dvdjunkie32

This question was spurred out of a recent MTV interview with Sammy Hagar. Sammy is quoted saying:

"This is what I’ve heard through the grapevine, that they’ve already fired one producer and Ed and Dave supposedly can’t be in the same room together. If they can’t be in the same room together, how can they make a record? I think I’m doing Van Halen a favor with my book. It may put a fire under their asses to swallow some pride and make another record for the fans. You know how long it’s been since they’ve had a record? 1995, when we made Balance. And then they did one record with Gary Cherone, which doesn’t count. They’ve done nothing but greatest hits ever since. I’m dogging them, cause it’s time. They better make a great record for their fans. I don’t care if it’s with David or me. "


Damn right, Sammy. VH fans have waited too long, and it's sad that these guys can't get their shit straight to record some new tunes. My initial thought was a new VH album with David would be a smash hit. After 15 freaking years, millions of fans would go nuts and love it.


Or would they? Does anyone really care about Van Halen anymore? It's been over 20 years since they ruled the music charts. I'm reminded of another band that spend too long making a new record. Guns N Roses. They were one of the most popular bands in the world, yet after 15 years of yanking fans chains, bloated egos out of control, fired band members, Chinese Democracy was finally released to the public.


Chinese Democracy was actually a pretty good rock release, but the sales were abysmal. Even the most loyal fans will move on eventually.

Sean O'Hara

No. While vinyl has made a come-back and they could make a cool buck selling special limited editions, they'd need to release it on CD and MP3 as well.

Michael Corvin

Nope. They might be able to pull off a couple of catchy tunes, but that ship has sailed in regards to a hit album.

cdollaz

If it is good, it will sell.

Nice dig at Cherone.

Mordred

I really like Gary Cherone, but Hagar's kinda right. That album was terrible and no one will ever think of him as a member of Van Halen. Better if all forget it ever happened.

wishbone

I think it was the Daily Show at the time but it was mentioned that Eddie Van Halen's idea of a hip replacement was Gary Cherone.

Geofferson

I'll admit I'll be the first to buy the new album (ahem, on vinyl) but yeah...the ship has likely sailed for it to be a huge success (regardless of how good it is).

Whatever happens, at least my low expectations put me in a position to be pleasantly surprised

cdollaz

Agreed, it was a crappy album. But it is pretty funny for Hagar to say that as many people view him the same way, that the stuff he did with VH is shit and isn't canon.

Hixx

If they sold it for $7.99 at Walmart it would do well regardless of the quality.

I read Hagar's book excerpt in Rolling Stone and was pretty surprised at how harsh it was, it really made Eddie out to be a miserable mess on the reunion tour in the mid 2000s.

cungar

Probably do about as well as The Who Endless Wire. Might make it into the top 10 for a week and then drop off. Then again nowadays you can be in the Top 10 selling 25,000 CDs. But as far as having radio hits and actual attention we're way past that era.

islandclaws

Same here. Hagar's out there himself (UFO abduction claims and all...), but Eddie sounds like a terrible human being. I met him once at a NAMM show - not the friendliest guy.

BKenn01

Hell a lot of people still dont consider Sammy a member of Van Halen. How many times do you hear Van Hagar vs Van Halen.

As to the original question, if it is good it will sell. VH is one band who could take a lesson from ACDC on marketing because their silly childish tit for tats have cost them a lot of money over the years. People still refer to them as one of the greatest rock bands but time is ticking get to making some new tunes and yes it would be great if they were with Dave.

CRM114

Probably as long as you are talking about the sappy shit they put out with Hagar.

The REAL Van Halen with David Lee Roth? Probably not.

It's not my kind of music these days but back when Van Halen and Van Halen II came out, those were serious rock and roll records. The Sammy Hagar crap was top 40 nonsense. Hagar blows.

SmackDaddy

If it actually gets made, it will probably be a marginal seller at best. Their ship has sailed. And after reading Sammy's book, I can see why they haven't done anything but sulk all these years. I mean really, not showing up for your own RRHF (however meaningless it really is) induction because the bassist and former singer (with whom you achieved your biggest success) were going to be there??

Speaking of which, even with Dave back, no Michael Anthony=NO SALE!!

dvdjunkie32

I might be in the minority, but I enjoyed both the Roth and Hagar eras. The band started sucking balls when Balance came out. I didn't even bother with the VH3.

CRM114

They started to suck with 1984, IMO. (But then again, I stopped listening to that type of music around then too.) The Hagar stuff was unlistenable. Way too commercial, top 40, and Hagar's voice .

Dr Mabuse

Van Halen on the 'Fair Warning' and 'Diver Down' tours were the best live rock shows I ever saw.

There was an energy to the band and the music that was amazing.

DLR was born for that job.

Numanoid

Hey, "Only time will tell if we stand the test of time."

SmackDaddy

I've always hated that, but is it any worse than these gems:

"You corner my dog, It dont let you past, Got a bad lil' woman, gon' bite yo' ass "
or

"Ooh, woman and a woman, them are silly games you play, yeah"

If anyone is listening to Van Halen for meaningful lyrics...well...sorry...

Drexl

Why would anyone expect it to be a huge success in today's world of hip hop and whore pop? It might do okay, but I don't see them selling a ton of copies.

Well, maybe if they switched to country...

SmackDaddy

It worked for Bon Jovi....and Hootie

Vlyger

I'm with you on that. I like both eras equally. A "strange" feeling overcame me in 1995 after listening to Balance. I felt as if Balance was their swan song - an end of an era. Little did I know that a year later Sammy Hagar would no longer be part of the band. The music climate was changing and VH3 just sucked badly.

Matt

K&AJones

I'd love to see them and no doubt they would pack the places but.....

The whole thing really revolves around Eddie. Face it, he is "Van Halen" as his guitar riffs make the band and make him. But Roth thought his "voice" made Van Halen and let his ego get the best of him...and it still does. If Eddie just get off the bottle and get his act together. The only one with real common sense about getting the band back is Michael Anthony but who knows nowdays.

Good read over at the "Van Halen Wiki" site. It's alomost 3/4 of tensions between members of the group

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Halen

Drexl

I remember that, but I didn't realize he did a whole album of it.