Records sales Dave vs Sam

[Nickdfresh]

Incidentally, I think it is worth mentioning that at one time (and I haven't been there is ages due to the complete uselessness of it) the official Van Halen website actually had each of the albums' official RIAA sales figures when you clicked on their icon-album cover pic. A few years back (2006 0r 2007?), someone changed the site and took that out as they airbrushed Michael Anthony out of the band, sadly...

[GAR]

Nick brings up a very good point: one could say Sammy sold more Roth-era VH by the publics' distaste for the bait-n-switch hype 5150 created from the back-pressure of 1984's success.

I hadn't thought of it that way, that's a good point NIck. I remember so many kids anticipating the next album, then wondering if Sammy was gonna get kicked out before 5150 was done.

And then, the disappointment cometh like camping in the a tent with split-seams and waking in the morning with Wet Blanket Syndrome. That was really fucked up seeing Sammy Hagar's poufy fucked up Bette Midler dyed curls heaped high on his head like a boufant-coiffed bitch fresh from the stylists spouting bullshit about how bad Roth was: one look in the mirror shoulda told that fucker something about what bullshitting is!

So many people prior to 1984 that didn't know about Van Halen, got their AHA moment of discovery with 1984. Then upon not finding the same thing in 5150, they bought the back catalogue.

Then another Sammy album, and another Sammy. I imagine alot of people waited for Roth to return eventually because this then became two very different band eras, with declining sales throught the period and the production was definately affected. More keyboards, shittier guitar sounds without real engineering done.. none of those tunes I've checked sound like Van Halen.

Me Wise Magic and CGTSNM sound somewhat like the old stuff, but recorded so thin that I really have no faith in any 5150-recorded new album. Even Andy Johns taught him this shit about room dimensions affecting the standing wave resonant frequencies decades ago- so what did Ed do? Brings out the garage back another 10 feet adding another 200 sq ft - but then adds more junk winding up with about the same space as he started with.

It's never going to sound good at 5150 and I hope Roth can get him to drag some stacks over to Hensons' orginal A and M Studio A room. That thing's huge, it's sounds beautiful and there's some resident engineers there that know how to get great tones in that room, just over the hill from 5150. He could record there in the A room, then mix it in Garage 5150.

EVH should call that crappy garage 5169 because he's fucked himself into thinking recordings coming out of there sound any good when the math of tuning the room frequencies don't lie.

[GAR]

AH That's the beauty of mathematics: you smoke 12 rocks of crack before lunch then go eat at 10pm, then come back and wonder "where did my 20 rocks of crack go - somebody took my shit." Unless you are sober, or can get the original pure coke from the source, you'll think down is up and everyone else is wrong including the CIA agents and ninja assasins hiding in the hillside.

[BITEYOASS]

Well, Sam might have a point. He DID drive people to nostalgia and to buy the better version of Van Halen...

Another factor to consider is that everyone's first copy of the six-pack albums were either worn, stolen or broken. Thus people had to buy another copy during the spamster era, which is the reason why that bridge troll drone tries to add those numbers into his sales.

The bottom-line, Spammy didn't attract people to his version of Van Halen, he repelled them away from it.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Here are the U.S. sales for the first 6 VH albums, during the Hagarita era....

Van Halen I - 5 million
Van Halen II - 2 million
Women and Children First - 1 million
Fair Warning - 1 million
Diver Down - 2 million
1984 - 5 million

[Nickdfresh]

Another factor to consider is that everyone's first copy of the six-pack albums were either worn, stolen or broken. Thus people had to buy another copy during the spamster era, which is the reason why that bridge troll drone tries to add those numbers into his sales.

The bottom-line, Spammy didn't attract people to his version of Van Halen, he repelled them away from it.

Yeah. I've bought 1984 three times alone: on cassette, original CD, and the Remaster. I recently found my VHII on vinyl.

[VHscraps]

Here are the U.S. sales for the first 6 VH albums, during the Hagarita era....

Van Halen I - 5 million
Van Halen II - 2 million
Women and Children First - 1 million
Fair Warning - 1 million
Diver Down - 2 million
1984 - 5 million

That makes interesting reading. And, of course, Hagar liked to say that the old catalogue continued selling because Van Hagar was so successful that it kinda pulled it along - but that's bullshit. For a start it's forgetting that the Diamond One was also a platinum act - certainly from Crazy From the Heat to Skyscraper. DLR was very high profile, especially in 85-88, and got the cover of Rolling Stone on his own before he quit Van Halen (well, by the time it was published, it was onlya few months before he split).

And, let's not forget that by the end of 1984 with Roth in the band, VH had risen to much higher levels of popularity and public awareness. So, Hagar was just a lucky guy to get in on a winning brand. DLR, especially considering his work in fronting the public profile of the band, had done more than any of the others to make its name. That's one thing that Ed never got - no matter how great he was as a player, without Dave pushing the band on all levels he might just have been another guy that got passed over.

