The Guitar Player is Edward (Eddie) Van Halen and his brother Alex is the drummer. At one time this band was probably the biggest crowd draw of any band that was touring. You've heard Eruption in another video and that original tapping solo part was recorded for their debut self titled album release. The story goes that Eddie was warming up and played it while one engineer was recording and they liked it enough to make it the opening track on the album. Eddie said he made mistakes and could have played it better, or so the rumor goes. Imagine in 1978 playing this album for the first time having no clue who Van Halen was and being bombared by Eruption right off the bat. This band, and Eddie in particular changed Rock music and redefined what you could do on a guitar. So many players that came after were influenced by his playing and inspired by his ability. They aren't really hair metal in my opinion, more of a blues rock/hard rock band. A lot of their songs have a bluesy vibe and Eddie's solos also have a blues sound on occasion. Fun fact, Eddie's guitar from the Van Halen II album, was buried with Dimebag Darrell Abbot at his funeral. The name Van Halen were the last words spoken by Dime before he was shot on stage and later died. Van Halen was Dime and his brother's code word to let loose or in Vinnie Paul's words "to let it all hang out". So that's what they shouted to each other before the show. Having only met Eddie a short time before his passing, he wanted to buy a guitar from him and he remarked that he always liked the Yellow and Black striped one. So Eddie gave it to him as his final farewell.

The Mighty Van Halen, predated "glam" and were simply hard rock back then, and VH is attributed to have brought hard rock back to the forefront of pop music. Now, you have to delve much deeper because the music is phenomenal. Eddie's acclaim is well known, but Alex was recognized as one of the best hard rock drummers of the time. Van Halen's "self-titled" is one of the greatest hard rock albums of all time. "Fair Warning" is tied with the self-titled as my favorite VH albums. "Right Here, Right Now" is a live album with Sammy Hagar that just sizzles.

In court, they were accused of making songs only about drinking, women, and fast cars. David Lee Roth said that he never wrote a song about fast cars, but admitted it was a good idea, so he wrote Panama. This is the original lineup, they originally went by Mammoth, but Roth said 'hey, your last name sounds cool, just make the band name your name'.

Hey guys. This is the guitarist who did the amazing solo you reacted to a couple of months ago - Eruption! The band always seemed to be having a good time! 😉😁

David Lee Roth is actually the one who suggested Van Halen for the name.

Back in the day when a concert was really a concert! I am blessed to have seen them many times. From 78" to 84" These were the parties of the century! RIP Eddie Van Halen! Also back in the day, we didn't call it hair metal or glam rock. We just called it Rock N Roll. The wires you speak of were part of the shows. I have seen the 1984 concert in Las Vegas NV at Thomas and Mac Center. It was the night my mother nearly ran David Lee Roth over out in the parking lot when he was riding his bike before a concert. But these things were part of their shows.

I’m up in Canada and yrs ago a guy wrote a brief parody of this song called Canada. One of verses kinda went like she’s freezing, I’m dying, snowplow he’s trying and the snow keeps faaaalllling down. Ca na da Ca na da…..😂😂

Eddie and brother Alex (drummer) are originally from the Netherlands, and their dad moved the family to California around the age of 12 or so. The Van Halen's were trained as classical musicians (piano and violin)) before they ever started playing guitar and drums.

Its a car song. Written about a custom hot rod called "the Panama Express"

This song always took me back to blasting music on a field with my rocker friends but now it also reminds me of a family guy episode which is not a bad thing.🤣 Hot For Teacher is another of my favourite Van Halen tracks 🤘🤘

Eddie and Alex (brothers) originally named the band Mammoth. David Lee Roth (lead singer) suggested the name change to Van Halen.

This has been my favorite Van Halen song since I was 6 years old! In the back of my older sisters car with the windows down and Panama turned all the way up! Great memories!

Guys you need to react to '' I'll Wait'' by them. The 1984 album is so great ! 👍🏻

I remember when Van Halen 1 came out. It changed rock music. On the timeline of rock music, Van Halen 1 is a dividing line between what was and what would come after. There are precious few bands like that in the history of rock.

