This Week In Rock History: Van Hagar is Born

March 26, 2011 123 Comments

By Andy Greene

March 22, 2011 3:30 PM ET

March 24th, 1986: Van Halen release 5150
It was widely presumed that Van Halen would collapse after David Lee Roth left the group in 1985. With the exceptions of Genesis and AC/DC, few bands had survived the departure of a high-profile frontman. Undaunted, Eddie phoned up former Montrose vocalist Sammy Hagar and asked him if he’d be up for the job. They held a quick jam session at Van Halen’s 5150 studio, and afterwards Hagar listened to the tape. “I got the goose bumps all over my body,” Hagar writes in his new memoir Red: My Uncensored Life In Rock. “There was something about it that was slow, confident, almost majestic. On March 24th, 1986 they released 5150, which contained the classics “Why Can’t This Be Love,” “Best Of Both Worlds,” “Dreams” and “5150.” It sold millions and for the next decade Van Halen remained one of the biggest names in rock.

Filed Under: Sammy Hagar, Van Halen

Let’s Rock

Dave Vs. Sammy, not going there today…..

Many have commented on Journey, so I’d like to go there.

Great band. Again I hate the bashing because Journey produced alot of great albums.

The Infinity tour was the second best tour of the 1977/78 years. Lots of energy and great music and all sold out venues. Gregg Rolie and the newly added Steve Perry were great together. Neal Schon never gets the credit he is due. Hated that Aynsley Dunbar left but Steve Smith is one of the best to ever put hands on sticks. And, as with all bass players, Ross Valory is alway forgotten but great at the four strings with no doubt.

Journey began to produce the “corporate rock” around 1979. Truly enjoy the Infinity, Departure and most of the Escape albums. But by the time Escape came out Gregg Rolie was gone. And with Rolie’s departure, came Jonathan Cain. And everything changed.

The ballets were now the standard for Journey. Neal Schon was crying all the way to the bank but he had side projects that kept his guitar playing sharp, HSAS.

I could go on about this but this is a VH site. Just wanted to say, listen to some of the Journey from the albums Infinity, Departure, Escape(the unpopular cuts) and parts of Frontiers(the second side). I’ll think you will find it to be very good stuff. Listen to those deep cuts from Journey and forget the radio Top 40 stuff.

The Nation Waits
Darin

All I know is, in April of 1986 I got my first Sears guitar, and a tape of ’5150′ for my Birthday. I was a total waldo, and had no idea who David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar, or even Van Halen were at the time. NONE. I put on my brand new Sony walkman (another birthday gift), cranked up 5150, and my world changed forever. Mind blowing! Then I dug backwards to the Roth era, and have been a VH, and all things related, disciple ever since!
SEAN

I was in the second half of my junior year when this album came out. We heard the first single (Why Can’t This Be Love) on KSHE95 here in St. Louis. I had the cassette deck ready to go to record it. I thought it ROCKED! Still do.

I was (am) a big fan of the original VH. Every album the band put out seemed to get better than the last. These guys were HUGE during the 1984 era. When Dave left, it was a bummer, but I remember being so stoked that Sammy was coming on board. What a great fit. Expectations were high when 5150 came out. I think it delivered big time. The souund changed a bit. The band was growing musically.

Van Halen was always a feel good, enjoy life is a party band. 5150 continued the trend. My Kenwood wore this tape out!
Rack of What?

RothLeaps: Thanks for all the references, and the included spin off what I say…..I truly appreciate it.

But, if you honestly think Roth’s solo career is as good as Hagar’s, I’m not sure a debate is even necessary. Eat em and Smile was a good tour that rode the coattails of DLR’s VanHalen fame. Skyscraper fell off quickly. Very quickly. Sammy can still fill up a 20 thousand seat arena on occasion with his band the Wabos. Dave couldn’t fill up a ballroom. We can go all day on this, but it doesn’t matter.

No, I don’t hate Roth. I love Roth. DLR is unequivocally, on of the most talented singers ever. Period. Especially in the studio. So, again, I don’t hate Roth. I hate Roth fans who throw around venomous rhetoric about Hagar. Get it?

