Classical Composer Reaction & Analysis to Mean Street (Van Halen) | The Daily Doug (Episode 491)
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
- #vanhalen #meanstreet
In this episode of #thedailydoug, I'm diving into music from Van Halen. Of course, I'm a fan of this classic American Rock band, but Mean Street is one of their songs that I haven't yet heard, and I'm pleased to be listening to it today. I hope you enjoy!
Reference Video: • Van Halen Mean Street
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"What is Eddie doing on the guitar?"
Pretty much describes what every other guitarist said when they first heard him.
Eddie’s rhythm is his best playing. Amazing. Yeah, he can do fretboard acrobatics. But his rhythm groove is undeniable. Beast
Ed’s tone on this song is monstrous and he plays the riff with such attitude.
perhaps the best guitar tone ever in any song along with his unchained from the same Fair warning album.
No doubt killer tone!
It's an unmatched riff, one of the greatest ever, should be mentioned among the Whole lotta love's, Highway to hells, Crazy trains etc
@@Laurikiwi I would put it head of all those tunes.
i always think how happy the dude pointing at the guy bashing in a guy's face is.
Fair warning is my favorite VH album. Eddie really stretched his chops out on this record. All in their prime in the DLR era!
Steve. This album was mind blown for me. It is still a banger now and always. 🙂👍
My favorite too. The grittiest album they made. Heavy bass, crunchy guitars, and a step away from Dave's typical lyrical style.
Back during the brief period in my early 20s frequenting strip clubs, I remember one dancer came out-I'm guessing they got to pick their own music- and launched into Mean Street and proceeded to dance to the entire 1st side of the record. It gave me total clarity and perspective on this album. So good.
Same here. So gritty, bluesy and strong. And it sound s great when played quite loud.
Unchained is my favorite Van Halen song. Then Sinners Swing and Push comes to Shove from this album
Fair Warning has been my favorite Van Halen album for decades. It's so even and unified track to track it almost feels like a concept album. There's a seriousness about it. "Hear About it Later" from said album is probably my favorite VH song of their entire catalog.
They were deciding whether to be heavy or happy. How would things have evolved of they had decided to go heavy, y'know?
@@jeffreymeyer4848 But they *were* heavy on this album, though. 🤔
Dave once said that VH was a mix of religion and hockey
I even had it on cassette so I could listen to it the car too
A band at the absolute height of their power.
This is my very favorite Van Halen album, really heavy. The playing and singing on this one are next-level from all four guys.
I reallly like VH 1 and 2 albums, but of course all of them are good. Women and Children First has some good stuff too.
VH is like Led Zeppelin because their albums have diversity in style too, the band seems to evolve as well. All the best rock,
hard rock and metal bands do that, go through an evolution.
It's amazing what kind of aggressive music can come out when the players really start to hate each other. My fave too.
As Dave once said, Van Halen's music is a combination of religion and hockey.
Michael Anthony's bass is amazing to me in this, always the right fill, climb, or run-down in the right spot.
Super underrated bass player
@@garnetbezanson1404 especially by their former band mates.
@@addickkelders2265 Thank god Sammy gets it
Playing VH opens your mind and expands your understanding of music, harmony, technique and creativity. Eddie's legacy of building lines, phrases and guitar riffs is even more impressive than his unrivaled solos. And it still has the dense and unique drumming of AVH, the precise bass and backing vocals of Michael Anthony and the incomparable David Lee Roth.
This is their best DLR song in my opinion. It just has balls.
You got a great ear Doug, they tuned down a half step so A flat is played like the guitar is in standard tuning, ie he doesn't play an A flat he plays an A. This was a common musical device back then, easier on the vocalist and made the sound a little heavier especially live.
Bands still do it to this day. It's very common. 🙂
Alex is such an amazing drummer
In Eddie's solo with Alex on the drums it just rips, I love it
I always considered 1984 to be the Alex album but Fair Warning has fantastic drums. My favorite VH album.
Immensely underrated!
Ya , ButHe'sACunt
Alex, feel is the most underrated drummer
Every song on the first 4 VH albums are incredible
Only band where I like more than 10 of there songs, and I love at least 50 of them
Then "1984" happened ... 😕
@@tonyfair487 yup
Can’t beat Eddie’s tone on this tune.
