My opinion...
David Lee Roth is an entertainer. He is lucky to sing in tune while live in concert and has probably never wrote a single note of music in his life.
Sammy Hagar is a musician and an entertainer. Plays guitar, sings and writes songs. And sings in tune 99.8% of the time.
I loved both versions of VH. I know I sound like a DLR hater, but I don't. Just being honest. I also have an opinion that they each prefer different sexes/groupies after the show, but that is not a big deal lol.
As someone who enjoyed/enjoys both the DLR and SH VH eras, as well as the Gary Cherone era -- so long as Eddie was in the fold, it was still Van Halen to me -- I'll say this much in defense of Diamond Dave, he was willing to experiment with different styles - Sinatra era music, ballads, and traditional rock - as a solo artist and was successful.
As for the Red Rocker, after listening to Standing Hampton and Three Lock Box for the first time in a while, I don't believe that SH's solo work, at least pre-Vagar, exactly screams Big Hair Rock, at least not in the vain of Poison or Motley Crue.
I'd equate SH's solo work with Billy Squier, who may have peaked in popularity right around the time that the Big Hair era began.
Anyway, as many of you know, the band's latest album with DLR, A Different Kind of Truth, was released last year to both Critical and commercial success.
Plus, Sammy Hagar has continued to front the relatively successful band Chickenfoot. So it all worked out well.
Fun fact: Van Halen has charted the most #1 hits in the history of Billboard's Mainstream Rock. And that's not even counting their work before March of '81, when Billboard began charting individual Rock tracks. It is a safe bet that the band would have garnered more #1 Rock hits if the chart would have existed prior to the aforementioned date.
Whatever you do, do your best to not allow the struggles of life to interfere with the pleasures of living.
Kinda, but hair bands were dying out. As with all trends, it had been milked to the point of absurdity. Winger, Vixen...the end was coming, grunge or no grunge.For the record, Grunge did effectively remove Big Hair Rock from the forefront. And Rap Rock/Metal effectively forced the hand of AOR stations, resulting in many a switch to Classic Rock. I don't believe that either are even up for debate.
Grunge met the same fate. Nirvana and Pearl Jam were awesome, Smashing Pumpkins great, and then let's try to get a broader audience with the Gin Blossoms and off we go over the cliff.
The hair bands did themselves in. Grunge arose from a market need for new direction, which music always go through.
Starts off new and raw, then the suits come in and ruin it.
Though , really, since about 2002, I can't tell the difference between any of it...
I once saw Kip Winger in a bookstore, a few hours before his concert in Charleston, reading a magazine that he was on the cover of. He was also wearing a hand-painted jacket with Winger's logo. Somehow I've always thought this said it all about hair metal.
fwiw, no one bothered him by asking for autographs and such.
On another note, Sammy Hagar seemed like a completely different animal in the early days. I think the alien abductions messed him up a bit. Spaceships can't drive 55, you know.
Last edited by marcshoe; 04-05-2013 at 12:59 PM.
It is on the whole probable that we continually dream, but that consciousness makes such a noise that we do not hear it. Carl Jung.
The Gin Blossoms classified as Grunge?Grunge met the same fate. Nirvana and Pearl Jam were awesome, Smashing Pumpkins great, and then let's try to get a broader audience with the Gin Blossoms and off we go over the cliff.
The rest of your points are spot-on, IMO.
Last edited by Revering4Blue; 04-05-2013 at 11:15 PM.
Whatever you do, do your best to not allow the struggles of life to interfere with the pleasures of living.
The Gin Blossoms were initially on the Channel Z playlist- they mixed alternative with grunge.
And to clarify, I don't think they were grunge, but they were sold that way and played on stations that played the more accesible singles from grunge bands.
Which sort of plays to my point- it starts off edgy and fresh and then the suits capitalize on it by widening the audience with stuff that is less edgy but palatable.
To what you are saying maybe the Gin Blossoms would be considered phoney alternative...I just remember hearing "Mrs. Rita" alongside the Pumpkins and Pearl Jam.
Last edited by Dom Heffner; 04-06-2013 at 01:18 AM.
Revering4Blue (04-07-2013)
I am always fascinated by how "fans" view artists.
I guess I am weird because I like all versions of Hagar and I loved Van Halen with both singers. Roth was hard to take in the moment due to his ego but in hindsight his work is superior to Sammy's. Having said that I adore 5150.
I can see how a hardcore fan would loate something like "Love Walks In," but Hagar did give them a sense of melody that Roth could never, ever deliver.
I didn't mind Van Hagar that much, but I didn't think the band was as interesting as it had been. I thought "Love Walks in" was a good song, and there were others. They were unquestionably
Eddie's band at that point.
It is on the whole probable that we continually dream, but that consciousness makes such a noise that we do not hear it. Carl Jung.
When I heard Hagar was replacing Diamond Dave, I was pretty excited. I wanted, really wanted, to love 5150. I played it numerous times. For whatever reason, I was always left disappointed. The album was just okay to me. Of course, 1984 was a tough act to follow. And then each successive album seemed a little more stale to me. Van Halen, IMO, definitely went downhill after David Lee Roth left.
I always thought it didn't matter if Roth left or not. Eddie was going to go in that poppier direction no matter who the singer was. You can hear the start of it on 1984. A song like "I'll Wait" wouldn't have fit on Fair Warning but in the context of the 1984 album it sounds just fine.
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Barry On Baseball Also blogging at Banished to the Pen.
I will.
I've been a Squier fan from day one. The fact that he went Richard Simmons on us in the "Rock Me Tonite" video did nothing to change that.
And, contrary to popular belief, even though it may have resulted in a quite a few Billy Squier bumper stickers ripped off of Cameros and Firebirds all across the Country, said video did not end his career. Billy Squier still managed to crank out quite a few AOR hits up until 1993. Squier was never a major factor on Top 40/Pop radio, anyway.
I was fortunate enough to have witnessed Billy Squier in concert on the Signs Of Life tour -Ratt opened for him. It was one of the best Concerts that I've ever attended.
Last edited by Revering4Blue; 04-07-2013 at 10:56 PM.
Whatever you do, do your best to not allow the struggles of life to interfere with the pleasures of living.
Two legendary artists who have been away (figuratively speaking) for awhile are back on Rock Radio with new music.
Deep Purple - Hell To Pay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yiw43Ypugdk
Eric Clapton - Gotta Get Over
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BekPxUFDDU
I'll post some lost AOR hits this week.
Whatever you do, do your best to not allow the struggles of life to interfere with the pleasures of living.
What if this is as good as it gets?
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