Published on Oct 7, 1997
Sammy Hagar joined Van Halen in 1985 as the replacement for
frontman egomaniac David Lee Roth. When I saw Van Halen in Cedar
Rapids on Halloween 1988, I was mesmerized by the charismatic
singer. I dismissed the “Van Hagar” slams that my friends
perpetuated and went with the flow, that a new Van Halen had been
incarnated. Well, Hagar lasted 11 years before he caught “solo act”
fever and left the band. In August of 1996, Hagar began writing the
material on this CD and on May 20th,
Marching To Mars was released.
His first post-Van Halen solo album is an ambitious effort for a
musician that spent the last eleven years crooning lyrics like,
“Let’s do it until we’re black-n-blue” (from Van Halen’s
OU812), but not much of an encomium for his Van Halen work.
Little of this material, either musical or lyrical, rivals the
material Hagar helped create in Van Halen. Drop the last eleven
years and compare this material to his last solo CD, 1987’s
I Never Said Goodbye (which came out when I was a senior in
high school) and the equation gets a little more balanced. But
let’s not pretend this CD is not going to be compared to ALL of
Hagar’s past material. These songs teeter between predictable and
the cliché. In the large picture, which encompasses Hagar’s
career, it’s not his best material.
Lyrically, Hagar is less than inspired. Yes, his breakthrough
hit “I Can’t Drive 55” is not literature, but neither is “Little
white lie’s been around for years/ Little white lie’s ringing in
your ears/ You turn around/ come around back on you/ That little
white lie’s catching up to you.” And this lie is . . .? This is
material not even in the same universe as the roads he has traveled
in the past. The thoughtfulness of “Right Now,” the lewdness of
“Black and Blue,” the inspirational “Dreams” – – none of that is
here.
Be all of that as it may, Hagar as a solo artist isn’t that
horrendous. Perhaps tolerable on a good day. “Would You Do it For
Free” is a dirty groove. If you can ignore the poppy guitar licks,
it’s probably the second best track. After that, good luck finding
something about which to get excited.