Can we discuss Van Hagar reasonably?

I've seen VH live in their various incarnations 9 times. Seen 'em drunk, wasted on ???? and stone cold sober. I walked out on a show where Gary Cherone was singing after 4 tunes. Eddie was not in good form either for that gig. I think by far their best stuff was with Sammy, simply because they could play Sammy's solo stuff and it more or less fit right in. And once they started playing better, the crowd would just go apeshit listening to EVH & Sammy trade off on lead guitar parts. Especially on tunes like I can't drive 55.
 
I liked both versions,appreciated the differences of both versionsand saw both versions in concert a few times. I felt the 5150 and OU812 tours to be vastly superior to the 1984 tour as during the 1984 tour they werent a 'band' just a group of individuals onstage. Sammy really pulled some great stuff from Eddie both on the studio and especially live.
I was a very big Sammy Hagar fan before he joined Van Halen,and yeah it was VERY cool to hear VH play the hell out of some of Sammy's tunes
 
Liked both versions, but liked the version w/Roth better, way better. Big pre-VH Hagar fan too, especially w/Montrose.
 
THe problem was when Sammy came in (love Sammy) is the rock and roll scene was changing and I truly believe that they were pressured to tone down the music and write more ballady stuff by the label. I have seen VH in both ways many times and Dave was great in the early 80's and then he went all stupid and rightly enough got the boot, Sammy was the best thing that happened after Dave, however only live. Their live show was the shit! I love some of the recorded tunes, but the live shows were great as Sammy is a great singer, guitarist, and showman and with the rest of the band it was AMAZING live! It wasn't all about Sammy either like it was with Dave. Everyone got their just rewards and recognition. Hell why do you think Michael Anthony left with Sammy? He didn't want the brother drama any more or to be the odd man out or kept in the corner of the stage, hell he was finally having fun.
 
The Crusher said:
THe problem was when Sammy came in (love Sammy) is the rock and roll scene was changing and I truly believe that they were pressured to tone down the music and write more ballady stuff by the label. I have seen VH in both ways many times and Dave was great in the early 80's and then he went all stupid and rightly enough got the boot, Sammy was the best thing that happened after Dave, however only live. Their live show was the shit! I love some of the recorded tunes, but the live shows were great as Sammy is a great singer, guitarist, and showman and with the rest of the band it was AMAZING live! It wasn't all about Sammy either like it was with Dave. Everyone got their just rewards and recognition. Hell why do you think Michael Anthony left with Sammy? He didn't want the brother drama any more or to be the odd man out or kept in the corner of the stage, hell he was finally having fun.
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I remember watching Eddie and Sammy first play together at Farm Aid and loved it. Sammy is a great singer. According to everything Eddie said at the time, Dave was a HUGE limiting factor in the music he wrote and recorded. Eddie always wanted to incorporate more keys and write with a greater range, but Dave was not only against...he was vehemently against it. Of course the 1984 album proved him wrong, 5150 proved him wronger, and Right Now proved him wrongest. Sammy was very supportive of Eddie's creativity and music. He only ever had a problem with Eddie's lack of control with booze and it effecting performances and then how poorly he perceived his treatment by the guys after Balance. They "reunion" tour he did with them coincided with the beginning of Eddie seeming to hit rock bottom and it's unlikely those wounds will heal anytime soon. But I digress and I think Eddie just wrote as he always did, but Sammy wasn't rejecting anything. He worked with Eddie on melodies and wrote lyrics...which like Dave's were mostly awful (if not fun).
 
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