Tag: Sammy Hagar

Ladies and Gentlemen, Sammy Hagar!

On By bigbadburchIn Controversy4 Comments

Today we’re going to get into a story I have not ever run across before. This incident happened in either 1985 or ’86, exact dates aren’t specified. While I am a fan of Sammy Hagar and Van Halen and I’ve also been a pro wrestling fan at various points in my life, I have never heard this story before at all until I stumbled onto this video last week.

This presentation is from Dark Side of the Ring, an outfit that puts together documentary episodes about (usually) the seedier side of pro wrestling. If you know anything about wrestling, you know that there’s a lot of seedy stuff. They also do a podcast called Unheard to cover things that don’t really fit into the main documentary episodes and that’s where today’s story comes from.

The episode in question was about the tragic story of former wrestler Adrian Adonis, but the actual meat of today’s story came from legendary grappler Bret “The Hitman” Hart. Bret was being interviewed about Adrian and told this story during the sessions. The filmmakers couldn’t wedge the story into Adrian’s episode but felt they had to tell the full story, and I’m glad they did.

I have posted the video and I fully encourage everyone to check it out to see Bret tell the story. But I will also recap it here.

Bret Hart was flying into New York City with Adrian Adonis and Bret’s brother in law, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart. Bret was sitting next to a guy who was dressed in a sort of “rock n’ roll” style, not uncommon in the mid-80’s. The guy picks up on Bret and his cohorts being wrestlers and tells Bret that he is a rock star. Bret asks who he is and the guy says he is Sammy Hagar.

Jim Neidhart was rightfully skeptical that the man in question was Sammy Hagar, who at this point had just joined Van Halen. Jim picked up on the guy wearing a cheap Timex watch, something the real Sammy Hagar probably wasn’t doing by this point as he’d made a fair share of cash. It’s worth noting that none of these wrestlers knew what Sammy Hagar looked like, this was the days before the Internet and ready access to photos and all that.

Something else would happen to actually change Jim’s mind though – the group went to Madison Square Garden, the spiritual home of the World Wrestling Federation (now Entertainment). In the back, “Sammy Hagar” took up Adrian on an offer of the currency of the 1980’s, cocaine. “Sammy” snorted a huge line and had a bit of a nosebleed after, this caused Jim to exclaim “It IS Sammy Hagar!”

Celebrities were a common presence at WWF shows, especially at MSG, so “Sammy Hagar” was actually introduced and made his way to the ring. The clip of this hilarious scene is below, and I’m sure anyone who reads this blog can instantly tell that the person is certainly not Sammy Hagar. The crowd were pretty easily able to ascertain that this guy was not Hagar and the very brief appearance got jeered by the fans waiting for the next match.

The podcast goes over another few funny moments of this story – an unnamed New York Yankees ballplayer was also backstage and knew Sammy Hagar personally, he instantly ratted the imposter out. Also, Bret and Adrian and company had to deal with the fallout of bringing a faulty version of Sammy Hagar to the wrestling event, as WWF head Vince McMahon has long been famous for his calm temperament in such matters… But this being a MSG broadcast in the mid-80’s, the Fed was able to sweep this mishap under the rug until just recently.

This story is a really funny slice of entertainment from the ’80’s and, if left where it is, is perfectly fine. The only loose thread is this – who was Not Sammy Hagar? The podcasts hosts wonder if the guy is even still alive and are curious as to who this legend of rock and wrestling might be. It seems as though this guy’s identity might be totally lost to time and mortality – that is, unless you want to engage in a bit of conspiracy theorycraft.

A few of the podcast viewers picked up on something I wouldn’t have honestly considered – the Sammy imposter looks familiar. It’s certainly not Sammy Hagar, but this guy could have easily passed for Dana Carvey. At the time in question Dana Carvey was just getting ready to join Saturday Night Live and become known to the wider world. But had the celebrity impersonation been Dana Carvey, this guy could have pulled it off without a hitch.

