“No one ever told Van Halen, ‘Oh Eddie, you start tapping’”: Veteran rock writer explains why Van Halen were more “organic” than other shred metal bands
Veteran music writer Greg Prato believes Van Halen were more “organic” than other bands, and says that’s why Randy Rhoads and Quiet Riot “weren’t as successful”.
Prato refers to the way in which record labels used to sign any band that sounded similar to one that had become successful. “Case in point: the British invasion of the ’60s, hair metal in the ’80s, grunge in the ’90s,” he writes in Ultimate Guitar.
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Contrary to this, when Van Halen found success, Prato believes that it was because everything was done organically rather than, in Quiet Riot’s case, being “a young band doing what the record label or producer or manager [was] telling them to do”.
Appearing on the Booked On Rock podcast to discuss his book Bang Your Head, Feel The Noize: The Quiet Riot Story, Prato explains, “When I interviewed Kelly [Garni, original Quiet Riot bassist], he talked about how the thing with Van Halen [is] … no one ever told Van Halen, ‘David Lee Roth, start wearing spandex or start wearing buttless chaps.’
“No one was like, ‘Oh Eddie, you start tapping.’ or ‘Start painting your guitar with stripes.’ Everything was just done organically with Van Halen, and I can see his point.”
The Randy Rhoads version of Quiet Riot never had albums issued outside of Japan, but Prato thinks this era of the band served as a lesson.
“My theory is I think Kevin [DuBrow, vocalist] … used those two albums as a building block and almost like a learning curve. And, to his credit, he did not repeat that same mistake, or mistakes, with Metal Health. He totally fine-tuned everything, he knew what he was after, he knew what it took at that point to hit it big. And, of course, it paid off.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