Since VH came on the radio scene in the late 70s, I always thought of them as party rock. With the unique sound due to Eddie’s guitar talent. I seem to remember Panama was a girl’s name.

You have to do the video from the lead singer David Lee Roth Yankee Rose. Roth was a showman. Also the Drummer is also named Vanhalen. SO it was 2 brothers the band is named after. Great reaction as always.

This is my favorite Van Halen song. Fantastic way to start my morning 😄🤘

Eddie Van Halen goat status on the guitar!!! Iconic band no doubt!!!

Dimebag from Pantera was SUCH a huge Eddie Van Halen fan. So much so, that EVH showed up at his funeral, PUT HIS ORIGINAL FAMOUS STRIPEY GUITAR IN DARRELL'S CASKET WITH HIM, and said something like, "Dime is an original; he deserves an original." Dimebag Darrell Abbott was buried with the guitar he'd coveted since childhood, gifted by the man he idolized! 😭😭😭😭 Also, I think the name Van Halen is Dutch. Many Dutch names have to do with where you're from, in addition to the usual "what your family did historically for work" style of last name. Depending on the name/family, I guess? "Van" means "of". Maybe "Halen" means "hills"? Okay, I looked it up: "Halen" means "to catch, fetch, or bring." So: maybe their ancestors were hunters, bootleggers, or import/exporters.... Omg, what if they were slavers?😱 The Dutch East India Company....! Many Dutch families had ships, and import/exported goods {and bads} from all over the world. That included Africa. A whole bunch of Dutch people, many of them at the behest of that aforementioned ENORMOUS trading company, and other giant trading companies, went and settled in South Africa, where they bought, sold, and shipped slaves. Amongst other things: Ivory, Teak, gold, spices, diamonds, pelts of exotic animals, whole-assed wild animals, fruit and vegetables, seeds and cuttings from plants. Etcetera. This is why there are so many white people in South Africa, and why Afrikaans sounds so much like Dutch. Someone once told me that South Africa was actually "almost totally devoid of people" before the white colonials got there. That many different tribes came to the area for work, because of all the jobs created by the "industry" of the hairy pink/white ghost people. ("Industry" = pillaging the land and human trafficking). Also, that many of the people who ended up in slavery were actually captured by other African people, who were paid by the white people upon delivery of each slave. I knew the latter part has truth in it, but I don't know anything about the former, without doing any further research myself. There HAD to be SOME locals living at the bottom of the continent; I'm sure it wasn't completely devoid of any human habitation at all. There were probably several tribes who called the area home, but the white settlers just figured, "welp, there's no big cities here....might as well throw up a flag and see what happens?" 🤮 I should have googled what *this* Van Halen family's name actually meant before I went off speculating and going on long-ass tangents. I'm a tool. Please feel free to correct any falsehoods, or add anything I missed, below!

I seen this tour back then and I seen them 1 time before that tour, and yes their concerts were always a powerhouse of pure fun!!🎸🎸❤

Apparently, US Soldiers played this song on loop outside the church Panamanian Dictator Manuel Noriega was holed up in to get him to surrender.

I’m sure y’all already heard, but Van Helen (both Alex and Eddie) are from Amsterdam, Netherlands. That may be why y’all feel it sounds different. I think that by them naming their band after their name is just EPIC! It definitely is unique and you just know the name, it’s Legendary 😄

David Lee Roth suggested the name Van Halen since there were 2 Van Halen brothers in the band (brother Alex Van Halen is the drummer). They are Dutch and their surname means "best musician" or at least it should. Panama is actually about a race car called "The Panama Express". Some critics said all Van Halen wrote was songs about girls and cars. DLR realized they never actually wrote about cars so he penned this song just as a sort of "So what if we do?"

