Customer Reviews

Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga

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Ian Christe's "Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga" is a good book - it's just not a great one.

So, before picking on the details, let's get the obvious out of the way. Alex and Eddie Van Halen are musical geniuses. They were both the kind of wunderkind that in an earlier age gave us Mozart. David Lee Roth is a hyperactive, strutting ego-maniac, custom made to rise in the era of MTV, where appearance and flash became far more important than actual talent and skill (though Dave has both - just not as much as he thinks.)

Given this kind of material to work with, this book should scream with pathos, grit, defeat and triumph. Unfortunately, it just doesn't.

As I was working my way through the book, I became aware that there were no dramatic build-ups, no tensions leading up to, for example, David Lee Roth's split from the band. Essentially, there's no insider insight.

This is because Christe only presents what the public already knows. The book is essentially a distillation of every news report, MTV interview, or magazine article concerning the band from their earliest inception to the present. Yes, it's well documented - but there's virtually no first person research. From cover to cover, I couldn't find any evidence that Christe had ever interviewed any member of the band. In fact, the entire book reads more like a stack of newspaper clippings than an exposé.

As a consequence, remarkable turns in the lives of everyone associated with Van Halen are rendered pedestrian and seem to pass by in a workmanlike fashion:

"David Lee Roth joins the band: Check."
"Valerie Bertinelli marries Eddie: Check."
"David Lee Roth quits the band: Check"
"Valerie Bertinelli quits Eddie: Check ..."

You get the idea. It's unfortunate, because the band is only recently undergoing something of a renaissance these days and this kind of looks like something put together to capitalize on that resurgence. Or maybe the paean of a devoted fan. But not the kind of intuitive, investigative band bio I've read on other subjects (especially Streissguth's "Johnny Cash: The Biography" and Gene Simmon's "Kiss and Make-up.)

Still, the book makes for an interesting, if not compelling, read. It's convenient to have all of these articles, interviews, etc. in one place and distilled down to their "just the facts" essence. It's well illustrated and divides logically along with the different singers who've acted as lead singer over the years.

So I'm still looking for the definitive Van Halen/Van Hagar band bio. This isn't it - but it'll fill the empty hours until the real thing comes

Let's get straight to the point. There is nothing here that the hardcore Van Halen fan does not already know. The immigration from Holland. The classical music lessons. Eddie and Alex swapping instruments. Meeting up with Roth & Anthony. The club scene. Their 'Discovery' by Gene Simmons. The disagreements in style on Mean Street and Diver Down. Roth's solo ambitions. The great initial personal chemistry with Hagar. The falling out over Twister. Cherone is a 'brother' but still had to leave. The alcoholism and the cancer. The 1996 MTV Awards fiasco. The 21st Century stagnation.

Almost all of Van Halen's history is now legend. And almost all of it is already well known to fans - in other words, the very people who would buy this book in the first place. Sorry, folks, but this volume offers you very little that you don't already know.

This is no surprise when you consider that the author Ian Christe has done virtually no exclusive interviews in this book. All the quotes are second hand. Everything uttered by the band or their associates has been copied from old, published sources. So how can this book possibly offer anything new? Where are the fresh, exclusive interviews with the families, friends, fans and foes? Nowhere in these pages.

So what does this leave you with? Certainly nothing naked, raw and revealing to compare with Metallica's "Some Kind of Monster", or even a Motley Crue "The Dirt". Basically all you get is a lengthy Wikipedia entry, with selected quotes taken from old magazine articles. The author gives his own oustider's summary of 30-40 years of the band. That's it. Even the 'exclusive' photos are few and nothing special.

To be fair, Christe's is a moderately entertaining book. His prose is neither aloof nor air-headed. It is actually quite a readable account that runs along at a decent pace without getting repetitive or boring. It is an entertaining read. But you get the feeling that the entertainment is derived solely from the drama of Van Halen's real-life ups & downs, rather than because of any particular skill of the writer.

I have previously read and reviewed Christe's other book "Sound of the Beast". That book was flawed, but it was well researched and it is obvious the author spent a lot of effort and time trying to craft a definitive short history of Metal. This current book suggests only that he is out to make a quick buck. No gems unearthed by painstaking research, no sweat broken to dig for undiscovered nuggets of news. Just rehashing of old news. Disappointing.

