thick and thin till death do you part, and the afterlife.  No surprises. Both took piano lessons. Ed couldn’t read music, so he’d watch his teacher’s fingers on the piano keys, hear the music, and emulate it. The boys learned to play many instruments – sax, violin, piano, guitar, bass, drums, and on. The four (brothers and parents) were a very tight-knit immigrant family, and did everything together. They all never stopped working, had an incredible work ethic and family code of honor. It’s easy to see how parents can influence their children in such profound ways – the good and the bad. For instance, Jan (the father) was Danish, a muscian, liked to drink heavily, and had had incredible work mentality. The boys mirrored him. Their idea of fun was getting together and drinking alcohol until they couldn’t stand. Alex’s job was always to take care of his little brother. No mediocrity was the point their father taught them. How to get this – through your instrument and everything you do, whether it be drinking, fighting, playing, etc. Everything you did, you did to the maximum. I know this mantra well – to my success and to my own internal detriment at times. With the boys in the band, especially David and Ed, they started to believe in their own BS after they got successful, and which led to the demise of the original four. Ed was never able to escape the noise of being the greatest guitar player in the world and having to maintain that type of force throughout his lifetime. Dave was angry that Ed was so talented, and he sold himself short by always competing with Ed. He couldn’t appreciate his own gift, he had one-up Ed all the time.  It seemed Alex sugarcoated a lot of what occurred in those years on the road and the hard-charge attitude they had. Once again trying to protect his brother’s reputation, and his own to a lighter extent. The more I continue to read about those years from other players in the early VH years, the more the real story merges. Stay tuned.