Serious question...What has SAMMY HAGAR done that is actually any good?

[DLR Bridge]

Sam's best moment with VH was the song 5150. I think he gave that tune what it called for. Worst moment(s)? I've only got an hour lunch so...

[FORD]

I bought several of Hagar's albums over the years, before I realized what a right wing douchebag he was. About the only one I can stand to listen to now is the Montrose debut album.

[Romeo Delight]

In terms of the Van Hagar catalogue, I always thought that Finish what you started sounded like something fairly organic and not something where Sam is trying too hard to fit in.

5150 was cool, but I think it is more of the riff that I like than anything else. (Don't tell me) what love can do was ok too, probably becasue you can feel the tension in the recording as Ed questioned Sam's choice of lyrics on that tune.

[Romeo Delight]

Humans Being, like you said RIKK was good probably because they hated each other at that point and at least there is that emotion in the recording. Everything else was just a big homogenized love fest.

[fryingdutchman]

Hagar is very much a US localised problem.

I don't know what about that line struck me so fucking funny...but I almost fell off the chair!

However, Sammy is a also a problem for the good citizens of Mexico.

[fryingdutchman]

Oh....and I almost forgot.

Fuck Sammy because he's the "Red Rocker." I don't think there's ever been a more retarded moniker in all of rock and roll....or in all of history for that matter. And the fact that he had to bestow that nickname upon himself because nobody cared enough about his limp dick music to come up with one for him makes it even worse.

Anybody or any group of people who base their persona(s) around a color are douche nozzles....which means the following can also fuck off:

1. The Green Lantern
2. The Green Hornet
3. The Blue Man Group
4. Red Rider (and all members of their "Lunatic Fringe")

Feel free to add to the list!

[Nitro Express]

I bought several of Hagar's albums over the years, before I realized what a right wing douchebag he was. About the only one I can stand to listen to now is the Montrose debut album.

I thought Sammy was implying he was a communist by calling himself the Red Rocker.

[VHscraps]

First off - I hate what happened to VH because he became the singer of my favourite band. There's no doubt, in my mind that he ruined VH (with the help of EVH).

Second - what did he ever do in VH that was good?? Can't say much - I bought most of it at the time, still clinging on as a VH fan to what was left of the wreckage after DLR exited, right up to that turd of an album, 'Balance'.

I have never listed to any of that stuff since the mid-90s, and will never hear it again out of choice. But, I'll say that 'Human's Being'- the last song he did with VH - is the only song that I could probably listen to now, and not want to immediately hit the off switch. As someone said above, any merits that this tune might have was probably due to the fact that he and EVH hated each other by then. Van Hagar was, in general, a self-satisfied, creatively-lazy, over-successful entity - and the music, as a result, sounds dated and tired. Hagar left during the recording of 'Human's Being' and EVH had to finish the vocals (the growling at the end of the song, etc). Of all the tunes Hagar cut with them, in what I've heard, it is the only one that sounds halfway REAL.

I am not well disposed to the man, personally, in any way - he seems more like a banker than a rock'n'roller.

BUT - and I think it is a significant 'but', the first Montrose album in my view (and I owned it long before he became part of VH) is one of the all-time classic albums by a rock band. It is a million miles away from the MOR crap that marked his solo career.

So, I hate to admit it, 'cos I basically despise him now - but I think he did once do something good. The Montrose album was made in '73, and it didn't sound tired then, believe me. It ripped, and it still does when I listen to it - but that's as much to do with Ronnie Montrose, Denny Carmassi on drums and Bill Church on bass. But, the fact remains that Hagar basically wrote ALL the original tunes on the album (all but one, even though the originals have co-writer credits).

Montrose's Paper Money (1974) is another album I always liked - his last with Montrose. The songs 'Underground' and 'Connection' are particular favourites - produced, as with the first album, by Ted Templeman and engineered by Donn Landee. As with VH, as soon as he left that production team, the quality of his work diminished quickly.