That is, barring one further consideration – what if this guy wasn’t a ringer for Dana Carvey, but was Dana Carvey? Dana would become a household name by 1987, but at the time of this wrestling show he was not very well known. He’d had some bit acting parts but wasn’t an SNL cast guy yet. There is some speculation that this actually was Dana Carvey, who wound up on a plane next to Bret Hart and decided to pull a gag.

I think it would be hilarious if it actually was Dana, but logical speculation leads me to believe it wasn’t. Dana has had 40 years to tell this story if he did indeed pull this ruse, and to my knowledge he has never brought it up. I’d think it’d have to be a story he told at some point in time over the decades of interviews he has done. So I am going with “no” on this one.

I have noticed comments indicating that someone does know this person, they aren’t Dana Carvey, and the person is still around. Maybe we’ll get a feature with this dude someday, I really want to hear what he has to say. I’m not saying I necessarily believe that anyone really has a hook-up to this guy, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility.

So here’s to the legend of Not Sammy Hagar appearing at a WWF live event in 1986. It probably wasn’t Dana Carvey but maybe it was, or maybe we’ll get to hear from the perpetrator of this hoax sometime down the line. And if not, well, we at least have this great story from a time when pro wrestlers, the world’s biggest bullshit artists, got bullshitted to a huge degree.

HSAS – Through The Fire

On By bigbadburchIn Album of the Week2 Comments

Time to dust off this old supergroup one-off and see what we have 40 years later.

HSAS – Through The Fire

Released March 1984 via Geffen Records

HSAS was the long-sough collaboration between Sammy Hagar and Neal Schon. The two had time after Journey released Frontiers and Sammy had been touring behind Three Lock Box during 1983. There were a minimum of rehearsals and the album was recorded during live shows in San Francisco in late ’83. The crowd noise was turned down for the recordings and some overdubs were needed on guitar, but otherwise the album is what was recorded on stage. For this project, Schon is handling the guitars and Hagar is confined to vocal duties.

Supergroups are often more about the members and that is certainly the case here, as the entire story of this album is in the lone paragraph above. So let’s have a look at each member of this short-lived group.

Sammy Hagar had finally established himself as a viable force in the early ’80’s after grinding away during the prior decade as a solo artist after his short tenure with Montrose. Hagar had gone platinum with Standing Hampton and then gold with Three Lock Box. In ’84 he was just a few months away from more huge solo success with VOA, and in a year’s time his world would look radically different.

Neal Schon had come up with the Santana band in 1971. After Santana, Schon and bandmate Gregg Rolie would form the band that went on to become Journey. They of course enjoyed massive success in the early ’80’s. Schon is still with Journey to this day and has a list of side projects and guest appearances that would take a book to keep track of.

Kenny Aaronson came up in New York during the 1970’s, starting as a teen with the short-lived band Dust. He’d then go on to play a long stint with Rick Derringer as well as a brief jaunt with a just-formed Hall and Oates. He was with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts in 1984 and has gone on to scores of other appearances over the years, including a stint with Bob Dylan.

Michael Shrieve began pounding the drums in earnest as a founding member of Santana, thus linking him to Schon. After leaving that group, Shrieve recorded a wide variety of solo and session projects. He had just been doing Mick Jagger’s ’84 solo album when HSAS came up.

So this is the group of clearly accomplished musicians who would convene to record this effort. There are 9 tracks at a very reasonable 36:39 runtime. Everything was written by Hagar and Schon save for the obvious cover song. Both also produced the album. A few re-issues exist but nothing with any bonus stuff that I know of. If you were to want a copy of this record, $5 and a few minutes in the record store would do the trick, it is not hard to come by.