In "Sound of the Beast", one of Christe's most evident weaknesses was his inability to maintain objectivity when he is striving to write an objective, neutral history. He wants to sound authoritative, yet dribbles over some of his own favorite bands like a starry-eyed fan-boy, while he flippantly passes over mentioning other very important bands that maybe he isn't so keen on. Fair enough if you're writing a fan article - but not really good enough if your book is subtitled "The Complete History of Heavy Metal". He does the same thing here. He unashamedly sympathizes with Roth, and makes juvenile remarks at the Hagar years. He seems to side openly with Roth vs EVH and vs Hagar. He even adds an immature appendix entitled "Van Hagar for dummies". Says it all, really. I enjoy both Roth-era and Hagar-era stuff equally, and when I'm reading a supposedly 'authoritative' account I'd prefer some neutrality so I can make my own mind up about what I like best. I can respect other's preferences (Dave OR Sammy) if expressed on an appropriate forum (Blabbermouth??). But when I am paying premium dollar for a hardcover book, why must I put up with childish name-calling?

I'm a Van Halen fan. So I enjoyed reading about Van Halen's story for the umpteenth time. But I found nothing new, nothing to raise my eyebrows. The only way any average VH fan would not have already known 90% of what's in this book would be if he/she had lived under a rock for the last 30 years. Yes, if I wasn't a Van Halen fan, I might have found some new things here ... but if I wasn't a fan already, why would I even buy this book? VH fans deserve better.

If I wanted to buy just one book on Van Halen, this would NOT be the one. I would rather buy "Van Halen 101" by Abel Sanchez. Yes, it is even MORE opinionated and biased and fan-boyish than Christe's book ... but Sanchez never implies or boasts that his is anything other than a fan tribute book. No pretensions about being an authoritative history. Just a true fan's book written by an enthusiastic fan for other enthusiastic fans. An honest, simple-minded labor of love. And compared to Christe, Sanchez goes to great lengths to research his material. Witness the painstaking analysis of sales figures data, the insightful discussion of every component of EVH's success (does he play too many notes? what was the impact of Spandex? etc). Most remarkable of all, Sanchez got exclusive comments from dozens of the leading rock musicians today (from James Hetfield to Steve Vai to Brian May) talking just about EVH. Now THAT was impressive.

Ian Christe's latest book about the Van Halen phenomenon is a work of tortured prose. This is more a collection of anecdotes and vignettes than it is a biography. Almost all of the quotes from musicians used in this book are taken from previously published articles by other writers and are not the results from interviews that Christe has had with them. It is par for the course for Christe whose career as a rock music writer is akin to that of a journeyman baseball pitcher: he can have his moments, but ultimately his work may not be worth your money.

Instead of merely attempting to tell us Van Halen's life story, Christe attempts to pass off ridiculously overwritten, bombastic babble as having insight into his subject.

However much of a Van Halen fan that you may be, this is one book that you need to take your time in deciding whether or not to buy it.

I'm not sure what's going on here, but it feels like some posters have axes to grind (or ulterior motives). Luckily the book itself is not so slimy. Christe delivers the VH story, with the insight of someone tuned into the achievements of the band: four awkward outsiders actually finding their way to fame and fortune in 1970's California, and one incredibly gifted guitar player's rise to hone his talent and define his sound. Christe is enough of a musician himself to appreciate Eddie Van Halen's gifts and hard work, and is familiar enough with the party's settings and heavy rock's artistic milieu that he can draw out some great connections. Referencing Guitar Player as a source for some of Eddie's quotes is, despite the complaints of some in these reviews, actually quite encouraging: Christe takes the guitar hero seriously in thoughtful moments, spilling his thoughts about his profession to legions of young admirers--a key slice of the VH pie. The book's a lot of fun, and a great piece of American musical history.

I received this book as a gift and as a longtime Van Halen fan, I read it cover to cover in two sittings (the Roth years... and then the Hagar years). I think Christie did an excellent job capturing the history... and essence... of this very complicated band of brothers. He provided just enough detail to keep it interesting and engaging, while not drowning the reader in tangents and off-topic stories (no one cares who Michael Anthony took to his senior prom, so it's good he left those types of details out).

While I'd heard and read many of the stories through the years, it was the little nuggets I picked up throughout the book that made it fun. I didn't realize that Sammy wrote "Stand Up" on the Rockstar soundtrack. I didn't know Eddie had to put chickenwire around his studio to ground it. Those are fun facts any serious VH fan should know.

