The buildup to 1984 started
in 1981 after coming off their Fair Warning tour
while the band took some time off. Roth suggested they do a
cover version of Martha Reeves and the Vandellas "Dancing in
the Street" to keep their name out in public. At the time, Eddie
could not figure out how to Van halenanize it, so he
suggested Roy Orbison's. "Oh, Pretty Woman". Alex and Roth got behind
the idea by constructing an elaborate video that MTV would
later ban. The Pretty Woman video required more than
the songs three minute runtime to execute. So according to Roth, he wrote Intruder on a mini Moog analog synthesizer marking. The fourth time Van Halen
used keyboards on a recording. The first time was for the
band's third album, Women and Children First on the
track "And The Cradle Will Rock". The other two were on
the band's fourth album Fair Warning on the tracks
"Sunday Afternoon in the Park" "And So this is Love". To everyone's surprise,
the song became a hit. So the top brass at Warner
Brothers sent the boys a message via their producer Ted
Templeman, that they needed to make an album quickly. Templeman said, when
you put out a hit single you better have an album
to go behind it because nobody makes any real money on a single. I'm sure those guys thought
by releasing a single and a video, they could
temporarily pause the annual album tour cycle they had been on since 1977. But instead the word came
down to me from Mo Ostin and Lenny Waronker, that
Warner Brothers wanted a new Van Halen album. Within weeks, Van Halen's
management agreed. So the message to the
band and me was, ok, guys you gotta hit. Let's get moving. Go into the studio With no time to work
on new original tunes. The band padded the album
with five cover tunes. It took them around 12
days to record Diver Down at Warner Brothers Amigo Studios. The album came out on April
14th, 1982, and would end up selling double their
previous album sales with 4 million copies. At the time, Ed defended
playing covers to the criticism of critics, but years later,
he would say Diver Down was the last straw, and he'd
rather play his own music. He never wanted to be under
the gun of Warner Brothers Ted Templeman, or the man
that would end up being his band nemesis David Lee Roth. He would gain his freedom
like many of us have over the past few years. By working from home. In
late April, 1982, Ed went to the Roxy Theater to
watch and jam with one of the few guitars he
looked up to Allan Holdsworth. Since Holdsworth was
considered a player's player it was no surprise that
Frank Zappa stunt guitarist Steve Vai was also in attendance. Vai gave Ed his number and
let him know if he wanted to meet Zappa to give him a call. Ed called Vai, who wasn't home at the time but he got Zappa's
number and Vai's roommate. Ed then called the Zappa
household, where Gail Zappa answered and handed
the phone over to Frank. In the background, Gail got
her son and budding guitarist Dweezil on the extension
to see if it really was Edward Van Halen talking
with his father and 12 year old Dweezil. Listen, he thought he heard
the same guy who says, come On Dave give me a break On Van Halen's "Unchained",
but he was wrong. Later Dweezil would learn that the voice in "Unchained" actually belonged
to producer Ted Templeman. According to Eddie, the first
thing Frank said to him was thank you very much for
reinventing the electric guitar. Within an hour or so later
to Dweezil's amazement the current Guitar Player
magazine, guitarist of the year was walking into his home and wearing the same red
jumpsuit from Van Halen's Women and Children's first album,
and he was carrying a guitar. Frank wanted to hear more. Van Halen asked Eddie
if he would go back home five minutes away and bring
over some of the band's. LPs. Eddie complied and returned to play three
albums for Frank Fair Warning Women and Children First and
Diver Down. Loving the music Frank said to Ed I thought you were just
another fucking ACDC. Over the next couple of hours Dweezil would watch his
father Eddie and Vai pass around the guitar and play
in Frank's home studio which was known as the Utility
Muffin Research Kitchen. Surprisingly, Frank and Vai
notorious audio recorder hoarders did not record the session. Later the same year, Frank would say Eddie Van Halen is a good guitar player you know, he's entitled to all the adulation that he can acquire. Getting tired No Uhuh. My fingers got stuck. Frank wanted to encourage
his son's passion for playing the guitar, so he called Ed and asked him if he would produce a song for Dweezil in Zappa's Home Studio. At the time, Ed was rehearsing with Van Halen for their
upcoming Diver Down tour but maid time for young Zappa.