As powerful as it was 41 years ago.
Crank the volume when songs fade out and you'll often hear some really interesting little treats.
🤘🏼🎧🤟🏼
True
Like, on Everybody Wants Some... "I'll pay ya for it, wtf?"
@@camc5483 That's not really hidden at all
@@ianjones2731 Doesn't necessarily jump out at you either
This is their best. Doesn't feel like a producer made it... the band did this.
The groove on this song is undeniable! No one has the tone that EVH produced, even in the old days, his sound is unmistakable...
This song is a master class in right hand technique. The intro is stuff that may have been influenced by bass slapping but had never been done the way Eddie does it. Pinch harmonics, palm muting, whammy bar, etc - this is one of the more technical VH songs, especially for the right hand. Also the dynamics between stuff that no one had ever heard vs. the standard boogie. Space age is set in tension against the past. This is Eddie's playground.
Don’t forget the tone. Phenomenal.
No shit
This is my favorite Van Halen album. They really pushed their boundaries here.
You lost me with “I’ve never seen a big fan of David Lee Roth as a front man “. Mel Torme sings, Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra sing but Dave is the unchallenged heavyweight champ of front men.
😂
I came here to disagree, too. He oozed charisma in the late 70s/early 80s with his distinctive voice and style.
Yes, EVH was an amazing rhythm player that could swing. The Fair Warning tour was my first VH concert. July '81. My aunt Julie treated me for my 15th B-day. I'd been playing guitar for two years at that time. EVH was one of my heroes.
Saw the following Diver Down tour in the fall of '82. Then lastly with Sammy for the OU812 tour in '88. Fair Warning is my fav VH album. 🤘
I also saw them with Sammy on the OU812 Tour; well, on the Monsters Of Rock Tour, but same thing.
You nailed perhaps the most important part of Van Halen. Eddie was an absolute master at rhythm guitar.
But, then again, Eddie was a master at everything.
Love how Ed's mind came up with some of the coolest riffage in HISTORY!
An absolute powerhouse album opener. VH was never better.
Maybe the greatest intro to a song ever! That sound is incredible and his guitar tone is just sick!!!
The intro after the initial slapping part always blows me away. It's such a massive sound. Eddie's ability to create a certain tone is unmatched. People are still using his amps and probably will for a long time.
he was a master of tone for sure
@@Dave_Wight_The_Rock_Oracle Master of tone, master of lead, and an absolute master of rhythm
when Eddie passed in 2020 I remember playing all of his albums back to back to back. When I discovered RUclips premium and skipped commercials.
Commercials absolutely killed YT.
My favorite song from Van Halen. So happy that you picked that song.
The mighty Van Halen in their prime.
Eddie at the peak of his creativity.
I saw Van Halen on this tour in Oakland Ca. certainly one of my top five concerts I’ve attend
There’s footage from that show on RUclips.
I was at the 1981 Oakland Ca Concert… Van Halen was totally electric. Van Halen at their best…😎
I also saw them on this tour, in Philadelphia. Easily the loudest concert I've ever been to as well. LOL!
WE MISS YOU, EDDIE V!!🎸
You can see Eddie doing that awesome tapping on a solo live performance called Eruption. About 15 mins of Eddie showing the world little bits and pieces of his legendary career. Priceless!
Yeah, that's from their 1986 live video "Live Without a Net" recorded in New Haven, CT. The entire concert is amazing and his solo jams the exclamation point into it's awesomeness. I still have the original VHS tape that's completely worn out after all these decades... Good stuff.
Glorious Van Halen masterpiece
Love this album. Eddie and Alex so phenomenal.
"Fair Warning" is far and away my favorite VH album...if I was stuck on a desert island , this would be one of the 10 albums I would HAVE to have !! The guitar work and the songs are just so much fun while still being a little "dark"...just AWESOME !!!!
Mean Streets album is awesome. Eddie is more than just a guitarist. He is a force of nature.. Sure there are many guitarists who can copy but Eddie created it. RIP Eddie .
Thank you for reacting to Van Halen. If you do more, I'll be here for it.
