defend the indefensible: VAN HAGAR

Did the Montrose reunion thing, too. A weird, weird night.

Hagar built a substantial word-of-mouth following through touring
to support his Capitol Records contract through the mid-to-late
70's. It was Montrose minus Ronnie Montrose, more emphasis on trying to write for FM radio than Montrose proper.

"Red," "Cruisin' & Boozin'," "Rock 'n' Roll Weekend," "Trans Am"
-- all had resulted in a fair following in my neck of the woods from
really off and on airplay. This was even before "Can't Drive 55."

Thelonius Monster, I think, took humorous note of it with a song called "It's Going to Be a Sammy Hagar Weekend."

A couple of the Capitol albums aren't bad; much easier to listen
to and less ponderous than the Van Halen records.

Vision Quest was a movie about a wrestler. When I was on the high school wrestling team, this one guy used to listen to "Dreams" on his walkman before his match, to get him all psyched up and ready to go out and kick some ass on the mat. So, I think Sammy was an unacknowledged key to the "rock-and-wrestling" connection.

DLR, while a great showman, couldn't sing nor write a tune. He rode those EVH coattails to stardom. Really, he should be a talkshow host.

"God only knows, and he ain't talkin'"
-- David Lee Roth, Skyscraper

He left VH as their popularity soared, so people "miss it". They want to re-live "those days". Well fuck that. Me Wise Magic and Can't Get This Stuff No More didn't hold a candle to the early stuff nor to the Hagar stuff. It's over.

"Those were good times. Damn good times."
-- David Lee Roth, Good Times

Probably because the songs were good, see.

"Me Wise Magic" did. To these ears, at least.

Sure, I'll stick up for some Van Hagar recordings. OU812 in particular, which sported some of Eddie's most inspired playing ever. In fact, that's album's pretty flawless except for "When It's Love" (yawn) and "A Apolytical Blues" (double yawn). All the others are less "hit" than "miss," but good tracks are occasionally buried within the confines of each.

Van Cherone, on the other hand...I like to pretend that never happened.

I don't know how good or bad I'd say those singles are, but I haven't forgotten them and they do bring an undeniable memory rush that I don't mind having.

I'm gonna pick up 5150 on vinyl one day.

I'd rank it just a shade below Little Guitars (their best).

I saw Sammy play it last summer on the Sam/Dave tour and it was ace.

I Can't Drive 55, I've Done Everything For You (how was this ever as big a hit as it was for Springfield when Hagar rocks it so much better?), Plain Jane, Bad Reputation, Why Can't This Be Love, Give To Live, Two Sides Of Love, Trans Am, Top Of The World, Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy, Where Eagles Fly, Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay, etc., etc., etc.

Aw... First of all, it's more a crap blues, than crap metal, and you know it pretty well because it features some genuinely slinky and toneful rhythm playing. That Van Halen kid's gonna make a name for himself, mark my words. And where you hear yecch, I hear the best song about blue balls ever.

FWIW, defending Van Hagar doesn't mean choosing them over VH. Sammy brought a lot to the table - he's a player, and he definitely trounces Diamond Dave in the vocal chops department. That doesn't make him a better singer or frontman, but it makes for a perfectly enjoyable VH experience. Something to play in the Camaro while you drive out to Havasu.

My own favorite single from that album? "Feels So Good" (the solo gives me chillies)

Hmm. I was once poetic.

Greil Marcus claims that the Clash's "Safe European Home" riff was stolen from a live version of that song! (Sez that it was on San Francisco radio "constantly" while they were there recording Give 'em Enough Rope with Sandy Pearlman.)

https://youtu.be/ApKXWAWkVW8

Backstage with the boys in 86. Also a Eddie talks seriously and Michael sings some really high notes.

Hagar always sounded like he's passing a shit that is about to rip his asshole to shreds

xp The "Me Wise Magic" love is appreciated.

Me Wise Magic is great, coulda fit in with classic VH.

"Poundcake" rules

is it common knowledge that "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" is the best Van Hagar? it should be.

It's my least favorite one sound-wise. Some of the songs are alright (and it's the only tour I ever saw them on).

