Mean Street (Album Version)

Van Halen | Format: MP3 Download
From the Album Fair Warning (US Internet Release)

Product Details

• Original Release Date: August 17, 2004
• Release Date: August 17, 2004
• Label: Rhino/Warner Bros.
• Copyright: 2004 Warner Bros. Records. Manufactured and Marketed by Warner Strategic Marketing.
• Duration: 4:59 minutes
• Genres:
• ASIN: B00123M0SO
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,238 Paid in MP3 Songs (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Songs)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a classic piece of music!, February 22, 2010

By 

Jim Townsend (Arizona) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Mean Street (Album Version) (MP3 Download)

The song "Mean Street" by Van Halen is a great example of why Eddie Van Halen is one of the great musicians of our time. Sure, the words are dark, in contrast to most other Van Halen songs, but that's not the point here. The point is the music. I'm not a very good guitarist/musician myself (though I do try), so I'm not going to go into any sort of technical criticism. But Eddie's musicianship here is fantastic.

I love great hard-rock, but my ear cannot sympathize with most modern rock, especially modern metal. To me, most of it's too coarse and grating. By contrast, Eddie's music is usually in the hard-rock, high-energy style (but never really metal-ish), yet always melodic. You can hear Ed's unique, distinctive style here, but you also here his blues base. (Another good example is "Panama", from the album called 1984. Great high-energy music, with a classic blues foundation.) Something else about "Mean Street" (as well as the aforementioned "Panama") is that we hear one of Van Halen's best qualities, which is often overlooked entirely: that being his rhythm playing. Ed is known for his frenetic, high-energy solos, and for good reason, but those are only a part of each song he writes. Most of the rest of a typical Van Halen song is jam-packed with rhythm and fills. And though there's usually only one guitar playing live, in the studio Eddie will often record a second or third guitar track for harmony and additional rhythm. If Ed's solos set him apart from every other excellent guitar-player out there, it's his rhythm work that sets him into a class of his own. He just puts so much color and music into one otherwise-formulaic rock song. And it's for these reasons that I still often listen to Van Halen even after decades (since the 70's).

If you want to see something else that puts Van Halen in a league of his own, watch pretty much any video of him playing. He's always smiling! It's as if he's at his happiest when he's playing, and you can tell his heart is being poured into the music. Van Halen's music is genuine, timeless, and filled with heart and energy, and "Mean Street" is a great example. A must-have for any music-lover's library.