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General => General Music Discussion => Topic started by: KevShmev on April 26, 2021, 02:30:50 PM

Title: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on April 26, 2021, 02:30:50 PM
In short, pick your favorite Van Halen they did with Sammy and pit that vs the comeback album with Roth in 2012, A Different Kind of Truth.

As much as I really, really like A Different Kind of Truth, minus Tattoo and the hot mix, I can't put it ahead of 5150 or OU812 (which I go back and forth on for being my favorite with Sammy), but ADKoT was a helluva record.  Yeah, much of it came from demos from the early days, but they still mostly managed to recapture the early vibe on many of those songs. With EVH now deceased, it has to go down as one of the better "last albums" now.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: HOF on April 26, 2021, 02:33:18 PM
I’d put all 4 Sammy albums ahead of any of the Roth albums, so it’s not even close for me. More of a Van Hagar than a Van Halen fan really. Truthfully, I’ve only had maybe half a casual listen of ADKOT but the singles didn’t do much for me.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Mladen on April 26, 2021, 02:58:58 PM
Even though A Different kind of truth has a bunch of good tunes (As is might be one of my favorite songs by the band), I think I prefer 5150 and Balance. So Sammy era gets my vote.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: cfmoran13 on April 26, 2021, 03:54:29 PM
As much of a return to the old sound as ADKoT is, Roth's vocals really hurt it.  I'd take all of the Sammy era over the album.  I'm definitely not a Sammy hater.  So, this really isn't a difficult decision for me.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: WilliamMunny on April 26, 2021, 04:45:09 PM
Even though A Different kind of truth has a bunch of good tunes (As is might be one of my favorite songs by the band), I think I prefer 5150 and Balance. So Sammy era gets my vote.

This.

I'm 40, so Van Hagar was MY VH, or at least, the VH I grew up hearing new releases from.

I hold 5150, in particular, in very high esteem...so much so that I'd probably rank it in my Top-3.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 26, 2021, 04:48:05 PM
I thought ADKOT was way better than I expected. But it's bloated.

This is a tough choice. I suppose I'd take OU812 and F.U.C.K. over it.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on April 26, 2021, 07:42:07 PM
I’d put all 4 Sammy albums ahead of any of the Roth albums, so it’s not even close for me. More of a Van Hagar than a Van Halen fan really. Truthfully, I’ve only had maybe half a casual listen of ADKOT but the singles didn’t do much for me.

Now that is an opinion you don't often see. :P

If you are not a big fan of the Roth era, then not sure digging any deeper will be worth your while, but while the singles were good from ADKOT were good except for Tattoo, the real magic was in the deep cuts.  Songs like Big River, The Trouble with Never and Outta Space are almost as good as anything from the initial 6-album run, IMO.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 26, 2021, 07:45:05 PM
And Honeybabysweetiedoll. When I saw that title I was like WTF? But it harkens classic VH big time.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on April 26, 2021, 07:47:55 PM
Yep, that's a good one.  As Is is rad as heck as well.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 26, 2021, 07:52:50 PM
There is no greater compliment than "rad as heck". :lol
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: HOF on April 26, 2021, 07:53:59 PM
I’d put all 4 Sammy albums ahead of any of the Roth albums, so it’s not even close for me. More of a Van Hagar than a Van Halen fan really. Truthfully, I’ve only had maybe half a casual listen of ADKOT but the singles didn’t do much for me.

Now that is an opinion you don't often see. :P

If you are not a big fan of the Roth era, then not sure digging any deeper will be worth your while, but while the singles were good from ADKOT were good except for Tattoo, the real magic was in the deep cuts.  Songs like Big River, The Trouble with Never and Outta Space are almost as good as anything from the initial 6-album run, IMO.

I certainly enjoy a number of Roth songs, but mostly the hits and those are more songs I think of as fun but don’t take them all that seriously. Not that Van Hagar era was necessarily high art, but I always preferred their personality a little more with Hagar in the band, and they did have some more mature moments there (I still think Right Now is the band’s best song). Like WilliamMunny said, Hagar was the VH front man I grew up with, so I don’t have that sentimental attachment to Roth.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: bosk1 on April 26, 2021, 07:55:12 PM
I’d put all 4 Sammy albums ahead of any of the Roth albums, so it’s not even close for me. More of a Van Hagar than a Van Halen fan really. Truthfully, I’ve only had maybe half a casual listen of ADKOT but the singles didn’t do much for me.

This is exactly me.  Even back in the day, I liked VH I, and didn't really care for much in the Roth era past that, other than the odd song here and there.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on April 26, 2021, 07:56:53 PM
There is no greater compliment than "rad as heck". :lol

LOL, I would have said the f-word instead of heck, but I try to keep it a little clean.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on April 26, 2021, 07:59:18 PM


I certainly enjoy a number of Roth songs, but mostly the hits and those are more songs I think of as fun but don’t take them all that seriously. Not that Van Hagar era was necessarily high art, but I always preferred their personality a little more with Hagar in the band, and they did have some more mature moments there (I still think Right Now is the band’s best song). Like WilliamMunny said, Hagar was the VH front man I grew up with, so I don’t have that sentimental attachment to Roth.

In all fairness, I don't think most Van Halen songs are supposed to be taken seriously. :lol ;)  Their music, especially during the initial Roth run, was basically party rock about sex and women and partying.

I am a big fan of both eras, that said, and I do really like some of the mature songs they did with Sammy - I definitely think Right Now is one of their best songs ever -  but sometimes you just wanna rock out and enjoy some mindless rock music, and Van Halen is perfect for that!  :metal
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 26, 2021, 08:03:57 PM
It's interesting. VH went form being perhaps the biggest band in the world to literally just another band when Sammy joined. For some reason, the DLR Era doesn't captivate people that weren't there for it the way other bands seem to do. It's odd because the DLR Era was so exciting and fresh. I'm always a bit surprised that people that came after that cannot see that.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on April 26, 2021, 08:08:00 PM
It's interesting. VH went form being perhaps the biggest band in the world to literally just another band when Sammy joined. For some reason, the DLR Era doesn't captivate people that weren't there for it the way other bands seem to do. It's odd because the DLR Era was so exciting and fresh. I'm always a bit surprised that people that came after that cannot see that.

I don't know, man, VH was still pretty huge during Sammy's run.  I think all four albums went to number 1, they were still all over MTV, and the rise of grunge and alt rock had no negative effect on VH's popularity.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: bosk1 on April 26, 2021, 08:11:18 PM
It's interesting. VH went form being perhaps the biggest band in the world to literally just another band when Sammy joined. For some reason, the DLR Era doesn't captivate people that weren't there for it the way other bands seem to do. It's odd because the DLR Era was so exciting and fresh. I'm always a bit surprised that people that came after that cannot see that.

I can see it.  I just didn't and don't like that era of the band.  To modify your description above, for me personally, they went from a really huge than that was WAY overrated for the mediocre music they were putting out, to something huge, relevant, and a lot of fun to listen to. 
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 26, 2021, 08:24:27 PM
I don't know, man, VH was still pretty huge during Sammy's run.  I think all four albums went to number 1, they were still all over MTV, and the rise of grunge and alt rock had no negative effect on VH's popularity.

I had to double check that. I'm shocked that Balance went to #1. I don't remember that album doing anything. Did you just edit wiki on that? :lol

I like Balance, but I always felt like they did nothing after F.U.C.K.




I can see it.  I just didn't and don't like that era of the band.   

Yeah, that's fair. One could always choose not to like it.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on April 26, 2021, 08:28:16 PM


I had to double check that. I'm shocked that Balance went to #1. I don't remember that album doing anything. Did you just edit wiki on that? :lol

I like Balance, but I always felt like they did nothing after F.U.C.K.


I don't think I even remember how to edit on wiki. :lol

Everyone I knew at the time was big into Balance.  My regular set of friends, work friends, cousins who are diehard VH fans...everyone was big into it and loving it. Anecdotal, but just relaying how it was in my various circles.  It helps that I live in STL, and our main rock radio station is one that Sammy still genuflects to since they were a station in American that played his solo material when many others did not.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 26, 2021, 08:33:10 PM
1995 was a weird year for me, and I am prone to suffering from selective amnesia during that time period.

