‘Cruisin and Boozin’: Dissecting Sammy Hagar’s troubling 1970’s hit
Sammy Hagar wouldn’t have been the vocalist for Van Halen were it not for his car.
Van Halen had an upbeat sound unlike anything that had previously surfaced in the world of rock, and they needed a singer who could match that, for which David Lee Roth was able to deliver as the perfect frontman. That being said, while he was a great addition, friction in the band meant his days were numbered. He eventually quit the band, and Van Halen were left struggling to find a replacement, until Eddie Van Halen saw Sammy Hagar’s car.
“My car mechanic, Claudio Zampoli, was also Eddie’s mechanic,” explained Hagar, recalling, “One day, when Eddie was picking up his car, he was telling Claudio that Dave quit; nobody knew, it wasn’t public knowledge. And that’s when Eddie saw my black Ferrari 512, the car I used in the video for ‘I Can’t Drive 55’. He said, ‘Wow, nice car, whose is it?’ Claudio said, ‘It’s Sammy Hagar’s car, you should call him and get him in the band’.”
Hagar ended up joining Van Halen in 1985; however, prior to that, he had also used his car in a bid to further his career. This time, though, rather than taking it to his mechanic, he was singing about it. His car proved to be the topic of the 1977 song ‘Cruisin and Boozin’, a track which, if released today, would have likely landed the man in hot water.
There are plenty of artists, especially within the world of rock, who have released what many would call unsavoury music in their careers. The whole foundation of rock ‘n’ roll is built around sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, and granted, these topics can be fun to write about, but some artists have pushed the boundaries slightly too far in the past, which has meant creating music that leans too much into the party atmosphere, and in turn becoming borderline offensive.
The Rolling Stones were masters at this kind of offensive writing, as with songs like ‘Some Girls’ and lines like “Black girls just want to get fucked all night,” they managed to stir up their fair share of controversy. Of course, the band tried to defend their lyrics, saying they weren’t representative of their views but were actually mocking the views of others, but not many people bought that as an excuse.
Equally, Sammy Hagar released what was also a pretty risky song with the track ‘Cruisin and Boozin’, which centred his car, and nothing’s wrong with that, but it’s what he does in said car that is the issue. Throughout the track, Hagar sings about driving around, asking every woman he sees whether they would like to go for a ride, and then progressively getting drunker and drunker.
More offensive things have been said in music, but a track which seems to be celebrating drunk driving and unnecessarily cat-calling women doesn’t leave a great taste in the listener’s mouth.
If Hagar were to release this track in 2025, the subject matter would be quickly dismissed as offensive, and the song deemed unlistenable, proving a great example of one of those songs that simply wouldn’t fly today.