I mean I could "poll" 1991's finest : For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge vs The Black Album
and Metallica would win by a significant margin here
but that Metallica album is loaded with bullshit and the van hagar album is pretty streamlined, "Right Now" the only really corny moment

yeah I was thinking that I really like the sound of For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge today! pretty full on the low end, gives it a menace I didn't remember

Only time will tell if Van Hagar stands the test of time.

I did, maybe a year or so ago, hear "Poundcake" in the wild and thought, man, Sammy is singing the hell out of that song. Here's something fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYUKtW8ayhA

As a friend pointed out, this is seemingly more or less spontaneous but the band is tight and sounds great.

dang that's pretty good! Michael Anthony steals the show, something you can't say very often.

Sammy is 71!

And MA is 64

Probably not the right place for this, but the first Montrose album is straight fire.

“Only time will tell if we stand the test of time”
Fucking poetry man

"She puts cream on my bananas"

I had a cassingle of Poundcake

Paper money don't hold...

Suckers walk, money talks...but it can't touch my 3 lock box.

fuck it I like Van Hagar

I just wish Sammy Hagar had a time in the 80s early 90s he did some action movies. It seems like something he might have been good at, doing stunts with fan boats etc.

that would have been sweet

he should have guested on Miami Vice

Sammy would have been the CHOPPER pilot.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e2/VOA_%28Sammy_Hagar_album_-_cover_art%29.jpg/220px-VOA_%28Sammy_Hagar_album_-_cover_art%29.jpg

one thing about Sammy is he is a chill dude

Man “when it’s love “ has everything you could want. A sweet keyboard intro, a bit of rock, sammy’s intro “hey!”, alex playing some triplets, mike’s high as fuck backing vocals, Sammy again with “yeah, you can FEEL…nothings missing!” And then of course a super tasty solo. Satisfying

that's one of his I actually like.

ONLY TIME WILL TELL
IF WE STAND THE TEST OF TIME

zen koan

what is the sound of one cake pounding

The original lineup of this band hit me during my formative years--I was 12 going on 13 when the first album came out. They were also the first concert I saw. While the bloom was definitely off the rose by Diver Down (although Fair Warning holds up remarkably well), I never reconciled myself to the Van Hagar version. Everything that made the band special seemed to have been drained away.

Sammy was 30+ years early on the celebrity tequila trend.

You should seriously look up how otm that really is and how well Sammy played it. I'll try to copy the pertinent part from his book tomorrow.

The (more or less) end of the visionary tequila saga, from "Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock":

He sat down with me and told me that he and his investors wanted to buy the company from me and they would pay $22 million. I already turned down Gary Shansby’s offer of $38 million. What was this guy thinking? I fired my accountant.

He did have a piece of the company. When he sued to get back my shares in his San Francisco restaurant, I made a deal for his end of Cabo Wabo and he went away. I brought in a liquor business old-timer named Steve Kauffman to run the company. He was somebody I knew, who came from Seagram and had done some work for me as a consultant. He was going through his fourth divorce, the poor bastard. He needed a job. Once he took over, the business exploded overnight.

A little more than a year after Kauffman came to work for me, Skyy Vodka approached him to buy the company. He took a lunch with an old friend from Skyy and showed him the numbers. The guy called me up from the lunch and offered me $70 million for the company. I almost fainted.

In the liquor business, we were quiet underachievers. We had four employees. I didn’t spend any money marketing because we were doing fine, growing at a nice, beautiful, slow pace. The three-year average net profit was almost $7 million a year. I was happy making that much money. I didn’t need any more money. I liked keeping it guerrilla, maintaining control.

I went to the Skyy offices in San Francisco, very hip company, staffed by lots of young people. I felt at home and wanted to be involved with these guys. I told them maybe I would sell them 50 percent of the company. I went back and forth for about ten days, waking up in the middle of the night thinking, “Oh, no, I can’t sell this company.” I finally told them I couldn’t sell. By the time I paid the lawyers, taxes, bought off my partners, I told them, all I’d have left is a chunk of money that doesn’t really change my life. “What amount would change your life?” they asked.

“At least $100 million,” I said.

They called back the next day and said okay.

I guess if you are already a rich rock star, I guess $100 million is true FU money.

“Yeah, you can feel”