Besides, Leaps, why are you kicking a dead horse (Van Hagar)? It’s over. Your precious DLR is back in the band, even though it’s not CVH. You got your wish, so, sit back and let the good times roll.

And, for the last time, isn’t it obvious DLR needs Van Halen more than Hagar? Hagar went gold with CF last year. What’d Dave do?
Dooley

phillster:

I’ll spend less time on unions than you did. 1911 was a time when the union movement made sense. Nowadays, it’s about buying off Dem politicians so that they represent unions, not the taxpaying public. It’s about forced unionization without the benefit of a secret ballot, etc.
Who’s bashing =VH=? not me. I’m just bashing those around here with HDS, Hagar Derangement Syndrome.
the booger man

I wasn’t on the wagon right away with WCTBL but after hearing Summer Nights and 5150 I knew this was kickin ass as much as ever!! Peace to both eras
FAMAC

I remember reading an interview where Sam said Ed challenged him to sing as high as he good, and that was the basis for the title and chorus of this dreadful song.

I don’t understand how anyone can dig this tune – even if you like Van Hagar. To me, it’s ear splitting torture.
sam fan

Thank you Sammy for the best CD ever made.
HSAS

Holy Crap there is a lot of contentious people on here toward Sammy Hagar. If only the band had actually changed their name to Van Hagar, we may have avoided all this venomouos rhetoric.

Here’s an interesting view though:

Hagar fans don’t hate Roth
A TON of Roth fans hate Hagar

What gives? Hate the game, not the player……if you don’t like power ballads, then blame EVH also. But, the 4 albums with Hagar stand up against anything that was coming out at the time. NO, THEY DO NOT STAND UP AGAINST ORIGINAL VAN HALEN. IS THAT CLEAR????

David Lee Roth needs Van Halen. He needs/needed structure. Look at how zany his solo career has been. He’s gone in every which direction you can think of. Sammy Hagar has always been the same guy, in and out of Van Halen. That’s GOT to be respectable.
No Mas Tony

SPARKS, Yeah man. It was a pitty too, cause Sammy was talking a lot of sense up to that portion of the interview. He may have performed a hanful of Roth-era songs, but there were loads of classic music that had been over-looked for over a decade. They played what the fans were dying to hear… and no Sammy, it’s not cause they’re “easier to sing”. Geez, give me a break. I’ll agree with respect to Wolf hopefuly adding some varience in the musical arrangement. Your comments on “About Time” were spot-on.

Again, 5150 was a really good album IMO and it’s pretty sad that Eddie cannot at least display the Hagar-era albums on the “official” website.

And @ “MasVH” — hah hah, I read your comment and was like, woa, this dude is thinking what I’m thinking. I’ll agree that the engineering on Balance was exceptional, but musically it was a mixed bag. F.U.C.K. was a the best Hagar era cd if ya ask me. BTW, If you like the 5150 album but want a more raw & less poppy sound, check out the VH performances at Cabo Wabo. It’s on youtube. Eddie plays some of the keyboard solo w/ guitar and the drums aren’t quite as synthy. It would be incredible to hear VH re-record some of the Hagar era with natural drums and less keyboards, but we all know that’ll never happen. Sammy has done some cool acoustic versions of some of them.
freddiegirl

I am going to try and answer why so many Roth fans hated/hate Hagar….for those of us who became fans during the Dave era it was really tough to see Dave leave. Most of us, or at least me…didn’t realize that Dave left to do a movie; we thought Roth left because he hated the direction the band was going; more pop, radio-friendly rock. At least that’s what I thought..so I took Roth’s side in the split. The band…while still musically good with Hagar didn’t seem as hard or edgy and that made me sad. And then…Hagar wanted to dismiss the band’s legacy before he came in by not singing alot of the old songs and talking about how he made the band so much better. It was hard to hear that. Although Hagar helped to make them more accessible to a wider variety of fans it was not my opinion that they were better. Popular doesn’t always mean ‘better’. As I’ve grown up I’ve given the Hagar-era another listen and found things to like about it although like many I consider it a different band. I’m not saying all CVH fans feel this way but a number of them do/did. I think Hagar’s initial disrespect of what VH accomplished with Dave made alot of older VH fans really angry at the time, myself included and that’s a big portion of the reason Hagar is still hated by Roth fans. I’d love to hear other Roth fans come on and say if that’s the case.
jeff adams

