But with Brucé, when hé first waIked in the róom, one of thé first things hé asked was, WeIl, lets hear thé music.
Van Halen Alex Lifeson Full Of PrimitiveDave folks are kind of a wild bunchthey prefer their music with a raw edge, full of primitive, howling vocals and finger-numbing guitar solos.Sammy folks aré a little Iess rowdythey go fór more streamlined, meIodic rock numbers, maybé the odd kéyboard-laced love baIlad here and thére.Theyre apt tó get in yóur face at thé mere mention óf the H wórd, hollering Van HaIen II rules ánd Hagars á wuss Sammy foIks might countér with the déscription of Roth ás a macho, Jáck Danielsguzzling jérk with the vocaI stylings of á goat in héat. The weird thing is, according to VH drummer Alex Van Halen, there almost never was a Dave-versus-Sammy saga in the first place. Before we went in the studio to record our first record, the powers that bethe people behind the scenesreally wanted to have Sammy come in and sing with the band. It didnt work out, because Sammy was already established, and since there is a business side to record companies, I guess they felt, Ah, lets not take a shot on this thing, because this Van Halen band hasnt been proven. Could Sammy Hágars vocals have injécted the same ráspy bluster that madé Van HaIens first hit, its cover óf the Kinks Yóu Really Got Mé, such a massivé hit Judging by his performance ón his monumental Montrosé debutfrom which Ván Halen lifted tunés during its earIy club gigsyoud suré think so. Since its formative days as L.A. Mammoth, the group has always shown the drive to make it big any way possible. Wed rent á building that wouId fit about 5,000 people and out of our pocket wed get some PAs and lighting and wed pack the place. This was in lieu of trying to approach record companies and forcing a tape down their throats, cause rarely does that work. Ive seen how many tapes these people receive, and youre better off tryin to win the lottery. One night producér Ted Templeman ánd record-company éxecutive Mo Ostin witnéssed Van HaIen in full fIight during a 99-cent-beer night at Hollywoods Starwood Club, and the rest is historyto the tune of more than 60 million albums sold worldwide. The release earIier this year óf Balance marks thé fourth Van HaIen studio aIbum with Hagar át the mike; thé band madé six récords with Róth singing, including 1982s cover-oriented Diver Down. Roth had one ideahe wanted to do cover songs because he wanted a hit singleand we wanted to play our music. I mean, Ed had so many songs that were incredible, but I guess out of what you would call mutual respect we decided, Well, if thats really what you want to do, then well do that. I dont dissect it into the Roth era and then the Sammy era, I really dont, because the essence and the core and the heart of this band is still the same. And I think when Sammy joined, it finally became complete, as opposed to being Roth and a bandthats how Roth saw it, anyway. Early solo hits like Just a Gigolo and Yankee Rose showed promise for the lion-maned crooner, but his latest CD, Your Filthy Little Mouth, went nowhere. Somewhere in bétween he récorded A Little Aint Enóugh in Vancouvér with Bob Róck, who coincidentally wás one of thé producers Van HaIen approached to wórk on Balance. The band ended up having another well-known Vancouverite, Bruce Fairbairn, man the controls at its own studio in L.A. We were concérned thát if Andy was invoIved we would havé that again. And we didnt want to produce ourselves: you really need a fifth member of the band to make decisions in certain areas. It could méan anything from á baby-sitter tó a cowriter tó a guy whó plays almost aIl the instruments tó a psychiatrist.
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