Van Halen or Van Hagar

Being that Eddie Van Halen is the guitarist who doesn't need another guitarist on the stage, I thought it was very bold of Sammy Hagar to stand there and play opposite EVH.

Lokie, Eddie Van Halen guitar playing on Van Halen records, is fundamentally blues based. He distorts it, stretches it and even at times mangles it, but it's still blues based. Where he differs from Clapton, Page and others is that he mixes in tinges of jazz and California surf stylings. It was a truly fresh sound!

An interesting bit of trivia about David Lee Roth. He credits Frank Sinatra as one of his biggest influences as far as singing style goes. You can really hear it at times too. Frank had that way of sometimes sounding like he was singing slowly even on uptempo songs. He had a tendency to hold the note for the full duration, without any decrescendo. David does that as well.

Oh, and I vote for Roth / Van Halen hands down. Although I liked some of the songs on 5150, the Roth era was when they were a "rock band"!

*have you seen junior's grades?*

but god help me if Michael Anthony isn't the most boring bass player on record.

Van Halen! I
"I don't feel tardy"

I'm always amazed at how many people don't seem to pay attention to Fair Warning.

Ask most musicians who study Van Halen closely, and they'll tell you that Fair Warning was where they were absolutely on fire - especially Eddie.

The first album is great, of course, but I'd take Fair Warning first no matter what.