Originally Posted by
Von Halen
There were several issues with Van Hagar. The cheesy lyrics and Clichegar sounding pretty much the same on all the songs are a couple. But I think the biggest issue is, the songs just came too easy. I don't think they put in the work on the songs with Clichegar, that they did with Dave. Also, there really wasn't any conflict or aggression in most of those songs. I don't think it is a coincidence that the consensus among most is, Humans Being is probably one of the best songs of the Van Hagar era. Before the horrific few songs they did in 2004, Humans Being was the last song they wrote together. There was massive tension at that time, as it was the end of the road for Van Hagar. I think it makes a big difference when everything isn't always fun and games, and you're not all on the same page, even though you all have the same goal.
Not to mention my age old theory on what every great band needs, and that is chemistry. Van Hagar had okay chemistry, but Van Halen had knockdown drag out chemistry. Chemistry that was developed over many years of hard work, and playing anything and everything. It's the reason Dave era Van Halen can cover virtually any song ever written and Van Halenize it making it their own. Not many bands can cover any song, and make it as great or greater than it was originally. Dave era Van Halen could do that. I attribute that to Dave more than the Van Halens, but they also played a lot of different styles of stuff in their youth, and it helped them immensely. I do not believe Dave had great chemistry with the EEAS band, as I don't believe Van Hagar had great chemistry. For all the yapping by the ched heads about how great Clichegar's range is, and how much better of a singer than Dave he is, he cannot cover just anything. Clichegar can only cover stuff that is in his type of singing. Dave can cover ANYHING, and if it's not great, it's still pretty fucking good. I mean look at all the stuff Dave has covered over the years. Solo and with VH. He fucking nails everything.
Ray once told me when he was in the DLR Band, they'd go sit out in Dave's backyard and Dave would bring out a ghetto blaster with all different genres of music. They would sit out there and work on, and jam those songs for hours and hours, learning every single thing about them. He said Dave was adamant about being both versatile, and diverse. Dave also demanded that of Van Halen. Whether or not the VH brothers would admit that was a big part of their success, I don't know. But as Greg wrote about in his book, those guys worked their asses off honing their craft. Playing everywhere and anywhere. They never did, or had to do that, with Clichegar. They were already established, and so was he. The effort just wasn't there.