IN THIS ISSUE:
(24 pages)

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR (2 pages)
Band photos, letter from the editor, Balance Premiere party in London

RIGHT NOW (2 pages)
Current VH News

THE MIGHTY VAN HALEN (1 page)

MAILBAG (2 pages)
Letters from fans

EDDIE, PEAVEY, AND THE D-TUNER (1 page)
The Inside beats out all other music publications for the scoop on Ed's new Peavey guitars and D-tuna.

ALEX INTERVIEW (4.5 pages)

FEAR AND LOATHING IN 1984 (4 pages)
A savage tale of Booze, Babes, Van Halen, and two unsuspecting men from Pennsylvania.

TIMELINE PART 2 (2 pages)
Band history from 1979-1982

NEW MERCHANDISE (2 pages)

CENTERFOLD
Live shot of Ed on the Balance tour

BACK COVER
Dave, Ed, and Mike onstage in 1984

EDDIE IN KISS?
By Geoff Bell
Illustration by Michael Montgomery

Gene Simmons, wild-eyed bassist for Kiss, writes in a new book that he dealt with Eddie and Alex a bit more extensively than just the infamous '77 Van Halen demo sessions. In Kisstory, a book celebrating Kiss' 20 years in music, Simmons explains that Eddie and Alex had a hand in recording the demo of the Kiss song Christeen Sixteen. They recorded it at Village Recorders in Los Angeles and Eddie's solo was so good that Ace Frehley, Kiss' lead guitarist at the time, copied it note-for-note when recording the tune for the Love Gun album. Why doesn't that surprise us? But here's the real shocker: Simmons claims that Edward was considered as a replacement for Ace Frehley after Ace left Kiss in 1982. Supposedly, Edward even asked Simmons if he could join Kiss because he was so frustrated over the situation with David Lee Roth.

Editor's Note: We are not completely convinced that things went down exactly as Simmons describes in the book. Gene probably caught Ed on a bad night and translated the incident out of context. As we all know, Ed doesn't travel without Al--and there's no way in hell Al would ever join Kiss. We can almost see the incident as clear as the fake blood on Gene Simmons' face: Eddie wakes up with a brutal hangover and heads down to the arena for that night's sold-out show. He runs into the guys and says, "Hey man, I woke up this morning and realized that last night I almost joined Kiss." Alex responds, "Damn, we're gonna have to start keeping you on a leash!" Mike then looks at Ed and says, "Hey I thought you stopped wearing makeup because it makes you look just like Val."