The Best of Van Halen

There I was at work, typing away and I thought I should listen to a little Van Halen. I couldn’t really pick which album so I just opened the Van Halen playlist on Amazon Music.

I clicked around, choosing the songs I wanted to hear.

When I got to “Right now” I stopped and chuckled to myself a little. You know in the video, where the guys are all looking at a map of the world on the ground and the words on the screen say something like “Right now Van Halen is planning a world tour”- well, when you watch that clip now, you know that isn’t happening.

Shoot there have been reunion rumors for months flying around the Internet. I don’t believe any of them.

Working my way down the playlist, I listened to “Humans Being” and I realized that it isn’t a very good song.

Some of my old favorites remain: “Top Of the World,” “Love Walks In,” “Poundcake” and of course “Runnin’ With the Devil.”

I feel sorry for people who say Van Halen is their favorite band. They’ve been such a mess for so long – periods of dead silence. Rumors. Infighting and outfighting. But all that great music in a back catalog does help. It’s just such a shame none of the members – any of the singers! – can get it together.

The last time the official Van Halen Twitter account sent a sweet was at Christmas for a “happy holidays” message. The year before was the same. Oh and the year before that? Same. So in 2016 there were two tweets. During 2017, one tweet. Last year, just the one tweet. I fully expect to get a “happy holidays” tweet from Van Halen in 2019 as well… and nothing else but a lump of coal.

You think the Van Halen brothers ever listen to “Right Now” these days and think, “Hey, we really should plan that world tour?”

Nah.