Looking at my list of shows, I did manage to see VH the two times they passed though here in 1995.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on April 26, 2021, 08:37:26 PM
1995 was a good music year for me.  I was still listening to my favorite 1994 releases like crazy - Awake, Promised Land, Talk (Yes) and The Division Bell (Pink Floyd) - and then 1995 came around and gave me new VH and Ozzmosis.  :coolio
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 26, 2021, 08:40:38 PM
1995 was a good music year for me.  I was still listening to my favorite 1994 releases like crazy - Awake, Promised Land, Talk (Yes) and The Division Bell (Pink Floyd) - and then 1995 came around and gave me new VH and Ozzmosis.  :coolio


I'll have you know that I introduced myself to the future Lovely Mrs TAC on January 20, 1996, the same day I saw Ozzy on the Ozzmosis tour.  :coolio :coolio

Seeing DT on the ACOS tour..!

I can't say I was a fan of Promised Land, but I saw that tour, and holy crap, the show was incredible.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on April 26, 2021, 08:43:34 PM
Nice!  :coolio :coolio
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: HOF on April 26, 2021, 08:58:26 PM
Balance is a great album though. I love that meaty guitar tone Eddy has on it. I love the ballads, I love the instrumentals, I love the darker, heavier feel to several of the tracks. It’s got a little bit of everything and a few things that they really hadn’t done much before.

Also, as to whether VH was still a big deal with Hagar, I remember this performance on Letterman from 1995 (the back end of the Van Hagar era and not necessarily their peak popularity wise). Half the time the musical guests on Letterman would get some polite applause but it was rare (as far as I can recall) for a band to just electrify the audience the way they seemed to here. They just seemed like they were still a big deal. I remember seeing Eddy come out with the short hair and thinking he looked so happy and healthy (they had made a big deal about him being sober for this album).

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rehEj-WIjf4
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: King Puppies and the Acid Guppies on April 26, 2021, 10:35:29 PM
but I always felt like they did nothing after F.U.C.K.
Most men don't...
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: WildRanger on April 27, 2021, 07:13:19 AM
Not a Van Hagar fan (Roth-era VH is much more rocking to my ears) and not a fan of any album in this poll. ADKOT is mediocre to me, but 5150 is definitely better than it, so the first option gets my vote.

Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: hunnus2000 on April 27, 2021, 07:34:31 AM
Sammy - it's not even close. When ADKOT first came out, a friend of mine gave me the ripped .mp3s and after awhile I deleted them. My friend deleted them too. I just felt like it was a lazy effort and I skipped that tour.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Stadler on April 27, 2021, 08:41:16 AM
It's interesting. VH went form being perhaps the biggest band in the world to literally just another band when Sammy joined. For some reason, the DLR Era doesn't captivate people that weren't there for it the way other bands seem to do. It's odd because the DLR Era was so exciting and fresh. I'm always a bit surprised that people that came after that cannot see that.

I don't know, man, VH was still pretty huge during Sammy's run.  I think all four albums went to number 1, they were still all over MTV, and the rise of grunge and alt rock had no negative effect on VH's popularity.

But it wasn't the same.   I've written about this before.   VH with Sam was a rock band.  I have all the albums, they're good, but they're a rock band, albeit one with a pretty good guitar player.     VH with Roth was a thing unto himself.   Maybe it was my East Coast upbringing, but Van Halen were Gods among men, very similar to the way Kiss was in the early days.   It's not a coincidence or a random thing that the grunge movement was predicated on simply walking on stage in your street clothes.    There was nothing about David Lee Roth that was "street clothes" in any sense of the word.   I know as a young kid picking up a guitar, I could plunk out Smoke On The Water.  Or Detroit Rock City.  As I got better later, I could even play those songs all the way through, and make them pass.  To this day, I can play snippets of Van Halen, but I don't, because I don't have that attitude, that swagger, that punk.  They were one of the few bands - the VERY few bands - that appealed equally to men and women; the guys all wanted to be Dave and Ed, and the girls all wanted to be WITH Dave and Ed.   

I was at a party once in Brigantine New Jersey, and the dude had set up his stereo with one speaker on each side of the room.  The early Van Halen was panned really wierd, so you could walk to one side of the room and hear almost an isolated guitar track and walk to the other side of the room and it was a working dialogue from the Master Of Ceremonies, David Lee Roth.  It's hard to talk about becuase that SOUNDS absolutely horrendous, and it was in a sense, but it was so illuminating, because you sort of got this "essence" of Van Halen that couldn't be duplicated.   

My answer:  A Different Kind Of Truth.   It's my second favorite VH record (behind Fair Warning), and I think it was a crying shame that there was nothing that came after.  That is a BRILLIANT record.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: EPICVIEW on April 27, 2021, 08:58:21 AM
I love Sammy   I saw him in 1978   loved him in Motrose etc  BUT  in VH to me IMO it never felt right ever. 
for that reason a ADKOT  wins
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: hunnus2000 on April 27, 2021, 09:22:50 AM
I found it interesting that Ted Templeman briefly considered approaching Sammy to replace Roth as far back as 1977.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: HOF on April 27, 2021, 09:42:12 AM
I love Sammy   I saw him in 1978   loved him in Motrose etc  BUT  in VH to me IMO it never felt right ever. 
for that reason a ADKOT  wins

What’s funny is I’ve never cared for Sammy’s music outside of VH. I think he was great for VH, but he needed to be paired with Eddy to be interesting to me.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: EPICVIEW on April 27, 2021, 09:49:01 AM
I love Sammy   I saw him in 1978   loved him in Motrose etc  BUT  in VH to me IMO it never felt right ever. 
for that reason a ADKOT  wins

What’s funny is I’ve never cared for Sammy’s music outside of VH. I think he was great for VH, but he needed to be paired with Eddy to be interesting to me.

I can understand that as Sammy after Montrose really was just a "rock and roller"  his live shows back in the late 70s were a lot of fun he was the Red Rocker,  his songs I agree are just sorta "meh"  but he had a great attitude and fun on stage,  I had  a Trans Am so I had to be a fan LOL
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Grappler on April 27, 2021, 09:58:38 AM
ANY Sammy album is much better than ADKOT.

I have always been really turned off that Van Halen used old demos from the 1970's and put them out as "new" music with DLR on that album.  I just can't get past what I feel to be a very contrived nature of wanting the record to sound like classic Van Halen to the point of reusing 40 year old material. 
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TheCountOfNYC on April 27, 2021, 09:59:36 AM
ADKoT. I will never acknowledge Van Halen without Roth.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: hefdaddy42 on April 27, 2021, 10:20:30 AM
Sammy, easy peasy.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: EPICVIEW on April 27, 2021, 11:07:02 AM
but I always felt like they did nothing after F.U.C.K.
Most men don't...

LOL   yup lol
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Stadler on April 27, 2021, 11:21:22 AM
ANY Sammy album is much better than ADKOT.

I have always been really turned off that Van Halen used old demos from the 1970's and put them out as "new" music with DLR on that album.  I just can't get past what I feel to be a very contrived nature of wanting the record to sound like classic Van Halen to the point of reusing 40 year old material.

They did that their entire career, including during the Sam era.  Rumor is there's a version of Summer Nights with Roth on vocals in the vaults, at least one possibly two others from 5150 were in place before Sam got there.  Top Of The World, Right Now, and 316 both predate the Hagar era.   The Seventh Seal and Take Me Back from Balance both predate the band entirely.   Less than half of ADKOT is actually "old demos", and much (not all) of the old stuff was rearranged with new pieces by Wolfie.  (And as an aside, the Used Bin Radio guys did an "A-B" thing with the record when it first came out and Roth sang all those old songs in the original keys.  I find that to be impressive.)
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Lowdz on April 27, 2021, 11:21:41 AM
I think Balance would win for me. That guitar tone is godly.
FUCK would be next.
5150
ADKoT
OU812
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Stadler on April 27, 2021, 11:26:58 AM
I love Sammy   I saw him in 1978   loved him in Motrose etc  BUT  in VH to me IMO it never felt right ever. 
for that reason a ADKOT  wins

What’s funny is I’ve never cared for Sammy’s music outside of VH. I think he was great for VH, but he needed to be paired with Eddy to be interesting to me.

I can understand that as Sammy after Montrose really was just a "rock and roller"  his live shows back in the late 70s were a lot of fun he was the Red Rocker,  his songs I agree are just sorta "meh"  but he had a great attitude and fun on stage,  I had  a Trans Am so I had to be a fan LOL

Interestingly, to me, Standing Hampton and Three Lock Box are better than anything he did in Van Halen, and I LIKE what he did in Van Halen.   But those two records are so good, and have such good memories for me from that time, especially the first one.

Van Hagar:

- Balance
- OU812
- F.U.C.K.
- 5150


Van Halen:
- Fair Warning
- A Different Kind Of Truth
- Diver Down
- Van Halen
- 1984
- Van Halen II
- Women and Children First (even though my favorite Roth song - In A Simple Rhyme - is on that record)
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Lowdz on April 27, 2021, 11:35:32 AM
I think ADKoT would be bottom of the Roth era tbh.