Well freddiegirl you’re pretty close, but for me I was 16 yrs. old when VH1 came out and for a lot of the new die hard VH fans back in those days – VH changed the way we listened to music and viewed live shows. There just wasn’t anything like VH. Someone on here posted that Classic VH was bully rock. That kinda made me laugh cause in a way it was. Classic VH bullied every band they opened for touring their 1st album. Their 1st song “Runn’in w/ the Devil” punched you right in the face, and you couldn’t wait for the next song to get punched in the face again. I loved every punch I took. NOW, Sammy had some big shoes to fill especially for the people who grew up w/ Dave from day one. I’m will never bash Sammy, and I really dug Montrose. Hell, if I would have been 16 yrs. old in 1986 I might have been a Van Hagar fan, MAYBE. The 70′s were different than the 80′s period
Kayser Sozay

Great, explanation Freddiegirl, thanks. I can certainly understand that position. I didn’t really get into VH hardcore until after Sam was in the band so it didn’t bother me at the time that VH only played a few CVH songs with Hagar like Jump, Panama, Ain’t Talkin Bout Love. Sam would probably have been a whole lot more respected by the prior VH fans if he’d just been up front and said he didn’t want to do those songs because he didn’t want to be compared to Dave or even try to replace the fans memories of those sons with Dave. It was a hard enough job to fill Dave’s shoes in the band even with new music and we all know he was insecure about the Roth comparisons. Very few people, if any, were ever going to think Sam’s versions of the Roth classics were as good as the original.
freddiegirl

jeff adams…that’s interesting..I never thought of CVH as bully rock; although I guess it could be. Here in Valencia where I grew up it was all the surfer/stoner/muscian types that embraced CVH. I was a big surfer kid and played guitar so I was a part of that group. When I got ripped from there and moved with my family to the midwest I was appalled at all the jocks and redneck kids..(some of which were cruel bullies) who embraced the Hagar-era. That added to my initial dislike of the Hagar-era when I was a teen. I do get the concept of getting punched in the face by VH1. Even at 8 years old I knew Ed was the s***!

Kayser Sozay…I often wonder how I’d feel about that Hagar-era if I’d discovered them later when he was in the band. Sam admitted in ‘Everybody Wants Some’ that he was a bit insecure. He knew “those fans wanted to hear’ Runnin’ With the Devil’ and ‘Everybody Wants Some’ ” although he felt that the new music he’d created with the VH brothers was “solid and strong”.
Foot Winning

Journey…

Two of the greatest solos ever:

1. Any Way You Want It
2. Stone In Love

Neil is a kick ass rocker on guitar. To bash Journey in the same light of 5150 is almost a backhanded compliment. Sorry, but Steve Perry had one of the best voices in Rock-N-Roll…ever. If you didn’t get a little leg or pootie during a Journey song during the 80′s, you missed a great opportunity. Rush, Journey, Van Halen, The Who, Metallica, The Stones…man we had it very good during the height of Rock-N-Roll. You could turn on the radio and listen to that shit for hours. Today—–gone.

How did Journey get brought into this debate anyway?
Sparks on the Horizon!!

I’m with you on that Foot. I actually dig a lot of the pre-Jonathan Cain Journey. Oddly enough, this is about the only other example besides VH that I can think of where by a different backing vocal becomes a stand out issue. Greg Rollie was the perfect underlying tone to Steve Perrys occasionally too nasal style of singing. I also liked that that guy took the lead at times. Feeling that Way / Anytime… one of my favorite back to back combos. My fingers are crossed that Wolf has a decent voice. Certainly not holding out that he’ll be another Mike in that regard. His sound is one of a kind.
Jammin’ John

I like Journey. Always have. But I liked them for what they did and I liked Halen for what they did. I didn’t one to become like the other. I also think the attitude towards Journey comes from Halen’s early attitude towards the band. There was an article from one of the Inside mags that explained when =VH= and Journey were on the same bill. Steve Perry came out with a scarf tied around his neck and was complaining about a soar throat from the night before. So at the next show, outcomes the =VH= camp with scarves tied around the dicks.
Dooley

Jammin’ John:

that is some funny shit!!