Top Of The Rock

The opener is a very simple hard rock track that sounds exactly like something you’d expect Sammy Hagar to record in the 1980’s. It would slot in just fine on any of his solo records. There isn’t anything really special or dynamic about this song but it is a quality effort. Grade: B

Missing You

This one is another pretty straightforward track, in some sense it is almost woefully basic. But it does execute well for a song from this time period. It does sound and feel like Neal Schon has his imprint on this song and there are a few guitar flourishes here and there for a bit of excitement. Grade: B-

Animation

This one wastes a few minutes with some weird, echo-ridden intro that does nothing but then it finally gets into a very nice, heavy and groovy song. It’s honestly a bit tough to grade since it’s half really good and half kinda shit. I guess that’s one way of being average. Grade: C

Valley Of The Kings

This one is a very nice, plodding yet pounding song that does feel like it’s going somewhere. It doesn’t necessarily get there but the song is a nice premise and it hits well with its pacing and tone. Grade: B

Giza

This is nothing really more than a small outro from the prior song. It’s fine from that perspective but on its own as a track on the album it’s a total waste of time. I don’t have an issue with musicians doing odd crap like that, but given that this project had several other songs they recorded that didn’t make the album, there was clearly room for something else here. This is a royal waste of time, thankfully it only wastes about a minute and a half. Grade: D

Whiter Shade Of Pale

This is a cover of the beloved Procol Harum classic. The original is such a stunner due to its organ, psychedelic vibes and mournful tone. This rendition is a standard ’80’s guitar rock exercise that turns the song into a rock ballad. It’s not badly performed but it also strips the essence out of the song. And playing an all-time classic like this kind of exposes that the rest of the album was written in a hurry and isn’t fully fleshed out. Grade: C

Hot And Dirty

Here the band really get down and rock out. The song is again pretty basic but this is also really slamming. Schon really gets going with the guitar and this is one you can really raise your fist and yell to. Easily the highlight of the record. It’s also the least-streamed song on Spotfiy, people are missing out here. Grade: A-

He Will Understand

This song starts out as a ballad about being alone, then it starts rocking out in maybe a bit of a rock opera fashion at one point. There are the makings of a decent song here, but this is pretty disjointed and clumsy. It could have been much more than what it became. Grade: D+

My Home Town

The album ends with a banging hard rocker. It’s all about the pounding drums and bass and Schon’s flying guitar here. The crowd noise was not able to be removed here, it’s clear they are in a concert setting. A really nice way to send this album off. Grade: B+

Through The Fire did wind up with the fate of being a side project album. The collective fanbases of Sammy Hagar and Journey did not fall all over themselves to purchase the record. The album did not chart at all. The album’s only single was Whiter Shade Of Pale and it barely charted, hitting 94 on the Hot 100. The album was quickly forgotten as Sammy Hagar went into his VOA era and later into Van Halen, while Neal Schon pressed on with Journey. Hagar and Schon would reconvene decades later with the Planet Us project, though they only did two songs that were released later on a Sammy solo record.

The verdict on Through The Fire is honestly a hair more complicated that it seems on the surface. One aspect that does stand out is the production – they did a great job capturing new songs from live shows. It’s very easy to hear each instrument here and everything sounds great. It does have that live album feel to it but it was captured wonderfully. It is something that needs to be pointed out when discussing the record.

Overall though, this one doesn’t offer a whole lot. There are a handful of quality songs and there are a few missteps. It does stand out that this project had promise and could have benefited from more time in the oven. If they’d taken more time to flesh out some songs and offer up a few more dynamics, we’d be talking about a much different album.

Album Grade: C-

In the end we’re left with a footnote in the careers of Hagar and Schon, as well as Aaronson and Shrieve. That’s often what happens with these side project sort of releases – a bit of hype when it comes together, then the album quickly hits the cut-out bin as the band members go on to their day jobs. It’s a cheap and easy piece to get if you’re a Sammy or Neal completionist. (If you’re a Kenny Aaronson completionist, you need help and a large bank roll) But this album is not essential for any sort of listening beyond that, even in the backdrop of 1984 this one got left in the wake of all the massive music that came around that year.

The Song Remains The Same – Bad Reputation

On By bigbadburchIn The Song Remains The Same6 Comments

It’s been a good long while since I’ve played this silly little game. Awhile back I was prepping one and pretty much all of the songs were horrible, so I shitcanned that post and haven’t revisited this concept since. I finally got to looking the other day and stumbled into a great batch of songs and artists for this, so this concept lives again.