I was in the front row for the first Monsters of Rock show during the tour when VH headlined. During a solo, the Maestro looked RIGHT AT ME AND MY BUDDY and smiled that classic goofy grin of his. I'll take that image with me to my grave. Rest in Peace, EVH. He was legitimately the Mozart of his time.

Back in the 80s, videos were a new thing. So many of the videos were just them playing and doing strange stuff. Many times I don't think they really knew what to do. It didn't take long for people to start getting concepts behind the videos but there were still plenty coming out that were just the band having fun. We do still get some of those now but a lot more videos have a plot to them

When I was growing up,when this song first came out,I used to think they said, "let it rock",instead of Panama... That was before I finally heard the name from the DJ..

Look who it is showing up in my feed, listening to Panama🤣!!! What is UP, my dooods!?! I'm stoked to see this! My parents saw these guys live during this phase in their career, in Victoria BC of all places!! All kinds of badass bands have made the trek here over the decades, though. The Beatles played. No joke. And Cannibal Corpse!! Suffocation dropped in, like, 3 times!!!

I think you guys should jump into some more early Van Halen, so much fun

1984 was the first album I ever got! My dad got it for me when I got my boom box years ago.. first song ever played on that little radio!! Forever love EVH!!

Eddie and Alex Van Halen in the band. They were going to call themselves Mammoth. That’s why Wolfgang Van Halen, Eddie and Valerie Bertinellis son, named his band Mammot.

Dude, great video. That said the "times" were always keeping up with "Van Halen"! Cheers!

Eddie and Alex Van Halen are from Dutch heritage. God Rest Eddie.

Definitely on the Playlist going to Panama City, Florida in the 80s

Do some solo David Lee Roth! Yankee Rose is a good one to start with!

DLR riding his Harley on Sunset was always my favorite shot. Too bad VH turned into dad rock when Sammy came in.

This song is so fun to play on guitar. Great reaction

Edward's full name is: Edward Lodewijk Van Halen (he had said numerous times he disliked "Eddie"). There is so much to say about their family, but if you watch the documentary with Edward at the Smithsonian Museum of American History you will learn about where they came from, who his parents were, his and his brother Alex's amazing gifts with the piano, and how they got into music, etc. Hearing everything from Eddie himself was a gift of an hour. And he played his guitar, too!

That change up at the bridge where the guitar smooths out is So Powerful! RIP Moon, Van Halen Roady, who I always looked forward to seeing him on the Van Halen stage build. Moon and Patrick ( Patrick later worked for Metallica as Lars assistant and then Road Manager) I last saw Moon at Woodstock 99 and had worked 94 with him, Real Road Dogs!

David Lee roth was a frequent visitor to a Las Vegas race track back in the 1970s/1980s. There was a car there with the name 'THE PANAMA EXPRESS'. David Lee roth always remembered that name as he was fascinated with it. Panama is a country in Central America famous for its canal, but it has nothing to do with the song. The lyrics are about a stripper David Lee Roth met in Arizona. As he explained on The Howard Stern Show, the song came about after an interview Roth gave in the early '80s; the interviewer accused him of only writing lyrics about sex, drugs, and fast cars. Sometime either during or after the interview, Diamond Dave realized he'd never actually written a song about fast cars, so he started working on the lyrics to "Panama," which he later admitted in another interview that, as it turns out, he had been writing about a stripper he knew without realizing it. The finished lyrics were inspired by both the stripper and the car.

They didnt keep up with the genres, they creating them! Good stuff fellas.

Great reaction

David Lee Roth is a fantastic singer and performer 🤘👏👍

I always liked the song, but didn't truly listen to it until it was used in an episode of The Drew Carey Show where his company was trying to get him to sell his house, but he refused so they blasted bright lights and loud speakers playing Panama 24/7 to drive him out. I didn't realize how heavy and hard it goes, but still a fun party style song.

That was a super fun reaction 😊😅

Can confirm about Tucson! I lived there back in the 90s. I saw many shows at Club Congress - I'm at Cheech Marin there once. There was a great Tuesday night trip hop night. Tucson was fantastic for live music. I haven't been there in years but, I have friends that are still there.