Pre-Van Halen, I saw Hagar in '82 at the famed Glasgow Apollo Theatre in Scotland, and it kicked ass. the gig was half-empty, and - this is true - the ceiling was coming in (rain, water) and he played as if it was the LA Forum with a full-house.

So, I am able to leave aside my incredulity at what a douchebag he is (not to mention how lame his songs were during his solo career); but onstage, he and his band were good. Again, it pains me to have to say that!! Trust me. I'd rather say he flat-out sucked.

His live album from the late 70s is better than anything he did since Montrose, and better than any Van Hagar album. It was called All Night Long in the US and Loud'n'Clear in the UK.

I won't post links, pics or video clips - or I'll be in the Sheep Pen ...

[Seshmeister]

Pre-Van Halen, I saw Hagar in '82 at the famed Glasgow Apollo Theatre in Scotland, and it kicked ass.

I didn't know that and it's disturbing.

I can't dispute your review without hearing it but I just regurgitated a little bit of sick at the thought of him being here.

It's kind of like finding out that you had a couple of beers with Jeffrey Dahmer one night but left early to catch the train.

[DlocRoth]

FUCK Sam Hagar.

FUCK him for slinging mud early and often.

FUCK him for talking out of turn.

FUCK him for the cheese.

FUCK him for enabling the greatest guitarist of the last TWO (easily) generations to become a full on jrunk.

FUCK him for taking tour money from a SICK man. Add THEN blaming said man for the eventual meltdown.

Ya know what?

FUCK YOU, Sammy Hagar. Fuck you for turning a blind eye and then blaming another man's demons for your shortcomings.

Oh yeah........ And for profiting on them too.

FUCK YOU. And FUCK your book too.

[hambon4lif]

What has Sammy Hagar done that is actually good?
He's educated everyone, by way of example, the dangerous effects of 'AssBurgers Disease'.......excessive weight gain, a warped delusional sense of reality, and the lyrical trots.


Other than that, I can't think of a damn thing...

[DONNIEP]

"This may be sacrilege...especially coming from someone who started the PEN...but I mean it. What has the man done that is worth praising, directly or indirectly?"

I've thought long and hard about this. And I got nothing. Well, for a time he did own a company that makes booze and that's been a dream of mine since I was 11. But other than that I got nothing.

[Matt White]

I hate tha rat bastard cuz he's made a living off DAVE's legend for decades....

Who wuz Spam Haggis before Van Halen? 3rd tier hack............

Just from seeing that bit of his book in RS told the story...Spam's a BUSINESS MAN who happened to be a mid-level rocker.......

'Member in CRAZY FROM THE HEAT....where DAVE talks aboot SPeddie having gone over to the "money side" of the business.....


FUCKING BINGO!!! Spam & that dead fuck Ed heff...uh Leftner? WHO FUCKING CARES WHAT HIS NAME WAS?!? FUCK HIM TOO!!! They turned the Sister's into money grubbing FUCKS........

[TJMKID]

FUCK him for taking tour money from a SICK man. Add THEN blaming said man for the eventual meltdown.

FUCK YOU, Sammy Hagar. Fuck you for turning a blind eye and then blaming another man's demons for your shortcomings.

Oh yeah........ And for profiting on them too.

FUCK YOU. And FUCK your book too.

That's what really pisses me off about Pussy Nugget Sam and his little sheep followers --- they STILL want to put 100% of the blame on Eddie for the disastrous 2004 Van Hagar reunion shows, even though Pussy Nugget spent a whole chapter in his disgusting book describing how Ed was in no shape for a tour. Hagar saw a guy with serious health & addiction issues and dragged him out on tour so he could line his pockets with cash. That's enough to make even Gene Simmons' stomach churn.

Besides, has any musician ever named Sammy as an influence? There are hundreds who name Dave and Eddie as their idols.

[VAiN]

sam hagar is a life-lotto winner, there's no doubt.