Dave or Sammy?

grimmbass · Post by **grimmbass** » Thursday Jul 22, 2004

Friends,

Now is the time for a question more controversial than whether or not to see Farenheit 911....

More frightening than another post from Metal Rules

More devisive than Bush vs. Kerry.....

More inflamatory than whether or not musicians should learn to read music....

DAVE OR SAMMY? WHICH VAN HALEN DO YOU PREFER?

bassist_25 · Post by **bassist_25** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

Where's Gary Cherone?

I'm one of

The Few

The Proud

The Sammy Hagar fans

My two favorite Van Halen albums are the first self-titled and Balance, so I enjoy both eras. Sammy also kicked ass in Montrose.

stevereidell · Post by **stevereidell** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

that's tuff for the fact that it's the same name but two different bands both have good points and bad sammy is good but dave is well dave

byndrsn · Post by **byndrsn** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

Diamond Dave all the way!

wake up drumming · Post by **wake up drumming** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

I enjoy both, but have to agree that Van Halen with David Lee Roth was better, come to think of it, way better!

Sanctify · Post by **Sanctify** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

lonewolf · Post by **lonewolf** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

I like Montrose with or without Hagar more than I like Van Halen or Van Hagar.

Musically and vocally Sammy kicks Dave's ass outright, hands down, but I liked Van Halen better with Dave.

But then, I always liked AC/DC better with Bon Scott than that new guy.

Post by **Jim Price** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

I'm a Van Hagar fan.

While I think Van Halen's work with Diamond Dave is legendary (first two albums especially), I thought Sammy lifted them to a whole new level.

And based on his recent output, I think Diamond Dave needed Van Halen more than Van Halen needed Dave. Dave's solo career has pretty much floundered.

DMFJ03 · Post by **DMFJ03** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

Imgrimm01 · Post by **Imgrimm01** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

Sammy all the way ... He can sing dave however cannot.

Staceman · Post by **Staceman** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

Diamond Friggin' Dave, all the way.

Jim Price wrote:And based on his recent output, I think Diamond Dave needed Van Halen more than Van Halen needed Dave. Dave's solo career has pretty much floundered.

Depends on how you look at it. As for music quality, going back a couple of years, I think the "DLR Band" album beat the hell out of "Van Halen III". The guitarists he had on that album rocked. Although, I'd still love to see him team up with Steve Vai again.

Popularity-wise, yeah, he went to hell, although he still garners a lot of respect when he makes public appearances. He's pretty much an American icon. Sammy's rather insecure about that too it seems, based on stories I heard from people that seen the "Sam and Dave" tour, with his 15 minute pre-show "infomercial" trying to convince everyone about how great he is.

Overall, I don't mind Sammy, but I prefer his solo stuff.

J Michaels · Post by **J Michaels** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

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ain't it obvious?

Sammy-era stuff is great, and I dig a LOT of it, but Dave is the greatest rock-n-roll frontman of all time - offstage, I would probably want to kick the shit out of him, but onstage you can't ask for someone to work a crowd and entertain better........................

LOOK AT ALL THE PEOPLE HERE TONIGHT!

Diavolo · Post by **Diavolo** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

Being baited as I am yet again by my Grimm bandmates, I feel the need to take aim in a crystal clear fashion.

Diamond David Lee Roth created developed Van Halen into the greatest rock band ever. DLR revolutionized the MTV-video world. Although Dave's popularity has dropped off, he' remained creative doing videos, a vegas show, tours, a Soprano's appearance, recordings of different kinds of music, etc.

Van Hagar, on the other hand, has no balls. They're a pop rock band in the vein of Journey. If Sammy were the lead vocalist from the beginning, VH would not have the legendary legacy they do.

I too saw the Sam/Dave tour - twice. Sammy did play a self-promoting infomercial prior to his sets. During his set, he took repeated breaks to advertise his tequila and seemed to be trying too hard to convince the crowd he was a fun guy.

DLR, on the other hand, played classic material with little downtime. He delivered and kept the BS to a miniumum and provided a high caliber show.

One more issue. The argument that Sammy is a better pure singer than Dave has merit. Musically Sam has a better vocal range - no question. But Dave is, by far, the better total entertainment package. He's a creative showbiz legend and recognizable anywhere. Several bands don't have singers with great ranges, BUT they're still great bands.

A perfect quote from DLR sums it up:
"For years I’ve tried to be a gentleman about this and it’s very frustrating," he said. "That's part of the reason I left. I think it’s obvious now that what Sam has brought to the band is only….. mediocre at best. "I’ve never met Sam, but I almost feel sorry for the guy. If the old team got back together to do a Farm Aid or AIDS benefit, that 45 minutes would totally eclipse what he has done in his entire career. And Sam would be forgotten," Roth said, adding , "I wonder how he sleeps at night."