Fair Warning

I

1984

W£CF

Diver Down

II

ADKoT
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: hunnus2000 on April 27, 2021, 11:50:50 AM
ANY Sammy album is much better than ADKOT.

I have always been really turned off that Van Halen used old demos from the 1970's and put them out as "new" music with DLR on that album.  I just can't get past what I feel to be a very contrived nature of wanting the record to sound like classic Van Halen to the point of reusing 40 year old material.

They did that their entire career, including during the Sam era.  Rumor is there's a version of Summer Nights with Roth on vocals in the vaults, at least one possibly two others from 5150 were in place before Sam got there.  Top Of The World, Right Now, and 316 both predate the Hagar era.   The Seventh Seal and Take Me Back from Balance both predate the band entirely.   Less than half of ADKOT is actually "old demos", and much (not all) of the old stuff was rearranged with new pieces by Wolfie.  (And as an aside, the Used Bin Radio guys did an "A-B" thing with the record when it first came out and Roth sang all those old songs in the original keys.  I find that to be impressive.)

True but the difference is that the Sammy era actually made quality music out of the ideas that they had with Roth at the time. I think they even tried a version of Right Now with Roth but Roth could never help finish that song. Impossible! Yes, ADKT was spear-headed by Wolfie but I'm sorry, there's a reason why the demos should have remained demos. But hey, at least we got Ice Cream Man part deux......
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: King Postwhore on April 27, 2021, 12:00:31 PM
Van Hagar:

- 5150
- Balance
- OU812
- F.U.C.K.



Van Halen:
- Fair Warning
- Van Halen
- Van Halen II
- Women and Children First (even though my favorite Roth song - In A Simple Rhyme - is on that record)
- 1984
- A Different Kind Of Truth
- Diver Down
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Stadler on April 27, 2021, 12:36:40 PM
ANY Sammy album is much better than ADKOT.

I have always been really turned off that Van Halen used old demos from the 1970's and put them out as "new" music with DLR on that album.  I just can't get past what I feel to be a very contrived nature of wanting the record to sound like classic Van Halen to the point of reusing 40 year old material.

They did that their entire career, including during the Sam era.  Rumor is there's a version of Summer Nights with Roth on vocals in the vaults, at least one possibly two others from 5150 were in place before Sam got there.  Top Of The World, Right Now, and 316 both predate the Hagar era.   The Seventh Seal and Take Me Back from Balance both predate the band entirely.   Less than half of ADKOT is actually "old demos", and much (not all) of the old stuff was rearranged with new pieces by Wolfie.  (And as an aside, the Used Bin Radio guys did an "A-B" thing with the record when it first came out and Roth sang all those old songs in the original keys.  I find that to be impressive.)

True but the difference is that the Sammy era actually made quality music out of the ideas that they had with Roth at the time. I think they even tried a version of Right Now with Roth but Roth could never help finish that song. Impossible! Yes, ADKT was spear-headed by Wolfie but I'm sorry, there's a reason why the demos should have remained demos. But hey, at least we got Ice Cream Man part deux......

I guess it's the clash of opinions, then.  I think ADKOT WAS the quality music made from those demos.  There were other songs - Can't Get This Stuff No More and Me Wise Magic - where Roth DID finish them (the latter is one of my favorite Van Halen songs ever).   
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: WilliamMunny on April 27, 2021, 12:46:20 PM
ANY Sammy album is much better than ADKOT.

I have always been really turned off that Van Halen used old demos from the 1970's and put them out as "new" music with DLR on that album.  I just can't get past what I feel to be a very contrived nature of wanting the record to sound like classic Van Halen to the point of reusing 40 year old material.

They did that their entire career, including during the Sam era.  Rumor is there's a version of Summer Nights with Roth on vocals in the vaults, at least one possibly two others from 5150 were in place before Sam got there.  Top Of The World, Right Now, and 316 both predate the Hagar era.   The Seventh Seal and Take Me Back from Balance both predate the band entirely.   Less than half of ADKOT is actually "old demos", and much (not all) of the old stuff was rearranged with new pieces by Wolfie.  (And as an aside, the Used Bin Radio guys did an "A-B" thing with the record when it first came out and Roth sang all those old songs in the original keys.  I find that to be impressive.)

True but the difference is that the Sammy era actually made quality music out of the ideas that they had with Roth at the time. I think they even tried a version of Right Now with Roth but Roth could never help finish that song. Impossible! Yes, ADKT was spear-headed by Wolfie but I'm sorry, there's a reason why the demos should have remained demos. But hey, at least we got Ice Cream Man part deux......

I guess it's the clash of opinions, then.  I think ADKOT WAS the quality music made from those demos.  There were other songs - Can't Get This Stuff No More and Me Wise Magic - where Roth DID finish them (the latter is one of my favorite Van Halen songs ever).

'Me Wise Magic' is a top-10 VH song for me easy, and ADKOT would probably rank in my top-5—behind VH1, Fair Warning, 5105, and 1984—so I totally agree with you there.

As far as I'm concerned, re-visited demos or not, the combination of that slammin' production and those fantastic songs makes for an amazing listen all the way through. Beyond bummed the album was a 'one-off.'
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: HOF on April 27, 2021, 12:56:07 PM
ANY Sammy album is much better than ADKOT.

I have always been really turned off that Van Halen used old demos from the 1970's and put them out as "new" music with DLR on that album.  I just can't get past what I feel to be a very contrived nature of wanting the record to sound like classic Van Halen to the point of reusing 40 year old material.

They did that their entire career, including during the Sam era.  Rumor is there's a version of Summer Nights with Roth on vocals in the vaults, at least one possibly two others from 5150 were in place before Sam got there.  Top Of The World, Right Now, and 316 both predate the Hagar era.   The Seventh Seal and Take Me Back from Balance both predate the band entirely.   Less than half of ADKOT is actually "old demos", and much (not all) of the old stuff was rearranged with new pieces by Wolfie.  (And as an aside, the Used Bin Radio guys did an "A-B" thing with the record when it first came out and Roth sang all those old songs in the original keys.  I find that to be impressive.)

True but the difference is that the Sammy era actually made quality music out of the ideas that they had with Roth at the time. I think they even tried a version of Right Now with Roth but Roth could never help finish that song. Impossible! Yes, ADKT was spear-headed by Wolfie but I'm sorry, there's a reason why the demos should have remained demos. But hey, at least we got Ice Cream Man part deux......

I guess it's the clash of opinions, then.  I think ADKOT WAS the quality music made from those demos.  There were other songs - Can't Get This Stuff No More and Me Wise Magic - where Roth DID finish them (the latter is one of my favorite Van Halen songs ever).

'Me Wise Magic' is a top-10 VH song for me easy, and ADKOT would probably rank in my top-5—behind VH1, Fair Warning, 5105, and 1984—so I totally agree with you there.

As far as I'm concerned, re-visited demos or not, the combination of that slammin' production and those fantastic songs makes for an amazing listen all the way through. Beyond bummed the album was a 'one-off.'

I too really liked Me Wise Magic. I always thought the overall sound of VH in the 90s was really cool (including the Cherone album).
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on April 27, 2021, 05:52:43 PM

But it wasn't the same.   I've written about this before.   VH with Sam was a rock band.  I have all the albums, they're good, but they're a rock band, albeit one with a pretty good guitar player.     VH with Roth was a thing unto himself.   Maybe it was my East Coast upbringing, but Van Halen were Gods among men, very similar to the way Kiss was in the early days.   It's not a coincidence or a random thing that the grunge movement was predicated on simply walking on stage in your street clothes.    There was nothing about David Lee Roth that was "street clothes" in any sense of the word.   I know as a young kid picking up a guitar, I could plunk out Smoke On The Water.  Or Detroit Rock City.  As I got better later, I could even play those songs all the way through, and make them pass.  To this day, I can play snippets of Van Halen, but I don't, because I don't have that attitude, that swagger, that punk.  They were one of the few bands - the VERY few bands - that appealed equally to men and women; the guys all wanted to be Dave and Ed, and the girls all wanted to be WITH Dave and Ed.   

I was at a party once in Brigantine New Jersey, and the dude had set up his stereo with one speaker on each side of the room.  The early Van Halen was panned really wierd, so you could walk to one side of the room and hear almost an isolated guitar track and walk to the other side of the room and it was a working dialogue from the Master Of Ceremonies, David Lee Roth.  It's hard to talk about becuase that SOUNDS absolutely horrendous, and it was in a sense, but it was so illuminating, because you sort of got this "essence" of Van Halen that couldn't be duplicated.   

