page_title: Van Halen
section_title: 1972–1977: Formation and early history
hierarchical_section_title: Van Halen / History / 1972–1977: Formation and early history
caption_attribution_description: English: 1976 Van Halen concert flyer handed out at La Cañada High School lunch show, Pasadena
context_page_description: Van Halen is an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen is known for its energetic live shows and for the work of its acclaimed lead guitarist, Eddie Van Halen. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.
  From 1974 until 1985, Van Halen consisted of Eddie Van Halen; Eddie's brother, drummer Alex Van Halen; vocalist David Lee Roth; and bassist Michael Anthony. Upon its release in 1978, the band's self-titled debut album reached No. 19 on the Billboard pop music charts and would go on to sell over 10 million copies in the U.S. From 1979—1982, the band released four albums, all of which have since been certified multi-platinum. By the early 1980s, Van Halen was one of the most successful rock acts of the time. The album 1984 was a commercial success with U.S. sales of 10 million copies and four hit singles; its lead single, "Jump", is the band's only U.S. number one single to date and was internationally known.
  In 1985, Roth left the band to embark on a solo career and was replaced by former Montrose lead vocalist Sammy Hagar.
context_section_description: The Van Halen brothers were born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Alex Van Halen in 1953 and Eddie Van Halen in 1955, sons to Dutch musician Jan Van Halen and Indonesian-born Indo Eugenia Van Beers. The family moved to Pasadena, California, in 1962. Young Edward first began studying classical piano, and became quite proficient (although he never fully mastered the art of reading sheet music). Eventually the brothers started playing music together in the 1960s—Eddie on drums and Alex on guitar. While Eddie was delivering newspapers to pay for his new drum set, Alex would sneak over and play them. Eventually Eddie found out about it, and out of frustration he told Alex, "OK, you play drums and I'll go play your guitar."
  The Van Halen brothers formed their very first band, called The Broken Combs, in 1964. As they progressed and gained popularity, they started to play many backyard parties and changed the name of their band to The Trojan Rubber Co. In 1972, the Van Halen brothers formed a band called Genesis featuring Eddie as lead vocalist/guitarist, Alex on drums, and Mark Stone on bass. They initially rented a sound system from David Lee Roth but decided to save money by letting him join as lead vocalist even though his previous audition(s) had been unsuccessful. By 1974, the band decided to replace Stone, so Michael Anthony, bassist and lead vocalist from local band Snake was auditioned. Following an all-night jam session, he was hired for bass and backing vocals.
  The band later changed its name to Mammoth when they discovered the name Genesis was already being used. In 1974, Mammoth officially changed its name to Van Halen. According to Roth, this was his brainchild. He felt it was a name that had power, like Santana. They played backyard parties and on a flatbed truck at Hamilton Park. In one early gig, in December, 1974, Van Halen played a gig at the Christmas Family Festival at the Greek Theatre in San Pedro, California. By the Spring of 1975, they were the regular Tuesday night band at Myron's Ballroom. Van Halen subsequently played clubs in Pasadena and Hollywood to growing audiences, increasing their popularity through self-promotion: before each gig they passed out flyers at local high schools. This sort of self-promotion soon built them a major following. Later that year, the band got its first break when it was hired to play at Gazzarri's, a formerly famous but down-at-the-heels night club on the Sunset Strip which closed in 1996.
  Earlier, they had auditioned for the owner, Bill Gazzarri, but he claimed they were "too loud" and would not hire them. However, their new managers, Mark Algorri and Mario Miranda, who had coincidentally taken over Gazzarri's hiring, did the deal. Shortly afterwards, they recorded their first demo tape at the now-defunct Cherokee Studios in Northridge where Steely Dan recently had completed an album. Van Halen became a staple of the Los Angeles music scene during the mid-1970s, playing at well-known clubs like the Whisky a Go Go.
  According to a January 4, 1977, L.A. Times article by Robert Hilburn, entitled "HOMEGROWN PUNK", Rodney Bingenheimer saw Van Halen at the Gazzarri club in the summer of 1976, so he took Gene Simmons of Kiss to see Van Halen. Simmons then produced a Van Halen demo tape with recording beginning at the Village Recorder studios in Los Angeles and finished with overdubs at the Electric Lady Studios in New York. Simmons wanted to change the band's name to "Daddy Longlegs", but the band stuck with Van Halen. Simmons then opted out of further involvement after he took the demo to Kiss management and was told that "they had no chance of making it" and that they wouldn't take them.
caption: Flyer handed out at La Cañada High School show
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image DateTime": "2012:05:18 16:33:44", "Image ExifOffset": "2142", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "0", "Thumbnail YResolution": "0", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4316", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "14330", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "4514EA14884241318F9E2A42F0B35459", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}