Unpopular Opinion – Van Halen Was Better With Sammy Hagar
There are some opinions that, for some reason, are considered to be socially unacceptable. For a long time it was considered unacceptable to support gay marriage, and you’re still ridiculed if you think that the Star Wars prequels were good movies, and that pineapple pizza is eatable (okay, pineapple pizza sucks, I’ll give you that one.)
However, there’s one unpopular opinion I defend more rigorously and passionate than the rest. Are you ready for the most unpopular opinion of the century? Good, here it is – Sammy Hagar is better than David Lee Roth. There I said it. And I don’t just mean as a solo artist, I mean as the lead singer of the once mighty – Van Halen.
Whenever I get involved in discussions about who Van Halen’s best singer is I always initially shout “GARY CHERONE!!!” just to see if anyone actually remembers that little mistake (no disrespect towards Gary, the chemistry just wasn’t right.) And immediately afterwards I start defending Sammy Hagar.
You know why? Because not only is he a better vocalist technically speaking (that’s actually not a matter of opinion, you can measure someone’s range and pitch accuracy – so scientifically speaking Sammy is actually better) but he’s also a pretty humble guy.
Unlike Diamond Dave. Now, I’ll hand it to Dave – I LOVE all the early Van Halen tunes. “Panama” “Hot For Teacher” “The Cradle Will Rock” and “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” along with countless others are absolutely timeless. I actually love the Dave era, despite my love for Sammy. But I have to say, musically speaking, I love Van Hagar even more.
When Sammy came into the band, the three instrumentalists were able to really flourish on a technical and creative level. “Dreams” and “Right Now” might sound like simple pop tunes, but I promise, those are complex pieces of music. Not to mention “Dreams” is hands down, one of the greatest songs in the history of mankind. Eddie’s 2nd guitar solo in that song makes life worth living.
Plus, Dave and the rest of the band were never really friends. You could tell it was always a battle of egos. When the band hired Sammy to be their lead singer, those guys did everything together – and it was genuine.
You could tell they were all best friends. I would easily pay $1,000 to see that reunion (of course, they’d have to bring back Michael Anthony too, but that’s a story for another time.) Need I elaborate any further? Sorry if you’re a Dave fan, but Sammy has my heart.