I get all of this.  That original run felt like lightning in a bottle, and I can only imagine what it was like for fans to experience that in real time (I was unfamiliar with the band until I heard Jump in early '84).
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on April 27, 2021, 05:58:59 PM


I too really liked Me Wise Magic. I always thought the overall sound of VH in the 90s was really cool (including the Cherone album).

Me too.  They were starting to stretch out a little but musically, and even if a lot of the arrangements on the Cherone album were clunky, I liked that they were trying something different, even if most considered it a massive failure. Roth usually gets pegged as a guy who can only sing on certain types of songs, and, sure, he could never pull off songs like Dreams or Right now, but the two new songs in '96 were unlike anything they had done in his initial run and his voice was just fine in both.  On ADKoT, there are many times where you can tell his voice is teetering on the edge of the cliff, and I imagine it took many takes to get those out of him, but they are solid enough to where they are not a detriment.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 27, 2021, 07:01:32 PM
I can only imagine what it was like for fans to experience that in real time (I was unfamiliar with the band until I heard Jump in early '84).

I can actually remember the release of Fair Warning. (Which will be FORTY YEARS old this Thursday!). I was 12 1/2. But I already had all of their um..8 tracks. lol. I did see them in 1984. I was 15 1/2.

(https://i.imgur.com/JQhU4AN.jpg)
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on April 27, 2021, 07:19:30 PM
So close, you could smell DLR's butt sweat oozing out of those assless chaps, eh? :P
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 27, 2021, 07:29:37 PM
Not that show, no. We were way back on the floor.

Funny story. VH played two nights in Providence..March 17 & 18. I saw the show on the 18th. The Lovely Mrs TAC actually went to the show on the 17th. Obviously I did not know her then. I was 15 and she was 20. :lol


I did get right into the front row for the Eat 'Em And Smile show. That was amazing. Unfortunately I did not have my camera.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on April 27, 2021, 07:32:46 PM
He had a killer band, so I am sure that was good stuff.  I still remember seemingly half the kids at high school wearing concert T's from the Skyscraper tour the day after he was here in '88-ish.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 27, 2021, 07:37:38 PM
I actually skipped the Skyscraper album and tour. Not sure why. I did see the Little Ain't Enough tour in 1991, and then I saw him at Avalon, in Boston in 1994. That was freaking awesome!
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on April 27, 2021, 07:39:06 PM
I actually skipped the Skyscraper album and tour. Not sure why. I did see the Little Ain't Enough tour in 1991, and then I saw him at Avalon, in Boston in 1994. That was freaking awesome!

Probably too occupied with Hold Your Fire still. ;)
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 27, 2021, 07:56:26 PM
Hah..I had fallen out of touch with Rush in the Mid 80's, tough I did see the PW tour. Anyway, Rush played in Worcester in late 1987, and a buddy of mine from college and I decided to go see them just for something to do. Michael Schenker opened so I was cool with that. We were pretty baked, but Rush put on such a great show. So much more energetic than the PW show.
That show got me totally back into Rush, so that when Presto was released I was primed for it.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Volante99 on April 28, 2021, 01:42:50 AM
Gotta go with Van Hagar but I’m one of those weirdos that loves both eras of the band.

I know it was a huge hit in it’s day but 5150 seems to be criminally under appreciated by the fans in 2021- that album is quality front to back and still has some of that early Van Halen energy.

A Different Kind of Truth sounds like what it is- a tired band dusting off a bunch of demos that didn’t make the cut in the Roth era. Blood and Fire is a banger, though, that captures some of the old magic.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Stadler on April 28, 2021, 10:15:59 AM
Eat 'Em And Smile was literally everything you could ask for in a rock and roll show.   Flash?  Yep!   Guitar virtuosity?  Yep!   Spectacle?  Yep!  Rockin' anthems?  Yep!   Killer opening band no one had heard of (Cinderella)?  Yep!  It was like the mullet of rock and roll.   :)
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Dream Team on April 28, 2021, 11:03:00 AM
ADKoT. I will never acknowledge Van Halen without Roth.

Yeah, maybe not quite that extreme for me but pretty close.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 28, 2021, 01:39:45 PM
Eat 'Em And Smile was literally everything you could ask for in a rock and roll show.   Flash?  Yep!   Guitar virtuosity?  Yep!   Spectacle?  Yep!  Rockin' anthems?  Yep!   Killer opening band no one had heard of (Cinderella)?  Yep!  It was like the mullet of rock and roll.   :)

I saw him in January of 1986 and Tesla opened.

Cinderella went out with Bon Jovi during this time.


I think Cinderella may have opened the Skyscraper tour. I did see Cinderella open for him in 1991.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: cfmoran13 on April 28, 2021, 05:05:08 PM
Cinderella opened dates on both Eat 'Em And Smile (as did Tesla) and A Little Ain't Enough (with Extreme as a 3rd band).  Poison and Faster Pussycat were openers on Skyscraper.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 28, 2021, 05:49:31 PM
Cinderella opened dates on both Eat 'Em And Smile (as did Tesla) and A Little Ain't Enough (with Extreme as a 3rd band).  Poison and Faster Pussycat were openers on Skyscraper.

Poison...I thought so. I think i could've been swayed to see the Skyscraper show if there was an opening band that I liked.


Faster Pussycat might literally be the worst band I ever saw live. Actually they were the second worst.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on April 28, 2021, 06:58:28 PM
Cinderella opened dates on both Eat 'Em And Smile (as did Tesla) and A Little Ain't Enough (with Extreme as a 3rd band).  Poison and Faster Pussycat were openers on Skyscraper.

Poison...I thought so. I think i could've been swayed to see the Skyscraper show if there was an opening band that I liked.


Faster Pussycat might literally be the worst band I ever saw live. Actually they were the second worst.

Even Faster Pussycat was better than Kiss, eh?
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 28, 2021, 07:16:10 PM
The worst live act I ever saw was Jesse Camp's band. he was an MTV VJ in the 90's. I saw him open for Alice Cooper in Atlantic City in 1999. It was the absolute worst . A disgrace.

..and then followed by Faster Pussycat.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on April 28, 2021, 07:18:03 PM
Never heard of him, so I cannot opine.  I honestly have no idea who is the worst band I have seen. I have definitely seen my fair share of (to be nice) unimpressive opening acts, but there is no way I could differentiate them enough to call any single one out as the worst. 
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: King Postwhore on April 28, 2021, 07:45:07 PM
The worst live act I ever saw was Jesse Camp's band. he was an MTV VJ in the 90's. I saw him open for Alice Cooper in Atlantic City in 1999. It was the absolute worst . A disgrace.

..and then followed by Faster Pussycat.


Wasn't he that scarecrow of a kid that talked like he was drunk?  Lol
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 28, 2021, 07:46:44 PM
Joe, it was so bad, I can't even tell you.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: King Postwhore on April 28, 2021, 07:48:20 PM
Mountain opening for Triumph was the worst opener ever that I saw. They got in a fight on stage.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on April 28, 2021, 07:49:12 PM
Mountain opening for Triumph was the worst opener ever that I saw. They got in a fight on stage.

Wait, what, HOW?
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 28, 2021, 07:51:33 PM
Mountain opening for Triumph was the worst opener ever that I saw. They got in a fight on stage.

I remember Mountain opening, but I don't really remember them.

BTO opening the 5150 show wasn't great either.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: King Postwhore on April 28, 2021, 07:52:55 PM
Leslie West and the drummer. You could see they were bickering.   Then the drummer was throwing drum sticks off his cymbals aiming At Leslie West. So towards the end of Mississippi Queen (of all the songs to have this happen) Leslie took his guitar head and put it through his bass drum head. :lol
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 28, 2021, 07:53:47 PM
Was that in Worcester?
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: King Postwhore on April 28, 2021, 07:55:01 PM
Yes.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on April 28, 2021, 07:56:35 PM
Leslie West and the drummer. You could see they were bickering.   Then the drummer was throwing drum sticks off his cymbals aiming At Leslie West. So towards the end of Mississippi Queen (of all the songs to have this happen) Leslie took his guitar head and put it through his bass drum head. :lol

Wow.  :rollin :rollin :rollin.  Too bad that was back in 1944 when there were no cell phones, as video of that would have been awesome.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: King Postwhore on April 28, 2021, 07:59:46 PM
Tim made out back in those days.  He hid his camera in his junk and they thought he was hung.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 28, 2021, 08:08:03 PM
I had special underwear. :lol
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: cfmoran13 on April 28, 2021, 08:51:14 PM
Even Faster Pussycat was better than Kiss, eh?
I actually saw Faster Pussycat open for KISS.  It was Trixter/ Faster Pussycat/ KISS on the Revenge Tour in Roanoke, VA.  General admission on the floor.  I managed to push up to the barricade and got a Gene Simmons pick (along with a Trixter pick and a FP pick).  KISS put on an awesome show.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 28, 2021, 08:58:40 PM
Even Faster Pussycat was better than Kiss, eh?
I actually saw Faster Pussycat open for KISS.  It was Trixter/ Faster Pussycat/ KISS on the Revenge Tour in Roanoke, VA.  General admission on the floor.  I managed to push up to the barricade and got a Gene Simmons pick (along with a Trixter pick and a FP pick).  KISS put on an awesome show.