The song "Mean Street" is taken from the album FAIR WARNING (1981). However, in my opinion, this album as well as the one titled VAN HALEN (1978) are the two most accomplished, original and authentically Van Halen. Thank you, Master Helvering.
For all the songs they had and the absolute mastery that their first 4 albums were, this is my favorite song and it was always cool when he would play just a bit of the riff in his eruption solos - such a master class of creativity.
You can really hear the swing in this album, absolutely fantastic. My favourite of theirs after the debut VH1.
The whole album has a strong funk vibe imo.
@@gymnassfan Yes, absolutely.
Fair Warning is by far the best Van Halen album for complex cords and rhythm. I was so lucky to see Van Halen play The Fair warning tour at the Iconic 1981 Oakland Ca show. The show was totally electric… Pieces of the show are on You Tube.
What a show… The Best.
😎🤘
Van Halen played at my high school during lunch back in the 70's. They were still known as Mammoth then.
Every track on "Fair Warning" ... excellent. I love "Dirty Movies".
I've been blessed, to remember the 78 album of Van Halen!! Had thier poster up next to my Alice Cooper, Evel kneval & Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders posters!!!
If you watch Eddie’s solo that he plays in concert you can see how he plays the intro, as he plays it and expands upon it during that. It is on RUclips misnamed as Eruption, but is the whole solo from the concert film Live Without A Net. I’ll edit this in a sec with a link and timestamp to find that part in particular.
Edit: Here is that video. Skip to 8:12 to see that part in particular. This is called Eruption, but Eruption was the guitar solo on their first album. This concert solo actually does contain that solo, but also contains more than that. It also contains Spanish Fly, and the intro to Mean Street, and Cathedral, and what would eventually be recorded as a song called 316. As well as a bunch of improvisation and extending of those pieces. Anyway, yeah, skip to 8:12 to see how the Mean Street acrobatics took place. ruclips.net/video/L9r-NxuYszg/видео.html
I'm sure somebody has covered this below, but on the intro:
1) Yes, they tuned down to Eb all the time. For simplicity, I will refer to the strings in standard tuning.
2) At the start, Eddie is striking the 12th fret of the low E string with his right thumb and the 12th fret of the B and high E strings with his right index finger. He is alternating that with hitting the fretboard with his left hand to get a percussive sound. So, the pattern starts index-lh-thumb-lh-index-lh-thumb-lh and changes a little to create syncopation
3) in the middle, he is tapping the 12th fret of the E, D or A string lightly to get a harmonic and then hammering on with his left hand on either the 5th, 7th or 9th fret. Sometimes he is fretting the 7th fret and tapping a harmonic on the 12th fret. At any rate, it gives you that rapid alternation between a tapped harmonic and a fretted note that makes the notes seem like they are flying out of different registers.
4) at the end, he is fretting the D, G and B at the 5th fret as a bar (to create a C major) and tapping the octave harmonic for the whole chord at the 17th fret with his right index finger. He then rest the D, G and B at the 7th fret (to create a D major) and taps the octave harmonic for the whole chord at the 19th fret with his right index finger.
3) and 4) are not as hard as they sound once you develop the touch for tapping harmonics. The ending run of 3) is particularly difficult to make even sounding because you have a run of tapped harmonics on one string and some of them are not as strong as the others. 4) is actually not hard at all.
2) takes a little while to get the pattern right, but the huge challenge is getting it up to tempo with the double thumb hits.
Eddie was tapping, hammer on/pull off on the strings at the opening, that section became a regular part of his extended solos during their concerts
It is one of his trickiest and hardest parts to play, to me this and Spanish Fly!
A bit of everything, harmonics, tapping, percussive/slap (beating the fingers on strings+fretboard), not for begginers.
To myself there's absolutely no one like him.
Not exactly- it's more of a slapping technique, and hitting false harmonics as opposed to Eruption which is tapping.
@@whatwouldhousedo5136 Yeah, he slaps the low E string with his thumb, and the high B and E with his index finger on the 12th fret. Then kind of muting with his left hand👍
@@johanzander5919 Exactly.
Also - he was approximately down a semitone
One of my favorite VH song.
