“This guy can sing”: the song that made Sammy Hagar join Van Halen
When bands lose their lead singers, whether through discourse or more tragic reasons, it can be incredibly difficult for them to bounce back. When you look at musical outfits such as INXS, Thin Lizzy and Linkin Park, while there is credit due to bands for trying to keep their music going despite staring down difficult circumstances, it can often be met with controversy by fans.
There are other instances, however, when getting a new singer doesn’t turn out to be a controversial move. This tends to be the case when a band doesn’t look to replace their singer with somebody who can do the same job but instead looks for someone who can take the group in a new musical direction. A great example of a band that succeeded with this approach is Van Halen.
Van Halen was doing incredibly well with David Lee Roth. He had an excellent voice and a chaotic and captivating stage presence, allowing him to keep up with their speedy playing styles. They were a match made in heaven, but it wasn’t meant to be, as tensions in the band grew, and Lee Roth decided to call it a day.
Van Halen remained adamant about continuing to make music, but their new lead singer certainly had big shoes to fill. There were many questions surrounding who could possibly take on frontman responsibilities, but eventually, Sammy Hagar joined the band and took them to new heights.
Hagar had no interest in being a reimagining of David Lee Roth. He was already an established singer and told the band that he would only join if they allowed him to be his authentic self.
“What I brought to Van Halen was just who and what I am,” Hagar noted when discussing joining the band. “It was Sammy Hagar, who and what I was at that moment, but very inspired by Eddie Van Halen’s musicianship… He inspired me to write songs… Goosebump songs.”
Naturally, Van Halen was keen to have Hagar on board, but it was also a big risk to begin working with someone who wouldn’t sing the old songs and demanded that they go in a different musical direction. They weren’t opposed to this, as they had already begun experimenting with synths and different tempos, but all parties involved had to be sure that this new partnership could work. It turns out the song ‘Summer Nights’ was all of their windows into the future.
‘Summer Nights’ was the product of one of the band’s first jam sessions with Sammy Hagar. It was a big moment for the group, as it showed that they could play with Hagar and that Hagar could deliver the goods.
It all started with a mid-tempo riff, nothing too fancy, but enough for Hagar to latch on to and add his own spin. After that, the rest is history. “I started singing to it, making up words,” Hagar said. “And right off the bat, I sang, ‘Summer nights and my radio…’ They all got excited. ‘Oh man, this guy can sing!’ And Jan was diggin’ that I could scat like a jazz singer.”