My brother got to party with them after a show in Japan. He lost 2 days. Yes, a blast he had 🤣

In the breakdown, my best friend's dad misheard the lyrics as: "Reach down, between my legs and ease the skin back" We couldn't stop laughing seeing the stone cold look on his face. He had no clue and thought David Lee Roth was just that perverted. ...now I can't listen to the song the right way anymore.

The band's called Van Halen because of Alex and Eddie Van Halen but they were originally called Mammoth which is now the name of Wolfgang Van Halens band who is Eddie and Valerie Bertinellis' son

Eddie and Alex were actually born and raised in Norway or Amsterdam or something like that. And moved to America still young kids. Couldn't speak a word of English. And yet they became as American as anyone born here. There's a video of Eddie and Alex doing an interview in their native tongue on KZfaq.

There was nothing like seeing Eddie live on stage! He always had that grin that drew you in and every guitar player wanted to play like Eddie. I saw an interview with Brian May from Queen and when he and Eddie recorded together they would share technique with each other. He said that at one point they traded guitars and Eddie sounded like Eddie on Brian's guitar and Brian sounded like himself on Eddie's...to be a fly in the room! I have a friend that went to school with David Lee Roth and she said that he had a band that would play at their backyard parties and the Van Halen brothers had a band but were from a rival highschool but they also played at the parties.

OMG.."The day you catch me in that." Lololol.....this is a great song.....reminds me of my youth......

Several Metal Bands are named after the Founder.....Dokken~Dio~Slaughter~Winger.....just to name a few

The song Panama, was refiring to a red dragster that David Lee Roth saw in Las Vegas. Van Halen made a great song from this event. Eddie Van Halen was the lead guitarist, his brother Alex Van Halen on the drums. David Lee Roth was the front man and lead singer. Also, during that time, David Lee Roth studied Martial Arts and that's why he was so athletic and limber. Michael Anthony was the Bass player. RIP Eddie Van Halen. Rock On Van Halen! 🤘🤟✊🤙👊💥🔥

When Eddie's blowing smoke rings on the piano you can see Valerie Bertenelli in the background with her head down 🤣

I remember being a 10 year old riding with my mom in her hotrod canary yellow 68 barracuda fast back with a 383 bored out to a 400 white seats a blaupunckt stereo that boomed and my mom playing this song. Ahh the memories. Mom liked van halen.

Proud of you guys 🤘

The drummer is Alex Van Halen, Eddies brother.

Fun fact guys Alex the drummer is Eddie's brother!!

The singer David Lee Roth suggested the brothers Alex and Edward Van Halen change the name of the band to their last name because it sounded cool. Also Van Halen is a Dutch surname.

The song is about a car David Lee Roth saw in a race, Panama Express. The sound you heard during the part with the blow dryer is actually the sound of the Ferrari Eddie owned, revving the engine during the recording process

I swear Panama gets you hyped for anything! RIP Eddie 👏🤘

They were amazing in Concert. Their shows were awesome!

Van Halen were THE party band. All of their songs hit different.

These guys encapsulated the early 80s California party rock vibe. Roth said in an interview that it was about a car, but in another interview he said it was about a stripper. (Of course, he also said that about Jump.)

Model Citizen-Zero Discipline.

Bad omen - like a villain 💯🔥

The name of the band was a suggestion made by their singer David Lee Roth saying they were the creators of the band and they had a cool name that would fit perfectly for the band.

