Quote Originally Posted by FORD View Post
Michael McDonald did to the Doobies what Hagar did to Van Halen, so it's really not much of a surprise that he played a role in ruining Van Halen as well. If "Jump" & "I'll Wait" hadn't been successful on commercial radio, it probably would have been the end of Eddie's synthesizer fetish. Instead it was the beginning of the end of Van Halen.

Also not a coincidence.... McDonald started out as the keyboard player in Steely Dan. So he learned how to suck from professional lame musicians.
Yeah, but the synth stuff was something Eddie was interested in exploring, so while doubtless Hagar and McDonald (and Landee, and Mick Jones for 5150) contributed to the softening of Van Halen's sound, that direction was one Eddie wanted to head toward. I mean, one can't blame McDonald or Mick Jones for synth pap like When It's Love or So Good.

Didn't much care for Jump or I'll Wait at the time, though truth be told I wasn't too crazy about Roth's big band stuff a la Coconut Grove or I'm Easy or That's Life, either...so I dunno if having, say, Van Halen essay The Midnight Hour on 1984 would have pleased me any better than the synth stuff. I wasn't crazy about their cover of Dancing In The Streets on Diver Down, and the consensus seems to be that Roth heard the synth riff for that and suggested Van Halen use that for the basis of covering that Martha And The Vandellas tune.

Plus, I like Steely Dan...and Michael McDonald. Even the McDonald-era Dobbie stuff I like. Can't say I like the Hagar-era Van Halen stuff, but I don't lay the majority of the blame for how Van Hagar turned out solely at Sammy's feet...half, maybe...certainly in terms of the schmaltzy lyrics, Sammy gets 100% credit for that tripe.