For those unfamiliar – here I take a bunch of songs with the same name, all from different artists, and decide which one I like the best. It’s an exhaustive process of playing them for all of 30 seconds before I make a snap verdict. Though honestly on this one I did play all the way through these songs and I have a fair few of them in my collection anyway.

Today’s pick is Bad Reputation. There are a whole boatload of songs with that name, thankfully there are enough that keep me in my favored genres so I can stick to familiar ground for this one. I am at least roughly familiar with all but one of these songs, I own most of the albums these are off of and I’m very, very familiar with a few of them. There are seven entries here today which is more than I’ve ever done for this before so buckle in and get ready to go around.

Damn Yankees

Right off the bat it’s the 1990 supergroup featuring members of Styx and Night Ranger, as well as Ted Nugent. This album was a showstopper back in the day, one of the last remnants of good old hard rock before alternative took over.

Bad Reputation was the 5th single from this album, these songs got a lot of mileage back in the day. It’s a very, very nice track that cuts a nice groove and rocks out above the “hair” fray. I have no clue who wins this as I write these blurbs but this one is very hard to argue against.

Heavens Edge

Up next is the lone entry I haven’t heard at all. Heavens Edge were (are, maybe) a hair metal group that didn’t really catch on back in the day, they have been sporadically active through the years. This song was also from 1990 and from their debut.

Honestly this is a pretty good song. I mean, I can see “hair metal” and “1990” and get why they didn’t really hit back then, but there’s no shame in the game when it comes to the music. Also I wanted to separate the first and third artists, there are people who won’t want to be next to each other.

Joan Jett

Up next is the song I would suspect most people would know from this grouping and also the person I wanted to keep away from the person mentioned up above. Jett’s song is one of her most known and loved tunes. This was first out on the album in 1980 then got a single release in ’81. All these years later and it’s one of the first Joan Jett songs people are gonna know, for sure.

And there’s reason for all that – this song is 100% pure, ferocious punk rock attitude. Joan knocked this one out of the park. This song is the business and it’s the favorite to run off with the win here today.

Sammy Hagar

This is one I know very well, which is chalked up to me being a pretty huge Sammy fan. This came from his 1980 solo album Danger Zone, which was the album before he really broke out. This wasn’t a single or a live staple but it did make some of the many greatest hits packages that Capitol Records put out after Sammy got famous and then joined Van Halen. For me personally it is a contender in this contest, it’s been a song of Sammy’s I’ve always enjoyed.

The Reverend Horton Heat

Shifting gears for just a bit from rock into rockabilly. This cut comes from the good Reverend’s debut album Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em from 1990. This one changes the theme of “bad reputation” up a bit – some of the other songs indicate that the bad reputation is a warning sign, while in this song it’s an attraction. This is a really fun rockabilly track and yet another viable contestant to take the crown today.

Thin Lizzy

It’s now on to the oldest song on the list, this one hailing from the band’s 1977 album of the same name as the song. The album was regarded as a return to form for Thin Lizzy, who were struggling through all manner of issues, including Phil Lynott’s chemical dependencies. The song also departs a bit from the theme of the others, this one is a warning to someone to watch their step, as they have a bad reputation.

This song is also a total monster. It has fat riffs to spare, not that anyone would be surprised by that in a Thin Lizzy song. It also has a great groove to it, a bit of funk in spots but still on track as a hard rock ballbuster. The field of strong contenders is crowded but Thin Lizzy are certainly in the mix.

Vixen

We wrap up with a song from the band’s second album Rev It Up. If you guessed that it came out in 1990 like over half of the stuff here, you’d win a prize if there were any prizes. This was not a single from the album and this time frame also marked the end of Vixen’s mainstream run, which isn’t a shock given that the dark figure of 1991 was just around the bend.

While Vixen would lose their record deal in the fallout of alt-rock, they went out with a bang. This song is very well done melodic hard rock. Nice guitars, hot vocals and good arrangement here. Nothing wrong with jamming this hot rocker out at all. It picks up speed at the end as a nice touch too.

