Van Halen

[Vyn]

I've never been a big VH fan (or small one), never saw them in concert. I have all of their studio releases up through the one with the kid angel smoking a cigarette (brain not functioning on all cylinders for obvious reasons), but nothing thereafter. There are a couple of songs I think are OK that they did with Sammy Hagar, don't know their names though.

Eddie was obviously a talented guitarist. Alex always struck me as a dickhead human being whose drumming could be replaced by any random small rodent they found and tossed on the drum kit. Michael was an all around impressive guy; nothing spectacular but a competant bass player who also had some vocal chops. Plus he struck me as down to earth as a person.

The replacement people they brought in I don't care one way or the other except for Sammy. I thought he was stellar in Montrose, had a couple of OK songs as a solo artist, and seemed like a nice guy who understood the business and tried to play that game to the extent he was capable. The whole "Red Rocker" shtick never sat well with me, and I think he has an easy time telling stories using facts that are malleable.

David Lee Roth - holy smokes what a character. I could never make out what type of of human being he was off stage, he always seemed to be ON. I never liked his vocals and think most everything the band did would have been better with someone else on the mic. By this point though they'd sound stupid with someone else singing them just via repeatedly hearing them, and there are a few that I think fit him fine (Atomic Punk comes to mind). HOWEVER, as a front man he was solid gold. Er, DIamond Dave, I suppose lol. He could draw attention to himself with no problems at all.

I caught a headline about the band earlier this morning and felt the urge to mouth off about them a bit. There's really no point I'm trying to make.

[Charger]

I have to say I have never liked Van Halen...always bit too pop rocky commercial stuff for my liking.

Eddie sure was a great guitarist but I always thought he wasted his talent with a band that soft. He could have been a brilliant heavy metal guitarist, or maybe bluesy hard rock. But that poppy rock of Van Halen wasn't right.
By all accounts he was a pretty nice fellow. I know nothing about Alex...ro Michael for that matter.

I do not own a single one of their albums, nor do I have any desire to own one. I hear them on the radio enough.

David Lee Roth seems to be a front man with a capitol F. But like you said I'm not sure his stage persona ever gets turned off...and that is bit off putting to be honest. He doesn't strike me as a humble fellow!

[Typhon]

I do own 4 CDs by VH, but only for the 2 or 3 hit songs on each, which are a part of my custom mixed CDs that I normally play while driving.  2 are with Roth and 2 with Hagar.  3 songs I especially like are:

And The Cradle Will Rock, Everybody Wants Some (Roth), Poundcake (Hagar).

I did see them in concert once.  Back in the 1990s, a friend of mine, who was a big VH fan, didn't want to go alone, so I went with him.  The band did put on a decent show.

[Thelemech]

I LOVE Van Halen with Diamond Dave and Eddie is my third favorite guitar player just behind Tony Iommi and Jimmy Page
I think that Fair Warning is a perfect album and the debut was like a nuclear bomb for guitar playing
I don't like much of Van Hagar but I am a fan of Sammy especially with Montrose
I just feel that Hagar brought to much commercialism into Van Halen
What do I know as all the Van Hagar sold like gangbusters

[Zzzptm]

David Lee Roth really was the heart of Van Halen. He suggested the name, he built the image, and he was key behind the scenes in making business decisions. He drove the band's successes up until 1984 (both the year and the album). When Eddie Van Halen built his own studio and had the band record there, he asserted creative control and brought in all the keys and synths that Roth didn't want.

Roth had no problem doing poppy standards re-worked as hard rock tunes. Eddie Van Halen *did* have a problem with that. Roth did his Crazy from the Heat EP in 1985 with Louis Prima tunes as the singles - totally the opposite of what Eddie wanted and 100% of what David Lee Roth wanted. The two parted ways shortly thereafter...

In 2004, Roth got certified as an EMT and rode in ambulances for 911 calls. He also had a bluegrass band for a while. Those last two things I found cool about Roth, so he's my favorite VH member.

***

Sammy Hagar... much more pop-oriented and what Eddie Van Halen wanted. For a while. At least he wasn't that dude from Extreme... that one was *awful*...