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Van Halen Rising

How a Southern California Backyard Party Band Saved Heavy Metal

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Van Halen Rising

Written by: Greg Renoff
Narrated by: Sean Runnette
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About this listen

After years of gigging everywhere from suburban backyards to dive bars, Van Halen - led by frontman extraordinaire David Lee Roth and guitar virtuoso Edward Van Halen - had the songs, the swagger, and the talent to turn the rock world on its ear.

The quartet's classic 1978 debut, Van Halen, sold more than a million copies within months of release and rocketed the band to the stratosphere of rock success. On tour, Van Halen's high-energy show wowed audiences and prompted headlining acts like Black Sabbath to concede that they'd been blown off the stage. By the year's end, Van Halen had established themselves as superstars and reinvigorated heavy metal in the process.

Based on more than 230 original interviews - including with former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony and power players like Pete Angelus, Marshall Berle, Donn Landee, Ted Templeman, and Neil Zlozower - Van Halen Rising is the first book to tell the untold story of how these rock legends made the unlikely journey from Pasadena, California, to the worldwide stage.

©2015 Greg Renoff (P)2016 Tantor Entertainment & Celebrities Music Celebrity Inspiring Guitar

What the critics say

"Renoff's book is a thoroughly entertaining read that will appeal to every hard rock fan." ( Publishers Weekly)
All stars
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Greg Runoff provides an outstanding exposé focussed on the formation and evolution of a Party-Band-with-serious-musical-chops into a commercial juggernaut. The author really limits himself to the pre-success years, but offers a well-researched, well-written, incredibly authentic-sounding documentary.

As to presentation: Sean Runnette was an excellent casting choice for reading the book, too. His performance is definitely imperfect - his tone is disinterested occasionally, for example - but his diction, timbre, cadence, and pacing are peerless.. and he wisely avoids impressons of Diamond Dave in interview or interpretations of Gene Simmons's basso delivery. Kudos to Tantor Audio on this one.

In toto, 'Van Halen Rising' rates 9 out of 10 stars. It feels like it needs a sequel if, like me, you're simply a fan of the band and not a diehard. I was maybe looking for more of a full biography (including the Sammy Hagar years, Michael Anthony's ouster, etc), but Mr. Runoff puts readers in Alex & Eddie's childhood bedrooms, in the crowd during rowdy Pasadena House Parties, on the stage during Wet T-shirt Contests in LA dive bars, in the boardroom during contentious negotiations with record executives, and in the studio recording their debut album. It's undeniably satisfying.
If you can get the audiobook as a 'Plus' selection, you should feel incredibly fortunate.. this one merits a Credit.

Immersive Look at the Germinal Years

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I was really impressed with the book but it chronicles there rise to fame and ends after their first album. There is a brief epilogue covering a few highlights afterwards

Not complete history but still good.

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Amazing info for any Van Halen fan. The research for the topics seems right compared to stories I've read

Amazing info

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I've read most of the Van Halen autobiographies. This one was a good one as well. I like that it's focused on the early years. And it does differ from the one that came out a couple years ago... from the early. Manager Noel Monk....

its good

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Great narration and well written and the story itself is quite interesting. However, a lot of the fat could have been cut. You start to hear the same stories over and over and its quite bloated in places. Enjoyed it overall and not upset I listened to it but it could've been better.

Interesting story but quite repetitive

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