Van Halen Put Out The Lights from their 1978 demo "zero"

[Mosconi526]

Think "Fair Warning" style songs mixed with "Humans Being"/ "Catherine" (instrumental.. look it up), "Me wise magic" and "Hot for teacher" all combined... hopefully with the new album they might do a couple of ballads or acoustic style songs too!!! Dave has a great Acoustic sound! Wolfgang is young too and he thinks alot like the youth of the world as far as what they want to hear from VH... combine all this and it should be ROCKIN!!!! :)

[Mosconi526]

Yeah i totally agree!! They should totally release these songs!!! Just as they were recorded (but re-mastered) ... sadly... we probably won't get that until Eddie Dies.. :( Im sure once that happens then the family would be likely to release some of this type of stuff... but as long as the Master is Alive.. he's in control :) BUT ive heard that the NEW album is supposed to sound alot like "Fair Warning" type songs with a "new age, new Eddie" feel to them...

[viletantrum]

sounds like Gene was trying to make them sound like Kiss...thank God they didn't stick with him. I love Kiss but, I love classic Van Halen. This sounds generic in my opinion.

[Yapostadodat]

From a HUGE Van Halen fan since the 70's, this might be their BEST album. It might even be better than Diver Down! The sound and style is so friggin California, from Dave's hangin ten on a sonic boom with On Fire to Eddies surf music speedy sounding solos and INCREDIBLE hot dog virtuosity. They knew they were going to make it big and you can really hear it in this demo's enthusiasm. Great post, love this stuff.

[ShakeyShad]

Thanks for posting these great songs I never heard before. They need to make a whole new album of old songs!

[TheGovernorJason]

You hear Eddie's tone on this and it sounds nothing like his other stuff. You really see what a genius Ted Templeman was in refining Eddie and the band's sound.

People here have mentioned about cleaning up the old demos. Maybe do that and Eddie add or replace some of the guitar tracks with his more modern tone. Although, his tones from '77 to '88 were my favorites. For some reason, none of my favorite guitarists have gotten better tones in recent years compared to their older stuff.

[MsEVH5150]

MAGIC! Go fast Eddie hehehee amazing real, raw VH

[TNMinuteMan]

Classic Eddie finger magic!!! Great tune.

[Nickdiaublow]

Why diddnt they release this? This song is great

[MarcInMetairie]

This is AWESOME... I have always wanted to hear the demo.

[trexx63]

Wow! GREAT POST. Truly, a musical treat. THANKS!

[rocknjerr]

Vintage Van Halen will always rule! Thanks again bornbrit777 for these postings. I'm in VH heaven!

[ENEMENCIO123VISION]

EDDIE RULES!!

[TheAxe4Ever]

AH! King Edward and Dave the Duke. Awesome stuff. I have'nt heard the demo stuff in years. It still sounds incredibly cool!

[longhorn2615]

sound like kiss, big suprise

[codyjt5150]

they need to do something like aC/dc did with backtracks. if vh would do that i would be happier than a dog in heat ;)

[ssquicksilver]

How could anyone pass on signing these guys? Nobody kicked ass on guitar like Eddie back then. Fuckin idiots at the record company said they'd never make it and then they sell 10 million copies of the first album.

[jimmyBang]

man, hear the Gene influence all over it for sure. great stuff and im glad i found. Thanks

[korzon]

@jimmyBang Gene couldnt get them a record label with this demo he did nothing for them.Watch the documentary on VH they worked hard ad it thats for sure.

[TheDigitalMafia]

Thank god they didnt stay with Gene lol..

[idkyig2doallthisbs]

the guitar doesn't have a name, its probably one of the ones he made. for a while he sponsered Kramer guitars, so he stuck Kramer necks on his guitars. its almost for sure that, but im not positive. its also got his custom humbucker in it at the top, just like all his other guitas, but i cant see the bottom one

[Sennanchie]

Hey man, that's great that you (whoever you are) are putting out these rare old tunes from the demo days. Just so fucking cool!! No band (in my humble opinion) had the chemistry like Eddie and Dave back then on stage. Or even matches it to this day for that matter. Classic! Keep em coming bro!

[MrDunkJunk]

It's an Kramer Baretta with a custom paint job.

Only a few of them were made.

[Wildcatt1]

thinks its a Krammer back when he indorced em

[TheGumbo13]

does anybody know the name of the guitar eddie is holding at 0:12 i've seen it before but i didn't know if it had an official name

[VanHalenBand]

@TheGumbo13 it's called the la rasta guitar i think.

[stratocasterles]

i dont believe it had an official name. I know its a purple striped kramer pacer. The rasta guitar was yellow, black, red, white,and green.

[Guitfiddlejase]

This is the good stuff....

[cotonete777]

killer solo, Eddie was a genius

[Kahuna3600]

I know Gene produced this and all, but it kinda has a KISS sound to it. Very 70's, I can hear the Aerosmith resemblence as well. 70's Aerosmith sound + KISS sound + VH Creativity = Awesome song. I agree with the Van Halen Zero idea

[B5Erik]

Wow. Great, great song. Eddie really should clean these demos up (sonically, fixing any dropout or EQ fluctuations from the 30+ year old tapes - not altering any of the performances) and release this as an official Van Halen rarities album. Yeah, call it Van Halen Zero, that would work.

[ccy2]

They should just release this next...VH will always ROCK everyone's socks off.

[pieterjanoddens]

It's a little Aerosmith-ish, but that's good stompin' ground... They surely kicked Simmons ass on this demo!!

[bsouthe]

A bit of D.O.A riff in there

[tubewrestler]

They shouldn't even redo these..just clean em' up in the studio and release as you indicated . Best of VH 1 Sessions (Zero). You can't recreate that youthful magic. That is PURE VAN HALEN

[jpena1965]

I totally agree with you. Clean up the original demos, not sugarcoat it and I think it should be named Van Halen Zero (the demo sessions). Of course, thats up for debate with the VH band members.

[jpena1965]

I wonder if I can download these songs on Limewire?

[MRSOULTACO]

@jpena1965 thanks for helping musicians like me

[jpena1965]

they should name their next album "Zero" and include these never before released songs or make a Van Halen "Best of Van Halen II" album.

[PutItAway101]

Without all the crazy reverb like they did on the debut, the production sounds more like 1984 era

[teenrockgirl14]

Cool!! I can't believe they never put this on their album!! the song rocks!!!!

VAN HALEN FOREVER