All Van Halen albums ranked by Tech

  • Thread starter Thread starter Techdeth
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Uzi Nein Millimetah said:
There were one of the highest profile karaoke bands in the world with Cherone......not a great one......but high profile..... :dunno:
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heath said:
Dave and Sammy both seem to have a personality that is both EASY to dislike and charismatic enough that they pull you in. They been spitting vitriol at each other for over 40 years at this point. They both have what I like to refer to as FMS (front man syndrome). Ego beyond control.

I fall into the camp that I prefer the songs from VH with Dave, but prefer Sammy's singing ability. Dave gets on my ear's nerves after a little while, and he has only gotten worse with age.

Gary was probably the best singer and seems to be the most likable of the three, but I like his album less than most of the others, but that wasn't really his fault. But man those live videos from that era are great because he pulled stuff in from both Roth and Hagar eras.

Having seen some of the VH tribute stuff from Mitch Malloy with Pete Thorn, I really wish we could have gotten one album with him singing had the whole debacle with Dave not happened in the mid 90s. I feel he might have been the perfect mix of Dave and Sammy.

That all being said, this is my rankings based on the whole. It would be VERY different based on guitar tones.

  1. Fair Warning (Unchained and Mean Streets are so good!)
  2. VH II (Light up the Sky, DOA)
  3. VH I (Aint Talkin Bout Love, and Atomic Punk)
  4. 1984 (Panama, Hot For Teacher)
  5. 5150 (Dreams, Summer Nights)
  6. Carnal Knowledge ( Poundcake, Judgement Day, In n Out)
  7. OU812 (Finish What Ya Started, Sucker in a 3 Piece)
  8. VH III (Fire In The Hole, How Many Say I)
  9. Balance (Amsterdam, Seventh Seal)
  10. Women and Children (Cradle Will Rock and Romeo Delight being the highlights)
  11. Diver Down (Hang Em High and Cathedral)
  12. ADKOT (Stay Frosty, She's the Woman)
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All Sam had to do was step in, keep his mouth shut and take over. But those guys bashed Roth in the press and on MTV until Roth finally responded with his video introducing the "other blondes" in the band etc... and no doubt Ed and Al egged Sammy on. Al's quote that we used to be a VW, now we're a Porche with Hagar was BS as well. All the guy was doing was dumping on all the fans that made his ass a star.

I saw the 5150 tour and DLR's first tour and there was zero comparison, the DLR tour remains one of my top 5 concerts I've ever seen and all I remember from the 5150 tour was Ed's funky pants and them doing their little weird Egyptian walk.

In my opinion Sam is easily the best singer but worst front man. Gary, I like him. Decent voice, decent frontman but I honestly think Extreme is a bigger band with a better lead singer. Dave, he was the master until he became a caricature of himself.
 
jabps said:
All Sam had to do was step in, keep his mouth shut and take over. But those guys bashed Roth in the press and on MTV until Roth finally responded with his video introducing the "other blondes" in the band etc... and no doubt Ed and Al egged Sammy on. Al's quote that we used to be a VW, now we're a Porche with Hagar was BS as well. All the guy was doing was dumping on all the fans that made his ass a star.

I saw the 5150 tour and DLR's first tour and there was zero comparison, the DLR tour remains one of my top 5 concerts I've ever seen and all I remember from the 5150 tour was Ed's funky pants and them doing their little weird Egyptian walk.

In my opinion Sam is easily the best singer but worst front man. Gary, I like him. Decent voice, decent frontman but I honestly think Extreme is a bigger band with a better lead singer. Dave, he was the master until he became a caricature of himself.
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Agreed on all fronts.
 
Geo said:
The lyrics for those songs were so shallow and pedantic, it was embarrassing.
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Basic love songs, idk if they need to be any deeper than that as long as it sounds great. :dunno:
 
I'm not one to talk, because I love 80s AOR and melodic rock. But Hagar's love songs like When It's Love are so on the nose that even I find myself cringing.
 
Geo said:
The lyrics for those songs were so shallow and pedantic, it was embarrassing.
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Oh most of Hagar's lyrics are songwriting 101 cliche's. Not all but most. Dave's was the master lyricist.

Classic Roth -
“Some goes to women, some goes to Jesus,
though I’m absolutely certain both’s all right.
But it takes me at least halfway to the label
before I can even make it through the night”

vs.

Classic Hagar -
"And then you sense a change,
Nothing feels the same,
All your dreams are strange,
Love comes walkin' in,
Some kind of alien,
Waits for the opening,
Then simply pulls a string" :poop:




​

 
jabps said:
Oh most of Hagar's lyrics are songwriting 101 cliche's. Not all but most. Dave's was the master lyricist.

Classic Roth -
“Some goes to women, some goes to Jesus,
though I’m absolutely certain both’s all right.
But it takes me at least halfway to the label
before I can even make it through the night”

vs.

Classic Hagar -
"And then you sense a change,
Nothing feels the same,
All your dreams are strange,
Love comes walkin' in,
Some kind of alien,
Waits for the opening,
Then simply pulls a string" :poop:




​

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Hagar's lyrics are as deep as thimble.
 
I like all Van Halen stuff to some degree, even some of the Cherone stuff. Not much but I really thought Sammy would have sounded great on "Fire in the Hole". He could have done a lot of those songs.
 
Geo said:
The lyrics for those songs were so shallow and pedantic, it was embarrassing.
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Even Eddie said that about Hagar's lyrics.....after he had left of course.....
 
Techdeth said:
Ranked best to worst . I love them all . So this was hard ! What do you think ? Based I think

1984
Fair Warning
Women and Children
VHII
VH1
Balance
FUCK
5150
Diver Down
A Different Kind of Truth
VHIII
OU812
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While I can understand arguments for rankings 1-5, as much as I would have changed the order, there are only 6 Van Halen albums.
 
Geo said:
He wasn't just "a vocalist", he was a perfect front man and song writer. In the same vein as Johnny Rotten or Joey Ramone.

Sammy Hagar gave Van Halen vocal gonorrhea.
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Agreed again.
 
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Reactions: Geo
That lyric that Dan quoted gots to be one of the worst... Rhyming the same word twice is a absolute no-go. So -100 for Sammy.
I only own all the Roth albums including ADKOT, and aside from the loudness maximized modern mix, that album is purdy fine...

VH1
1984
WACF
VHII
Fair Warning
ADKOT tie with Diver Down.

Fun fact: 5 of these 7 albums I own came from the same record store near the armory in Syracuse, NY.
 
My list

1. Fair Warning
2. WACF
3. VHII
4. VH1
5. 1984
6. Diver Down

Everything after sucks LOL!!!!! Joking as far as sucking, but 1-6 are the upper echelon VH albums.

Here are the lower echelon albums.

1. FUCK (Best VH album with Sammy IMO)
2. 5150
3. Balance
4. A Different Kind Of Truth
5. OU812
6. III 🤮
 
Last edited:
Dave: "I like the way the line runs up the back of the stockings. I always kind of liked those high heels too. No, No, no, don't take them off, don't take them off. Leave 'em on, leave 'em on. Yeah that's it, little more to the right."

Sammy: "1, 2, 3 lock box"
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Geo
@jabps Your takes are perfect.

Thanks for those articulations, they remind me of when music journalism was emotionally compelling.
 
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