I hear this argument a lot that "it was all about Eddie" so it didn't matter who the singer was. Nothing could be further from the truth. In the golden days of Van Halen, Roth was the point guard. He was the one who kept everybody bought in and focused on the mission. Ed was incredibly insecure who falsely thought he could lead a band. He has one specialty and he does a hell of a job at that. He should've stuck to being one of the greatest instrumentalists in the history of the sport. His little makeshift home studio ruined the Classic Van Halen.
I always thought that a big reason why Ed never wanted to work with Dave again until 2007 was because he would have to compete again. He couldn't just order the singer around like he tried to do after 1985 and eventually did with Cherone. Or that the music would be so good that it would make him look like a fool for ever calling it "Van Halen" without Dave.
All in all, just a lot of wasted years and opportunity to become one of THE greatest bands ever - they still are in my opinion - but the average listener just lumps VH in with the Def Leppards, Motley Crue's and Poison's of the world. That's a shame because the real lineup was legitimately one of the greatest ever. By the time they got Dave back in '07 they were just a nostalgia act.