I love Van Halen. Their debut album was the first rock music I ever loved, before I knew who they were or what they were doing. Van Halen is, in many ways, the high-profile exception to otherwise inflexible rules: classically trained virtuosos who make music for getting hammered in parking lots. A metal band that rarely plays metal. A legendary live act consistently criticized for their terrible live performances.

By Michael Kaplan. The then-fledgling music-video channel flew Jefferis and a pal from Phoenixville, Pa. I took a sip and asked for more. During the show, Jefferis got smashed in the face with cake and showered in champagne by the band members, then he went backstage, where there was a feast of lobster, filet mignon and cocaine. The two of us wound up together in the shower.

By Michael Kaplan. While performing onstage with his namesake band, Eddie Van Halen was famous for flying through the air, legs splayed, slashing out stinging riffs on his customized Stratocaster. If fans wondered where the energy came from, they only needed to look on top of his amplifier cabinet, where, according to a story in the Daily Mail , he routinely laid out lines of cocaine.