by Will Emaus

Created on: September 20, 2009

Really, I might have answered this differently in 1986. I could not stand 1984 and thought that Van Halen was dying and starting their "sell out" which was so in vogue at the time, and hearing "Why Can't This Be Love" for the first time is strangely one of the more memorable moments in my life in terms of a rock song, probably because of the anticipation regarding how Van Halen would sound with Sammy.

I wound up really liking 5150 and thought the album captured the '86 era perfectly. But looking back now, David Lee Roth was not only Van Halen's best lead singer, he was the best lead singer of all time, you know, if you leave out the actual ability to sing.

I mean, the nature of any band typically is that your lead singer is your front man, Dave was the best front man in the history of Rock. If you were to build the prototype of a lead singer, that person would contain every single quality of DLR (and be able to sing too if you're a purist).

In 1978, I was at a party as a kid and someone interrupted the usual Nugent->Nazereth->Foghat-> etc... parade on the turntable with something different. Van Halen. 1st song, a little different edge but nothing that anyone seemed to get excited about. 2nd song, Eruption.

There were maybe 20 people in the house, by the end of that 2 minutes every single kid had walked into the room and was literally staring at the turntable, the OMG moment of a lifetime musically. I might have been staring at the speakers or something but I can remember getting up off the couch and walking over to look at the album jacket and I'm pretty sure my mouth was hanging completely open. Dave was nothing more than an afterthought to me, who's playing that guitar?

A lot of people that originally heard and not saw Van Halen of course had the same reaction. We were hearing something that no one had ever heard.

Then we saw Van Halen, and it's all about Eddie right? Not once you see them, David Lee Roth manages to overshadow the most exciting guitarist of all time till that point (no disrespect to Jimi or Jimmy). It was the combination of Eddie's guitar and that stage presence of Dave that made you feel almost proud, like "wow, this is OUR band and it's the best there's ever been". Everyone else seemed old and slow and most importantly, not cool in comparison.

Whether it was the sex or the attitude or the gymnastics, David Lee Roth WAS cool between '79 and '81 or '82. No one has ever generated the sheer appeal that he did on stage, and you know, it wasn't a problem for the guys because we got it. Dave could wear pink or lace and it didn't really matter, it was a guy's guy just being the ultimate rock hero.

And Eddie sort of faded into the background, except for the guitar itself, when the spotlight hit him he knew what to do and lit up the arena but it was Dave that made Van Halen, VAN HALEN.

Sammy, after the intro really was more like the Nice Coach that takes the place of the Screaming Coach. It works briefly but then Van Halen was just sort of a band like everyone else. They weren't bigger than life anymore and that was mostly because of Dave.

The irony probably is that Van Halen may have ceased to be the same band they had been, even if DLR had stayed and in that respect it was probably for the best that they made the change; but man, for that one run between '78 and '82, VH was the most exciting band there ever was and that was mainly because of Dave...

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