I don't have it noted who opened for them when I saw them on that tour. It's probably the same bill you mentioned. That tour was amazing.

I saw them on their club tour before the actual tour and that was unbelievable. The opening band was a band called Shooting Gallery. Total Hollywood feel, but they were amazing, one of the best opening sets I've ever seen. It was the guitarist from Hanoi Rocks band. I just remember being fixated on their drummer. He was great.

I still listen to their album.
Restless (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tde6rIlxVag)
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: cfmoran13 on April 28, 2021, 09:09:32 PM
Even Faster Pussycat was better than Kiss, eh?
I actually saw Faster Pussycat open for KISS.  It was Trixter/ Faster Pussycat/ KISS on the Revenge Tour in Roanoke, VA.  General admission on the floor.  I managed to push up to the barricade and got a Gene Simmons pick (along with a Trixter pick and a FP pick).  KISS put on an awesome show.
I saw them on their club tour before the actual tour and that was unbelievable. The opening band was a band called Shooting Gallery. Total Hollywood feel, but they were amazing, one of the best opening sets I've ever seen. It was the guitarist from Hanoi Rocks band. I just remember being fixated on their drummer. He was great.
Restless (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tde6rIlxVag)
I didn't make it to any of those club shows,  I have videos of a number of them, though.  I would've loved to have made it to either the NYC or Brooklyn show.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: bosk1 on April 28, 2021, 09:57:45 PM
I had special underwear. :lol

So, now you've come full circle with those special disposable ones?
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: hefdaddy42 on April 29, 2021, 07:29:34 AM
I had special underwear. :lol

So, now you've come full circle with those special disposable ones?
ooooohhhhhh....
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Stadler on April 29, 2021, 08:50:31 AM
Cinderella opened dates on both Eat 'Em And Smile (as did Tesla) and A Little Ain't Enough (with Extreme as a 3rd band).  Poison and Faster Pussycat were openers on Skyscraper.

Poison...I thought so. I think i could've been swayed to see the Skyscraper show if there was an opening band that I liked.


Faster Pussycat might literally be the worst band I ever saw live. Actually they were the second worst.

Even Faster Pussycat was better than Kiss, eh?

You hurt me.

It's relevant: one of the worst openers I've ever seen was for Van Halen on the OU812 tour.  It was a band called "Private Life" and they blew.   The only other one that was close was "Wang Chung" opening for The Cars.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: HOF on April 29, 2021, 08:58:27 AM
Cinderella opened dates on both Eat 'Em And Smile (as did Tesla) and A Little Ain't Enough (with Extreme as a 3rd band).  Poison and Faster Pussycat were openers on Skyscraper.

Poison...I thought so. I think i could've been swayed to see the Skyscraper show if there was an opening band that I liked.


Faster Pussycat might literally be the worst band I ever saw live. Actually they were the second worst.

Even Faster Pussycat was better than Kiss, eh?

You hurt me.

It's relevant: one of the worst openers I've ever seen was for Van Halen on the OU812 tour.  It was a band called "Private Life" and they blew.   The only other one that was close was "Wang Chung" opening for The Cars.

Heh, I was just checking out some Wang Chung songs the other day to see if there was anything worthwhile there besides “Everybody Have Fun Tonight,” which is a really great pop tune. Can’t say I found anything to latch onto.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Stadler on April 29, 2021, 09:02:41 AM
That was one of the worst songs, too.  I like Jack Hues as a singer, but that song was hard to take.  The drummer had a small-ish kit, and he spent a good part of the song standing up clapping his hands over his head and hitting the bass drum.  God bless his stamina but he looked ridiculous.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: EPICVIEW on April 29, 2021, 09:36:05 AM
Even Faster Pussycat was better than Kiss, eh?
I actually saw Faster Pussycat open for KISS.  It was Trixter/ Faster Pussycat/ KISS on the Revenge Tour in Roanoke, VA.  General admission on the floor.  I managed to push up to the barricade and got a Gene Simmons pick (along with a Trixter pick and a FP pick).  KISS put on an awesome show.

I have a soft spot for Trixter...
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: bosk1 on April 29, 2021, 12:47:56 PM
Even Faster Pussycat was better than Kiss, eh?
I actually saw Faster Pussycat open for KISS.  It was Trixter/ Faster Pussycat/ KISS on the Revenge Tour in Roanoke, VA.  General admission on the floor.  I managed to push up to the barricade and got a Gene Simmons pick (along with a Trixter pick and a FP pick).  KISS put on an awesome show.

I have a soft spot for Trixter...

It's okay.  This forum is a safe place where anyone can confess anything without fear of judgment. 
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 29, 2021, 12:49:18 PM
I saw Trixter open for Rik Emmett in 1991 in a small club in Providence. I could not believe how young they were.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: hefdaddy42 on April 29, 2021, 02:33:01 PM
This forum is a safe place where anyone can confess anything without fear of judgment.
Since when?
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: cfmoran13 on April 29, 2021, 02:49:56 PM
I saw Trixter open for Rik Emmett in 1991 in a small club in Providence. I could not believe how young they were.
I remember going to a bar in Central NJ for my sister-in-law's 30th birthday about 10 years ago and the Steve Brown Trio was playing in the corner playing cover tunes all night.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 29, 2021, 02:51:25 PM
Is Steve Brown a Trixter member?
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Stadler on April 29, 2021, 03:08:38 PM
Yes.  He's the banjo player, as Ian Gillan would say.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: pg1067 on April 29, 2021, 03:39:33 PM
The worst live act I ever saw was Jesse Camp's band. he was an MTV VJ in the 90's. I saw him open for Alice Cooper in Atlantic City in 1999. It was the absolute worst . A disgrace.

..and then followed by Faster Pussycat.

Worst live act...hmmm...

I fortunately dodged the Faster Pussycat bullet.

My initial reaction was to say either Vinnie Vincent Invasion (opening for Maiden on the SIT tour in Feb. 1987) or LA Guns (again opening for Maiden on the SSOASS tour in June 1988).  I flipped off Mark Slaughter, and he saw me and returned the favor (we had a real connection).  I can't actually remember LA Guns, so it's possible that we didn't go to inside the building until they were done.

But then I remembered that I was subjected to Tori Amos in August 1994.  I "had to" go because my girlfriend (now wife) liked her.  AWFUL show...at least for me.  Not only could I not stand her, but she exacerbated the headache that I started the night with.

The real answer is probably some crappy Sunset Strip band that no one's ever heard of, but I don't remember any of them by name, so I'm going with Tori.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: EPICVIEW on April 29, 2021, 07:29:01 PM
Even Faster Pussycat was better than Kiss, eh?
I actually saw Faster Pussycat open for KISS.  It was Trixter/ Faster Pussycat/ KISS on the Revenge Tour in Roanoke, VA.  General admission on the floor.  I managed to push up to the barricade and got a Gene Simmons pick (along with a Trixter pick and a FP pick).  KISS put on an awesome show.

I have a soft spot for Trixter...

It's okay.  This forum is a safe place where anyone can confess anything without fear of judgment.


LOL   Thanks Boss..    :D :tup
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: EPICVIEW on April 29, 2021, 07:31:29 PM
The worst live act I ever saw was Jesse Camp's band. he was an MTV VJ in the 90's. I saw him open for Alice Cooper in Atlantic City in 1999. It was the absolute worst . A disgrace.

..and then followed by Faster Pussycat.

Worst live act...hmmm...

I fortunately dodged the Faster Pussycat bullet.

My initial reaction was to say either Vinnie Vincent Invasion (opening for Maiden on the SIT tour in Feb. 1987) or LA Guns (again opening for Maiden on the SSOASS tour in June 1988).  I flipped off Mark Slaughter, and he saw me and returned the favor (we had a real connection).  I can't actually remember LA Guns, so it's possible that we didn't go to inside the building until they were done.