ToonaRockGuy · Post by **ToonaRockGuy** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

Dave, all the way. I don't like tequila.

songsmith · Post by **songsmith** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

Geddy Lee once kicked the sh*t out of DLR in a bar, I'd loved to have seen that. Despite that, I liked Sammy better with Montrose, and on his own. I vote for the Lounge Lizard, David Lee Roth. More for nostalgia than anything, and his frontman ability.----->JMS

J Michaels · Post by **J Michaels** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

this sums it up.....

"Old Van Halen, when I was in it-classic Van Halen-makes you wanna drink, dance and screw, right? And the new Van Halen encourages you to drink milk, drive a Nissan and have a relationship".

When he and Sammy were both on the Howard Stern show to promote their co-tour, Sammy was being very defensive th ewhole time, clearly uncomfortable in (what he knew was) Dave's shadow. Sammy said, "I'm not going to go up there and say, 'Hey, I used to be the lead singer in Van Halen.'"

Then Dave said, "I'm gonna go up there and say, 'I AM the singer of Van Halen."

Gotta love the Diamond one......................

Punkinhead · Post by **Punkinhead** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

Diamond Dave

str8h8 · Post by **str8h8** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

Regardless of who is fronting the band, they are still just a glam band that is stuck in '80's MTVland forever...to me, anyway.

J Michaels · Post by **J Michaels** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

str8h8 wrote: just a glam band

???

oh my......

Don't think I am picking on you by following you around and ripping on your posts, ok? But .... oh, geez, where does one begin to counter such illogical, ill-informed, and ill-conceived comments?

Van Halen a "glam" band who's stuck in the 80s? A band who broke huge in the late 70s? A band that never wore makeup nor even approached the "glam look"? Cuz they had long hair? Cuz they wore tight pants? Gimme a break. EVERYONE did in that era. Just like everyone today feels so fucking sorry for themselves cuz their parents weren't Ward Cleaver or didn't hug them enough. Now they're millionaire rockstars who stand around onstage staring at their shoes or making obscene gestures and faces at the whole world cuz it's against poor little them. SHUT UP ALREADY! Self-pitying angst is getting SO tiresome......

Bands like VH made heavy rock music palatable, making record companies realize the potential to market this style of music to a much wider audience, giving all of us the chance to hear more bands, more styles, and more interpretations of hard rock than could have been imagined. Without them the current heavy music wouldn't even be conceivable. Oh, for christ's sake.....Small-minded to the extreme......

I should have expected it though. Every generation makes fun and belittles what came before - remember how we made fun of bell-bottoms? And what came back in the mid-90s? Bell-bottoms........ Just one example. No matter what it was, it was the coolest thing ever, but a few years later it's the worst. Whatever. I just feel compelled to comment when something reaches the point of absurdity.

grimmbass · Post by **grimmbass** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

I want to hear more about Geddy beating up DLR. That would take Geddy to the next level, officially making him a deity.

The easiest way to beat DLR in a fight would be to put a camera somewhere in the proximity....that would distract him long enough to sucker punch his kidneys into paste.

HurricaneBob · Post by **HurricaneBob** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

LOLERSKATES!

Post by **Jim Price** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

Geddy beating up DLR? At least that would explain how Alex Lifeson learned his fisticuff skills...

April · Post by **April** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

sorry, J, but I gotta go with Str8h8 on this one. Though I probably wouldn't call them "glam", I hate them anyway.

poolpimp911 · Post by **poolpimp911** » Friday Jul 23, 2004

Ok now I did go and see the tour a few years ago and I will tell you what both of them kicked ass but just for great songs and great stage show Dave is the man he was doing kicks flips and had strippers on the stage and sorry to say he might about 100 years old but he still gets the people moving and in his time with van halen is when they were making the better songs

FatVin · Post by **FatVin** » Saturday Jul 24, 2004

to st8h8, VH glam band?.....

Bro, Now we're only tellin ya this for your own good, but there are many decaffinated brands on the market just as tasty as the real thing. Don't worry, it'll be okay, really.

That aside, VH is a perfect example of what to do and what not to do.

The Davester gave VH High voltage Attitude, can't deny it. Dave understands the rock n roll attitude better than anybody. If you want balls to the wall, rock out with your cock out, party madness, then it's the original VH.

Sammy on the other hand, didn't have quite the Rock and roll wattage as DLR but, let's get real, Sammy is 5 times the overall musician Dave is, Sammy has a better vocal range, is a much better songwriter, and the man can stroke a 6-string and take some pressure off Eddie. Strictly on musical terms Van Hagar is the much better band, they can do more.

both versions of the band have virtues and weaknesses, which do I prefer?

Honestly? depends on my mood.

Gary Cherone? Well, nice try Eddie.

VH3 is a great object lesson, you can have a excellant vocalist, a premeire guitarist and a good solid bass player and drummer and if you don't have good songs you ain't got shit.

I don't know about the rest of you but after Sammy split, it occurred to me that maybe Dave wasn't the problem in Van Halen.

ROCKPAGE

Dave or Sammy?

Dave or Sammy?

hey

Sam For me