Van Halen Was Apparently Really Hated by ‘CREEM’ Readers

Van Halen remains one of the most beloved rock bands in history. One unique outlier in this, though, was readers of CREEM Magazine.

The publication, which boldly proclaimed itself as "America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine," relaunched as a primarily digital outlet this year. With the relaunch came revamped social media channels highlighting new content and the magazine's archives. One such archival post features four vintage reader letters that tore Van Halen apart with some taking issue with David Lee Roth.

The first letter stated, "Remember 'Aerosmith'? Knowing I'll be able to say that about Van Halen one day keeps life worth living." The second letter was just as brutal stating, in part, "There's a little Van Halen in everyone? No wonder I have diarrhea." The third letter reads, "You'll have to excuse Little Davey Lee Roth. He's emotionally unbalanced. He has no control whatsoever over his obnoxious behavior. Or, better yet, just ignore him altogether. Like I do."

The final letter was a doozy that received a funny reply from the publication. The writer stated, "I want to write for your magazine. I hate David Lee Roth. Do I qualify?" CREEM responded, "You and an astonishing number of our readers."

For those interested, the CREEM archive is available online starting at $5/month. Complete details can be found at Creem.com/Subscribe.

Eddie Van Halen was the most influential guitarist of our generation.

Of course, flashy, fleet-fingered guitarists were a dime a dozen in the late ‘70s and ‘80s. Eddie was better than all of them, but he was more than that. A songwriter, a keyboardist, a studio wizard, ¼ of Van Halen’s four-part harmony team and a band leader that was able to guide VH through losing the most distinctive frontman of the ‘80s and led them to four chart-topping albums with Sammy Hagar.

Here, we take on the tough task of ranking their top 30 songs. (It was really, really tough to cut any of the songs on the first six albums from this list.)