Brothers

This is an amazing memoir. I know next to nothing about Van Halen other than the 3 songs from 1984 that got radio play. But I read a blurb about this book, thought I’d check it out. I’m an avid reader, to put it mildly, and a former Language Arts teacher - and this was the one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read. Soooo many of them are far longer than they need to be, include too many details either foreign or boring to the reader, and serve as little more than a self celebration. This was none of those. Other than the sometimes annoying overuse of ! and HA!, the writing style was absolutely perfect. He took a lot of history, details, and information not known to many readers and crafted an accessible, very moving, and really fascinating tribute to his brother. Fans of the band will certainly love the book, but what elevates it is that even a reader such as I, who has only a passing knowledge of the group or the music industry, found myself unable to put it down - other than to repeatedly Google song names and guitar terms and watch of few of their videos for reference; I quickly realized that saying Eddie Van Halen was gifted and innovative is an understatement of some magnitude.Alex Van Halen clearly put a lot of love into writing this book. It has just the right amount of sentiment, detail, and “inside information” and his approach is often humorous and unfailingly charming. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.HA! 😄

“BROTHERS”By Alex Van HalenWhen I heard that Alex Van Halen was writing a book, I could not wait to read it, for many reasons, but of course the number one reason was because I missed Edward Van Halen so damn much and still to this day can’t accept that he’s gone. Come to find out, neither can Alex. And I know that I’m not alone in this feeling.To me, he wasn’t what some people, ( Ok, A lot of people), would call their hero, because I believe that the word hero should be reserved for the real, actual heroes in the world, and that it gets thrown around, mixed in and mixed up incorrectly and creates a false answer to the question, What Is A hero.A War Hero? Someone that’s saving lives… giving up their own life or at least putting themselves into the line of fire to save others… Absolutely – HERO!Sports Hero? Guitar Hero??Well, I won’t continue this because it’s really a matter of opinion, but I would rather use the words sports legend rather than sports hero and a Guitar Player, no matter how great, is a rock star.My point is to say that Eddie Van Halen was a big part of my life. Musical inspiration of the highest caliper.He was born 10-1/2 years before me and passed away in 2020, just over 4 years ago at age 65. I had his influence in my life from age 13 until 55! Pretty significant I’d say.When Van Halen 1 was released in FEB. 1978, I was all of 13. A brand-new teenager in the 8th grade.I had started playing the drums, ( well, the snare drum first because I had to prove to my Musician Father that I was serious and could/would learn to read and study the material through lessons) when I was in 5th grade, which puts me at about 10 years old when I first held the drums sticks and started studying. I didn’t get an actual drum set until the 7th grade and the only reason that I got that drum set that my parents could never afford, was because my brother died and had left Mom some money. So, it was a sad/happy feeling to have received those drums under that circumstance, so you’d damn well better know that I took it all very seriously! I’ve always taken Music seriously and that’s why I refuse to tolerate others that don’t. NO, it’s NOT just a hobby!Dad was an actual Musician, a real life long Musician, so I had a teacher living in my house with me ( Ha Ha ). This was both beneficial and a huge pain in the butt! When I was 10, he was 58! Dad ruled with an iron fist! Two of them in fact. So, If I ever didn’t pay attention at a lesson, or had a question for dear ole Dad… “What do you mean you don’t understand what the teacher told you!? What the hell am I paying for? Why weren’t you paying attention! You don’t know the value of a dollar! Ahhhh… Fun Fun Fun - Practice, Practice, Practice - Love It, Love It, Love It.Even though my instrument of choice at the time was the drums and Eddie Van Halen is obviously a guitarist, Eddie wrote all the music. Not the lyrics, not the drum parts, but all the music. I loved their Music. It motivated me and it moved me in ways that I had never felt as a kid, or even a young adult.Growing up, I always heard the Drummer jokes – A band of 4 consists of 3 musicians and a drummer … Ha Ha …But upon reading this book by Alex, I learned that they treated each other as equals, and Alex had a say in the music as to the form, the structure, intros, fade in and outs, song choices, song order, and all those things because they respected each other and had a very tight brotherly bond through all the years together before they made it. And they stuck together through it all even after they made it.I was hoping that this book would be mostly about Eddie, even though I like to think that as far as Eddie Van Halen goes, I’ve read every interview in print and have seen every interview on video!The difference being that Alex was there and experienced everything that Ed did, plus, they were brothers, so I was hoping for a different take from another person that was there. I wanted a personal perspective from Eddie, I wanted to know what they talked about privately, and I wanted insight on how things really went down during the many events that they had during the Van Halen years, I wanted to be a fly on the wall when the two Brothers talked about “things and stuff”, not just what they told reporters and casual encounters with people that told stories.Well, I must report that after reading it all, if you were hoping for the same revelations for the same reasons I was, you’re going to be disappointed. But, the book itself isn’t disappointing at all, it’s a great read and I highly recommend it. And he does reveal certain aspects of their lives together as they toured the world, but maybe I just had my expectations set too high. Understand that from my point of view, my point of expectations, my perspective, the book could have been ten thousand pages and reveled everything they’ve ever said and done, and it still wouldn’t have satisfied me. But, keep in mind, I’m me, and you’re normal!Apparently, he started writing it in 2020 right after he lost his brother, though I didn’t hear about him writing a book until sometime in 2023, maybe late 2022. But it still seemed like an awful long time after finding out, so, maybe that’s why I expected so much. Anticipation does that to you. This is why surprises are so memorable and effective. No time to over think things.The book starts out about their Parents and their struggles. It details how shy Eddie was, how sensitive he was and how he always hated giving interviews. It then gets into their club days playing dive bars and backyard parties.It details how they met Michael Anthony and David Lee Roth and there are some interesting details about their club days and especially DLR that are fun to read. They were the best of friends and did everything together for the greater good, which was the band! Their commitment, their comradery.The 4 of them stuck together through all the drama that they would face.Alex doesn’t hold anything back, which is a strong point in the book when reading his words, as he details emotions that both he and Ed felt about certain people and certain happenings. He really hammers it out about when DLR decided that Van Halen was all about him, and that DLR was the main attraction of Van Halen and decided to leave to pursue a solo career. DLR didn’t even go to Eddie and Valeries Marriage Ceremony.The book doesn’t go into the Sammy Hagar years at all. It stops at their last record from the original line up which included David Lee Roth until 1984.Alex doesn’t say much about Ed’s condition and the years of sickness, other than a few mentions about how he’d always have a cigarette in his mouth, plus he’d have one burning in the ashtray, and he always had one in the strings of the headstock of his guitar – 3 at a time, all the time! He calls his brother self-destructive and blames his shyness at being called the greatest guitar player that ever lived and not knowing how to handle all that responsibility, much less having to constantly live up to it, thinking that he wasn’t worthy of his god given gift to play the guitar.Alex mentions how their mother died on the same day that his youngest son was born, and that Eddie died on the same day that his oldest son was born. Though it doesn’t state that they were all in the same years, I suspect he’s talking about the dates themselves, not the exact day AND year.The book is 227 pages and, it does give the details that a normal fan would want, so, other than my own over-expecting, it’s a great read and I highly recommend it if you grew up with Van Halen on the brain!~~ Chris T. ~~

