"There's only one Van Halen, and they were really, really good."

--Tony Iommi, Black Sabbath

"Amazing book. Only a few people will get Van Halen's insides."

--Stephen Pearcy, Ratt

"It's an explosive legacy. It's cemented. They kicked every ass that was in front of them."

--Philip H. Anselmo, Pantera/Down

"I was part of Van Halen's PR team at Warner Bros. in the late '70s. I cried and I laughed out loud more than a few times while reading this book, recognizing occurrences I hadn't thought about in decades. The Van Halen I knew is on these pages, and Michael has painted a brilliant portrait of them."

--Heidi Ellen Robinson-Fitzgerald, HERFitz PR

NetGalley Review: 5 stars

Last updated on 08 Oct 2021

"I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

While I have enjoyed a lot of Van Halen's music (regardless of whether it was David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar singing), I have never been an extremely passionate fan of the band. After reading a book earlier this year about the emergence of hair bands in the 1980s that dated the beginning of that movement to the signing of Van Halen's first record deal, I immediately put in a request to read this book when I first saw the listing for it on Net Galley.

The book begins with a brief biographical section about Eddie and Alex Van Halen's childhood, then moves on to the evolution of their band up until the addition of lead singer David Lee Roth. Once that happens, the book shifts into a year-by-year account of the band's career. Through this book's album-by-album detailing of all the Van Halen albums and the hit songs on them, I gained a deeper appreciation of the sheer number of recognizable songs the band created. I now realize that Van Halen is greatly underrepresented in my music library.

A major portion of the book covers the drama surrounding who would be Van Halen's lead singer, a controversial topic that began with David Lee Roth's departure from the group after their 1984 album, and his subsequent replacement by Sammy Hagar. The controversy didn't end there, as it dragged on for years and still remains a hot topic of discussion among the group's fans today.

I gave Van Halen five stars on Goodreads. I've really come to enjoy these kind of music 'biographies' because they help fill in gaps in my knowledge during the times in my life when I didn't follow music as closely as I did when I was younger."--Chris Owens, consumer reviewer

NetGalley Review: 4 stars

Last updated on 05 Oct 2021

"What a good story.

I normally prefer memoirs, but the author manages to captivate the star that EVH was.

He also does a good job of giving us an overhaul impression, with some interesting tidbits along the way.

Well researched and well written.

Great pace."--Tina Avon, reviewer at bookshipper.blogspot.com