But then I remembered that I was subjected to Tori Amos in August 1994.  I "had to" go because my girlfriend (now wife) liked her.  AWFUL show...at least for me.  Not only could I not stand her, but she exacerbated the headache that I started the night with.

The real answer is probably some crappy Sunset Strip band that no one's ever heard of, but I don't remember any of them by name, so I'm going with Tori.

great read   makes me think,....I saw Raven  ,,,, I did laugh  but sonically ROUGH   LOL 

Faster Pussycat was like YES  compared to Raven,,,   they didnt try

GEEZUS   This was the big tune ... but the stage antics were funny..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh8XGJsHZC4


Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 29, 2021, 07:35:54 PM
The worst live act I ever saw was Jesse Camp's band. he was an MTV VJ in the 90's. I saw him open for Alice Cooper in Atlantic City in 1999. It was the absolute worst . A disgrace.

..and then followed by Faster Pussycat.

Worst live act...hmmm...

I fortunately dodged the Faster Pussycat bullet.

My initial reaction was to say either Vinnie Vincent Invasion (opening for Maiden on the SIT tour in Feb. 1987) or LA Guns (again opening for Maiden on the SSOASS tour in June 1988).  I flipped off Mark Slaughter, and he saw me and returned the favor (we had a real connection).  I can't actually remember LA Guns, so it's possible that we didn't go to inside the building until they were done.

I saw the Vinnie Vincent Invasion open for Alice Cooper in November '86. I thought they were fine. Word was that Vinnie was sick, but they came out and played 3 songs anyway.

We got Frehley's Comet on the SSOASS tour in July of '88.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: cfmoran13 on April 30, 2021, 07:30:31 AM
Is Steve Brown a Trixter member?
Yes.  He's the guitarist.  On occasion, he has filled in for both Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell from Def Leppard.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: hefdaddy42 on April 30, 2021, 08:39:29 AM
I feel kind of lucky.  I've never seen a live act/opener that I thought just sucked.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: ZirconBlue on April 30, 2021, 08:40:46 AM


I saw Faster Pussycat opening for Motley Crue (Dr. Feelgood tour), and quite enjoyed their set.

In general, I've been pretty happy with the various opening bands I've seen.  The only ones I can recall not enjoying were The Tea Party (opening for Queensryche), Jaden Smith, and Blackbear (the latter 2 opening for Fall Out Boy).
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: pg1067 on April 30, 2021, 09:46:07 AM

I saw the Vinnie Vincent Invasion open for Alice Cooper in November '86. I thought they were fine. Word was that Vinnie was sick, but they came out and played 3 songs anyway.


With a better singer, they might have been better (certainly at least tolerable).  Slaughter's voice was like nails on a chalkboard.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: King Postwhore on April 30, 2021, 10:56:18 AM

I saw the Vinnie Vincent Invasion open for Alice Cooper in November '86. I thought they were fine. Word was that Vinnie was sick, but they came out and played 3 songs anyway.


With a better singer, they might have been better (certainly at least tolerable).  Slaughter's voice was like nails on a chalkboard.

His voice was better than Fleischman's.  I can't listen to that 1st album at all because of his voice.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 30, 2021, 12:31:32 PM
I'd take the first album all day every day over the Slaughter crap.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: King Postwhore on April 30, 2021, 12:53:33 PM
I'd take the first album all day every day over the Slaughter crap.

Music is good.  Roberts voice makes me want to rip my ears out.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 30, 2021, 01:01:39 PM
Twisted is awesome. I played that on my radio show all the time.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Max Kuehnau on April 30, 2021, 01:15:38 PM
Am I allowed to say I love them all? I seriously do. I have no preference here. VH are (were) VH given Ed and Al were present IMHO.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Zoom E on April 30, 2021, 02:33:42 PM
The worst live act I ever saw was Jesse Camp's band. he was an MTV VJ in the 90's. I saw him open for Alice Cooper in Atlantic City in 1999. It was the absolute worst . A disgrace.

..and then followed by Faster Pussycat.

Worst live act...hmmm...

I fortunately dodged the Faster Pussycat bullet.

My initial reaction was to say either Vinnie Vincent Invasion (opening for Maiden on the SIT tour in Feb. 1987) or LA Guns (again opening for Maiden on the SSOASS tour in June 1988).  I flipped off Mark Slaughter, and he saw me and returned the favor (we had a real connection).  I can't actually remember LA Guns, so it's possible that we didn't go to inside the building until they were done.

But then I remembered that I was subjected to Tori Amos in August 1994.  I "had to" go because my girlfriend (now wife) liked her.  AWFUL show...at least for me.  Not only could I not stand her, but she exacerbated the headache that I started the night with.

The real answer is probably some crappy Sunset Strip band that no one's ever heard of, but I don't remember any of them by name, so I'm going with Tori.

great read   makes me think,....I saw Raven  ,,,, I did laugh  but sonically ROUGH   LOL 

Faster Pussycat was like YES  compared to Raven,,,   they didnt try

GEEZUS   This was the big tune ... but the stage antics were funny..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh8XGJsHZC4

Raven were great when I saw them as a headliner in 1985, though they did wear some silly outfits  :lol
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on April 30, 2021, 03:29:55 PM
I would've loved to had seen Raven back then. I remember them coming in 1983 with Metallica and Anthrax, but that was a club show and I was 14. ;D
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Trav86 on April 30, 2021, 06:23:16 PM
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge is my favorite VH album. So, there you go.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: King Postwhore on April 30, 2021, 06:31:12 PM
That's my least favorite Sammy album.

I think half the album is brilliant,  half bunk.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on April 30, 2021, 07:19:45 PM
There is nothing on ...Carnal Knowledge that I outright dislike, but about half of it is average stuff I do not care much about.  Fortunately, it has some of my favorite songs of the Sammy era - Poundcake, Judgement Day, Pleasure Dome and Right Now - so it's still worthy on the strength of those songs alone.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TheCountOfNYC on April 30, 2021, 07:40:49 PM
There is nothing on ...Carnal Knowledge that I outright dislike, but about half of it is average stuff I do not care much about.  Fortunately, it has some of my favorite songs of the Sammy era - Poundcake, Judgement Day, Pleasure Dome and Right Now - so it's still worthy on the strength of those songs alone.

Right Now is the only Hagar-era song I actually enjoy and will listen to. Nothing against Sammy as he’s a great musician and by all accounts is a genuinely wonderful human being, but I just can’t vibe with Van Halen without Diamond Dave.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Kwyjibo on May 01, 2021, 09:34:54 AM
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge is my favorite VH album. So, there you go.

It's definitely the best Sammy album for me, and on some days the best VH record overall.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: HOF on May 01, 2021, 11:24:22 AM
There is nothing on ...Carnal Knowledge that I outright dislike, but about half of it is average stuff I do not care much about.  Fortunately, it has some of my favorite songs of the Sammy era - Poundcake, Judgement Day, Pleasure Dome and Right Now - so it's still worthy on the strength of those songs alone.

The Dream is Over is way up there in terms of VH songs for me. I’ve also always really liked Standing on Top as just a fun, feel good rock song.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Zoom E on May 01, 2021, 11:24:35 AM
I would've loved to had seen Raven back then. I remember them coming in 1983 with Metallica and Anthrax, but that was a club show and I was 14. ;D

I didn't see them on that tour, but I recall it was called the Kill Em All For One tour  :D
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on May 01, 2021, 03:19:50 PM
I would've loved to had seen Raven back then. I remember them coming in 1983 with Metallica and Anthrax, but that was a club show and I was 14. ;D

I didn't see them on that tour, but I recall it was called the Kill Em All For One tour  :D

Yes indeed it was.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on May 01, 2021, 08:26:52 PM
There is nothing on ...Carnal Knowledge that I outright dislike, but about half of it is average stuff I do not care much about.  Fortunately, it has some of my favorite songs of the Sammy era - Poundcake, Judgement Day, Pleasure Dome and Right Now - so it's still worthy on the strength of those songs alone.

The Dream is Over is way up there in terms of VH songs for me. I’ve also always really liked Standing on Top as just a fun, feel good rock song.

I do like The Dream Is Over quite a bit. I should have mentioned that in my earlier post.  The drop-off is after that, although I kinda like Spanked.  Top of the World is okay, but just feels like the hooks don't quite stick to landing.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: HOF on May 01, 2021, 09:54:44 PM
There is nothing on ...Carnal Knowledge that I outright dislike, but about half of it is average stuff I do not care much about.  Fortunately, it has some of my favorite songs of the Sammy era - Poundcake, Judgement Day, Pleasure Dome and Right Now - so it's still worthy on the strength of those songs alone.