Before purchasing this book I scanned some of the reviews and noted some of the negatives. Being a lifelong fan of VH I knew I would buy it anyway, but I was curious to see what the naysayers had to to say. I agree with some of the flack. The book is indeed short, a very quick read for a band that was around for decades and sold millions of albums and sold out huge concert venues. And as noted, the Sammy Hagar era is not touched on at all, even though they sold huge with Sammy on vocals. Alex Van Halen had his reasons for that, and that is for the man himself to say. But, as a guy who grew up listening to VH and loving every minute of it, it was a pleasure to read this book. Thank you Alex Van Halen for putting your memories and emotions down for all of us to soak in. I had the pleasure of seeing them in concert a couple of times, with 3rd row seats at one of the concerts - a personal highlight for sure. I would have given this book 5 stars if it was longer and included at least a little of the Hagar period. But, as said, Al had his reasons. If your a fan and want an easy read that gives you a look inside the life of the Van Halen brothers and their music, buy this book. Also, if you're interested in Eddie Van Halen's take on things look for the YouTube clip of his interview at the Smithsonian. Once you start watching it, you won't be able to stop! Thanks again Alex Van Halen for all the memories!

Life long Classic Van Halen fan (The Roth era), and this memoir is a quick, yet fascinating read.Loved the insight into Edward & Alex growing up, and the at odds parenting of their motherand Jan Van Halen.This book, along with the Noel Monk (band manager) book, are my favorites, thus far.I was disappointed in the Brad Tolinski "Eruption" book, only because it simply referenced all the olderinterviews he did with Guitar World, that i had read in the magazine, previously.The Steven Rosen book was good, but desperately needed an editor, because it is too long & repetitive.

Llego en excelente estado, lo único malo esque no traía protección para que no llegara a maltratarse. El tipo de papel es Edge lo cual se ve en ese acabado viejo. Respecto a la impresión en mi caso me llego muy bien, sin ningún problema con la tinta y las imágenes se veían excelentes. ¡Recomendado para cualquier fanático de la banda!

it's very well written, fun and informativeI super recommend it to art/music lovers in generalthanks a lot Al!

I was amazed when I heard Alex Van Halen was writing a book looking at his relationship with his brother in the context of his family and the band, Van Halen. To get something from who seems like a very private person was unexpected.If you are a die hard Van Halen fan then the book doesn't really provide any new stories. However, you get Alex's point of view on a lot of famous stories about the band. As well, his perspective of family life with Edward Van Halen and also the rise of Van Halen from the early days through 1984 (Alex stated in an interview that when Roth left the spiritual sense of Van Halen ended at that point - the original four members.Through reading this it is apparent that Alex was the pragmatic one of the group so I have to take his perspective as being the most honest. Being an active part of the band, yet, being able to observe the creative friction of DLR and EVH. What a seat to have!He draws from a number of other biographies that many VH fans may have read so not everything here is fresh material. Having said that, it helps bring various point of view of major players in the band (DLR, Ted Templeman, Noel Monk) together.On a side note, in the Coda, Alex mentions some social media posts from fans and prints them in the book. I can only imagine what it will be like should one of those fans read the book and see their words in print. Especially knowing they affected Alex in a positive way.Alex mentioned in interviews that the book was a way to try to deal with the grief of losing his brother. If it did in some way then I am happy for him although I know he still struggles with not having Edward around.If you are a Van Halen fan then add it to your book list because this is probably the last inside look that matters.

Nothing on Sammy Era : 4 N1 albumsAlmost nothing on Michael Anthony who played bass on all albums except the last oneBoring

Book reviews are an odd thing. Books are very subjective. I have not read it yet but have flipped through the book, read a few sentences and looked at the included pictures. I am sue I will enjoy reading this book. I suspect it will be a little sad as Alex wrote it while still mourning Eddie. Its not as big as I expected it to be. Very cute photos of both the brothers as children.