I was also thinking, "What no Gary Cherone?"...but I prefer the Dave era...Yes, the Sammy era had some good songs, but the albums up through 1984 were amazing. After Dave left, they had some good songs, but no killer albums, though 5150 is close...

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RAMA LAMA FA FA FA

Yep: All day, all night. Only on Dave TV!

The first time I heard/saw Van Halen, it was blaring out of a TV in a pool/pinball arcade with Dave doing "You really got me". Enjoyed his stuff ever since.

My vote's for "Diamond" Dave.
He's a big part of their initial sound and success.
He looks (well, looked) better in spandex than Sammy, too.

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you know what, i dont care that sammy can play anything. dave did one thing and did it better than anyone in rock and roll and that's BE A FRONTMAN. i know he's a moron and unlistenable when not singing. i dont need him to make sense in an interview and i don't need him to play guitar in a band with the best (living) guitarist, i need him to come on stage sporting buttless spandex and do some freaking round house kicks while singing awesome freaking songs.

eddie is a moron and he and sobriety ruined what may have been the third best band ever (behind the Beatles and Rolling Stones of course). i mean think about it, what other band was ever on pace to take that spot from Led Zepp?

/crickets....

there are a lot of great bands you can name but none top those 3. with those tunes, that playing ability, and a frontman like Dave, VH would have done it. not saying they would beat the beatles, but Led Zepp and the Stones would have had a hard time in a side-by-side comparison against VH had they stayed together.

David Lee Roth all the way.

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The time has gone, the song is over, thought I'd something more to say.

He's just a gigolo, and everywhere he goes........my vote is for Dave. NOBODY could rule a stage as such a dynamic frontman as him. Ok, I know he often missed MANY lyrics and talked incoherently, but when he was on his game there was no one better.

Sammy would get the vote for a more consistently strong frontman but Dave still has more stage charisma.

I would say Dave. Sammy has a much better pure voice but Dave is the ultimate frontman. This is really a tale of two bands and to be honest I like them both.

With Dave they were more darker and edgier and with Sammy more on the pop side but I am boggled when people say they did not make good music with Sammy. In fact this is the only Sammy I really like. I think Vanhalen and AC/DC are the only two groups in history to lose/change front men and be bigger or just as big as they were. Can anyone mention another band I may have missed.

Agreed, two completely different bands that were both good but COMPLETELY different.

5150 was the best Sammy stuff though.