A few weeks back on this site, we responded to the announced Van Halen tour — with Dave Roth momentarily back in the saddle yet again — with disdain or at least indifference. With the apparent power to doom aging rock bands with his pen, the tour was quickly scrapped following Woody’s caustic remarks. Ok, maybe the tour cancellation had more to do with Eddie Van Halen’s recent entry into rehab or the fact that the Diamond One can no longer sing (if he ever could).
These recent events, and VH’s upcoming induction into the Rock Hall of Fame this Monday, got me to thinking. Has any other band, at one time so big, with age grown so small? Few bands age gracefully, but VH’s repeated attempts to reclaim the spotlight have been comically futile. I mean, at one point they hired the lead singer of freakin’ Extreme as their new frontman. (My apologies to those who wanted to forget this ever happened). Was that VH’s low point, or was it when the Hagar-Roth combo tour from a few years back achieved more commercial success than anything VH has done in years? This is open to debate.
Maybe other big-name bands from my youth have tarnished their reputation and lost their dignity more spectacularly than Van Halen, so correct me if I’m wrong. In fact, I’m shooting from the hip here and actually would prefer to be wrong. I was never a big VH fan, but who didn’t love the great “Panama” and “Hot for Teacher” videos, or classic numbers like “Running with the Devil” and “Ice Cream Man.” Remember at the end of the “Hot for Teacher” video when, ala the closing sequence of the movie Animal House, the ultimate future lives of the band members are revealed? Notably absent was any mention of a revolving door of lead singers or a half-ass Hall of Fame induction where only Hagar and Michael Anthony will attend, listening to Velvet Revolver cover some of the band’s hits. I just hope the future doesn’t also include members of the band sharing a TV studio stage with Dave Navarro and Brooke Burke, as new lead singers are auditioned on “Rock Star–Van Halen” (don’t forget to vote with your new V-Cast phone!).
PS: If there is a silver lining here, it is that Hagar appears to be having the last laugh. He chills down in his popular Cabo Wabo cantina in Mexico for parts of the year, selling his own tequila by the same name and occasionally releasing music complimentary of his beachcomber-rockstar lifestyle. I was always firmly in the Roth VH camp, but my brother-in-law (a big Hagar fan) recently sent me a new CD by none other than Sammy Hagar & the Wabos. If you’re interested, the iTunes review of this disc is pretty accurate. Suffice it to say, it is a guilty pleasure, but a pleasure just the same. Much like Van Halen used to be.
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Again, why would anybody pay money to see this reconstituted band live? They are has-beens!!!
Sammy’s new album is a gem!!!
vh has not been vh in 23 years, so who cares, people are dying in iraq
probably you can’t sing stupid jerky !
david lee roth is a great singer just watch strumming with the devil new cd on youtube
probably you’re jelaous because you never got pussy and dave does
and i do too because i can sing
Van Halen is a pretty good band I’m a big fan of the 70’s and 80’s rock band and my thre top favorites are Randy Rhoads, ABBA and Quiet Riot. Van Halne they’re okay and sure it’s a diffrence from then and now. But we shouldn’t forget that David Lee Roth was and is David Lee Roth he could sing and you’ve all probably seen his jumps in theire music video Jump they’re amazing he could do them then but he won’t do them now a days I don’t think he would manage with out breaking his arms and legs. They’re not the Hall of Fame but they’re not Shame either they’re in between. They we’re good in the eighties and they got like one of the 10 best guitarist(Eddie Van Halen) his the 9th best on my list anyway. I din’t live on the 80’s I’m born 1992 but I would pay ,money to see them live.
What a bad article, it ’s so easy to talk about them like this. Who are you to write this shit???
Now, the tour has begun and they’re still amazing!
In Europe, Van Halen is known with (and because of) David Lee Roth!!!
Nobody talks about Sam -the old fat man- Hagar!!!
A concert of Van Halen is also a show and only Diamond Dave can do it.
I would pay a lot to see them! I’m only eighteen and VH is one of my favourite band.
Wow! So harsh. I just saw VH with Diamond Dave last night. It was a great show. So awesome to hear these songs again. I loved them in the 80s and if one thing is to be said about them now its that through all of their trials and transgresions, THEY’RE STILL ROCKIN!! They rocked the house and Dave can still jump and no, he didn’t break anything. These guys will always be known for their talent. Everyone gets old, you can’t dog on them for that. Respect the fact that they still put on a great show. I loved seeing Eddie playing with his son, Wolfgang. Lighten up oh harsh ones.
who gives a shit about that war in Iraq, Get the hell out of their country nobody like s Americans anyway.
I’ve been listening to old Van Halen and they certainly were blisteringly hot in their day, tonnes of charisma. The Sammy v Lee Roth things been done to death peoples!!! Why can’t we just be old farts sit back and listen to their great music that they made and shut the hell up.
