The Sammy Hagar era of Van Halen began in 1985, after
the exit of the flamboyant David Lee Roth. The group said they wanted
to lose the "Vegas Style" image that Dave was always promoting, which
they could now do. Eddie and the guys considered many candidates for
the job, from Pete Townsend of "The Who" to a possible female lead singer.
After things fell through with those ideas, the search continued. Enter
Sammy Hagar.
Sammy got his start in Rock as the lead singer the
of heavy metal rock band "Montrose" 
(pictured
right, thanks to redrocker.com). Back
in the mid '70's, Montrose was mildly successful, spawning such familiar
hits as "Bad Motor Scooter", and "Rock Candy". After two albums, Sammy
ventured off into his "1st" solo career. Sammy had many albums (12 before
VH). Everyone remembers his power hits such 
as "I can't Drive 55", "One Way to Rock", "Heavy Metal", and many more.
Well, many more as far as I am concerned. Some of his albums include
"Standing Hampton", "Musical Chairs", and his final solo effort in the
"pre-Van Halen" days, which was eventually titled "I Never Said Goodbye"
(pictured left). On this final solo album, released after his first
tour with Van Halen, Ed played bass guitar and co-produced it. This
was easily Sammy's best solo album, having great songs like "Give to
Live", "Returning Home", and my favorite all time Sammy Hagar song,
"Eagles Fly". But first things first, let's talk criminally insane.
The album was a brilliant success. 5150,
a police code for the criminally insane, took Van Halen to the number
one slot for the first time, and it wouldn't be the last. It was an explosive
effort from the boys from California, from the first track on. The album
was filled with great songs, from the inspirational hit "Dreams" to the
radio hits like "Why Can't this Be Love". The band also tried their hand
at slower, more meaningful ballads like "Love Walks In", something they
never really explored in the days of Dave. And for the true Van Halen
fan, there were other great rock tunes such as "Best of Both Worlds",
"Summer Nights", and one of my favorites, the title track "5150". Right
away Van Halen was attracting different kinds of crowds giving them a
much wider fan base. No videos were made for 5150 (except a live version
of "Dreams" on the Greatest Hits Video) because the guys wanted the public
to come out and see them for what they really are, great performers. I
have talked to many people who aren't Van Halen fans who have seen them
in concert, and they all agree that Van Halen puts on one hell of a show.
Bottom line: complete success.
Fans were looking forward to Sammy's next attempt, and
they were not disappointed. For the second consecutive time, and the
second time ever, Van Halen reached the #1 spot on the charts again.
Obviously they had done something 
right when they got Sammy. Fans
all over quickly became familiar with the new album, as many songs
were released to radio. You can tell Ed did a little more experimenting
with keyboards, with the very poppy "Feels So Good" and "Mine All
Mine". But there were plenty of guitar crunching licks, like the ones in "A.F.U. (Naturally Wired)" and "Black
and Blue". The guys then slowed things up a little with a great swingy
song about, well, you know, called "Finish What You Started". Another
keyboard tune, which I purposefully didn't mention earlier, has a
great guitar solo mixed in. It is also my favorite Van Halen song
of all time, "When It's Love" (pictured left). Some may consider this
picture an "aphrodisiac". After a "Monsters of Rock" tour with groups
such as the "Scorpions", "Dokken", and "Metallica", Van Halen took
a little break.
The band returned in 1991, with their next album, For
Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. Many people were anticipating its release,
having been 2 long years since the last album. Although this album also
reached #1, many people weren't as 
impressed with this album as a whole.
Van Halen fans were satisfied, but many critics didn't agree. Even Eddie
himself admitted in years later that it was "labored", and that he wasn't
real comfortable with all of it. But hey, it's certainly no Diver
Down. I, personally, thought this was a great album. I mean, really!
