As the story goes, the clip was shot by Italian television in the midst of the band’s European tour at the end of 1981. The location was the “Prehistoric Park” of Rivolta D’Adda, near Milan, and the video aired on a clip show curated by the Italian government’s state TV network.

 

“These videos aired on Italian state television, RAI 1, during a TV show called Happy Circus,” states the YouTube description. “Van Halen Italia Fan Club found those video clips and shares them with fans all over the world.”

 

In the video, the band plays along to the Fair Warning track “So Is This Love?” while a lip-syncing David Lee Roth struts around and straddles a brontosaurus statue. It’s delightfully low budget, filmed by the television network without the frills that VAN HALEN would soon display during the heyday of MTV.

 

For hardcore fans, it wraps up one of the biggest mysteries in the band’s lore. In 1995, Jeff Hausman of The Van Halen News Desk fan page initially discovered bizarre photos depicting the members of VAN HALEN performing amidst a dinosaur park. Though it was apparent the images were taken on the set of a music video, nobody knew the exact context or if the footage still existed.

 

You can watch the VAN HALEN dinosaur clip below.