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

[Etienne]

Spam auditions for the Bee Gees in 1978.......

But did you notice Hagar is singing this song with his normal voice, not with his unmusical artificial screaming style...

[DONNIEP]

Is the stage supposed to look like a junk yard??? And the Van Halen brothers saw Sammy as the perfect guy to replace Dave. You know, you can only blame alcohol for just so much...

[DONNIEP]

That second clip got me thinking, who came up with Sam's look first? Sammy or Mike Reno?

[ThrillsNSpills]

I agree with HR's assessment...I saw Van Hagar a couple of times because I was (and still am) an EVH fanatic (plus my then-girlfriend wanted to go), but with the exception of a couple of moments of brilliance from Ed, it was pretty terrible. My opinion was cemented upon seeing the Eat 'Em & Smile tour - the band opened with "Shy Boy" and they were ON FIRE...after the opening number, Dave says "So....what do you think of the new band so far? He completely eclipsed them with Vai and Sheehan musically and lyrically for a moment....

Dave definately kept the bombastic, kill the guy with the ball element to his show.
I still think Schenker would have been a better fit for Dave, as I think Vai seemed to want to experiment past the hard rock formula.
Vai did some cool shit with his delay while having speakers in different places so you got the stereo effect.
As far as Sam doing anything good, there were a couple tunes from HSAS that I remember liking, but that was completely from the Neil Schon, Kenny Aaronson one two punch.

[ThrillsNSpills]

Quite a lot of people seem be happy enough with his work in Montrose. I've only heard a few songs but I think it's tired and obvious.

Yeah, it's an interesting point and I had the same reaction. I think if you grew up with it you see it differently but if you check it out decades later it sounds like dated generic 70's rock.

[Romeo Delight]

Spam auditions for the Bee Gees in 1978.......

omg. How on earth did you find that? Seriously, what is that?

Compare to what the Mighty VH was doing at the same time:

[chefcraig]

Yeah, it's an interesting point and I had the same reaction. I think if you grew up with it you see it differently but if you check it out decades later it sounds like dated generic 70's rock.

I've always equated Sammy Hagar with that goofy Whitford/St. Holmes album that came out after one left Aerosmith and the other got fired from Ted Nugent's band. There was always this crummy and pedestrian "music by the numbers" approach that wasn't so much angering as it was cynical and depressing. Take a listen to this garbage for a few seconds, then tell me it doesn't sound distinctly (and cheesily) familiar somehow.

[ThrillsNSpills]

I've always equated Sammy Hagar with that goofy Whitford/St. Holmes album that came out after one left Aerosmith and the other got fired from Ted Nugent's band. There was always this crummy and pedestrian "music by the numbers" approach that wasn't so much angering as it was cynical and depressing. Take a listen to this garbage for a few seconds, then tell me it doesn't sound distinctly (and cheesily) familiar somehow.

No question. You can't fake chemistry.

[chefcraig]

No question. You can't fake chemistry.

Pretty much. To quote the astute MTV music critic known as Butthead: "If you play this stuff backwards, it says 'This sucks!'"

[TJMKID]

Van Halen brothers saw Sammy as the perfect guy to replace Dave. You know, you can only blame alcohol for just so much...

Eddie Van Einstein only hired Sammy because Claudio the auto mechanic suggested it. Ed hired Cherone only because they both had Ray Daniels as a manager. Does Ed even understand the concept of singer auditions, for fuck's sake?

Eddie only hired Roth because he owned his PA system, but Mammoth hit the fuckin' lottery with that choice. The other two singers were the direct result of one of Ed's biggest character flaws ---- LAZINESS.

[Rikk]

Oh, and by the way...Rikk? It is so good to see you post again. Dude....you need to post more often! Been too long! :D

Thanks, bro. Love these topics that start the "feelings". Anyone thinks it's sacrilege to even ask such a question as this topic can kiss my hairy ass. Conversation and contrast make interesting reading.

Always fucking awesome seeing you in these parts, Hardrock.

[Rikk]

Brian Johnson was respectful of Bon Scott from Day 1 and has been ever since. He's always honored the history of the band by singing Scott-era songs with vigor and passion so he could please the fanbase. Johnson is a classy guy.

Bin-fucking-go.

I put second-era AC/DC ten ladder rungs down from the classic era. BACK IN BLACK is a way more basic and bland album to me than HIGHWAY or especially DIRTY DEEDS. I actually like FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK more. I actually like BALLBREAKER because it goes a bit back to that classic sound. But for the most part, the Johnson material pales and sounds like by-the-numbers hard rock (as good as it can be). But at least it's not embarrassing the way the majority of the Van Hagar catalog can be.

But even with that, I fucking love Brian Johnson. Listened to one of his Eddie Trunk interviews last week, and the dude is such a nice guy. He talked about his favorite Bon-era album (DIRTY DEEDS) and you could tell he's such a fan. He has continued to sing anything from the old catalog during the band's whole career. Christ, any one of their shows since Bon's death has still been pretty much 50% Bon material, and Johnson's stuff sounds really good live next to chestnuts like SIN CITY or JAILBREAK. The band has gone downhill in terms of consistency and quality, but at least they're respectful and constantly pay tribute to those days.

Hagar continues to fucking lie. He said repeatedly on Howard Stern this year that Van Hagar sold more records than Van Halen. And that two-face pussy Stern backed him up repeatedly, talking about the better-selling era of the band. Yes, all four Sam albums went to No. 1. None of Dave's did. But charts are a relative statistic, not an absolute one. Would 5150 have beaten THRILLER? Not in this universe.

Here's an interesting statistic for Shambo: If you add up the sales to all four Van Hagar albums, they would not even be as much as the combined sales of just two Dave-era albums (VAN HALEN and 1984). Then add on the sales of DIVER DOWN, VAN HALEN II, etc... Sam is such a fucking liar.

I did forget to add one thing, though. I do like his tequila. And I have no shame at all in admitting that.

But even then, it's not as good as Patron.

[FORD]

My main complaint about the Brian Johnson version of AC/DC is that they keep remaking the same album again for the last 30 years. You take the 6 records they made with Bon Scott, and each one is a totally different album from all the others. You couldn't put "Love Song" on Highway to Hell, or "Beatin Around The Bush" on TNT, it just wouldn't fit. But you could take any 10 random tracks from the last 30 years of AC/DC, burn it on one CD, and if you managed to actually find someone on the planet who had never heard of the band, you could easily convince them that your custom disc was one studio album.

Even so, it still beats the shit out of Van Hagar.

[LoungeMachine]

Serious question. Not a joke. I put it here because it's somewhat VH-worthy.

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?

What VH songs with him were actually any good?

Okay, I'll play.....

HUMANS BEING

I love the song......

Shoot me, fuck if I care.



Also loved Helen Hunt in the movie.....

Nice seeing you Rikk.

[Diamondjimi]

99.999% of the world have no opinion, they don't know who he is.

Hagar is very much a US localised problem.

Isolation is the key to public safety...