I guess there's probably a lot of sales to be accounted for fans replacing old vinyl as they moved to CD, but I've gotta say that as a Van Halen fan of 30-plus years I only bought the first six albums on CD last month!!

[Seshmeister]

Here are the U.S. sales for the first 6 VH albums, during the Hagarita era....

Van Halen I - 5 million
Van Halen II - 2 million
Women and Children First - 1 million
Fair Warning - 1 million
Diver Down - 2 million
1984 - 5 million

This means that once you add in Roth solo sales not only did Roth completely outsell Hagar prior to Van Hagar he also outsold him whilst he was in Van Hagar.

[GAR]

Not if Hagar's claims to those 16 ml are true so let's look at this:

Sammy sing on any of the first six? NO

Done. FUCK you Sammy Hagar.

[Blaze]

Hagar was a fluke.
once the wedge was driven into the bolder called Van Halen it should have crushed the rock.
It didn't, but the little troll called the industry pedestaled Van Halen. Roth thunk too much and noted too many making accounting a hassle.
Even with the dampers closed on Roth, he still through sheer tenacity kept leaving blazes along the trail of his.
And that little fving troll kept getting his feet burned when he would try to stop out a marker.

SignedDelphian

[Anonymous]

Reading is "fun"damental. So is spelling. Unfortunately, you can't do either.

Surely this email was a joke. No one could possibly create that many run on sentences and grammatical errors in one sitting. I feel like there must be a key needed to read it like those puzzles in the newspaper.

Quiet, peasant.

Show some respeck when talking to the Vu. He millionaire.

Cheers! :bottle:

[stringfelowhawk]

I don't know how many times I've worn my VH t-shirt out and get asked who I preferred more. Every now and again I run across a Van Hagar fan that thinks he has the satisfaction (in his own mind) of telling me off by throwing out Hambone's "I sold more records" argument then claiming they had more success with Hagar. I ask them to go look up the facts at RIAA.com before looking as much like a douche as the guy they're defending. Some agree to and some refuse so they can continue to use the same argument in the future under the guise of "plausible deniability". Especially if they get called on their bullshit again.
But the thing that shuts them up quick is when I gently explain to them that Sammy Hagar is the Steve Young of rock. They both were handed runaway trains of success and proceeded to derail the motherf**ckers. Steve Young inherited a 14-2 team fresh off a NFC Championship game while Hambone inherited a multi-platinum band fresh off an extremely successful album held back from being a #1 by a little heard of juggernaut called "Thriller". Sure each one shared some level of success after being given the reigns. Steve Young did win a Superbowl but only after the front office spent a fortune to give him a one season wonder of a team that quickly disbanded in the offseason. And he was never good enough to lead them back to another Superbowl win. Sam had a few #1 albums but his highest selling with the band was riding the tsunami of 1984 as was evidenced when each new album sold less. Neither attained the same level of respect and admiration as their predecessors because they didn't deserve it. The biggest reason being they just weren't as good. Not to say they weren't good in their own right. They just didn't fit in. They didn't have that ever so elusive "IT" factor. Of course the only place Sam fits in is among his flock being the sheep he is. All I'm saying is they didn't have to build anything. The success was already there for them. All they had to do was not f*ck it up yet they both rode it to their respective HOF's. And IMHO Young is NO Marino so if you take that bought SB ring of his away he's not HOF. If you take away the six pack the only way Sam Hagar gets in the HOF is if he buys a ticket.

[Dave's Bitch]

Tom Vu? didnt you die years ago?

[Cato]

Tom, don't you know where Tokyo Magnum is?

[Dave's Bitch]

I don't know how many times I've worn my VH t-shirt out and get asked who I preferred more. Every now and again I run across a Van Hagar fan that thinks he has the satisfaction (in his own mind) of telling me off by throwing out Hambone's "I sold more records" argument then claiming they had more success with Hagar.

i had a VERY odd experience with a Sammy fan. So im walkin' down the street minding my own in my Fair Warning tour shirt i got (i cut it so its some off the shoulder ensemble, anyway its fucking hot), and i got these boots on that are kinda dave like, bandana and the works when i notice this guy staring at me. anyway i carry on my way and this dude is following me. So i get to the lights and stop and this guy catches me up and says "hey,like your shirt, you like VH?" so yea i gave this guy the time of day and he says "yea i love van halen, Sammy was so fucking cool" and im thinking ah shit. so i Say's i like dave and this guy goes fucking crazy, he brings out the record sales and starts telling me Sam made VH what they are and all that jive.

Sammy fans are weird....