So there’s a deliberation process here. I’m not actually going to narrate it, no one wants to read internal monologue. All of these songs are at least good and few are great. It did quickly whittle down to a two-horse race for me, but in the end I found my champion of Bad Reputation.

The Winner – Thin Lizzy

I can’t knock Joan Jett’s song at all, that is a total banger. But in the end I gotta go with the champions of monster guitar. Thin Lizzy edges out Joan Jett to take the crown today in a very close race. These are all really good songs, I might keep the playlist I built to run them down. But there can be only one winner. It was as close to a tie as I can recall on these, maybe there was one more, yet the Irish rock gods take home the prize.

That’s all for today. Be sure to join me this Friday as the Album of the Week moves to a special slot for one time only, in order to celebrate the 30th anniversary of one of my favorite records. It’s also an album with a bad reputation in some parts. See you then.

Sammy Hagar – This Planet’s On Fire (Song of the Week)

On By bigbadburchIn Song Of The Week5 Comments

The song pick this week is a track from Sammy Hagar’s fourth solo album Street Machine. This album hit in 1979 and was kind of a lull in Hagar’s career – he wouldn’t see true solo success until 1982 and Standing Hampton. But there were still plenty of worthy songs early on in Sammy’s first solo outing and today’s track is one of those.

This Planet’s On Fire (Burn In Hell) did get a singles release in the UK though it didn’t set the UK charts on fire. It would feature over 40 times in live setlists through the early 1980’s before Sammy joined Van Halen and ran off to mega-stardom. He does not appear to have played it since, though such setlist aggregation sites aren’t always accurate so I don’t know.

Today’s song is one of Sammy’s heavy metal-leaning tracks that he was very fond of doing. He had tried to keep Montrose in a metal direction in the early 1970’s, which led to his exit from that group. While Sammy often plied his trade in rock, he could be found exploring the emerging world of metal from time to time.

The standout part of this song is, of course, that riff. It is a roller coaster ride up and down the fretboard on this one. It will get a person to take notice, that’s for sure. There is also plenty of soloing in the wordless moments to keep the guitar lesson going. Hagar would revisit this style of running riff a few years down the line with the song I Don’t Need Love from Three Lock Box.

Lyrically the song is pretty easy to figure out – everything is messed up and everyone has punched their ticket to H-E-double hockey sticks. It doesn’t sound like a bad thing in this case – as with a lot of Sammy at his best, it’s a party all the way to the bottom. It’s not the same kind of Hell as in a preacher’s sermon or as depicted by about 666,666 black metal bands. Maybe it’s really more like Heck, I don’t know.

This song has kind of hung out in the lower rung of Sammy Hagar’s catalog. His time in Van Halen will always be the topic of discussion, and his solo stuff includes his big hit I Can’t Drive 55 and his more modern incarnation as a hard rock Jimmy Buffet. His brief stint with Montrose might garner more attention than a lot of his early solo career before ’82, even.

But Hagar’s early stuff has gained some notice. I know I was one of many to gravitate to this song the first time I heard it way back when. And I wasn’t the only one – in 2022, Dave Mustaine and Megadeth cut a cover version of it for certain versions of their album The Sick, They Dying … And The Dead! The cover featured vocals from Hagar as well.

This Planet’s On Fire may not have set the world on fire, but this is still top-notch stuff from the Red Rocker. It doesn’t get much better than this trip straight to Hell.

Sammy Hagar – VOA (Album Of The Week)

On By bigbadburchIn Album of the Week10 Comments

Today it’s time to look at one of the crown jewels in the career of the Red Rocker. After a slow grind to relevance as a solo artist, Sammy Hagar began making waves in the 1980’s and would launch the album with his most successful hit just before going on to mega-stardom with Van Halen.

Sammy Hagar – VOA

Released July 23, 1984 via Geffen Records

My Favorite Tracks – Burnin’ Down The City, I Can’t Drive 55, VOA

This marked Hagar’s third album with Geffen Records after a string of modestly-performing solo records with Capitol. On production was Ted Templeman, who’d worked with Hagar previously with Montrose and of course is also long associated with Van Halen.

