Ok, my favorite era of Van Halen is the David Lee Roth era. Dave *WAS* the ultimate front man. It didn't matter if he didn't sing the entire song. Everyone just enjoyed being in his presence. Girls wanted to screw him and the guys wanted to be him. I don't think for one second that Eddie Van Halen was the driving force behind Van Halen. Him and Dave were responsible for their success. Just as many people went to see Dave as went to see Eddie. Remember, not everyone in the crowd is a musician. As for the problems within the band.....I tend to think the problems were more with Dave and Alex than with Dave and Eddie. I spent a week with Van Halen back in 1998. Granted, I don't live with the guys, but you can get a sense of people if you spend a little time around them. Eddie Van Halen, without his guitar, is a quiet little dude that is in his own little world. Don't believe for one second that Eddie is the leader of that group. Alex is in charge, no two ways about it. Alex says "jump" and Eddie asks "how high?". I picked that up straight away watching them interact with each other. So, my personal opinion is that the problems were between Dave and Alex. Not to mention Dave screwing Alex's wife added a little tension there. Back to music, Eddie on his own is a disaster. Listen to the 1997 release of VHIII with Gary Cherone. That has got to be one of the worst albums ever made. Eddie was in total control of everything in the studio for that album and he failed miserably. As much as I dislike Sammy Hagar, I throw up in my mouth a little just saying his name, I have to say that he and Dave kept Eddie on a leash in the studio and reeled him in when he started to stray. If anything, their hit songs need to give a lot of credit to the vocalists. Dave and Sammy made a lot of suggestions in the studio that kept Eddie from going off to his own little world. Imagine Mean Streets being played on the keyboards as Eddie wanted to do. Dave totally kicked his ass over that one, and thank God he did. I'm kind of jumping all over the place but one more thing, Dave is a shrewd business man. He got them to a lot of places they never would have gotten to without him.
Sammy Hagar, uggggghhh, can't stand him. But, I'll give him credit, he took Van Halen to a new high. Although, with the success of Jump, Panama and Hot For Teacher I believe they were going to new heights after that regardless. But, I will give Sammy credit. As a vocalist, yes, he has much more range than Dave. Dave is an entertainer, but that doesn't mean he can't sing. If you see any Sammy era live shows the vintage songs sound like crap with his voice on them. Dave had an attitude and a swagger that made those tunes special. As for Sammy being a proper song writer, I take issue with that. Lyrics like "She has legs up to her lunch pail" are just flat out crude and immature. And there are a lot of Sammy era lyrics similar to that. So, no, I don't give Sammy any credit there.
My opinion, 2 different bands that shouldn't be compared but if I had to choose one I'd go with DLR. That's when they were fun. Like Dave said on Howard Stern "With Sammy era Van Halen you need a therapist and warm milk with cookies. With Dave era Van Halen you need a condom and a drivers side air bag" HA!!! That is exactly right. God bless David Lee Roth.
Now, with all my dislike for Sammy, who I think can do stand ins for Bette Midler after he retires, my favorite Van Halen album is F.U.C.K. Yes, a Sammy era album is my favorite. But it's because of Eddie. His tone on that album is monstrous. That's when he was firmly using Ernie Ball guitars and recording through Soldano amps. His guitar is just massive. I love it. And he also sounds like he was enjoying what he was doing.
But the Dave era of VH was the best, hands down......in my opinion. I'm sure there are plenty out there that preferred the latter. And that's just fine. We all can't like the same thing.
Also, if anyone has the "Van Halen Encyclopedia" open up to the credits section and look about half way down the list. The names are in alphabetical order. If you'd like me to sign it send it on. HAHAHAHA!!!
MULLY
arty07: :headbang1:
