Metal Overview: Van Halen (Hagar Era)

 Welcome back fellow Otaku & Metalheads!

At the beginning of the month, we took a look at the golden years of Van Halen, headed up by David Lee Roth. Timeless to this very day, things would take a left turn once Roth decided to leave. With the iconic singer out of the band, it would take a miracle to find someone that could fill the void. Luckily, such an individual was eventually located. So join me will you, as we examine the Sammy Hagar era of Van Halen. Let’s begin!

5150 (1986)

With the leaving of David Lee Roth, the band had considerable difficulty finding a replacement singer. At first, Eddie Van Halen invited Patty Smyth of Scandal to replace Roth, but she declined. Ultimately in July of 1985, he was introduced to former Montrose frontman Sammy Hagar via their Ferrai mechanic. The pair hit it off right then, and the brand new singer began making songs with the band immediately. The band would then go to work in November of 1985, and would be finished in February of 1986. Released literarily a month later on the 24th of March, 5150 would go onto be number 1 on the Billboard 200, and as Sammy Hagar said in 2014:

“The album went platinum in one week. It was the fastest million-selling record in Warner's history ... It was such a high.”

5150 was notable for a higher number of love songs and ballads, which contrasted against the  straightforward rock stylings of Roth’s time in the band. Many called this new version of the band "Van Hagar" (derisively or affectionately), and the nickname was so ubiquitous, Warner Bros. asked them to consider renaming the band as such, but Eddie and Alex declined. Criticism of the record was bolstered by the absence of Ted Templeman, who having produced every previous album for the band, left to helm Roth's solo release Eat 'Em and Smile. He would return to produce Van Halen's 1991 release a few years later (More on that in a bit), for which Andy Johns had already been tapped. Donn Landee took over producer duties for 5150 after serving as an engineer on previous albums, but the production was considerably different from anything done by Templeman.  Eddie Van Halen’s guitar, previously high in the mix and frequently pushed to the left channel (to simulate a "live" sound"), now sat equal in said mix and its overall sound had changed. This may be something he did, as he was not a fan of the "live mix" that Templeman created with the Roth band. The album was also the first Van Halen release to feature no instrumentals.

Best Track? Those of us 90s kids who saw the Power Rangers movie might recognize the song that was played during the end credits, Dreams. This is where I discovered it myself, and while I didn’t necessarily appreciate it back then, I did enjoy how incredibly upbeat it was. When I got older, I appreciated the track for what it was: an upbeat happy song that I can call “Soul Metal” (A term a dear friend of mine came up with a year or two). A metal track that heals your insides, and makes you fell warm & fuzzy if you’re feeling drained. If you skip this tune for whatever reason, then something is clearly wrong with you!

Dreams

Worst Track? There aren’t any! From beginning to end this album is filled with some of the best metal the 1980s can provide. Even the title track is a beast: playing at 5 minutes & 44 seconds, it doesn’t feel like a time filler like 1984 was on the previous album.

5150. A hell of a start for the Sammy Hagar era of Van Halen, and a great album in it’s own right. If you’re taking a trip through the 1980s era of metal, this is definitely a release to check out. Next album!

OU812 (1988)

Following the conclusion of the highly successful 5150 Tour, Eddie had a few riffs he’d been working on, and Hagar had “a bunch of lyrics in notebooks that I had been thinking about and writing”, so the two decided to start working on a new record right away. Released on the 24th of May, 1988, OU812 acknowledges Van Halen for songwriting & performing and Landee for recording, but there was no production credit. According to Sammy Hagar:

“The band pretty much produced the album ourselves. And we weren't producers, in the sense that we went in with an idea and told everybody what to do and took control. There just wasn't a producer”

When Sammy arrived in the studio, Eddie showed a piano and drums demo he recorded with his brother, which they soon developed into the song "When It's Love". Given that the musical components were finished quicker than the lyrics, Hagar decided to take a few weeks off and traveled to his Mexican home in Cabo San Lucas to work on some more songs. It was there that he found the inspiration for the song "Cabo Wabo", which borrowed the melody of "Make It Last", which was made during his Montrose days, and whose title later named Hagar's nightclub in the city (And the later franchise). "Finish What Ya Started" was the last song to be developed, with Eddie & Sammy composing it one night late into the production. The last track that Hagar recorded however, was the album opener "Mine All Mine", as he was unsure of the lyrics. The more deep & metaphysical lyrics had to be rewritten seven times, as Hagar said:

