Why Whitney Houston was “one of the greatest” on Earth, according to Sammy Hagar
Sammy Hagar never took a second of his time in Van Halen for granted.
He had large shoes to fill when taking over for David Lee Roth, but there was no way that he was ever going to be a copy of ‘Diamond Dave’. He was his own unique musical animal, and when looking through the band’s greatest moments, he could still be humble when the band didn’t manage to reach the top of the charts.
But for Van Halen to get over Roth was no tall order. As much of a natural ham as he was onstage, Roth’s voice might not have been all that flexible, but ‘The Red Rocker’ was going to need to do something to set himself apart. And whereas Roth tended to look like the MC of one of the biggest parties to come out of Los Angeles whenever he performed, Hagar seemed like the regular guy that anyone could hang out with whenever he got finished singing one of their songs.
And when 5150 was released, the band had a lot more to say musically than the traditional rock and roll songs. Sure, tracks like ‘Get Up’ and ‘Good Enough’ could have been sung by Roth had they buried the hatchet with him, but the kind of music Eddie was writing was far more complex. Roth’s voice wasn’t suited to working on any piano ballads, but it would have been a crime had Eddie not been able to release songs like ‘Love Walks In’ as well.
Although ‘Dreams’ is known as the real defining song from this era of the group, ‘Why Can’t This Be Love’ is more indicative of their sound. Not all of it makes the most sense, but it’s really about the feeling that’s created whenever they lock in on that groove. Eddie’s blend of guitar and keyboards is at its finest here, and Hagar is singing his heart out and matching him note for note when they hit the instrumental break.
All that hard work felt like they were lined up to get another smash hit out of the deal, but when they checked the charts, the band only made it to number three on the hit parade. It was far from a crash and burn by any means, but when looking at Whitney Houston beating them with the song ‘The Greatest Love of All’, Hagar said that there was no way all of their hard work was going to defeat that kind of powerhouse.
Houston was a once-in-a-generation talent, and Hagar knew that no amount of cool guitar trickery would get in the way of that voice, saying, “How could you complain about that? My God, she was one of the greatest singers who ever walked this earth. I was gonna guess somebody like Hall & Oates or something more pop. You know, Van Halen wasn’t a pop band, really, but really we were.” It’s not like Hagar is that far off in those pop claims, either.
Even before he came in, 1984 was dripping with keyboards, and while some fans were angered at the more commercial sound of the group, there was hardly any reason to be pissed. Sure, the band weren’t making the same kind of massive riffs that they did with Roth in the group, but part of their story definitely would have been missing something if they deliberately tried to stifle themselves when making a song like ‘Right Now’.
And while Houston may have beaten them to the punch, Hagar knew how to be humble when faced with that kind of loss. They may not have hit the number one spot right out of the gate, but all it did was prime the pipes for when they started hitting the ground running on the next handful of albums.
