DIAMOND MARTY ALLEN GETS WHAT VAN HALEN IS ALL ABOUT

[toomanycats]

As I mentioned recently on the forum, I've been learning Van Halen's "Show Your Love" and inevitably came across this video on YouTube. Apparently it was made in 1995 on Miami Beach. I spent quite a bit of time there around 94, though I never met Diamond Marty Allen, nor any of those girls, though I did party like a rock star.


EDIT: Can't believe it won't let me post this video here.

[Chocol8]

So, is it me or was the girl in the Jordan shirt the only one with tits bigger than his?

That's such a great song, and probably beyond my current skill set/proficiency level. I should add that to the "learn list".

[Rollin Hand]

I love trying to play that song, but the level of skill combined with the level of swing is beyond my comparatively meager capabilities.

And who the hell was that guy? Did he own the strip club or cocaine cartel or something?

[toomanycats]

I love trying to play that song, but the level of skill combined with the level of swing is beyond my comparatively meager capabilities.

And who the hell was that guy? Did he own the strip club or cocaine cartel or something?

There's a comment on the video from the guy who made the video , and I quote:

"I proudly shot, directed, edited, & (most importantly) girl-wrangled this thing as a school project around '95-ish on Miami Beach, incorporating all of my favorite things.
Take it easy on Diamond Marty Allen - he made the video & you know it."

It sounds like this guy had an 8mm Sony handy-cam or something like that, showed up at at the beach with a boom box, cast the girls and Diamond Marty Allen, and just had fun with it.

I think there is a David Lee Roth trapped inside of Diamond Marty Allen's body. What is even crazier is that David Lee Roth actually imagined himself trapped inside a Diamond Marty Allen body in the 1991 video of "A Little Ain't Enough." That video is just friggin' insane, with all the T&A, Jason Becker's playing, and blackface midgets.

[Rollin Hand]

I love trying to play that song, but the level of skill combined with the level of swing is beyond my comparatively meager capabilities.

And who the hell was that guy? Did he own the strip club or cocaine cartel or something?

There's a comment on the video from the guy who made the video , and I quote:

"I proudly shot, directed, edited, & (most importantly) girl-wrangled this thing as a school project around '95-ish on Miami Beach, incorporating all of my favorite things.
Take it easy on Diamond Marty Allen - he made the video & you know it."

It sounds like this guy had an 8mm Sony handy-cam or something like that, showed up at at the beach with a boom box, cast the girls and Diamond Marty Allen, and just had fun with it.

I think there is a David Lee Roth trapped inside of Diamond Marty Allen's body. What is even crazier is that David Lee Roth actually imagined himself trapped inside a Diamond Marty Allen body in the 1991 video of "A Little Ain't Enough." That video is just friggin' insane, with all the T&A, Jason Becker's playing, and blackface midgets.

I agree that "A Little Ain't Enough" is insane for different reasons. The video comes off as Dave trying to do what he's always done, when he's older, balder, and popular music has moved on from what he was doing. It's like an older guy at a party, trying to be cool, when everyone there knows he isn't. It was astonishingly tone deaf.0

What they should have done for the video was shoot it like they were rehearsing or jamming, do it in black and white, and have Jason Becker seated to play (if he still could at that point, but maybe he could have faked it). Then keep it loose and fun, Dave wearing a ball cap (like he did on the liner of "Your Flithy Little Mouth") and jeans, and everyone smiling. That could have worked, or at least not hurt.

Obviously a performance vid was out given Jason Becker's situation, but that could have worked too.

And it sucks because "A Little Ain't Enough" is a solid album.

(I would have also released "Shoot It!" as the first single)

[Chocol8]

I think at the time the album was recorded and video filmed Becker could have still pulled it off. They would just need him to stand and play air guitar for a few minutes and then use creative editing and waist up close ups to finish the video.

The bigger issue is the music world was going through a major shift in 1991, and I don't think any kind of video was going to save the "dated" sound and style of the music.

[Rollin Hand]

I think at the time the album was recorded and video filmed Becker could have still pulled it off. They would just need him to stand and play air guitar for a few minutes and then use creative editing and waist up close ups to finish the video.

The bigger issue is the music world was going through a major shift in 1991, and I don't think any kind of video was going to save the "dated" sound and style of the music.