From May to June, 1982 Ed and Van Halen's longtime engineer Donn Landee
started working with Dweezil and his friends on a song called
"My Mother Is a Space Cadet" CT Dweezil, and his buddies
couldn't really play but they finished the track with the help of co songwriter Vai
Dweezill's sister Moon and some slide guitar and
unison string bending from Eddie. With Van Halen having an
unwritten rule not to work outside of the band. Ed and Landee went under
the pseudonym of the Vards a pun on the way Van Halen's
mom pronounced his first name. Edward. The rule came into play a after Gene Simmons tried
to coax Eddie into KISS. Simmons had financed the
band's original 1976 demo tape and unsuccessfully attempted
to secure a record deal for the group. But in late 1976, Simmons recruited Eddie and Alex to play on demos for three songs. "Christine 16" "Got Love for
Sale" and "Tunnel of Love." In the 1995 book history Simmons said he liked Eddie's
solo on "Christine" so much that he had guitarist
Ace Frehley replicated for the final KISS
version. In his 1997 book Crazy from the Heat David Lee
Roth wrote at that time he suspected Simmons
was absolutely trying to steal Eddie away from Van Halen. Eddie knew of Roth's paranoia so he kept the Zappa
project on the down low. Alright, lemme tell ya something. I'll prove to you that I'm bad
enough to go to hell Yeah because I have been through it. Yeah, I have seen it. Yeah, it has happened to me. Yeah. Remember, I was signed with Warner Brothers
for eight fucking years. After spending a month in Frank
Zappa's studio, it was clear to Ed and Landee that Zappa
was afforded the luxury of independence with his music partly due to having his own studio. A place where record labels
or budgets set no time limits A place to experiment without
worrying about the cost A place where a producer
would only be allowed in when they wanted him to be there. Engineered Donn Landee,
who had engineered all of the Van Halen's previous five albums saw eye to eye with Ed's
thinking so they set out to create their
own creator safe space. Later in this video, I will highlight some of the darker side of Eddie Van Halen. So it's important to point out here that Eddie could also be one of the nicest sweetest people you'd know. Here are two small examples
with the Zappa family. Dweezil and his band Fred Zeppelin were at
school sound checking "Running with the Devil"
for a talent contest. Ed stopped by and Dweezil told Ed his
guitar kept going out of tune. Ed drives home and comes back with a guitar with Floyd
Rose's new locking nut system that significantly
helped keep guitars in tune. Ed also noticed Dweezil was playing "Running with the Devil" incorrectly. So Ed patiently showed him the
correct way to play the song. After the gig, ed told Dweezil
he could keep the guitar. Frank Zappa composer,
guitarist, free speech advocate and a unique figure in
American music for nearly 30 years died at his
home in Los Angeles last Weekend. The other act of
kindness was within an hour after the announcement
of Frank's death in 1993 Ed was the first person to
call the Zappa household with condolences. Ed was so well liked
by the Zappa household that he was their first
choice to introduce Frank to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Due to his introversion Ed turned it down. Ed had the means to
have his own home studio while Landee had the know-how to build it. Technology was not the main
factor in choosing equipment. The choices were based
on what sounded good and what was available
at local parts stores. So one of Landees first moves
was to source out a Bill. Putnam designed universal
audio console for $6,000. Bill Putnam is known as the inventor of the
modern recording console. Ed said, we went to take a
look at it and it was this old dilapidated piece of shit that looked like it was ready to go in the trash. Landee got it, and then
he wholly rewired it. One of Landees next moves was to bring in studio designer and longtime
work associate Howard Weiss. Weiss brought in a qualified crew of other studio specialists,
electricians, builders and Ed's brother-in-laws. Drew and Pat Bertinelli. While Ed was on tour with Van Halen Landee Weiss and others continued
building the new studio at the Van Halen compound. Weiss said, the deadline
we face required us to work at all hours of the day and night. Valerie Van Halen suggested that Club daiquiris were to be consumed in great quantities to maintain
