Bet you didn’t know this about Van Halen

Every so often we play "Amsterdam" off the Balance CD.  It's got a killer guitar riff and a really cool drum line. 97X played it as the follow up to "Can't Stop Loving You" back in 1995. When it came time to release the video to MTV, the drug references turned out to be a little too…over the top.  MTV refused to air the video unless the band changed the lyrics (which Sammy did). The line "score me some Panama red" was re-recorded with Sammy singing "score me some STUFF for my head". How un-friggin rock n roll is that?  Still, the brass at MTV wouldn't budge and the video--both versions-- were banned.

Another little tid bit: the CD features this image as the cover art:

The conjoined twins are:
1) not conjoined--it's one kid
2) not a girl (it's a boy)
3) not Wolfie Van Halen.

The kid is a boy from southern California by way of Denver. More importantly, his grandparents are from the Quad Cities and live in the Moline area. Went a long way for that, didn't I? It's almost like Dwyer is writing this blog!

Anyway…I should lead off the show with this song tomorrow morning.  It freakin' rocks!  (I actually typed that last line using the split-finger devil-horn gesture!)  Take a look at the original video. Note the slate at the beginning calling it the "naughty version":

And here's the tame but still banned version: