Clearly you know, I'm a *HUGE* Van Halen fan. Have been since I first heard the debut in 1978. And as such, I've always kept an ear out for bands that tried to sound like 'em. There's been a few. Obviously, White Lion & their great guitarist Vito Bratta, were the leaders in Van Halen-like tunes. There were others. Roxy Blue, Bulletboys (more in presentation than sound), and I'm sure you can pull several names out of your archive.
But...this band just took it to a level such that, had they made it to the big time with this song, lawyers would have been called in, and suits filed. The band was called Bang. They won the old MTV "Basement Tapes" with this song. Remember the "Basement Tapes???" That's when unknown, unsigned bands would submit their videos to the channel, hopefully to be picked for airplay, and voted upon. Most of those bands went the way that these guys did (kinda). They had their moment, and moved on. As it turns out....these guys ended up replacing their lead singer (not unlike Van Halen). and moving to NY. There they found a new vocalist, and changed their name to Spread Eagle. Yup!!! This band is Spread Eagle...who went on to released 2 CDs and have a couple videos of their own show up on MTV. The sound was drastically different though. Whereas Spread Eagle were sleazy & in the Gn'R mold, this was a pure Van Halen rip-off. In fact....it's almost note-for-note...."So This Is Love?" from Fair Warning. Take a listen...You'll hear it!
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