The one 1984 song Sammy Hagar didn’t want to be remembered for: “Embarrassing”
Sammy Hagar never asked for the kind of reputation that he got once he joined Van Halen.
He only wanted to play with one of the greatest guitarists in the world, but when you’re stepping into the shoes of someone like David Lee Roth, there are bound to be a few people looking at you as if you’re going to learn all of ‘Diamond Dave’s moves every single time you take the stage. ‘The Red Rocker’ wasn’t that kind of performer, and if he was going to do anything with Van Halen, he was going to make sure that he left the original version of the band in the dust.
Not that Hagar absolutely hated Van Halen beforehand; he just didn’t like their presentation. On the surface, they seemed like the perfect rock and roll outfit, but judging by their showmanship, the band were already one of the most badass rock and roll bands in the world that just so happened to have a cartoon character out in front every single time they took to the stage. Hagar had his fair share of stage presence, but he was going to relate to people in a far more natural way.
He didn’t see the point in treating every audience like they were his virtual circus audience, and a lot of what Van Halen worked in their next era was because Hagar talked about real topics. There are many tunes in the band’s early work that talked about sex and drugs, but this was the first time that the band dared to write a genuine love song like ‘Why Can’t This Be Love’ or pull off something that even resembles a ballad like ‘Dreams’.
That wasn’t as prevalent with Roth’s era, and that was just fine by Hagar. Because when you look at their first tour together, the frontman didn’t want to play any songs performed by his predecessor. He didn’t see himself as the guy that should sing tunes like ‘Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love’, and given the nature of some of Roth’s lyrics, Hagar would have been more embarrassed than anything if he tried playing those songs.
To put it lightly, Roth’s lyrics can be teenage slang at best and downright dumb at worst. There are so many moments where he hit the bullseye just right and looked like the coolest person in the world, but considering how both frontmen are now touring the nostalgia circuit most of the time, Hagar is happy that he didn’t have to be tied to a song like ‘Hot For Teacher’ for the rest of his life.
A song about having a crush on a teacher might have been funny at the moment, but it hits a lot different when you’re reaching your twilight years, and Hagar didn’t want any part of it, saying, “Singing ‘Hot for Teacher’ now, at 77 years old — I’m sorry, it’s embarrassing. I wanted to sing lyrics that I could sing for the rest of my life. I have plenty of those other kinds of songs. ‘Rock Candy,’ it’s borderline, but at least I’m not making it about some 14-year-old. It could be about my beautiful 58-year-old wife.”
But in the case of ‘Rock Candy’, the entire song feels like a dopey sex jam from the first time that Hagar sang it. If anything, the rest of the band are the ones carrying the weight on that particular song, and by the time that he grew up, singing songs like ‘Right Now’ and ‘Why Can’t This Be Love’ felt like the kinds of tunes that would stand the test of time a lot better than what Roth did.
The original version of Van Halen did have its time and place with ‘Diamond Dave’ in the band, but Hagar joining the band couldn’t have come at a better time for them. They had grown as writers and as musicians, and they didn’t want to spend the rest of their lives singing about sex and drugs when there was so much more to offer out there.
