The Van Halen News Desk. I might as well make it my homepage. Last week they took us to the Silicon Valley for a close encounter of the David Lee Roth-kind, and now they are breaking a never-before-released song from a 1980’s Chris Penn film. What’s next, Sammy Hagar involved in the JFK assassination?
So the answer is yes, not about JFK, but about whether or not that Facebook crash yesterday at 3pm was Van Halen related. It was this YouTube clip being brought to the public for the first time ever, 16 years after it was recorded, and we are lucky that the internet didn’t collapse on itself due to the gravity of the situation. How did this song stay hidden? Well, grab some hot tea and your slippers and I’ll tell you.
In 1984, Universal released the Chris Penn teen-comedy called The Wild Life. It has never been released on DVD, but is notable for two major reasons. The first is that it was then-screenwriter Cameron Crowe’s followup to Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and if you are too young to be familiar with that movie, you just depressed me. The second is that the movie was scored by Jesus Eddie Van Halen. So if this movie was released, then why is a song from the movie such a big deal? Wouldn’t it just be a cut from a sixteen-year-old soundtrack?
Well, though the movie did release a soundtrack, it only contained one song by Eddie Van Halen, the creatively titled “Donut City”. But the score remains unreleased to this day, despite the obviously-Van Halen songs placed throughout the film. Listen close and you can hear “Right Now” in it’s infancy. But now, sixteen years later, “Ripley” surfaces. Leave it to VHND.
Named after the guitar he used in recording and featuring brother Alex on drums, let this tune suffice as you wait the months until that new Van Halen album is released.