I was 14 in 1981. Had all the VH albums. Grew up in the hood near Downtown L.A. Walked to school through a handful of different gang turfs. Mean Street spoke to me on a personal level.
I love this song, as well as the rest of this album. Thanks for the video, Doug!
Doug said it. Finally. Just keep it going Doug and play the whole album. It is their best............. Treat yourself and us.
A full up Marshall amp in the hands of the man who shook the world of rock music.
I highly recommend checking out Bill McClintock's mashup of this song and Jackson 5's "Dancing Machine" (appropriately titled Mean Machine, lol). It's seriously, UNBELIEVABLY catchy in a way you can't fully appreciate until you hear it. Bill just has a hell of an ear and a great sense of finding pieces of music that compliment each other extremely well; sometimes it's more absurd than anything, but it's ALWAYS impressive.
Anyway, more specifically to this actual song... it's definitely one of my favorites from Van Halen, especially as a lesser-known track. To answer your question about whether they tune down their instruments or not, most VH music is down a half-step as far as I'm aware.
One of my favorite songs, on one of my favorite albums…
I think a reaction to this entire album would be awesome. The whole album has complexity and harmony
Love this album! Eddie was a master & Roth's vocals were brutal!
Peak Van Halen right here. Fair Warning is a killer album.
Saw a show on this tour at the Great Western Forum Los Angeles. Best hard rock show ever! Favorite Van Halen album.
Dave is the epitome of rock n roll front man
Absolutely 100%
Amen! And wrote every melody and word you sing along with. Dave is the best. Who else can stand next to the greatest guitarist of all time and not be over shadowed? Viva los Dave!
Yes,Yes,Yes. 😎🤘
Eddie is doing his more recognizable two hand tapping in the beginning, but he's also swelling the volume on the guitar and he's slapping like bass players, too giving it a more percussive sense.
Great song. This was my primary guitar teacher album. It's also like "Revolver" or "Who's Next", where I have to listen to the entire album. The guitar is tuned Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb for this song, and for basically the first 4 VH albums. He does do a lot of lowering the low string to Db on this album, which gives a lot of the rhythm and the chords on it a beautiful crunch.
The intro is tapped harmonics, Doug. Eddie is using two hands on the fretboard: one to fret the note with his left, pull off, and the right hand taps the harmonic 5 or 7 frets down the neck. I remember learning to play the intro and it was - how to word it - difficult.
Awesome choice for first VH breakdown !!
You should check out Ediie Van Halen's son, Wolfgang Van Halen. His song and video for "Don't Back Down" Show that he plays every instrument and sings. He is a tremendous talent. His first hit (before that) was also good - a tribute to Ediie (his dad) passing away - called "Distance". His band goes under the name "Mammoth WVH".
A note about the Tuning/key - the reason it's in Ab is due to them tuning (the guitars) down 1/2 step...so to them, they're playing in "A" - easy open string goodness there! (not that EVH needs help to play in any key wants)
As some others have said Eddie’s rhythm is so amazing especially the groove he has w his brother. Without out a single solo he would be still be a top 10 guitarist with the riffs, rhythm, and song writing.
Excellent analysis Doug, and saying it was in the Dorian mode so I learn from your comments. Your ear is amazing just calling out notes and scales of course
because you're a professional.
05:35 The PERFECT solo. Ever. In the known history 08:28 He' literally _strikes_ the guitar strings at specific points with the tip of his finger. Sometimes, the strings don't even touch the frets, while at other times, he deliberately strikes them at certain frets in other places, and combines these hits into melodies. He also does things like 'sliding down' (or actually, up in pitch, but sometimes he varies it backwards, so it's more like 'deepening') the sounds with his other hand by grasping the guitar neck, but sometimes he only does this on certain strings or their variations, creating a sliding effect up and down while simultaneously doing the aforementioned plucking. He developed these techniques himself, as well as many others. He revolutionized modern rock guitar playing. Without him, there wouldn't be, for example, Metallica - or at least, not as we know it. That's just one example, but his influence can be heard in almost every modern genre outside of jazz, even if people aren't generally aware of it.