2:02 You sure did do it Smokey! 🤣🤣🤣 Bound to happen sooner or later, right? Panama is a country in Central America famous for its canal, but it has nothing to do with the song. The lyrics are about a stripper singer David Lee Roth met in Arizona. As he explained on The Howard Stern Show, the song came about after an interview Roth gave in the early '80s; the interviewer accused him of only writing lyrics about sex, drugs, and fast cars. Sometime either during or after the interview, Diamond Dave realized he'd never actually written a song about fast cars, so he started working on the lyrics to "Panama," which he later admitted in another interview that, as it turns out, he had been writing about a stripper he knew without realizing it. The finished lyrics were inspired by both the stripper and the car. Speaking of which, during the bridge of the song, after Roth says, "I can barely see the road from the heat comin' off it," you can hear the sound of a car revving in the background. The car is Eddie Van Halen's 1972 Lamborghini Miura S. Eddie has stated that he is an avid car collector. And the band is named after not only Eddie the guitarist but also his brother Alex the drummer. Still gotta get to Atomic Punk, Running with the Devil, and one of my favorites, Everybody Wants Some

David Lee Roth I'm just a gigolo lis a fun video

MORE VAN HALEN !!! Awesome 🤘❤🇨🇦

I'm pretty sure you guys already covered the eruption solo so you already know eddies capabilities on the guitar, frankenstrat was the red and white guitar you almost always seeing him use. (lil info on this , Fender strats before the 1980s were never known to have humbucker pickups, eddie was one of the pioneers in making a strat into a a metal guitar, Frankenstrat being that guitar he dug into and made a humbucker fit and well left it looking like a mess but it played incredibly. he also had a big hand in inventing arguably one of the best metal guitar amps, the 5150 (peavey at the time if i remember right , now its under his own brand the evh brand. ) ) . Van halen, were one of the quintessential bands to creat the hair metal/rock/party rock genre. this song is a prime example of that

Van Halen was it's own Genre. You had to be there.

This song is great to blast so loud in your car while you’ve got the windows open and you’re driving fast. Also, fabulous to just lose your mind and dance like crazy!

David Lee Roth had a great name to define Van Halen style, he called it Big Rock, where everything is pushed to eleven like "You really got me" me where they boosted the original Kinks version. "Van" is a Dutch and Flemish name but "Von" is German. It's the equivalent of the French, Italian or Spanish "De" or "D'"(from).

Edward Lodewijk Van Halen was born in Amsterdam on January 26, 1955, the son of Jan van Halen and Eugenia (née van Beers). His father was a Dutch jazz pianist, clarinettist, and saxophonist, while his mother was an Indo (Eurasian) woman from Rangkasbitung on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).The family eventually settled in Nijmegen, Netherlands. After experiencing mistreatment for their mixed-race relationship in the 1950s, the parents moved the family to the U.S. in 1962. They settled near other family members in Pasadena, California, where Eddie and his brother Alex attended a segregated elementary school. Since the boys did not speak English as a first language, they were considered "minority" students and experienced bullying by white students. They began learning the piano at age six, commuting from Pasadena to San Pedro, Los Angeles, to study with an elderly piano teacher, Stasys Kalvaitis. Van Halen was never taught to read music; instead, he watched recitals of Bach or Mozart repertoire and improvised. Between 1964 and 1967, he won first place in the annual piano competition at Long Beach City College. His parents wanted the boys to be classical pianists, but Van Halen gravitated towards rock music, and was greatly influenced by 1960s British Invasion bands like the Beatles and the Dave Clark Five. Consequently, when ALEX began playing the guitar, EDDIE bought a drum kit; however, after he heard Alex's performance of the Surfaris' drum solo on the song "Wipe Out", he gave Alex the drums and began learning the electric guitar. According to him, as a teen he often practiced while walking around at home with his guitar strapped on, or sitting in his room for hours with the door locked. Eddie and Alex formed their first band with three other boys, called themselves "The Broken Combs", and performed at lunchtime at Hamilton Elementary School in Pasadena when he was in the fourth grade. He later cited this performance as key to his desire to become a professional musician. He described supergroup Cream's "I'm So Glad" on the album Goodbye as "mind-blowing". He once claimed that he had learned almost all of Eric Clapton's solos in the band Cream note for note. "I've always said Eric Clapton was my main influence," he said, "but Jimmy Page was actually more the way I am, in a reckless-abandon kind of way." Speaking at an event at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in 2015, Van Halen discussed his life and the American Dream, saying "We came here with approximately $50 and a piano, and we didn't speak the language. Now look where we are. If that's not the American dream, what is?" - from Wikipedia

Michael Anthony was the bass player and sing backup. Very underrated!!