It’s not a terribly long album here with 8 tracks at 36 minutes so let’s get to it.

I Can’t Drive 55

The opener was also the lead single and also the signature song from both this album and Sammy’s solo career overall. The speed limit on US highways was 55 miles per hour for a long time to offset oil consumption in the 1970’s. Sammy got a ticket for going over that and wrote the song right after.

The song is a nice power rock track backed by keyboards and cuts its message in simple and effective fashion. This wasn’t a social issue that would draw the attention of the likes of Bono, but a lot of people were fed up with the federally-mandated speed limits and this song resonated with a great deal of the country.

Aiding in the song’s popularity was its goofy and fun music video, which sees Sammy and his “pit crew” band get busted for speeding. The courtroom scene is especially funny, featuring famed Geffen A&R man John Kalonder as the judge. And the mechanic in the video’s intro is Claudio Zampolli, who also worked on Eddie Van Halen’s cars and was the one to suggest to Eddie to hire Sammy for Van Halen.

Swept Away

Going on a tropical island getaway here with some lovely gal, the verses open with an atmospheric portion but then kick into a pretty rocking riff. Not a typical verse/chorus structure here but still a pretty simple song that does its job well.

Rock Is In My Blood

Sammy always likes to make songs about rock and metal and here we are again with another choice cut of that nature. It’s a heavy riff with the keyboards accenting the song rather than being the driving force and that works very nicely. I still remember the first time I heard this and being taken aback at how Sammy worked “blood transfusion” into the lyrics and how it fit in rhythm without actually making any sense lyrically.

Two Sides Of Love

The album’s other single did modestly well on the charts and wasn’t actually all that far off of I Can’t Drive 55, but this song didn’t slam into the public consciousness quite like the other one did. This is a song about love but not a “love song,” this deals more with the complications of long-term relationships and life. It’s certainly a product of the ’80’s but it doesn’t quite fall into cliché.

Dick In The Dirt

Side two kicks off with a funny song about Dick and Jane and all the double entendre stuff they get up to. This is one of those songs that could go south real quick but again there’s a very nice riff backing it all up and it holds together pretty well.

VOA

The title track is a hard rocker with the keyboards more up front in true ’80’s power rock fashion. And in keeping with 80’s USA themes, the subject matter is American exceptionalism. There was conflict in the Middle East and also the Cold War with the Soviets was in its final stages and this song sums up the US side of things pretty well. This song might seem silly now and maybe even was back then, but it fit the times very well.

Don’t Make Me Wait

Heading toward the end we get a fairly simple love song that still stays out of real “ballad” territory and keeps with the sound and feel of the album. This one is kind of paint-by-numbers but there’s nothing wrong with it.

Burnin’ Down The City

The album closes with a real monster of a tune and my favorite on the album. The mood goes far more dark here than what’s found elsewhere on the record. The song was inspired by New York City’s street artists according the album’s liner notes. The track goes beyond street art and embraces chaos and destruction in heavy fashion. Had this song been out some years earlier it could have made the soundtrack to The Warriors.

VOA was the realization of success for Sammy Hagar. He had an album that went platinum within a year and the song that would come to define his career. I Can’t Drive 55 would blare across radios and MTV all through the ’80’s as the speed limit remained, and would become a part of auto racing culture even after the speed limit was repealed in 1995. It resonates even today in a culture of bad drivers who used the Grand Theft Auto games as driver’s ed.

The trick for Sammy would be to pull this off again and follow up his success with another hit album. He’d sidestep that issue entirely when he joined Van Halen in 1985 and saw massive success with them. He’d do one more contractually obligated solo record in 1987, but it would be another decade and his split with Van Halen before he resumed his solo career and found a different form.

Sammy Hagar arrived in 1984 with the perfect record of melodic hard rock to get on the scene and score a victory lap after his prior success in the early decade. It’s a fitting end cap to the first phase of his solo career and a launch pad to his time fronting one of rock’s greatest acts.