Eddie always tuned down a half step so his open a string would resonate and sound Ab. RIP the king 👑🎸🎸
I call Eddie the riff master. For his genre of music, I think he is the goat of rhythm guitar and it's not even close. You can make a case that there are better guitarists out there. But if you look at what other guitarist' were doing when Van Halen's debut album came out and how Eddie's style and technique changed the game, it just adds to his legend!
You can make a case that there are better guitarists out there. You could, but there ain't 😄 Eddie is the greatest, certainly in Rock
I was walking down 5th ave Manhattan in the late 80s and came across a kid, 18 maybe playing for money with a little amp.. Asked my request and I told him Mean Street, He started with the fret taps and nailed the song. Will never forget that kid. And yes I tipped him.
Between Fair Warning and Women and Children First, my favorite Van Halen. I was 5 or 6 when my older brother gave me these albums. Jamming on my Fisher Price record player jumping around my room with 2 G.I. Joe's or The Millennium Falcon in my hands...thanks for taking me back in time!
Fair Warning is their darkest album and my personal favorite. Lord strike that poor boy down! With the exceptions of keyboard tunes, VH usually tuned down a half step.
Lol,your face at the start,he’s slapping the strings
I don't think it's a finger slap as much as a form of finger tap using the tips of his fingers.
@@stevechristy3244If you watch a video of some of Eddie’s extended solos, you can see him play the Mean Streets intro by slapping with the palm of his hand either on the pickups or the base of the neck
@@stevechristy3244 pretty much,I’ve seen other’s doing it,namely Satsuma on RUclips and he’s fantastic at it,it’s a cross between slapping and tapping,still Doug’s face🤣🤣
@@legolite45 the first part is a blend of slapping and tapping then it’s straight into tapping
Now you nailed it, Eddie is one of the greatest rhythm guitar players ever!
He's one of the greatest guitarists ever.
@@bobthebear1246 Sure, but not too much people praise his rhythm skills and he was one of the best ever (well, to myself he was the best to date, the best ever, because of him I'm a guitarrist).
The soundtrack to my high school years. Ed was phenomenal at rhythm. This reminds me of some insane and fun times
I can’t figure out why but this is my favorite Van Halen album. Just the sound maybe it’s the base I don’t know but I love it.
I think Doug would really appreciate I’m The One, for the swing (of course, my ever loving God THE SWING!!!!!) and the unconventional chord changes. It showcases a huge bit EVH’s techniques and did I mention THE SWING?!!!!!
I think the word Mr H was looking for was VISCERAL. Van Halen is possibly the most visceral band ever that had this much melody and rhythmic prowess. When most other bands are playing songs of this nature, they sound kinda polished and rehearsed. Van Halen sounds free and terrifying.
This tune is awesomeeeeeee! Thank u Eddie for everything!
More Van Halen on the channel, jazz fusion and Zappa too, thx Doug..Happy New Year 2023 🌟 🤩 ⭐ 🌠
My 1st rock concert. 1984 Tour of The World.
Incredible.
Eddie always insisted they never ever tuned to concert pitch, they just tuned the guitar and the bass to each other. So a lot of their songs are in unusually sharp/flat keys for guitar for that reason. You hear a lot of that on the early U2 stuff too.
Ed is all rhythm! His lead is frosting on the cake.
Van Halen tuned down a half step, so you’re hearing an A flat in Mean Street for example but Eddie is playing an A.
And Roth was the ultimate front man and lyricist too.
The opening of the song is harmonics, and it's one of those things that was pure Eddie (he's tapping the harmonics..live it looks almost like he's slapping the strings). To give you an idea, Nuno Bettencourt was playing guitar for a VH tribute, and he was given Mean Streat to play. He said he could do everything but the intro (Nuno is an absolute phenom, yet he couldn't figure out what Eddie did there).
I have a buddy who is a VH nut. Shedder in his own right and a text book of VH riffs. He told me that he never could get that intro down either. Nuno is in good company.
Eddie Van Halen and Jimi Hendrix are on the guitarist Mount Rushmore not only for their solo work but for their rhythm playing. None were better than those two. The attitude they brought out in a song with their rhythm was just off the charts.
Sleazy and funky. What's not to love?
Mean Street and Ain't Talkin 'Bout Love are m favorite 2 VH songs, takes me back to my carefree partying days.