As a fan, it's admittedly been hard to watch what's happened to VH over the past 10 years. And you sense at times Christie (who is clearly a fan) wants to provide a more personal commentary on the Van Halen juggernaut. And who can blame him, when talking about Van Halen, it's easy as a fan to let one's emotions surface. But Christie wisely takes the high road, reporting the good with the bad and ultimately showing that no one (excepty maybe Mikey) is perfect in this perfect storm of a band.

Overall, I encourage any and every fan of VH to get this book. And when you're done with it, pass it along. More people need to undertsand the power, passion and pomp that is VH.

The author's pretentiousness, arrogance and mendacity all but ruined this book. Their writing didn't do much for me either. Precisely who were they trying to impress with all that overwrought language? Its rock and roll not Tolstoy. Get over yourself. I could barely make it through the foreword without wanting to vomit. Amongst the more nauseating statements you'll come across are Ian's declarations that he is the first person to ever write a book about Van Halen (he's absolutely not) and that he felt the need to master Eruption before doing the book so as to deem himself worthy of writing about Van Halen. Talk about pathetic testosterone-driven displays of self-aggrandizing and ego-stroking. Given his lack of cred until we see a vid of the author dazzling us with his amazing cover of Eruption posted over on youtube I'd say its a bunch of bullocks.

Had Ian Christe written this under oath he'd now be facing multiple charges of perjury. Luring fans with false professions of seedy revelations of the group members personal lives and habits is despicable. Who taught this guy how to present and market his work...Geraldo Rivera?

Ian's first book was pawned off to us as an encyclopedia of metal but in reality was nothing more than a love letter to Metallica that all but ignored Van Halen's historic contributions to the metal scene and metal guitar playing. Which begs the question how did he suddenly and so mysteriously learn so much about Van Halen? Halfway through this current book the answer became apparent. To their credit several of my fellow fanatics have pointed it out on here. The verdict is in. Ian Christe thoroughly ravaged material from all the other books ever written on Van Halen. This character even dared to go as far as to lift parts from Diamond Dave's Crazy From The Heat. If Valerie had released her book before Ian's one has to suspect he would've nicked some of her material as well and then attempted to pass himself off as Eddie's ex-wife.

So great is my disappointment I've decided to pop my cherry and post my first review with the hopes it will serve as a harbinger for future fans who are debating whether or not to purchase this product.

WARNING. There is not a spec of information or data within its pages the average fan hanging around a VH messageboard doesn't already know and would not share with you for free.

Ultimately this will be remembered, if at all, for being the most ridiculously overwritten, overhyped and altogether unnecessary of all the Van Halen books to ever see the light of day.

Well, this is another one of those "copy and paste" pseudo-biographies about rock bands, where the author puts together only second-hand information already published in other sources and does not interview any of the badn member or even their close personnel.

Anyway, if you're not the kind of person that wants to read everything about the band you like (as myself)and, since there is no official Van Halen biography around, this is a satisfactory place to star reading about the band's history.

Sadly, this is a book that any Van Halen fan with a library card could have written. In fact, they probably could have written it better. Not only is the book filled with old information from less than credible publications, it also features poor grammar, inaccurate (or just plain wrong) facts, and even misspellings! In the age of spell-check, there is simply no excuse for such an amateur effort. Van Halen fans deserve more, and like the Roth reunion, we're just going to have to be patient.

EVERYBODY WANTS SOME is a decent enough read. Having said that nobody in Van Halen was involved. Therefore it is NOT a tell-all. Given some of the more honest non-shill reviews here perhaps EVERYBODY WANTS SOME MONEY BACK would be a more appropriate title. If its a real dirt-dishing first-hand tell-all you seek here's a few suggestions: "Walk this Way" by Aerosmith, "The Heroin Diaries" by Nikki Sixx, "Slash" by Slash, "The Dirt" by Motley Crue and "Tommyland" by Tommy Lee.

