# David or Sammy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 21, 2018, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542 "2018-05-21T08:30:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542/21 "2018-05-22T21:22:00Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > True, but hardly unusual. It’s the same as Ian Gillan not playing any Coverdale-era songs, or Ozzy not singing any Dio-era songs. It’s like they want to deny Sammy was in the band, much as they tried to erase Michael Anthony from history. When Sammy was in the band, they covered songs that Dave sang on, such as “Jump” and “Panama.” ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542/22 "2018-05-22T21:24:15Z")
Like someone ( **pulykamell**?) mentioned earlier, it’s not even so much a matter of singer preference as much as it is _material_. From “Van Halen I” to “1984”, Van Halen made agreeable, often exciting and funny hard rock with at the time the best guitar player in rock and roll. The Hagar era songs are just very meh to me. I mean, they’re catchy and all, and I don’t hate them at all, but I never opt to listen to any of that ever if I’m down for some Van Halen. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542/23 "2018-05-22T22:00:58Z")
David Lee Roth. DLR’s Van Halen was hard, they were metal. Sammy Hagar’s Van Halen was much more pop than hard rock. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542/24 "2018-05-22T22:02:42Z")
David Lee Roth. Hagar is the one who sang that horrible “Why Can’t This Be Love” garbage. It also helps that David Lee Roth lights the menorah (according to Adam Sandler’s song, at least). ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542/25 "2018-05-22T22:03:46Z")
How old am I that I thought the question involved Sammy Davis, Jr? David? I dunno, Eisenhower’s kid? ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542/26 "2018-05-22T22:05:22Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > It also helps that David Lee Roth lights the menorah (according to Adam Sandler’s song, at least). At least he’s not only a quarter Jew…although that’s not too shabby. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542/27 "2018-05-22T22:47:01Z")
I can’t decide. Remind me, which one of them married Valerie Bertinelli? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542/28 "2018-05-23T00:48:19Z")
Not a huge Van Halen fan. Love “Jump”, like “Dance the Night Away”, think “Jaime’s Crying” is funny and self-aware. Think a lot of what I’ve read DLR say is funny and self-aware. OTOH, before Hagar joined the band I thought he was an idiot. “You want red? Glad to hear you feel so strongly about it, but what the hell does that even mean? I understand ‘Paint It Black’, but not this shit, beyond understanding that your hair is kinda orange. And that’s your theme song?” “You can’t drive 55? Glad to hear you feel so strongly about it.” Of course if either song was better than so-so, I would have been a lot more forgiving. So… Dave Roth. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542/29 "2018-05-23T01:29:44Z")
It’s hard to put in perspective now. Van Halen can seem like just another band of the era. That is until you consider that Van Halen 1 came out in 1978 (and 2 a year later). In a few years there were hundreds of VH clones but that album and that group was truly groundbreaking in the same way Black Sabbath was in 1970. Sammy is a better singer and by most accounts a better human but Dave is The singer of Van Halen at its iconic best. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542/30 "2018-05-23T14:47:20Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Is it true that since Dave returned, Van Halen won’t play any Hagar-era songs in concert? I don’t think he _can_ sing any Hagar era songs. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542/31 "2018-05-23T14:50:16Z")
I thought this was going to be another Laurel / Yanny. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542/32 "2018-05-23T21:18:46Z")
Tougher question: \*Who would you rather party with? \* That would be Sammy. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542/33 "2018-05-24T01:11:27Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Tougher question: \*Who would you rather party with? \* > > That would be Sammy. Dave once said, “Sammy’s the kind of guy who will split a bottle with a friend. I’m the kind of guy who would split a friend with a bottle.” ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542/34 "2018-05-24T04:15:39Z")
And there ya go! ---
**Author:** ![4d3fect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/4d3fect/32/9728_2.png) [@4d3fect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/4d3fect)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542/35 "2018-05-24T04:31:39Z")
DLR for me. Saw them on their first tour, so everyone was at their peak. Pretty much stopped listening to that kind of music not long afterward. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542/36 "2018-05-24T05:39:51Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > …and hearing California Girls right as I’m starting to get into the Beach Boys Minor point, but that was a DLR solo project. ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542/37 "2018-05-24T10:36:32Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Sammy is a better lead singer, David is the better lead singer of Van Halen, if that makes any sense. Another vote for this sentiment. Some of the best songs in the Hagar era (e.g., “Dreams”, “Finish what you started”) have incredible vocals. Sammy’s singing is a big reason I love those songs. Still, I prefer the DLR era. Dave is a persona as much as a singer. They were a different band with him - raunchier, grittier. VH was already moving to a poppier sound near the end of the Dave era, and swapping in Sammy accelerated the process. I like both eras, but prefer the earlier Dave material. ---
**Author:** ![Lorne\_Armstrong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@Lorne\_Armstrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorne_Armstrong)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542/38 "2018-05-26T08:33:45Z")
I’ll never understand VH fans. Sammy by light years. It’s like comparing a Lamborghini to a Pinto. Roth is a marginal talent. He can’t sing (never could). He can’t play an instrument. He can’t write music. Yet he thinks he’s the hottest rock star to ever live. The man is an absolute clown. Watch him jump around like an idiot during instrumental sections, unwilling to let the other musicians get any attention. Roth is an embarrassment to the rest of the band and to VH fans. The fact is, it’s a front man’s job to sing. Everything else is nice but if he can’t sing, the additional stuff gets old. And Roth can’t sing. David Lee Roth is tied with Gene Simmons for the biggest clown in rock. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2018, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542/39 "2018-05-28T08:16:13Z")
Never mind. The thread title was misleading. I was going to vote for Sammy Davis Jr. for better all-around performer, but David Cassidy for most captivating dimples. But I see now that that would not have fit in well with the poll. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2018, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542/40 "2018-05-29T20:49:02Z")
DLR for me, early Van Halen rocked. See House of Pain, Running With the Devil, and Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-or-sammy/814542.md?page=3)