Foot Winning:
you wonder…
“How did Journey get brought into this debate anyway?”

Well, I really think that within the ranks of Roth-only Van Halen fans are those who actually believe excellent vocals (i.e. Steve Perry, Sammy Hagar) aren’t that important.
HSAS

Freddiegirl, that is a spot-on explanation of the disappointment shared by many when DLR left. Not sure about Hagar ‘dissing’ their accomplishments……..did he really do that in 1986? Anyway, the complaint about him not singing too many CVH songs is not taking wings here…….at least he did SOME. DLR will never do ANY Van Hagar songs (even though he’s the master of the cover song…..funny, huh?) for purely stupid personal reasons.

The only argument against Van Hagar that holds water with me is this one: They wore stupid clothes and did way too many songs with the synthesizer. Parachute pants? Really?

But, like I will always say: The 4 albums by Van Hagar hold up against any other hard rock that was coming out at the time,,,,and a lot of Van Hagar will continue to be played because, although it’s not up to the ‘in your face’ quality of CVH, it’s nonetheless classic.
Kayser Sozay

Funny story Jammin John. I’d never heard that. Gotta agree with foot winning that Neal Schon is a great, great guitarist. Very underrated in my book. As good as his stuff with journey and santana was, I thought he absolutely smoked on the HSAS album.

I really wish those guys had put out more music. Sam talked a little about it in the book but didn’t give a whole lot of detail other than rather than make an album and tour behind it, they decided to make their album from live shows and it really didn’t work out like they’d hoped. Interesting to hear how he wrote most of that music while in Africa, which makes sense given the heavy egyptian influence through a few of the songs.
Danny

I have always tried to avoid the Dave and Sam argument but im sucked in this time. I am a Dave fan but an honest Dave fan. I like his music because it was fun. He was not a great musician. Im am going to list a few facts. No oponion, just facts.

Pre VH
Sammy had a successfull career.
Dave was turned down by the brothers and eventually let in only because he had a PA. That came form Eddie’s mouth.

Durring VH
Ed expressed his frusteration that Dave’s range limited how he could write music. Daves voice has a limited range. Also, he was hung up on always trying to do cover tunes.

Ed mentioned in several interviews that Sammy’s range alowed him (not forced) to be more creative musically.

Post VH.
Dave went back to cover tunes. He wrote a few originals but they withered up and died. He coasted off the VH success for as long as he could and ended up doing a cheesy Vegas show that was, you got it, mostly old VH and cover tunes.

Sammy has relaesed albumms and toured several times. His shows cover his entire career. He has not just treid to suck the life out of the Halen years.

I will agree, VH was the best thing to happen to Sammy. He was in his prime with them. VH was the ONLY thing to happen to Dave. I love original VH as much as the next guy. Just quit bashing Sammy because he is a bad musician or riding on the coat tails of his VH time. That would be Dave.

And yes, I am excited to hear the new album w/ Dave. I will see the show.
Dooley

Danny:

A big thumbs up, well-stated. You’re a Dave guy who appreciates Sam. I’m a Sam guy who appreciates Dave.
That’s what’s cool about being a Van Halen fan. No other band like it.
DeanD

@ Let’s Rock

I know it’s a VH site, but you’re right on the money regarding the Journey comments. All the late 70′s stuff is great, and Escape and Frontiers are awesome as well, especially side 2 of Frontiers. Not one hit there, but all great tunes! And the song Escape is probably one of my all time fav songs.

Lowering Journeys’ credibility as a great band by comparing sub-par Van Hagar (as some say…) to them is wrong.

Sorry, back to the Sammy vs Dave disputes!