VH at Carter Stadium
The first 4 albums by Van Halen are untouchable. No hard rock band has ever had their first 4 records be of such quality. Greatest hard rock band ever. Yeah, AC/DC is right there, but VH gets the nod for their greater versatility and musicianship.
There's a reason that VH is the #2 most-played artist on Classic Rock radio behind only Zeppelin.
Sad that they've done such a poor job...really they've done nothing at all, of building and nurturing their legacy. They simply go away for long periods of time the last 20 years, and return occasionally, and never do a thing to keep the fires stoked like other bands do.
Eddie is the most influential guitarist ever, IMO. Yeah, Hendrix is up there, but you never see someone do a technique Hendrix pioneered and folks say "He's copying Jimi". Everyone copies Eddie. Still a rite of passage today among young (and old) players to try and play his material.
But his influence is far more than his playing. His equipment....hardly a studio out there that doesn't have his amps. So many artists use his amps and guitars now that it's just mind boggling.
Hell, even Jimmy Page used one of his amps on a record in the 90's and raved about it.
Then there's the vastly underrated Alex. One of the greatest drummers ever. On That Metal Show, they had Mike Portnoy on and they had a list on their board of greatest rock drummers. He came out and they asked him what he thought of the list, and he went over and put AVH at the top. Dude has swing like nobody else.
Roth is the greatest frontman of all time. Not the best "singer" but frontman. Yeah, I know the last 10 years folks want to say Freddie Mercury...and he was great. But I'll take Roth, although I would put Freddie right there.
Queen is the best example of a band that has nurtured their legacy...they are bigger now than they were back in the day. They were never bigger than Van Halen when both were active, but guaranteed they're considered that way now, without having put out an album or done anything new in 30 years with Freddie.
Michael Anthony is also criminally underrated. Absolutely unmistakable backing vocals. Critical to the VH sound. If you don't think so, listen to any VH performance with Wolfgang Van Halen on backing vocals. He's good, but clearly not Mikey. His playing is also under appreciated....partly because Eddie wouldn't let him rip on the records...but listen to him with Chickenfoot. Joe Satriani said "Why didn't I hear this playing on VH records?" Dude can play anything, along with those backing vocals.
Greatest hard rock band ever. Yeah, I love them, lol