Van Halen Story: The Early Years (2003) | Full Movie

Man, what a time it must have been to hear these guys for the first time. My dad still owns most of their early albums on vinyl and we still listen to them to this day. Van Halen forever!

I distinctly remember the first 4 songs that were debut in early 1978 as a twelve-year-old, especially Jamie's Crying, Running with the Devil and Ice Cream Man. I clearly remember listening to Ice Cream Man when it first debuted, and thinking "What a great intro!", and how the band just jumped in and kicked ass, and I also love the way the song ended. I also remember Eruption. I also remember hearing the release of the single Jump, in January of 1984 for the first time in Navy boot camp in Orlando, Florida, before the official release on the 1984 album.

My high school years would have never been the same without van halen. 🐐

I’ll never forget hearing their first album for the first time! Awesome!! Van Halen will always be incredible.

The soundtrack of my youth. Rest well, the mighty Van Halen....

So happy I was old enough to live through the golden era of MTV. Entire generations got to experience the same things all at once. All you had then was MTV, and radio stations. And there was great music coming out all the time from EVERY genre. This younger generation will never know that kind of cohesiveness.

Grew up in 70’s and 80’s. Been to over 100 concerts. Van Halen was the only one where I was wasn’t 100% sure I’d get out alive.

Every time I watch concert footage of Roth era Van Halen, I say to myself “their could not have been a better, more fun place to be on earth, than at that show, at that time”! Good Lord they were great!!

These guys did it the way everyone else wishes they could have done it.

There will never be a band like this again.

I know I’m gonna catch sh!t for this comment, but I enjoyed both eras of Van Halen music. Each fit the time period they were a part of. Simply great band

Saw VH in 1978 , Lewisham Odeon, London, supporting Black Sabbath. Had never heard of the band before then. After their blistering and mind blowing set Black Sabbath was an anti-climax. My friends and I looked at each other and wondered what had hit us. Even after all these years I can honestly say that was the most exciting WTF experience of my life and can never be bettered

The Original Van Halen will always be my favorite Rock band ever. I was very Fortunate to witness them live in 1979 and will never forget that show!!! Thanks David, Alex, Michael and Eddie.

My family is from Costa Mesa and they played my dads backyard all the time. My dads house was a party house. My dad was good friends with Alex Van Halen

Watching the early beginnings of Van Halen is moving. Alex clearly has a profound love for his late brother Edward. I feel sorry for Alex having lost his dear brother. Since the loss of Ed, we are now seeing and hearing more of Wolfgang. It turns out he's a well rounded musician and an excellent singer. What I admire most is he speaks his mind very effectively and he sure doesn't suffer fools.

They came out of nowhere, took the rock and roll World by storm, and ruled it from 1978 until 1984. Period. I distinctly remember hearing Jamie's Crying, Running With the Devil, and Ice Cream Man For the first Time In 1978 on my older brothers radio in our bedroom as an 11 year old kid. The kings of rock and roll at that time. The good looks, the charisma, the riffs, the wild life. They were the epitome of it all. Nobody could touch them on a musical or popularity level. I was in Junior and Senior High School at that time and this was one of my favorite bands, along with Ozzy Osbourne, Rush, Journey, AC DC, the Cars, Scorpions. Having said that, no one, absolutely no one, impacted the Rock and Roll mainstream like Van Halen did with their debut and successive albums, including Rock icons Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. They instantly became THE rock and roll Gods, and grandly and proudly and justly held that title for six glorious years. And I'm so blessed to have been a teenager at that time.

1984 was my first concert. My 15th birthday in February. My mother gave me the ticket as my gift. I will never forget it. The bourbon, Eddie's solo, the bass ... the best.

Thank god I saw them as a teenager in 1984 before Dave bailed 80’s was and still shaped my mind Van Halen made us coooler than cool 😎

I grew up trying to copy everything Ed did. I plàyed for hours and hours, took lessons for six years. I would lose my mind when a new album came out. He was so talented, so full of life. We had blowout parties where we would do an entire set of nothing but VH songs. Back in the day you had to buy teenie bopper magazines to see what these beasts were up to. First time I saw them March of 1984 in philly. I was in heaven, Greatest show ever. If you were there I believe on the forth. You remembé a drunk at the top of the steps being held by security. Yelling Van Halen. That was my buddy from Nazareth😂😂🤣 The world feels different knowing we are never getting a new Van Halen àlbum. RIP KING EDWARD, YOU ARE MISSED!!!

We were so fortunate to live in the era of the mighty Van Halen.