Van Halen

The Earliest Van Halen Recording Is Finally Being Released. There’s a Catch.

A 1974 Van Halen demo is finally getting its first official release more than 50 years later. But there’s a catch: the 7-inch is limited to 1,500 copies and only available with Alex Van Halen’s new collector’s book.

Before Van Halen. Before “Eruption.” Before arenas, platinum records, and one of the most recognizable guitar sounds in rock history, Van Halen was a young Pasadena band trying to convince clubs to let them play.

In 1974, Alex Van Halen, Eddie Van Halen, David Lee Roth, and original bassist Mark Stone made an early recording called “Glitter.”

More than 50 years later, it is finally getting an official release.

But there’s a catch.

You won't be able to walk into a record store and buy it. You won't even be able to buy the record by itself.

“Glitter” is being pressed on an exclusive 7-inch picture disc available only with Alex Van Halen's elaborate new limited-edition book.

For collectors, that makes an already fascinating piece of Van Halen history even more interesting.

Before Van Halen Became Van Halen

“Glitter” comes from a version of Van Halen that predates the lineup most fans know.

Michael Anthony hadn't joined yet. Mark Stone was still playing bass alongside Alex, Eddie, and David Lee Roth.

According to Genesis Publications, which is releasing Alex Van Halen's new book VAN HALEN, the 1974 recording will become the earliest Van Halen recording ever officially released.

The circumstances behind the recording make it even better.

“Glitter” and another early track, “Gentlemen of Leisure,” were reportedly recorded at the Pasadena home of David Lee Roth's father, Dr. Nathan Roth. The recordings weren't originally created for an album. They were essentially promotional tools that could be handed to Los Angeles club bookers in hopes of getting Van Halen gigs.

Think about that for a moment.

A recording made by an unknown local band trying to get booked into clubs will now be released as a historical artifact from one of the biggest rock bands in the world.

That's quite a journey for a demo.

You May Have Heard “Glitter.” But Not Like This.

There's an important distinction here.

Calling “Glitter” previously unreleased doesn't mean nobody outside Van Halen's circle has ever heard it.

Versions of the song have circulated unofficially among collectors and bootleggers, and it even appeared alongside “Gentlemen of Leisure” on David Lee Roth's website in the late 1990s. What hasn't existed is an official commercial Van Halen release of the recording. AXS TV

That distinction matters.

For decades, rock collectors have chased demo tapes, radio recordings, acetates, bootlegs, and other unofficial sources because they contain pieces of an artist's history that never made it onto an album.

An official release takes one of those recordings out of that gray area and places it within the artist's recognized catalog.

In this case, it's being done on vinyl.

There's Just One Problem: You Can't Buy the Record

The 7-inch isn't being released as a conventional Van Halen single.

It's part of Alex Van Halen's forthcoming signed book VAN HALEN, published by Genesis Publications and limited to 1,500 numbered copies worldwide. Every copy is personally signed by Alex.

The Collector edition includes the book, a replica 1979 Van Halen Productions keychain, three replica Eddie Van Halen guitar picks, six art postcards, and the exclusive “Glitter” picture disc.

The other side of the record contains a spoken-word selection taken from Alex's new interviews for the book.

The Collector edition is currently listed at a £345 preorder price, with a £385 publication price. The first 350 Deluxe copies have already been allocated, leaving Collector copies numbered 351 through 1,500. Genesis says two-thirds of the entire edition had already been spoken for ahead of publication.

So if you're primarily interested in hearing “Glitter” on an official physical release, you're effectively buying an expensive collector's book to get one record.

And that's where this gets interesting.

Is the Record Music, or Is It a Collectible?

I love physical media partly because records can turn music into artifacts.

An original pressing isn't simply a delivery mechanism for audio. It comes from a particular place and time. The label, mastering, deadwax, jacket, inserts, and even the wear accumulated over decades become part of its story.

“Glitter” takes that idea in the opposite direction.

This isn't a surviving 1974 single.

It's a 2026 physical object containing a recording from 1974.

And the way it is being released seems designed to give that recording context.

The picture disc uses artwork inspired by Van Halen's 1984 tour design. It's packaged alongside Alex's history of the band, archival photographs, memorabilia, and reproductions of objects from the Van Halen archive.

You're not simply being sold a song.

You're being sold a piece of the Van Halen story.

For some collectors, that will make the package more desirable.

For others, it creates the obvious question:

Why not release the music separately?

Historically Important Music Shouldn't Have to Be Expensive

This is where I'm conflicted.

I understand why Genesis Publications would want something genuinely exclusive for a 1,500-copy signed collector's edition. A previously unreleased Van Halen recording is about as compelling an extra as you could put inside the box.

And unlike another colored-vinyl variation of an album collectors already own, this record contains music that has never received an official release.

That's significant.

But that is also exactly why I wish there were a more accessible way to hear it.

This isn't an alternate cover or a numbered version of an existing record. It's reportedly the earliest Van Halen recording ever officially released.

That's music history.

Making the physical artifact collectible is one thing. Making the recording itself exclusive is another.

There is a perfectly reasonable middle ground: give collectors the limited picture disc while eventually making “Glitter” available digitally or as part of a broader archival Van Halen release.

The people spending hundreds on the book would still own something genuinely scarce.

Everyone else could hear the music.

What Else Is Sitting in the Van Halen Archive?

That's ultimately the question “Glitter” leaves me with.

Alex Van Halen's book was created with access to his private archive and includes previously unseen photography, correspondence, memorabilia, and other material documenting the band's rise.

If a 1974 recording like “Glitter” survives, what else is there?

Early rehearsals? Alternate demos? Different arrangements? Live tapes? Studio material that never progressed far enough to become a finished Van Halen song?

Eddie Van Halen died in 2020, which inevitably changes how any archival material involving him will be approached. There should be care around what gets released and why.

But there is also tremendous historical value in hearing great musicians before they became great musicians.

“Glitter” isn't interesting because anyone expects 1974 Van Halen to sound better than the band that made Van Halen four years later.

It's interesting because they weren't that band yet.

They were still figuring it out.

That's the part of an artist's story we rarely get to hear.

A 52-Year Journey to a 7-Inch Record

In 1974, “Glitter” helped a young band try to get gigs.

In 2026, the same recording is being pressed onto a limited picture disc and packaged inside a signed collector's edition documenting that band's history.

Nobody making that recording in Pasadena could possibly have imagined where it would end up.

That's what makes this release fascinating.

I'm less interested in whether the 7-inch becomes valuable than I am in hearing four young musicians before the world knew what Van Halen would become.

Collectors who buy the book will get that opportunity first.

I just hope 1,500 copies aren't the last opportunity everyone else gets to hear it.