Van Halen: What to Expect

There they are circa September 2007 — the guy on bass is named Wolfgang Van Halen.

Like any self-respecting metalhead, I have lots of hobbies to suck up my extra energy, and for the last year one of them has been chronicling the rise and rise and fall and rise of Van Halen. There are several great Van Halen reference books out there, but nobody has had bothered to write a proper biography since 1984 — so I took the bait. This week Amazon.com has added a Search Inside feature to its page for my work Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga. You can click the “Surprise Me!” button 322 times and read the book in a totally exciting random order.

Here are some comments from the realer world:

“[Christe’s] not fooling around. And his prose is always playful.” — Los Angeles Times

“A new biography of the band that made metal marketable doesn’t disappoint the fans.” — The American Prospect

“Christe is back with a shockingly clear view of life behind the iron curtain that is Van Halen. Through Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga, Christe gives his readers a chance to relive the glory days of Sunset Strip glam Metal, while exploring the complex relationships between the brothers Alex and Eddie Van Halen.” — BringBackGlam.com

“Do yourself a favor and buy this book before you buy a t-shirt at the reunion concert. Christe has written a book that is stylish, succinct, breathtaking and as dazzling as an Eddie Van Halen guitar solo. If you ever stared in the mirror and attempted to imitate David Lee Roth with leaps and splits from the “Jump” video, then this book is for you.” — AntiMusic.com

“Even if you aren’t a Van Halen fan, if you ever liked ‘Runnin’ with the Devil’, ‘Unchained,’ ‘Panama,’ or even ‘Poundcake’ you have to have to read this book. I’m recommending it to all my friends, I enjoyed it as much as Mötley Crüe’s The Dirt!” — GuitarNoize.com

Thanks! I also did interviews about Van Halen and the book on IGBlog.com and BringBackGlam.com, with several more in the works.

Thanks for passing this info around as best you can and checking out the book.