“It was the first time in my life I ever beat myself up, hurt myself, punished myself, practically threw things through windows, trying to write the lyrics”

Reception for OU812 was mixed at first. Despite placing at no. 1 on the Billboard 200 like the release before it, music critics certainly had something to say. Robert Christgau of The Village Voice rated the album at a C, noting that “Eddie's obsessed with technique, Roth's contemptuous of technique, rhythm section's got enough technique and no klutz genius. But Sammy . . . like wow. If I can't claim the new boy owns them, you can't deny he defines them”. In a retrospective review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said that “When David Lee Roth fronted the band, almost everything that Van Halen did seemed easy – as big, boisterous, and raucous as an actual party – but Van Hagar makes good times seem like tough work here. The riffs are complicated, not catchy, the rhythms plod, they don't rock, and Sammy strains to inject some good times by singing too hard. Ff it isn't as good as Fair Warning (even if it's nearly not as much fun), it's nevertheless the best showcase of the instrumental abilities of Van Hagar”.

Best Track? When It’s Love and Feels So Good were always banger tracks to me. Even before I got into Van Halen as much as I have, these two songs always perked me up. Neither fast or slow, they both occupy a middle ground in terms of pacing, but they don’t let up the intensity either. I’m kind of glad that they weren’t right next to each other in the tracklisting, as they would have potentially blended into one another. Still, they’re both fantastic, and you should press the skip button when they play!

When It’s Love

Feels So Good

Worst Track? There aren’t any bad songs on here! Much like the album before it, Van Halen put out a 10-track buffet of badassery for anyone interested to devour, and devoured many did! However, I got two nitpicks: The first is that OU812 feels like a more commercial version of 5150. Not massively by any means, but there’s enough commercial feel that does make this album a little easier to listen to than many other releases of the band’s career in the 1980s. My other nitpick would be the album’s running. Now, I do admit that maybe I was being a little goofy complaining about a Van Halen album from the Roth era’s running time. As short as those albums can be, I am impressed with how quick they’re made and how fast said releases can play. OU812 comes across like the exact opposite. The record was made in a quick manner like everything before it, but the length is surprisingly meaty. 5150 went on for 42 minutes & 74 seconds, while this CD went on for 48 minutes & 1 second. That’s not a massive time jump, but it is enough that you can tell the difference.
    
OU812. Still just as good as 5150 was. While the slightly more increased commercial appeal may turn some away, and the increased length of time seems strange, there’s still a lot of good quality meat on these bones. Pick it up if you’re interested. Next album!

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (1991)

The year is 1991. The era of Hair Metal came, and is almost gone at this point. Grunge wasn’t that far away, Rap/Hip-Hop’s popularity was getting bigger, and classic Heavy Metal just wasn’t in the public conscious anymore. But somehow, someway, Van Halen managed to survive the supposed musical “apocalypse” that took place once things hit 1990. Marketed as the "return" to the band’s hard rock roots (Most songs were guitar driven, and the synths were replaced with piano), Van Halen began work in March of 1990, and finished up 2 months before it’s release. Put out on the 17th of June, 1991, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge got it’s name from Sammy Hagar, who wanted to push the issue of censorship by naming Van Halen's album with a vulgarity, stating “That's when censorship was a big issue. I wanted to name the album just Fuck”. He backed off from the outright vulgarity when former world lightweight boxing champion Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini (A friend of Sammy’s) said that  "fuck" was an acronym for the phrase "for unlawful carnal knowledge" (though this is false).

The reception of For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge was perhaps more mixed & negative than the album before it. John Milward of Rolling Stone rated the release a 2 out of 5 stars, explaining that it “is so stuffed with zigzagging guitars and blustery vocals that it almost forgets to rock. Eddie Van Halen, who probably has more guitars than teeth, upends such a tackle box of hooks that they only start to surface after repeated listenings. Tasteful simplicity, which is never really simple at all, would have proved a better course to follow”, and Gina Arnold of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a C, stating:

“It would be nice to believe that the acronym formed by the title of Van Halen's new, top-charting album was intended as a covert blow against censorship in America. Unfortunately, it's far more likely that the punny name merely indicates VH's love of the kind of bathroom talk that third graders think is funny. For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge doesn't contain even one mind-numbingly catchy melody. Only 'Top of the World' and 'The Dream Is Over' come close to working up a truly fist-thrusting chorus, and the gist of the latter—'dream another dream, this dream is over'—may well be advice that Van Halen and their fans ought to take to heart”

The more negative reception is ironic when you look at For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge’s debut. It debuted at no. 1 on the billboard 200 like the last two releases, and would stay there for 3 weeks. Weird!

