Van Halen, Joe Satriani and More Included in Auction of Rare Live Tapes

1/10 Update: Perhaps we should have expected this: the auction has been removed from eBay.

Got a pile of extra cash burning a hole in your pocket, a DAT player and a jones for some rare rock 'n' roll? Here's your chance to put it all to good use.

A treasure trove of DAT tapes from the private collection of producer Andy Johns has made its way onto eBay, and while the price of ownership is steep -- the opening bid on the auction is set at $500 -- the rewards seem tantalizingly high: This lot includes a pile of performances from Van Halen, Joe Satriani, Jack Bruce, Cinderella, Jason Bonham and others.

The auction has attracted the attention of Van Halen traders, who speculate it may include performances recorded for the band's 'Right Here, Right Now' live album, but these tapes should also be of interest to Satriani fans -- they appear to include demos and work tapes from sessions for 1992's 'The Extremist' -- as well as anyone who's interested in acquiring rarities recorded by British heavy metal outfit Killer Dwarfs (or, for that matter, unreleased material from the awesomely named Texas band Titty Bingo).

Whatever these tapes contain, they've got to be well worth a listen if for no other reason than the involvement of Johns, who acquired a lengthy and impressive list of credits (including a string of Led Zeppelin records and the Rolling Stones classic 'Exile on Main Street') before his untimely passing from complications of a stomach ulcer in 2013.

Of course, the legality of owning, distributing or trading these recordings is another matter entirely, but if you can afford to buy them, the temptation might very well outweigh the risk. Here's hoping whoever wins this auction lets the rest of us know how this stuff sounds.

You Think You Know Van Halen?

See Yearbook Photos of David Lee Roth and Other Rockers