Van Halen have dug deep into the band’s vault and are pulling out their earliest known song for release as part of a super-limited-edition book.
“Glitter”, which was written with original bass player Mark Stone in 1974, is being offered up as a surprise addition to Van Halen, a new book penned by drummer Alex Van Halen. It runs 312 pages, features never-before-seen images of the band, and exhaustively chronicles their entire history, but it also includes a relic from their earliest musical steps.
The song has circulated in bootleg form for decades, but this marks the first official, high-quality release, with Alex Van Halen continuing a trend he kickstarted with “Unfinished” in 2024. That song, the last he and Eddie Van Halen ever worked on, was released alongside his book, Brothers, which detailed the Van Halen siblings’ journey from childhood to rock immortality. This time, he’s going right back to the beginning.
Its release predates the band’s debut album and the revolution-starting track, “Eruption”, which arrived four years later, in 1978. It would be one of Stone’s last acts in the band, having been replaced by Michael Anthony later in ‘74 – a role he maintained until Wolfgang Van Halen glued the band back together for 2010’s A Different Kind of Truth. Recently, however, Alex has insisted Anthony was asked to join the reunion.
The book is currently available for pre-order and is priced at $475/£345. The signed limited edition version is being presented in two bindings: the Deluxe boxed set (copies 1–350, already sold out) and the Collector boxed set (copies 351–1,500), after which the chance for fans to get their hands on the surprise 7” picture disc will be gone.
“Written, curated, and personally signed by Alex, Van Halen is the official chronicle of the band, ” says Genesis Publications. “The book traces the brothers’ journey from their childhood in Pasadena, California, and the band’s early days playing backyard parties, to the release and world tour of their chart-topping album 1984.
“Featuring a dynamic blend of iconic photography alongside rare and never-before-seen images, and with exclusive access to Alex Van Halen’s private archives, Van Halen offers a personally guided tour through the band’s legendary rise.”
There’s another side to the release, too. Alex Van Halen has made the headlines this week after calling former vocalist Sammy Hagar “a complete idiot” concerning what he wrote in his 2011 autobiography. Though the 73-year-old admits he’s never read the book, he’s distanced himself from the Red Rocker’s version of accounts of his time in the band.
Hagar has since responded, calling for peace rather than retaliating. But it’s clear that Alex Van Halen is trying to establish a sense of distance between their two books. Notably, too, he’d recently stuck the knife into Hagar by saying that Van Halen did their best work with David Lee Roth – which goes against Hagar’s own beliefs.
Fans won’t have to wait too much longer for more Van Halen, with Steve Lukather assuring fans the band’s forthcoming album is of high quality.
