How I Know Eddie Van Halen

Bear with me.

1. The original line-up of Van Halen consisted of:  Eddie, his brother Alex, David Lee Roth, and Michael Anthony.
2. After leaving Van Halen, Michael Anthony went on to form Chickenfoot.
3. Chickenfoot included vocalist Sammy Hagar, who had had a long solo career, and also spent a decade or so in Van Halen.
4. Chickenfoot's guitarist Joe Satriani has had a hell of a virtuoso guitar wonk solo career...
5. and drummer Chad Smith is from The Red Hot Chili Peppers (we'll come back to them).
6. After Hagar left VH, he was replaced by Gary Cherone of Extreme.
7. David Lee Roth went solo after being replaced by Hagar in VH.
8. His guitarist Steve Vai was another solo career guitar wonk virtuoso guy...
9. who recorded with Frank Zappa...
10. and did an album with Whitesnake in the 80s.
11. Roth's bassist Billy Sheehan had his own solo career...
12. was a member of the shred band Talas...
13. and went on to have a bunch of success with Mr. Big...
14. whose guitarist Paul Gilbert had previously played with Racer X.
15. Mr. Big drummer Pat Torpey had played with Robert Plant...
16. who of course came from Led Zeppelin.
17. Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page had his own solo career...
18. and also recorded with Whitenake's vocalist/founder David Coverdale as Coverdale/Page.
19. Coverdale got his start with Deep Purple.
20. Whitesnake went through many guitarists, including Adrian Vandenberg, of Vandenberg...
21. John Sykes, who later formed Blue Murder...
22. and Vivian Campbell, who played with Thin Lizzy...
23. The Riverdogs...
24. Sweet Savage...
25. and eventually Def Leppard.
26. Whitesnake drummer Tommy Aldridge played with Thin Lizzy and some others, most notably Ted Nugent...
27. who after a long solo career was a part of Damn Yankees...
28. which featured members of Styx...
29. and Night Ranger.
30. Whitesnake's bassist Rudy Sarzo currently plays in Queensryche...
31. but was part of a number of other bands, including Quiet Riot.
32. Bobby Blotzer briefly played in one version of Queensryche (there are currently two bands of that name after a bad, bad split), but is mostly known for playing in the 80s band Ratt.
33. Ratt singer Stephen Pearcy fronted Arcade for a while...
34. and Ratt bassist Juan Croucier was originally in Dokken.
35. When Dokken split, singer Don Dokken went solo...
36. and guitarist George Lynch formed The Lynch Mob.
37. But anyway... Back to Quiet Riot.  Several members of Quiet Riot at one point played with Ozzy Osbourne (most notably Randy Rhoads).
38. Ozzy got his start with the legendary Black Sabbath.
39. He was replaced by Ronnie James Dio, who recorded as Dio for a long time.
40. Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler did an album as GZR...
41. with the singer from Fear Factory on vocals.
42. Ozzy's current guitarist Zach Wylde is also the founder of Black Label Society...
43. and previously headed Pride and Glory.
44. His bassist James Lomenzo spent time in White Lion...
45. and in Megadeth.
46. White Lion drummer Greg was originally in Anthrax.
47. Megadeth front man Dave Mustaine was the original guitarist for Metallica.
48. Former Megadeth member Marty Friedman had some solo shred stuff...
49. and played in Cacophony...
50. with soloist Jason Becker.
51. Metallica's second bassist Jason Newsted was pilfered from Flotsam and Jetsam...
52. and later played with Ozzy and with Voivod.
53. Ozzy's bassists also included Robert Trujillo, now in Metallica, who played with Suicidal Tendencies...
54. Infectious Grooves...
55. and Jerry Cantrell.
56. Rocky George of Suicidal Tendencies later joined Harley's War...
57. formed by an ex-Cro-Mags member.
58. Cro-Mags' John Joseph sang with Both Worlds...
59. and Bloodclot.
60. Jerry Cantrell is from Alice In Chains...
61. whose bassist played with Ozzy, and whose original vocalist also recorded with Mad Season...
62. and Class of 2000.
63. The current AIC singer was previously with Comes With the Fall.
64. Mad Season's lineup included members of Screaming Trees...
65. whose singer has recorded with The Gutter Twins...
66. which was formed by Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs...
67. and Twilight Singers.
68. Dulli was briefly apart of Foo Fighters...
69. which was founded by Dave Grohl of Nirvana...
70. who had once played in the old punk band Scream.
71. Mad Season also included Mike McCready of Pearl Jam.
72. PJ was formed by members of Mother Love Bone...
73. who had previously been in Green River.
74. When Green River split, Mark Arm (who later did solo stuff)...
75. formed Mudhoney...
76. whose bassist also played with The Melvins.
77. The Melvins recorded with Jello Biafra...
78. most known for his time with Dead Kennedys.
79. Melvins' King Buzzo has recorded with Fantomas...