Much better as a whole than OU812. It starts off with Ed and a drill, and busts
into "Poundcake" (pictured lower right) which is one of my 
favorite VH songs! How could you not love the vibe of this song!! Then
it rips into "Judgement Day", which is a good "pissed off mood" kinda
song. It eventually gets to "Runaround", which i have to say I absolutely
love! And most people can relate if you listen to the words. There are
some "so so" songs on the album (Pleasure Dome, The Dream Is Over), but
"Right Now" is one of the best songs ever written, not to mention a kick
ass video (pictured upper right). Then it slows down just enough with
an instrumental Ed wrote for his son Wolfgang, "316" (the day Wolfie was
born, March 16). Then, just when you think it is all over with, WHAM!
"Top of the World" hits you like a mack truck! Overall, I really enjoyed
the album.
The
next album released was one that Eddie was once quoted as saying he didn't
ever want to do, a live album. Two shows were taped in Fresno, CA, and
combined for a killer 2CD set.
It
is actually funny, because this album is a recording of two live shows
from the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge album, and then once this was released,
they decided to tour for this album also. They played some of the greater
DLR tunes, and most of the songs from the Carnal Knowledge album. They
even had a cover of a great "Who" song called "Won't Get Fooled Again".
Sammy played a couple songs from his last solo album (one of which made
it to the album, the other to the video). "Give to Live" was
done acoustically, and it rocked! The acoustic version of "Eagle's
Fly" ended up on the video and as a B-side to the "Jump"
single that was released. Alex and Mike both had really great solos, Al's
in the middle of "Pleasure Dome" and Mike's was a cool one called "Ultra
Bass". And to top it all off, Ed had a great 11:37 solo that encompassed
all of his great works from the past. Completely awesome! A must get for
fans of live albums. It really showcases the talent and the power of Van
Halen.
After another long
break, the boys returned in 1995 with "Balance".
Balancereally
hit upon some 
elements that
some of the others haven't seen since the days of Diamond Dave. The sound
was different, and there was a "ferociousness" from Eddie's guitar that
was really incredible. They had their typical variety of songs. "Can't
Stop Lovin' You" would be labeled the "radio friendly" pop tune from the
album. But then the razor sharp riff of "Dont Tell Me (What Love Can Do)"
would come out of nowhere and blow you away! It was a really great tune
that Sammy said was inspired by the death of "Nirvana" frontman Kurt Cobain.
There were a couple of other great rockers, such as "Amsterdam" and "Big
Fat Money", and then it slowed down for a beautiful piano ballad called
"Not Enough". After a couple of instrumentals (one of which was Ed destroying
a piano), it finished off with a couple great songs, my favorite being
an awesome tune called "Take Me Back (Deja Vu)". The good news is that
this was a great turn out for Van Halen fans, the bad news (horrible news
for me) was that it would be the last studio album with great frontman
Sammy Hagar.
In
May of 1996 the guys were asked to put a song on the soundtrack of the
movie "Twister". (Rumor has it they recorded 2 songs: "Humans Being" and
an unreleased one called "Between Us Two" that was said to be Van Halen's
"Stairway to Heaven"!!) Many problems surfaced during the 
writing and recording of the song between Sammy and Ed. Sammy's wife was
pregnant and he wanted to spend much time with her as he could. After
that fiasco, more problems arose when Sammy voiced his displeasure with
the idea of a greatest hits album. I happen to agree with Sammy, believing
you should only put out a greatest hits album when the band is done. What
happened next is kind of a mystery because there is a different story
depending on who you listen to. Ed called Sammy on Fathers Day and told
him he was frustrated. And by the end of the conversation, Sammy was a
solo artist once again. Whether he was fired or he quit is still unknown.
The only thing that is known is that an era of great music was over, and
many fans, including myself, were devastated. But things would get more
interesting for the Van Halen boys in the near future. Click here
to see what happens next in the Van Halen timeline.
For more up-to-date
info on Sammy,
and his latest release "Red "Voodoo",
click on his pic to go to his official site...