Best Track? Once again, I bet a huge bunch of you 90s kids that remember the early part of the decade, might recall at least the first few notes of Right Now. Famously used in the classic (Or infamous, depending on how you look at it) 1993 commercial for Crystal Pepsi, it shows off how simplistic much of the music was. The guitar & bass beats are easy but still awesome, the drumming doesn’t go overboard but is still pounding, and Sammy Hagar’s voice still sounds like it can shatter glass. Though I think that Right Now should have been an opener rather than a closer (It’s 3rd to last in the tracklisting), it’s still a song that brings back nostalgia of a simpler time.

Right Now

Worst Track? If there’s one dent in For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge’s armor, it would be that it’s perhaps the most commercial album in the band’s discography. OU812 certainly had a little more commercial feeling put into it, but it didn’t feel like that across the whole thing. With this release, it seems obvious that Van Halen is going for a much wider audience than they did before, and thus almost everything on here is easy to get into. That doesn’t make the music bad, as there’s still an awesome buffet of songs here, but at the same time said buffet will be easier to devour.

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. Maybe the most commercial release of Van Halen’s career at that time, and it’s reception was certainly more mixed, but it’s still jam-packed with a variety of great songs. If you want an easier VH release to get into, you can’t go wrong with For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. Next album!

Balance (1995)

Remember when I talked about the cracks back in part 1? Well, they came back, and in sort of a big way. According to the book Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga (Written by Ian Christie), 1995's Balance was released amid internal fighting between their manager Ray Danniels, Sammy Hagar and the Van Halen brothers. From my understanding, it came down to Sammy wanting more control over the band, and Eddie & Alex trying to make sure there wasn’t a hostile takeover. Things didn’t fair much better after the album was released, as after the subsequent Ambulance Tour (the band renamed the "Balance" tour to the "Ambulance Tour" because Eddie was having hip issues and brother Alex had to wear a neck brace), the second incarnation Van Halen would break up. Sammy Hagar left the band on Father’s day in 1996, amid escalating tension between himself and Eddie & Alex during, of all things, the recording of songs for the film Twister. As Eddie told Guitar World in 1997:

“There had been a variety of conflicts brewing between manager Ray Danniels, Sammy, and the band since I quit drinking on October 2, 1994... It got so bad that I actually started drinking again.”

Despite all of the chaos before & after, Balance wound up once again being another no. 1 release on the Billboard 200. In it’s first week of sales, 295,000 units were sold (This is what secured the no. 1 spot), which was 21% higher thanthat of For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, which topped the chart with 243,000 units in the summer of 1991.

Best Track? The Seventh Seal is of particular importance not just to this album, but to Eddie Van Halen’s life as well. Featuring mystical overtones & instrumentation throughout the whole track, this came about due to Eddie’s new found sobriety at the time. His therapist, Sat-Kaur Khalsa, urged him to simply relax & imagine where he was after drinking a six-pack. After smoking & drinking beer for 20 years, he tried writing sober and cranked out three songs in a half hour period. That’s pretty damn impressive if you ask me!

The Seventh Seal

Worst Track? Balance is far in a way the crispest, cleanest, and perhaps the most produced album of their career at that time......and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. On the one hand, it does means that there’s no scratches, no hiccups, or any other production issue. All of the songs on here sound fresh, and in turn have aged quite well. On the other hand.....I kinda liked it when Ven Halen albums were rough around the edges. Something about the band have more simplistic recording gave their work an identity that was all their own. Even For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge still had a little roughness, despite it having a little more audio clarity to it.

Balance. Somehow, someway, the band have continued their streak of number 1 releases with this album, and while it may sound a little too modern (When compared to the releases before), it still manages to be a great piece of music. Sadly, darker times were ahead for Van Halen, and with those times came the only bad record of their entire career.......or is it bad? Next album!

Van Halen III (1998)

The period following the band’s breakup was intriguing. In 1996, David Lee Roth was called by Eddie to talk about what songs would be included on a planned Van Halen compilation, the work of which was done before Sammy Hagar left. Apparently Roth & Eddie were getting along well, and David was invited up to Eddie’s house & studio. Shortly after this invitation, Roth re-entered the studio with the band and their producer Glen Ballard, & two of the songs made during that time were added to the band's Best Of – Volume I album and released as singles to promote it.