Notice every title is followed with "by" and then each respective artist's name. This lets you know beyond any shadow of doubt who penned it. By definition anything written by or in collaboration with an artist = tell-all. Anything outside of that is NOT a tell-all. Gathering truckloads of information from countless sources running the gamut from magazines and dvd's to all other VH books does not = tell-all. Its sad Van Halen appears to have no interest in telling their own story and it would be asinine of anybody to claim they could tell it better than any member of the band could. After finishing this my conclusion is that Mr. Christe is the literary equivalent of Dane Cook. A guy who's getting paid off countless other people's material and hard work thanks to their savvy online marketing schemes and shameless, tireless self-promotion.

This is not to imply only artists can write about their career. Plenty of fine books have been written without an artist's involvement. Consider "Heavier than Heaven." Obviously Kurt Cobain could not be interviewed but that didn't stop the author from interviewing over 400 different people including those closest to Cobain. Hence it can be done. Whereas Mr. Christe didn't interview so much as a single soul for his book. Making matters worse is the intense concentrated effort by Mr. Christe and his cronies to shove EWS down the public's throat as the ultimate definitive uncensored never-before-told peek behind the curtain at VH's notorious bacchanalian lifestyle and splendor. Its safe to say this approach will only leave most fans disappointed and scratching their collective heads. Hammer of the Gods this ain't. Stories of brown m&m's and DLR's grid system are not what the average fan would consider groundbreaking journalism. Like most of what's in this book those stories have been common knowledge to us for an eternity now. Nothing here we haven't heard before.

To echo the sentiments of a recent reviewer I'd concur Van Halen 101 is where its at. A straightforward unpretentious joyful education on VH by a fanboy who brought along with them an absurd number of musical minds and muscle to pay Eddie tribute in honor of his whipping cancer. We shouldn't hold our breath for a definitive book by the band but there is one being released next week that is as close as it gets. Even closer than VH 101 and that's the new Neil Zlozower VH picture book. Unlike Mr. Christe who after reading the three hundred plus pages of his book we're not sure if he ever even saw Van Halen live in concert, Zlozower was and still is the ultimate insider. One of the boys. Someone who was allowed into the band's tight inner circle and given full-access onstage and off for the entire time their classic lineup ruled the world. Following VH 101's lead, not surprising when you consider one of his brilliant original shots graces that book's cover, Neil has acquired plenty of testimonials from big name musicians to go along with his legendary lenswork. Move over Mr. Christe 'cause the real deal arrives next week.

For those in the NYC area VH is coming to MSG on November 13th. Hope you all got your tix 'cause it's SOLD OUT. See you there!

WTF? I was surprised to see any negative reviews of Everybody Wants Some, but it looks like all were suspiciously written in the same style by first-time reviewers. Smells fishy to me. Well, here's a REAL review of Everybody Wants Some from antimusic.com:

"The most staggering aspect of the book is that it's an unauthorized biography. As a general rule, I usually don't enjoy unauthorized biographies because they tend to be glorified tales written with a lot of assumptions and tall tales that even a casual fan would raise their eyes with suspicion. I never hoisted my eyebrow once as Christe's research is nothing short of astonishing; minute details are given ranging from specific recording sessions, family lineages, failed auditions for singers, the numerous attempted reunions with Roth and the most important aspect for guitar geeks-a detailed outline of guitars used, created and played by Eddie Van Halen over his entire life. Christe knows this band, loves this band, pulls his hair out over their internal drama and as a result has written the definitive Van Halen story. Once you pick it up it you will need to unchain yourself from your chair because it's impossible to put down whether you are a Van Halen or Van Hagar fan."

"Even if the band sat down one day to write their story, it would be biased with revisionism. No authorized biography would ever be this factual or truthful. If recent actions are any hint, it probably wouldn't even mention Michael Anthony. Christe puts the reader right in the emotional thick of the action from the 1920's in Europe to the present day reunion in 2007. Christe makes you feel like an insider with his fastidious quotes and personal insight. Don't get me wrong, Christe dishes dirt, but does so without judgment and makes sure he has the facts straight."

"The band should give Christe a portion of future proceeds from record sales just for writing this book, because as a result of reading it, I am reevaluating records I had forgotten about years ago and it appears I underestimated them. 'Everybody Wants Some' is the essential gift every Van Halen fan should have. Do yourself a favor and buy this book before you buy a t-shirt at the reunion concert. Christe has written a book that is stylish, succinct, breathtaking and as dazzling as an Eddie Van Halen guitar solo. If you ever stared in the mirror and attempted to imitate David Lee Roth with leaps and splits from the "Jump" video, then this book is for you."