Today marks the first day we’re featuring a never heard Van Halen instrumental! We figure we’ll kick it off by Finishing What We Started with that teaser last week – here’s the FULL version of the awesome Van Halen boogie that became “Big Fat Money” on the Balance album!

We’ll release a new instrumental every Monday and Thursday for the next several weeks. Some fans are wondering why we’re featuring these now. Simply put, it’s because we just gained access to them. To be clear, these are not official releases of any sort.

We’re as excited to share these gems as you are to hear them!

Now, no doubt that most people prefer their rock and roll with someone singing. Vocals and lyrics sure do complete the songs and give them mass appeal. They turn them into the classics we know and love.

But these instrumentals let us appreciate the songs in a totally different way. Now we can enjoy the brilliant instrumental compositions themselves, before the lyrical themes were added. And of course, all those great vocals couldn’t help but cover up the music in parts. Now, we can hear occasional nuances that were hidden by the vocals, making the listening experience FRESH again!

These make us appreciate Edward’s compositional skills, and the musicianship of the band, even more. (We thought that wasn’t possible)!

As for what’s coming up, we have a number of songs from both the David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar eras of the band. But we don’t have everything. Some of the Dave era we’ll be featuring has circulated before. But none of the Sammy era instrumentals that are on deck have been heard anywhere! So get ready!

Now, enjoy this honky-tonk rocker from ’95!

About “Big fat Money”

The solo on this track was recorded in one take on a Gibson ES-335 through Ed’s Marshall. Ed was fooling around with some suggestions from Bruce Fairbairn, while unbeknownst to him, Bruce was taping his first attempt. Fairbairn decided he liked what he heard.

A lot of thought went into the coin sound at the end of the song. Everyone crowded around the recording console where they dropped quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies until they got the perfect sound.

Tune into VHND.com this Thursday for another one!