Cut to the 4th of September, 1996, and the band alongside David Lee Roth were at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards to present an award, and it was the first time in over 11 years that they were together, but known to Roth, Eddie & Alex were still auditioning other singers, including Mitch Malloy. Malloy ultimately declined to join the band, citing the VMAs publicity stunt with Roth, of which he had no prior knowledge until it aired on TV. The appearance of the band at the VMAs fueled reunion speculation, but after a few weeks David Lee Roth was out again. Roth stated that he was an unwitting participant in a publicity stunt by Van Halen and manager Ray Danniels, while Eddie & Alex claiming they’d been completely honest with Roth and never said he was guaranteed to be the next lead singer. The one to claim the mantle of Van Halen’s lead singer would be Gary Cherone,  frontman of the then-defunct Boston-based band Extreme (They managed to obtain some success in the early 1990). Once they got their new singer, the band re-entered the studio, worked from March to December of 1997, and on the 17th of March, 1998, Van Halen III was released.

The reception for Van Halen III was mixed to negative upon it’s release. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic says that the album “Suffers from the same problems as Hagar-era Van Halen – limp riffs, weak melodies, and plodding, colorless rhythms.” Entertainment Weekly gave the release a B, saying “judging from the renewed intensity of Eddie’s guitar playing throughout much of III, having a merely competent, relatively ego-free singer seems to have reinvigorated his muse” But would go on to say that "How Many Say I", a song that Eddie was lead vocalist on was "cringeworthy" and "unintentionally hilarious". Greg Kot from Rolling Stone gave VHIII 2 out of 5 stars, noting that “Cherone sounds disconcertingly like Hagar, full of spleen-busting bluster and incapable of understatement” and “When the band plays it heavy, it mires itself in a Seventies tar pit, with only the chorus of "Without You" achieving any sort of pop resonance”. Kot goes on to complement Eddie’s vocalwork, saying “'How Many Say I' finds the guitarist singing in a disarmingly appealing, nicotine-stained voice over a moody piano melody”. Ironically, the release debuted on the Billboard 200 at number 4, with 191,000 copies getting sold. "Without You", the only radio hit from VHIII, reached no. 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart on the March 7, 1998 issue of Billboard, and would stay there for six weeks. Two other tracks off the release that got radio play were "Fire in the Hole" and "One I Want".

Best Track? Once for whatever reason tickles my musical fancy. It’s kind of hard to describe: the whole mood feels like that of the band’s time in the 1980's, but with late 90s modernism. The instrumentation isn’t the heaviest (The intensity does increase overtime though), but the whole thing feels like calm driving music. It’s the kind of music where you roll the windows down on a nice summer day or night, you turn the volume up, and you let the warm summer air caress you as you drive. Definitely an easy song to get into.

Once

Worst Track? There’s definitely some things wrong with VHIII. For one thing, this feels like it was phoned it. Not that it sounds bad, because it doesn’t. Not that it was produced poorly, because I don’t think it was. Not that there wasn’t any talent, cause there certainly are some talented musicians on here. I just think that the band was like “Eh, we’re here in the studio. Let’s just crank a record out, and be done.” The other thing is that this album is.....I don’t want to say the word pretentious. It’s certainly not that, but Van Halen III definitely comes across like a release that’s at least a little full of itself. The band comes across as a little grandiose with how long a lot of the tracks are, and it feels like a lot of the experimentation was done simply to do it. It’s really frustrating, as there’s definitely something here. There’s definitely the potential for this album to be great, but is bogged down the problems above.

And while this isn’t bad or good, Val Halen III is on record for being the longest album in the band’s entire career. Clocking in at 65 minutes (65 minutes & 22 seconds to be exact), this will either make it a slog for some listeners, or a 9 course feast for others. Given the reviews it got back in the day & even now, it’s probably gonna be a slog for a lot of you.

Van Halen III. Definitely the worst out of Van Halen’s discography, but at the same time it’s not god awful if you separate the Van Halen name from it. There’s definitely some potential within the music, but it’s sometimes hard to hear it. Certainly not recommended, but do think of it as a curiosity if it ever comes across your path.

And that was a look at the Sammy Hagar era of Van Halen. Certainly an interesting time for the band, but one that would be plagued with issues, and as such a fair amount of the music suffers. However, a blast from the past would come back to join the band once again. So, see you all on Halloween day, when we’ll look at what would ultimately become Van Halen’s final release. See you then!