80. which included Dave Lombardo of Slayer...
81. and was formed by Mike Patton...
82. of Faith No More...
83. Tomahawk...
84. Peeping Tom...
85. and Mr. Bungle.
86. Patton also sang for one album with The Dillinger Escape Plan...
87. whose drummer Chris went on to play with Coheed and Cambria...
88. and whose members have been in side projects like Spylacopa...
89. and Error Type 11.
90. Spylacopa included members of Made Out of Babies...
91. and John Lamacchia of Candiria...
92. Merauder...
93. Crooked Man...
94. and Ghosts of the Canal.
95. Candiria members went on to Hope Kills Fear...
96. Fuel...
97. and Poison the Well.
98. Merauder's singer recorded with Rag Men...
99. which featured the bassist from Earth Crisis...
100. and Hatebreed.
101. Hatebreed's old drummer played with Madball.
102. Earth Crisis members have had an ongoing side project called Path of Resistance...
103. which included JD from Another Victim...
104. Unholy...
105.  and The Promise.
106. EC members had formerly played with Framework.
107. Their guitarist Erick played with Beta Minus Mechanic.
108. He replaced a guy who went on to God Below...
109. and Brand New Sin (we'll come back to that).
110. EC guitarist Scott Crouse recorded one album as Isolated...
111. and various EC members have been involved with Freya.
112. Back to Pearl Jam.  Guitarist Stone Gossard has recorded solo stuff...
113. and plays with Brad.
114. Eddie Vedder plays solo...
115. and recorded as part of Hovercroft.
116. Vedder and other PJ members were in Temple of the Dog...
117. along with members of Soundgarden (it was a memorial album for Mother Love Bone's singer).
118. Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell has a solo career...
119. and also was part of Audioslave...
120. which was 3/4 of the band Rage Against the Machine.
121. Rage's guitarist Tom Morello records as The Night Watchman.
122. Rage's singer came from legendary hardcore outfit Inside Out...
123. which featured Vic Dicara of 108...
124. Shelter...
125. The Judas Factor...
126. and Burn.
127. Burn singer Chaka went on to form Orange 9mm...
128. whose guitarist Chris Traynor went on to play with Helmet...
129. Bush...
130. Gavin Rossdale...
131. and Rival Schools...
132. which was the creation of Quicksand frontman Walter Schreiffels.
133. Walter Schreiffels has done solo work...
134. was behind Gorilla Biscuits...
135. and Walking Concert...
136. and was a member of Youth of Today.
137. Youth of Today members formed Shelter, whose members played with Baby Gopal...
138. Sri...
139. Ray and Porcell...
140. Texas Is the Reason...
141. Never Surrender...
142. and Better Than A Thousand.
143. Shelter's Porcell played with Judge...
144. whose singer formed Mike Judge and Old Smoke.
145. Youth of Today's one-time bassist joined the great Sick of it All.
146. He also did a little time with Agnostic Front...
147. and Straight Ahead.
148. YOT's drummer went on to play with Bold...
149. whose singer formed Into Another...
150. and had worked with Underdog.
151. Better Than A Thousand's guitarist formed Damnation A.D....
152. and Battery.
153. Gorilla Biscuits members went on to form CIV...
154. and the drummer, originally of Side By Side...
155. briefly played with the embarrassingly bad Limp Bizkit...
156. whose d.j. came from House of Pain...
157. the singer of which later formed Everlast.
158. CIV's guitarist for their second album had been in Outface.
159. Outface's singer went on to join Sepultura...
160. when Max of Sepultura quit and formed Soulfly.
161. Max went on to form The Cavallera Conspiracy...
162. and has recorded as Nailbomb.
163. Back to Pearl Jam.  Their one-time dummer Jack Irons played with Eleven...
164. and with The Red Hot Chili Peppers...
165. whose bassist Flea was a part of Fear way back when.
166. RHCP's guitarist Jon Frusciante went solo for awhile...
167. and was replaced by Dave Navarro, who played with Trust No One...
168. but is mostly known for Janes Addiction.
169. Janes' singer Perry Farrell has done solo work...
170. plays with The Satellite Party...
171. and was the head of Porno For Pyros in the 90s.
172. Back to Brand New Sin.  BNS original lineup included the old bassist from Dracula Jones...
173. whose singer Jeff Jones did some solo stuff, as well as work with many other bands.
174. BNS's original singer went solo as Just Joe...
175. and was very briefly replaced by Joe Sweet, who has recorded solo...
176. and with Jo Mama and the Funk Daddies...
177. Jo Mama and the Soul Train...
178. Dookie Stone...
179. and recently reformed the 90s band Nine Ball.
180. Ken, the drummer from Nine Ball, recorded with Duck Duck Goose...
181. and, more than a dozen years ago, with me, in Alterfiction.
182. That was a few years after the demo I recorded with my college band Carry On.

And that's how I know Eddie Van Halen.