The riffs are so damn awesome on this. R.I.P. EVH
I personally prefer Eddie's rhythms over his lead work. His leads, while awesome in their speed, tend to be all over the place, whereas his rhythm writing is _SOOOOO_ good and controlled.(as is his execution). "Push Comes To Shove" off this same album is a great example of his awesome rhythms.(also has a bass heavy intro)
@xmr_doughelvering6710 hey, I don't want one.😐
Also my favorite EVH lead. That and Beat It.
One of the VH favs of mine is Push Comes to Shove. Amazing rhythmic work in particular. Hear About it Later is amazing also.
Push Comes to Shove also has probably the sexiest guitar solo ever put to tape, especially the first couple lines.
Push comes to shove is one of the greatest rock solo's ever
Side 1 of “Women and Children First” please. That album was my intro to their work (aside from “jump” and “5150”). I was at a garage sale looking at the tapes, 8 or 10 years old. Late 80s. My mom came over and saw that one, scooped it up and said something like “You need this one.” She wasn’t kidding!!
I enjoy these vids so much more than folks who are listening to the musicians for the first time.
They miss so much, but you being familiar makes your thoughts more insightful imo.
Keep up the great work
One of the reasons I was never much drawn to VH was because of David Lee Roth, great musicianship, but he was like a vaudeville/cabaret act and after he left the band he went full on bipity bipity bop.
Drop Dead Legs is also amazing on every front. Probably my favourite example of Ed’s playing.
Seen them about 4 times down here in Dallas Texas both singers, different shows for sure, but this is my fav song of theirs!
You're exactly right about the fretboard and octaves and harmonics. As for tuning, Eddie often didn't bother tuning before recording, so I suppose engineers had some fun compensating.
Finally some VH. Little fact, Eddie almost quit the band during the recording of this album. Thanks for mentioning his rhythm track. So underrated.
Thank you Doug for making this video!!! EVH forever!!
Perfect pitch!
You've really got a good ear Doug!
You were saying Ab
They tuned somewhere around a half step flat
(I say, somewhere around bc many times Ed would just pick up the guitar and tune it to itself, then Michael would catch an A (string) and tune his bass from that. There have been ppl who have analyzed in minute detail VH tracks. Some songs are even a tad bit sharp of Eb lol.)
So yes. Technically Ab is what it is when compared to standard A440, but it's played as if it's in A.
That intro thing.
There's videos of him doing it.
I too have heard him describe it as a slapping technique like what bass players do.
The 12 fret is an octave of the open E strings and yields natural harmonics when tapped.
You mentioned Dorian I think, did you not?
It probably was, but by accident lol. Ed had his own made up scales by simply going with "whatever sounds good."
An interesting anecdote about Ed's musical acumen:
He took piano lessons for I think it was 2 years.
But he never learned to read music.
He faked it by watching his instructors hands. He mimicked him.
One day the teacher was playing a piece of sheet music and told Ed to "take it."
He couldn't do it.
He asked what's wrong.
"I can't read it."
Busted! Lol
With Ed and "the rules" in music, I'm reminded of the times in the Pirates of the Caribbean when someone, taking about the rules among pirates, saying "they're more like guidelines anyway."
That's how Ed thought viewed the rules. Lol
Tell Ed something about the rules of music and he'd have told you, "If it sounds good it is good."
It's ironic if you think about it. The guy who took the electric guitar further than anyone in history did so without even being able to read music, and he stood against "the rules", building his own guitar, not using "approved" scales, or even taking care to use a tuner in the studio.
And if you watch him live, he's so at ease. He did what he did seemingly effortlessly. A true virtuoso!
There's a great interview by the Smithsonian from a few years ago.
You should check it out.
It's been 2 years since we lost him
I still can't believe he's Gone.
Love what you do on your channel Doug.
Keep up the good work!
First time I ever heard this as a kid I was at my friends house I was possessed by this intro, I think I played it 50 times straight!
Sorry I missed this last year. I have only one thing to say. The further you get from the popular radio songs from this band, the deeper the rabbit hole goes.
Concerning your 'power play' for the intro if you want to 'see' that, he gives a clinic on his iconic parts in that incredibly popular Solo video of over 10 minutes.