Dave doesn't go to parties. Dave IS the party!

Van Halen is a Hard Rock band. The name is for the brothers, Eddie and Alex. Alex is the drummer. Michael Anthony is the bassist. David Lee Roth is the singer. He's just flamboyant, so that's why it might seem like Glam/Hair Metal. Definitely check out "On Fire" and "Atomic Punk" as soon as y'all can.

Now that you have watched the video you should watch Wolfie Van Halen play Panama in the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert. Amazing guitar play sounds just like Eddie

This is the band that started hair metal among many other genres. Eddie essentially created the blueprint for every hair and glam band that came in the 80s, his gear was extensively used in metal in the 90s and the 90s wouldn't have pantera if it wasn't for Eddie. His guitar created an entirely new class of guitars (the superstrat), which is now the standard for most metal players. All this and I haven't even gotten to how he changed how people thought a guitar should be played. Calling him a legend doesn't do him justice. He was unreal.

Classic from my kid days. Had the vinyl, its all we had

David Lee Roth said he wrote this when he heard someone say "rock songs are all about cars and women," and he thought, "We haven't gotten around to cars yet."

Van Halen headlined the US FESTIVAL in San Bernardino California in 1983.. It was the actual introduction to the world of the Apple computer but there were 330000 fans for 3 days and nobody gave 2 f**** about what's a computer.. They came in on a helicopter drunk as h*** and almost fell out the helicopter yes I was 17 and it was A-blast

Van Halen is actually the brothers father's surname they born in Netherland, They are half Korean, a really great mix, the result of a family of classical trained musicians are their talented kids who "shaped" the music industry upside down

Guys it was the 80's you had to be there... Van Halen was ON TOP of the world!

Also during the break in the middle of the song they recorded Edwards 1972 Lamborghini Miura revving the engine.

The name "Panama" is referring to the red Mercury in the video. Lead singer David Lee Roth saw the car which is named "Panama Red" at a car show in Vegas and bought the car...

You want a perfect example of what made Van Halen great? Watch from 8:08 to the end of the song. Look at these two guys. Big smiles and dancing. THAT is what Van Halen could do with a rock song. They made people happy, made them dance and made them party. Three things lost on the mopey bullsh!t they pass off for rock and roll these days... Name the last song that came out that was up beat, still kicked you square in the ass, pumped you full of adrenaline but didn't make you angry... I'll wait. A while.

Van Halen is a last name from the origins of The Netherlands 🇳🇱. "Van" mean "from“ in Dutch. Halen would usually be the city that the person come from. It’s usually a rich Edel name for Kings and royalty. Eddie and Alex are also half Surinamese. Who are people from South America and had immigrated to the Netherlands.

As soon as the song ends i just hear that strum into "drop dead legs". That would b another great van halen pick

This was also the intro song for the U.S. release of one of the Gran Turismo games

Party with the Panamaniacs. How has everybody missed that?

The way this genre works, is Van Halen developed a style and a vibe that later became the hair band genre, but it was really just literally everyone trying to sound like Eddie Van Halen, and look like David Lee Roth.

Alex Van Halen's drum beat is why this song got banned from bedroom fun time by my wife decades ago when she was still just my girlfriend.

They play this song in Superbad before setting the cop car on fire when McLovin gets to shoot the gun. I think of that scene every time I hear this.

You have GOT to check out their “Hot for Teacher” video……Hilarious video with Eddie seriously shredding & his brother Alex on drums just wailing !

Heck I live an hour from Tucson, AZ, it's a college town for sure.

Video live stuff from Philadelphia Spectrum. Was there

The Shawn Michaels reference killed me

David Lee Roth the front man wrote it panama was the name of his car all 4 members are great singers and considered amongst the great musicians this is rock n roll