The Dream is Over is way up there in terms of VH songs for me. I’ve also always really liked Standing on Top as just a fun, feel good rock song.


I do like The Dream Is Over quite a bit. I should have mentioned that in my earlier post.  The drop-off is after that, although I kinda like Spanked.  Top of the World is okay, but just feels like the hooks don't quite stick to landing.

I also enjoy 316 for what it is. Just Eddie chilling and making a cool little guitar piece.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: WildRanger on May 03, 2021, 01:31:19 AM

Van Halen:
- Fair Warning
- A Different Kind Of Truth
- Diver Down
- Van Halen

- 1984
- Van Halen II
- Women and Children First (even though my favorite Roth song - In A Simple Rhyme - is on that record)

DD ahead of the debut? That's very controversial.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: cfmoran13 on May 03, 2021, 07:20:53 AM
DD ahead of the debut? That's very controversial.
I'm thinking the 50 million times he's heard Running With The Devil and Jamie's Cryin' may have played into his rankings a little bit.  I'm more surprised to see ADKoT with a 55 year-old Roth at number 2.  But, then again, my favorite VH album is Women And Children First.  People like what they like.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Stadler on May 03, 2021, 09:37:17 AM
DD ahead of the debut? That's very controversial.
I'm thinking the 50 million times he's heard Running With The Devil and Jamie's Cryin' may have played into his rankings a little bit.  I'm more surprised to see ADKoT with a 55 year-old Roth at number 2.  But, then again, my favorite VH album is Women And Children First.  People like what they like.

First, I LOVE ADKOT.  I think it's Roth's finest hour, especially lyrically.  That record is chock full of pretty aware and - I was going to say "deep", but that's not it. Clever, maybe? - turns of phrase.   I think this line - "Mousewife to momshell in the time it took to get that new tattoo" - is one of the best on the record.  Think about that; how many Karen's do you know that got that cheap tat and then thought they were now the cat's meow?  And I think coming from Roth, who hit the whole tattoo scene about as hard as you can hit it (going from no ink to full irezumi, including the full body panel with the chest opening, in a matter of months) I think there's a little mocking in there, which is quintessential Van Halen.   I also love the lyrics in Blood And Fire, especially the "Told ya I was comin' back (Told ya) Say you miss me (Say it) Say it like ya mean it, ahh say it" then the rippin' EVH solo.  I just think there's an added layer there that is the best of both worlds (Van Halen and Van Hagar).

Second, I know the Diver Down is a controversial pick, and to be honest, on any given day... but the high parts of DD are just so good to me, it's also the first VH album that was bough "in real time", that has become a special album.  Maybe unreasonably so. The only album that has no shot of ever being number one on the list is "Women And Children First". 
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: WilliamMunny on May 03, 2021, 03:33:22 PM
DD ahead of the debut? That's very controversial.
I'm thinking the 50 million times he's heard Running With The Devil and Jamie's Cryin' may have played into his rankings a little bit.  I'm more surprised to see ADKoT with a 55 year-old Roth at number 2.  But, then again, my favorite VH album is Women And Children First.  People like what they like.

First, I LOVE ADKOT.  I think it's Roth's finest hour, especially lyrically.  That record is chock full of pretty aware and - I was going to say "deep", but that's not it. Clever, maybe? - turns of phrase.   I think this line - "Mousewife to momshell in the time it took to get that new tattoo" - is one of the best on the record.  Think about that; how many Karen's do you know that got that cheap tat and then thought they were now the cat's meow?  And I think coming from Roth, who hit the whole tattoo scene about as hard as you can hit it (going from no ink to full irezumi, including the full body panel with the chest opening, in a matter of months) I think there's a little mocking in there, which is quintessential Van Halen.   I also love the lyrics in Blood And Fire, especially the "Told ya I was comin' back (Told ya) Say you miss me (Say it) Say it like ya mean it, ahh say it" then the rippin' EVH solo.  I just think there's an added layer there that is the best of both worlds (Van Halen and Van Hagar).

Second, I know the Diver Down is a controversial pick, and to be honest, on any given day... but the high parts of DD are just so good to me, it's also the first VH album that was bough "in real time", that has become a special album.  Maybe unreasonably so. The only album that has no shot of ever being number one on the list is "Women And Children First".

This right here. The thing with VH is, their catalog is so potent that when I'm really in the mood, and I'm listening to any one of, say, 5 of their albums (VH1, Fair Warning, 1984, 5150, ADKOT), I find myself thinking, "Man, this is the band at their peak."
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on May 03, 2021, 03:35:56 PM


First, I LOVE ADKOT.  I think it's Roth's finest hour, especially lyrically.  That record is chock full of pretty aware and - I was going to say "deep", but that's not it. Clever, maybe? - turns of phrase.   I think this line - "Mousewife to momshell in the time it took to get that new tattoo" - is one of the best on the record.  Think about that; how many Karen's do you know that got that cheap tat and then thought they were now the cat's meow?  And I think coming from Roth, who hit the whole tattoo scene about as hard as you can hit it (going from no ink to full irezumi, including the full body panel with the chest opening, in a matter of months) I think there's a little mocking in there, which is quintessential Van Halen.   I also love the lyrics in Blood And Fire, especially the "Told ya I was comin' back (Told ya) Say you miss me (Say it) Say it like ya mean it, ahh say it" then the rippin' EVH solo.  I just think there's an added layer there that is the best of both worlds (Van Halen and Van Hagar).

Second, I know the Diver Down is a controversial pick, and to be honest, on any given day... but the high parts of DD are just so good to me, it's also the first VH album that was bough "in real time", that has become a special album.  Maybe unreasonably so. The only album that has no shot of ever being number one on the list is "Women And Children First".

W&CF is a bit of an odd one for me in that I like everything on it, but I don't love anything on it to where I consider it essential.  It's an enjoyable listen, and slides in nicely in their early history, but there is nothing that makes me think, "Damn, this is freaking awesome."
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on May 03, 2021, 03:37:46 PM
Second, I know the Diver Down is a controversial pick, and to be honest, on any given day... but the high parts of DD are just so good to me, it's also the first VH album that was bough "in real time", that has become a special album.  Maybe unreasonably so. The only album that has no shot of ever being number one on the list is "Women And Children First".

Women And Children First is amazing.


W&CF is a bit of an odd one for me in that I like everything on it, but I don't love anything on it to where I consider it essential.  It's an enjoyable listen, and slides in nicely in their early history, but there is nothing that makes me think, "Damn, this is freaking awesome."

In A Simple Rhyme? Fools? Romeo Delight?
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on May 03, 2021, 03:40:20 PM

W&CF is a bit of an odd one for me in that I like everything on it, but I don't love anything on it to where I consider it essential.  It's an enjoyable listen, and slides in nicely in their early history, but there is nothing that makes me think, "Damn, this is freaking awesome."

In A Simple Rhyme? Fools? Romeo Delight?

Good songs, I like them.  In fact, I like them all on that record! Mayday!! Mayday!!

Just not top tier tunes.  Favorite songs lists are ever-changing, but if I had to spit out a top 20 from the Roth years (counting the later stuff as well), the only two albums that would not get represented would be W&CF and Diver Down.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on May 03, 2021, 03:46:43 PM
In my DLR Era Top 20, Diver Down would be represented by The Full Bug and Little Guitars.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on May 03, 2021, 03:57:41 PM
I do like Little Guitars a lot.  Probably the only VH original from DD I consider a keeper.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: jammindude on May 03, 2021, 04:59:19 PM
No love for Hang Em High?

I actually love DD. Yes, it’s a bit cover heavy, but that just shows how on fire they were. To think that their “least best” still produced an album that I could totally listen to from start to finish without skipping a thing.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on May 03, 2021, 09:45:06 PM
We are now at a point where every week there is an anniversary date for a great classic album, but it is worth noting that Fair Warning turned 40 last week. :eek :eek

This is now the thread where some of us feel old again. :lol :lol
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: WildRanger on May 04, 2021, 03:17:42 AM
No love for Hang Em High?

I actually love DD. Yes, it’s a bit cover heavy, but that just shows how on fire they were. To think that their “least best” still produced an album that I could totally listen to from start to finish without skipping a thing.

Hang Em High rocks, but Diver Down is much less hard rock than their previous 4 albums.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: WildRanger on May 04, 2021, 03:21:36 AM

W&CF is a bit of an odd one for me in that I like everything on it, but I don't love anything on it to where I consider it essential.  It's an enjoyable listen, and slides in nicely in their early history, but there is nothing that makes me think, "Damn, this is freaking awesome."

