Wisdom worth sharing, words worth remembering.
I'm blessed with a good pair of ears. That's how I fooled my piano teacher. I'd watch his fingers and I'd listen to it and I just kind of basically learned it by myself.
We're musicians. We make music for a living. It's that simple. Nothing else matters.
'For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge' took a year to record that's why the playing on it might sound somewhat labored. 'Balance' on the other hand was written and recorded in only four months so the whole process was quicker and more immediate.
David Lee Roth had the idea that if you covered a successful song you were half way home. C'mon – Van Halen doing 'Dancing in the Streets'? It was stupid. I started feeling like I would rather bomb playing my own songs than be successful playing someone else's music.
I mean it's funny playing music how of course you want it to do well you want them to like it but it's not competitive like an election it's the Olympics it's not a Formula 1 race. The Billboard charts are just to show you what people like.
It's funny when bands or younger musicians ask me: 'So what does it take to make it?' Well first explain to me what you mean by 'making it': Do you want to be a rock star or do you want music to be your livelihood?
If you want to be a rock star or just be famous then run down the street naked you'll make the news or something. But if you want music to be your livelihood then play play play and play! And eventually you'll get to where you want to be.
The name Van Halen the family legacy is going to go on long after I'm gone.
You know most people they want to go to Hollywood. They want to be a star. They want to be a rock star. That thought never entered any of our minds the Van Halen family.
When I'm home on a break I lock myself in my room and play guitar. After two or three hours I start getting into this total meditation. It's a feeling few people experience and that's usually when I come up with weird stuff. It just flows. I can't force myself. I don't sit down and say I've got to practice.
Music is for people. The word 'pop' is simply short for popular. It means that people like it. I'm just a normal jerk who happens to make music. As long as my brain and fingers work I'm cool.
I never dreamt of being a musician for my livelihood. I certainly never would have wanted to be in the business that I'm in meaning the fame and the glory the glitter the rock star the famous part.
