What will the legacy of "Van Hagar" be?

[AKA]

I posted this thread on another board today, and I think it's worth reposting on Sitcoms Online, as I'm sure it'll get some wonderful responses here. The replies on the original thread are also worth reading.

Originally Posted by AKA

David Lee Roth's reunion with Van Halen is far more successful than anyone dreamed it would have been when it was first announced five years ago. Frankly, I was expecting it to be a trainwreck, like everything else the band has done since the 1996 Roth reunion. But I can honestly say that I deserve to eat crow; that I was not only wrong about the reunion itself, but also about the quality of the new album. Michael Anthony's absence aside, Classic Van Halen is back.

Having said that, what will become of the legacy of the Sammy Hagar era? While I much prefer the band with Roth, I think that the eleven years the band enjoyed with Hagar at the helm is also worthwhile. It's like listening to a different band, sometimes from an entirely different genre.

Since 2007, though, the Van Halen camp has pretty much been pretending the five non-Roth-fronted albums never happened. Now that David Lee Roth is back is back fulltime with Van Halen, will 5150, OU812, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, and Balance (and the hit songs those albums spawned) have a future? Will they be revisited sometime, or will they continue to be swept under the rug by Eddie and company? What about future catalog reissues? Do "Van Hagar" songs even get played on the radio anymore?

I later added:

Originally Posted by AKA

I grew up with the Sammy era, so maybe that's why I'm not as harsh on it as other Van Halen fans are. I was 3 years old when 1984 came out, so my earliest memory of David Lee Roth is when he went solo, and "California Girls" and "Just a Gigolo" were in heavy rotation on MTV. But I was 11 when "Right Now" was a hit, and in high school when Balance tracks were getting played a lot on rock radio. Right or wrong, it's how I became acquainted with Van Halen and became a fan. I owned For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, OU812 and Balance before I ever owned any of the first six albums.

It wasn't until the HDCD remasters came out in 2000 that I really gave Classic Van Halen a chance. I eventually began to like them more than I do "Van Hagar," that doesn't mean I despise Sammy Hagar as lead singer of Van Halen like some fans do. As I said above, they're like two different bands (apples and oranges, really), and I like them both for different reasons.

It's absolutely wonderful that David Lee Roth is back in the fold, but kind of despicable that the official Van Halen camp is pretending the Hagar and Cherone eras of the band never happened.

I wouldn't want David Lee Roth to sing Sammy Hagar tunes in concert. It'd probably be as terrible and awkward-sounding as Hagar's renditions of "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love," "Panama" and "Jump."

What say you, Sitcoms Online?

[-STEFFY-]

I liked Sammy Hagar's rendition of "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love."

[TheCars1986]

Hagar could easily sing the "Diamond Dave" sung songs. Roth not so much. The "Van Hagar" era will probably be remembered as a more mature, pop sounding Van Halen. The Roth era was more of a party rock and roll band.

[AKA]

I think that Sammy Hagar is the better singer of the two, but I really don't like his live renditions of Dave's songs on the Live: Right Here, Right Now album. They sound awkward, like he's singing them against his will (which was probably the case).