Well, it only came out a few months after Warrant's Cherry Pie (Sept 1990 vs. January 1991), so the market was there. And "Smells Like Teen Spirit" wasn't released until September 1991.

I suspect the biggest factor was "Skyscraper." It was OK, but it was not what people expected. ALAE was really quite good and sounded great, but Dave struck when the iron was lukewarm.

Overall, the bigger factor was all of those bands that started to look and sound alike. People wanted something different. Grunge gave it to them.

[Chocol8]

I think it was a lot more than grunge in 1991. More like a move to anything but hair metal that settled on grunge for a bit...


1. Nevermind - Nirvana
2. Ten - Pearl Jam
3. Achtung Baby - U2
4. Metallica (a.k.a. The Black Album) - Metallica
5. Blood Sugar Sex Magik - Red Hot Chili Peppers
6. The Low End Theory - A Tribe Called Quest
7. Out of Time - R.E.M.
8. Use Your Illusion I - Guns N Roses
9. Use Your Illusion II - Guns N Roses
10. Blue Lines - Massive Attack
11. Loveless - My Bloody Valentine
12. Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill
13. BadMotorFinger - Soundgarden
14. Screamadelica - Primal Scream
15. Dangerous - Michael Jackson
16. Temple of the Dog - Temple of the Dog
17. Apocalypse '91 - Public Enemy
18. Death Certificate - Ice Cube
19. Luck of the Draw - Bonnie Raitt
20. O.G. Original Gangster - Ice-T

[toomanycats]

I think it was a lot more than grunge in 1991. More like a move to anything but hair metal that settled on grunge for a bit...


1. Nevermind - Nirvana
2. Ten - Pearl Jam
3. Achtung Baby - U2
4. Metallica (a.k.a. The Black Album) - Metallica
5. Blood Sugar Sex Magik - Red Hot Chili Peppers
6. The Low End Theory - A Tribe Called Quest
7. Out of Time - R.E.M.
8. Use Your Illusion I - Guns N Roses
9. Use Your Illusion II - Guns N Roses
10. Blue Lines - Massive Attack
11. Loveless - My Bloody Valentine
12. Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill
13. BadMotorFinger - Soundgarden
14. Screamadelica - Primal Scream
15. Dangerous - Michael Jackson
16. Temple of the Dog - Temple of the Dog
17. Apocalypse '91 - Public Enemy
18. Death Certificate - Ice Cube
19. Luck of the Draw - Bonnie Raitt
20. O.G. Original Gangster - Ice-T

I concur. On the old forum I authored a thread about another direction I thought the rock music scene might travel around that time.

To quote that post at length:

Jellyfish, The 1990 Late 60s Revival, And The Way Things Might Have Gone

"Though I was a die hard rocker and metalhead in 1990, I will readily admit an attraction to the band Jellyfish which first hit the scene that year. I found them both musically and visually fascinating.
The subject of the implosion of hair metal has recently been discussed on this forum. Immediately previous to hair metal's demise there was a feeling that its expiration date was fast approaching. This posed the urgent question: What was going to be the next thing? Who was going to show us the way out of this morass of juvenile lyrics and pretty boy posturing which rock music had become? For a short while, maybe a period of a year or so, I was convinced there was going to be a return to the stylings of the late 60s.
Perhaps no band better represents this "return to the 60s" vibe than Jellyfish.
In case you've never heard of Jellyfish, or maybe have forgotten them, I suggest that you check out songs and videos from their 1990 debut album called Bellybutton.

The influences of Jellyfish are pretty easy to discern. Obviously, some Beatles, an aggressive Cheap Trick type pop/rock sensibility, some truly beautiful Beach Boy style harmonies, some shades of the Monkees, even Hanna Barbara and Sid and Marty Kroft are in there. There's a whole lot of stuff going on, all of which I like.

But Jellyfish wasn't the only band showcasing a late 60s musical style around this time. Anyone remember the band The Front and their song "Fire"? Their singer both sounded and looked eerily like Jim Morrison. Then there was Deee-light. Lenny Kravitz was in "pseudo Woodstock mode" during his Let Love Rule period. Even hard rock bands weren't immune to the influence of the late 60s revival, as evidenced by Badlands, Raging Slab, the Black Crowes, and White Zombie.

All these examples were going on in 1990. This leads me to my question: Is a late 60s inspired sound the direction things could have gone post hair metal if grunge hadn't taken over?"