the proper state of mind. Don insisted on the continuous viewings of Blazing sSddles while
consuming daiquiris. A man drank like that and he don't eat. He is going to die when Surrounded by tall trees and barbed wire. The Van Halen home is located in the hills above the San Fernando
Valley north of Los Angeles. A guest house with an unused room sat at one end the property. Initially, they considered this as a possible control room site but after some further investigation they decided it would be
best to build the studio from the ground up. Now, zoning laws disallowed
building a home studio on your property. So Ed told them it was for a racketball court
and got it approved. The space was divided into two areas. A control room being built
17 feet wide by 14 feet deep with a ceiling height
sloping from 12 to 10 feet. The remainder became the
studio measuring 17 feet wide by 23 feet deep sloping
again from 12 to 10 feet. The slab was covered with
half inch particle board and half inch parquet flooring. Two feet from the rear
of the control room. A wall was constructed to
house 3 48 inch high racks of outboard gear with a tape machine. This wall was then carefully tested and found to be bulletproof
with a 44 Magnum at two feet. Yes, 5150 is literally bulletproof. Being this is a 44 Magnum the most powerful handgun in the world. I'm gonna blow your head clean off. You could ask yourself a question. Do I feel lucky? Well do you punk? Mine as well jump. One unique problem
confronting the builder was a 50,000 watt AM radio station
just three miles from 5150 which could lead to the radio
station's broadcast bleeding over when Ed was recording. It was a necessity that Ed be able to play in any location facing any direction without hum or noise problems. The solution was building
a pseudo chicken coop. Standard chicken wire
was used in the walls flooring and ceiling to surround
the entire recording area. The concept worked flawlessly. I love it when a plan comes Together. Due to the high heat retention of the exterior walls a 64 degree inside
temperature is maintained while outdoor temperatures
may vary anywhere between 29 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition, Ed and Valerie's two-car
garage was commandeered to become a shop tape library,
instrument storage and kitchen. The adjacent guest house also
was taken to become the lounge for any gearheads out there. The text on the screen was the initial
studio equipment list. I'll have a link in the description to an article that 5150 studio
builder Howard Weiss wrote about building 5150. And where I lifted much
of this information Landee came up with the
studio's name adopting 5150 from the California Welfare and Institution Code for
involuntary confinement of a mentally unstable
person deemed a danger to themselves and others. Don overheard the code number one night while listening to public
broadcast on a scanner, and Ed and Don jokingly called
themselves 5150s after many around them said they were
crazy to build a studio. Both agreed that 5150
was the perfect name for their new asylum. Once the control room was built and the sound system
was ready to be tested the tape that just happened to be within reach was the Dweezil tape. "My Mother's is a Space Cadet"
would be the first music played in the new 5150 studio and they were blown away
by how good it sounded. Later, the sound of Eddie
and Alex playing would waft over to nearby homes
in the Hollywood Hills. Eventually it became too
much for Eddie's neighbor Lindsay Wagner, star of
the seventies TV series. The Bionic Woman who
would call Eddie's wife actors Valerie Burelli, to ask for the studio doors to be shut. Eddie would have to buy
Wagner out of her property within a couple of years to
get around the complaints. While Landee and others
finished the new home studio the band continued to fracture. At the end of the diver down tour Roth the outgoing attention seeker and Eddie the borderline introvert, were
pulling apart the fastest. Despite the growing estrangement the band completed the tour on February 12th, 1983 in Argentina. Ed would go back to his new 5150 studio. Michael Anthony would
head back to his wife who was his high school sweetheart and Alex Van Halen would
rejoin his then girlfriend Valerie Kendall, who
would become his wife. In June of 1983, Roth would
head out on another excursion and his adventure crew
named the Jungle Studs.