I bought all their albums when I was in my late teens but stopped in 1985 because they lost their soul, Dave’s voice and Eddie’s style of guitar had a natural gel that just simply can never be replicated. OK, now about this dumb article by the Hagar fan, to complain about people getting older, well yes, people do actually get older by the second and a bit wiser – anyone who has seen them live has commented that they are as good now as they were then – sure enough there are some brilliant acts in their league; Incubus, Foo-Fighters, U2, Janes Adiction, Down to name a few, but the Roth era pushed all their albums to platinum….see there’s no point bitchin about Roth just because most hard core VH fans prefer Roth to Hagar.
I saw VH open for Black Sabbath in the 70’s…the year that VH’s first album came out. Incredible performance…and back then, VH’s tape punctuated hot summer nights of teen angst and rebellion, pumping out of the stereo in our Camaro as we got into loads of trouble. (I’m lucky to still be alive, honestly). But…I just can’t bear to look at how they’ve aged. I’ve held up pretty well, and I’d rather not get depressed seeing the deterioration of some of my peers. Rock artists apparently have rough lives, from the looks of things. Too much partying, I guess.
I’ll listen, if they play, but god help me, I just can’t watch.
Ok, I was born in 66′ and I will tell you that the first time I was mesmerized by Eddie Van Halen on a guitar with David lee Roth singing I was in awe…
I personally think as far as alive guitar players Eddie is the best at least one of the all time top three…
Roth was an arrogant asshole, however he was a master showman, the jumps and spins and splits were all because he took Ballet and Karate.
I never really liked Mark Anthony even though of all the members, he was one I actually met, which made it even worse. He was rude and thought all should, bow down beneath him (I ate at a restaurant he was in and I told him he was an ass, for the way he treated the waitress).
Sammy Hagar stepping in, well of all of the possibles out there, they got that one correct. He already was known, he could play the guitar very well already, and his singing was good, for Van Halen to continue with new stuff and to be able to cover the old stuff. I thought his talent and ability was an excellent choice and worked out well. If Roth wasn’t going to be involved I felt Sammy was the next best thing, plus they still pumped out hit after hit.
I have to admit I do not even remember the other leads name because he sucked so bad that at that point I stopped even listening to anything past that date.
If you did not grow up in the era of Diver down as well as 1984, then I do not think you can really appreciate the music enough to judge in its entirety. You have to know what it was like to wait for another album and to see them live as they were, then to see them when they went on doing it with Sammy, with Balance and For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.
To say Eddie is one of the best, he should be he started at three, and his mother made him and Alex master classical music before they could do anything else first. When you are so good and you have been doing it so long that you actually run out of stuff to do and start the keyboards and are also very good on that instrument, I think that also says a lot.
I still think that when talking about some of the best Rock bands in History you would have to mention Van Halen as one of the top three ever.
I am a Van Halen fan, no matter who the lead singer is. I don’t subscribe to the whole this-lead-singer-is-better-than-that-lead-singer mentality.
However, I am not a fan of this article. Not because it knocks Van Halen and pokes fun at their past, but because it doesn’t seem to be researched very well. The author has taken the low road on this subject and chose the very easy route of absent minded criticism rather than delve into how the band changed over the years and how the fans reacted.
One thing is for sure: Each lead singer has the kind of talent that is missing in today’s music. Roth, Hagar and Cherone each had some great music without Van Halen. As a matter of fact, the author seems to know next to nothing about Cherone, who deserves a lot more credit than is given him. And Hagar has a new band (Chickenfoot) and their album debuted at number 4 on the Billboard chart.
Age does not diminish talent. Les Paul was a great example of that – playing show up until his recent passing. The fact that Kanye West, Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers all have record contracts (and liberally use Autotune to cover up their poor singing) says a lot about what is wrong with music today. Real talent is so rare nowadays that it is sometimes and absolute pleasure when an old tried-and-true band goes on tour. This gives the younger generations a chance to see performers perform and not lip sync.
Twenty years from now, people will still remember Van Halen. Twenty seconds from now, nobody will remember Mofongo’s article.
It’s always great to hear VanHalen with David Lee Roth. Dave seems to be so much more than a musician. It is so awesome that he posts pictures of his adventures , so that his fans can share a little bit of his life.There will always be people who can’t handle seeing someone getting older.It is exciting to see and hear the different music he has come out with.Thank God Dave isn’t thin skinned or we wouldn’t have the privilege of hearing the latest from David Lee Roth!
I heard them in -79 for the first time, and was it different than everything I had heard before. I loved their music and still do. DLR is my favourite VH vocalist. And Eddie was a big influence to me when I started playing guitar in bands. Long live Van Halen!
It’s weird reading all these comments comparing VH to new bands. Everyone seems to forget that Eddie paved the way with his innovative sound and technique. All the new rockers pay him homage with every blistering note. I was 13 when I first saw David Lee Roth on MTV. Jump had just been released as the first single off of “1984″. The video blew my mind. I had never seen anything like these guys. They were showmen. They played to their audience (effortlessly) and seemed to love every moment of it. More than that, I loved every moment of it. Everyone ages and passes their prime, but their contribution should never be forgotten. These guys are part of the lexicon of rock and roll. Know them for what they were and their effect in their time.
Dave 02.25.08 at 4:35 am, from post#7: You’re a jerk and no doubt America saved your wussy country at some point from occupation by some other evil country.
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