In A Simple Rhyme? Fools? Romeo Delight?

Everybody Wants Some(it has an incredibly good solo)? And the Cradle Will Rock?
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Stadler on May 04, 2021, 07:37:01 AM
In A Simple Rhyme is easily in my top 20, maybe even No. 1.

Diver Down...  I'd have to think what makes the Top 20 (that's a HARD list) but the only songs I DON'T like are "Big Bad Bill" and I could do without "Happy Trails".  I love the covers.  I used to play "Where Have All The Good Times Gone" in my band, and both "Dancin'..." and "Pretty Woman" are legendary songs.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Stadler on May 04, 2021, 07:52:39 AM
Here's a quick stab:

1. ...In A Simple Rhyme
2. Me Wise Magic
3. Sinner's Swing!
4. Blood And Fire
5. Panama
6. Little Guitars Intro/Little Guitars
7. Jamie's Cryin'
8. Beautiful Girls
9. Unchained
10. 1984/Jump
11. Big River
12. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
13. Women In Love
14. Dirty Movies
15. The Full Bug
16. Hear About It Later
17. Intruder/Pretty Woman
18. Feel Your Love
19. Light Up The Sky
20. The Trouble With Never
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: WildRanger on May 04, 2021, 09:12:06 AM
In A Simple Rhyme is easily in my top 20, maybe even No. 1.

Diver Down...  I'd have to think what makes the Top 20 (that's a HARD list) but the only songs I DON'T like are "Big Bad Bill" and I could do without "Happy Trails".  I love the covers.  I used to play "Where Have All The Good Times Gone" in my band, and both "Dancin'..." and "Pretty Woman" are legendary songs.

Do you dig Dancing in the Street by Bowie and Jagger?
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Stadler on May 04, 2021, 09:29:18 AM
In A Simple Rhyme is easily in my top 20, maybe even No. 1.

Diver Down...  I'd have to think what makes the Top 20 (that's a HARD list) but the only songs I DON'T like are "Big Bad Bill" and I could do without "Happy Trails".  I love the covers.  I used to play "Where Have All The Good Times Gone" in my band, and both "Dancin'..." and "Pretty Woman" are legendary songs.

Do you dig Dancing in the Street by Bowie and Jagger?

No, not really, but then again, I'm not a huge fan of either Bowie or solo Jagger (I like him in the Stones).  That whole song/video thing just seemed so contrived, if you ask me, and it turned me off to the whole affair.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: cramx3 on May 04, 2021, 10:28:00 AM
Voted Sammy because 5150 is my favorite VH album.  A Different Kind of Truth is pretty good though.  I think it might land somewhere in the middle of my VH album rankings.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on May 04, 2021, 01:20:27 PM
I'd have a hard time putting them in order, but I could spitball this top 20 with DRL on lead vocals:

Runnin' with the Devil
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
I'm the One
Atomic Punk
Little Dreamer
Outta Love Again
Light Up the Sky
Mean Street
Dirty Movies
Sinner's Swing!
Hear About It Later
Unchained
Jump
Panama
Drop Dead Legs
Hot for Teacher
I'll Wait
The Trouble with Never
Outta Space
Big River
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on May 04, 2021, 02:33:40 PM
Chronological..

I'm The One
Atomic Punk
Ice Cream Man
Outta Love Again
Light Up The Sky
DOA
Fools
Romeo Delight
Sinner's Swing
In A Simple Rhyme
So This Is Live
The Full Bug
Little Guitars
Mean Street
Unchained
So This Is Love?
Top Jimmy
Drop Dead Legs
Hot For Teacher
Honeysweetiebabydoll

Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Trav86 on May 04, 2021, 04:54:30 PM
I’m not going to attempt a Top 20, but I can tell you that the four original full songs on Diver Down would be there.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: Stadler on May 05, 2021, 11:42:49 AM
I'd have a hard time putting them in order, but I could spitball this top 20 with DRL on lead vocals:

Runnin' with the Devil
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
I'm the One
Atomic Punk
Little Dreamer
Outta Love Again
Light Up the Sky
Mean Street
Dirty Movies
Sinner's Swing!
Hear About It Later

Unchained
Jump
Panama
Drop Dead Legs
Hot for Teacher
I'll Wait
The Trouble with Never
Outta Space
Big River


I left off Mean Streets for space, but if you ask me, Side 1 of Fair Warning is probably the best single album side in the Van Halen catalogue.  Dark, edgy, a little angry, but still about the party.   "Aw right you sinners, swing!"
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on May 05, 2021, 01:09:09 PM



I left off Mean Streets for space, but if you ask me, Side 1 of Fair Warning is probably the best single album side in the Van Halen catalogue.  Dark, edgy, a little angry, but still about the party.   "Aw right you sinners, swing!"

Agreed.  It's not long (roughly 16 1/2 minutes), but you won't find many album sides as good or better on a rock album in the early 80's.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: EPICVIEW on May 05, 2021, 01:23:41 PM
There is nothing on ...Carnal Knowledge that I outright dislike, but about half of it is average stuff I do not care much about.  Fortunately, it has some of my favorite songs of the Sammy era - Poundcake, Judgement Day, Pleasure Dome and Right Now - so it's still worthy on the strength of those songs alone.

Right Now is the only Hagar-era song I actually enjoy and will listen to. Nothing against Sammy as he’s a great musician and by all accounts is a genuinely wonderful human being, but I just can’t vibe with Van Halen without Diamond Dave.


THIS ^
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: WildRanger on May 05, 2021, 01:55:20 PM
I'd have a hard time putting them in order, but I could spitball this top 20 with DRL on lead vocals:

Runnin' with the Devil
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
I'm the One
Atomic Punk
Little Dreamer
Outta Love Again
Light Up the Sky
Mean Street
Dirty Movies
Sinner's Swing!
Hear About It Later
Unchained
Jump
Panama
Drop Dead Legs
Hot for Teacher
I'll Wait
The Trouble with Never
Outta Space
Big River

Chronological..

I'm The One
Atomic Punk
Ice Cream Man
Outta Love Again
Light Up The Sky
DOA
Fools
Romeo Delight
Sinner's Swing
In A Simple Rhyme
So This Is Live
The Full Bug
Little Guitars
Mean Street
Unchained
So This Is Love?
Top Jimmy
Drop Dead Legs
Hot For Teacher
Honeysweetiebabydoll


You guys love Outta Love Again? In my book it's the weakest link on VH II. I mean musically it's cool, but I find the vocals to be really lame and annoying, esp. the chorus is terrible (vocally).
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on May 05, 2021, 02:58:23 PM
WildRanger, only you could bring me and Kev together. :lol
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on May 05, 2021, 06:57:31 PM
WildRanger, only you could bring me and Kev together. :lol

 :lol :lol

Now, you need to acknowledge the greatness of Jump and Panama, and then we are really making some progress.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on May 31, 2021, 11:57:47 AM
New DLR!

https://bravewords.com/news/david-lee-roth-releases-new-single-giddy-up-audio
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: King Postwhore on May 31, 2021, 12:05:22 PM
If I never hear Panama again I would be a happy man.


BTW, I feel the same about Rock of Ages & Pour Some Sugar on Me.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on May 31, 2021, 12:06:29 PM
Oh for sure. I never liked Pour Some Sugar On Me. What a fucking chunk blowing song.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on May 31, 2021, 06:17:41 PM
New DLR!

https://bravewords.com/news/david-lee-roth-releases-new-single-giddy-up-audio

Yeesh. I kinda liked it the laid back feel of the music, but he can't sing worth a darn anymore, and the Giddy-Up part of an already lackluster chorus was embarrassingly corny.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on May 31, 2021, 06:19:20 PM
Definitely hokey, but I thought DLR sounded great.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: KevShmev on May 31, 2021, 07:44:04 PM
To each their own. :P  I will give DRL props; at least he is still out there making music.  Can't ask for more than that, I guess.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: TAC on May 31, 2021, 07:48:21 PM
To each their own. :P 

I just think he's within his zone. Not saying I'd spend money on a album's worth of this but it was nice enough.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: bosk1 on June 01, 2021, 01:29:32 PM
Eh, I turned it off halfway through.
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: EPICVIEW on June 01, 2021, 01:44:35 PM
Eh, I turned it off halfway through.

I couldnt make it that long   about 1 minute for me  ...
Title: Re: Van Halen poll - Your favorite Sammy album vs A Different Kind of Truth
Post by: hunnus2000 on June 01, 2021, 01:59:18 PM
I lasted nearly 2 minutes. Do I get a cookie?  ???