I received a few very interesting emails on our subject of What would Van Halen be like if David Lee Roth had remained with the band instead of leaving: Some explore the subject even further by looking at other bands. I liked a few enough to reprint them here. I hope that you enjoy them. I thought it was an interesting topic. Here are the best of the letters received:

1) I've been a Van Halen fan since the year, and the album, 1984. I quickly went back and collected all the original line up albums. Van Halen continued to be my favorite band even with the switch from Dave to Sammy. I have all of Dave's solo albums, as well as most of Sammy's solo work. I like both singers, and both eras of Van Halen. Hell, I even listen to the Gary Cherone
CD once in a while. I do have to say the Roth era is stronger overall, but I'm not sure if it was specifically because of Dave vs Sammy, OR the fact that Eddie Van Halen as a guitarist, and the band as a whole, were younger/hungrier/more energetic/more creative. Clearly, Eddie's best guitar work in on the older albums. This is the background and thought process that
I have when approaching your question.

I have long thought about what Van Halen would have been like if they had continued with Roth without interruption to the present day. The best I can think of is to combine the best of each's output since they parted company to see what you get. For example, 5150 + Eat 'em and Smile. You'd get an album that would probably look something like this:

Good Enough
Why Can't This Be Love
Yankee Rose
Shyboy
Goin' Crazy
Summer Nights
Ladies Night In Buffalo
Best Of Both Worlds

An album that sort of sounds like this would have been the follow up to 1984. (This of course, discounts the influence of Sammy Hagar and Steve Vai to those respective albums.) You can do similar "song merges" with OU812+Skyscraper, F.U.C.K.+A Little
Ain't Enough, and Balance+Your Filthy Little Mouth.

I think the bottom line is that Van Halen's path with Dave really wouldn't have been that much different than it played out with Sammy - minus all the drama of 1985 and 1996.

They would have released a follow up album to 1984 that would essentially sound like the mock up tracklisting from above - it would have been a huge hit (as the original 5150 was.) They would have rode the '80s wave into the '90s, remained popular, then by the mid '90s make the conversion from a current act, to more of a nostalgic act (which they clearly are now, if
anything). They'd still be touring, concentrating on the classic material, while doing some new material, but the new material would most likely not have mass popularity, and only be of interest to die hard fans.

So, the next logical question is - what would have happened had they not broken up with Sammy in 1996. I would argue largely the same thing as above - they'd continue to record and tour, but largely as a nostalgic act. If you listen to classic rock radio stations now - do you heard anything from Van Halen post 1991 (the "F.U.C.K." album)? Not usually. I'd expect that to have
been the case even if they had continued with one singer and without the soap opera.

Of course, this is all speculation, as history is full of "what if's" - but it is a fun exercise which I've thought about on and off over the years, so thanks for the forum to discuss...

2) As a lifelong comic book reader, I always enjoyed when Marvel released their "What If..." titles. It is always fun to speculate on how things would have gone if a key incident has not occurred. Musically, for me, my world had always begun and ended with Genesis. While some came and went in the band, especially in the early days, the big departure was Peter Gabriel in 1975.

What did happen? Peter went off on a successful solo career. But the band carried on, and when the search for a new singer proved unsuccessful, the singer behind the drums stepped up to the front. Tony and Mike dominated the song writing, so much so that Steve Hackett left a few years later. But the biggest impact of Peter leaving was putting Phil Collins out front.
While he has always said he hates being out front, he became a natural showman, and as his confidence grew, he was able to bring forth to the other two what he had never done before: his own songs. His songwriting influence would change the sound of the band, launch and unbelievable successful solo career, and shape all of popular music through the mid to late 1980's.

All of this because Peter had left the band. So what if Peter had stayed? The biggest change would have been songwriting.
As the 5-piece, they were largely songwriters by committee. With Peter still in the band, the dominance of Tony and Mike would not have occurred to the extent that it did. So Steve would have stuck around longer. And Phil would still be behind the kit.
Which means no out front singing, which means no showman, no increased confidence, which means not much in terms of his own writing. Good-bye successful solo career and movie ballads. And Peter's exploration of world rhythms probably would not have occurred to the extent that it did. WOMAD and Real World Records would probably not exist. And I would go as far as saying that Mike + The Mechanics and Brand X would not exist either.

The band would have stuck it out until the early-1980's before finally imploding. Peter might do some solo stuff, but no one will have heard the name Phil Collins.

3) It's not a proper reunion of Van Halen, it needs Michael Anthony and you can call it a Van Halen reunion. If David Lee stayed, the band may have done Eat Em and Smile as that David Lee Roth album aged better than Van Halen's 5150 (the Simmons drums turned me off and I know alot of musicians used them including Rush drummer Neil Peart (rhymes with PEAR and not the shampoo) but he used two kits (one acoustic and one electric) and Phil Collins of Genesis used acoustic and electric kits as well). Problem was David's ego got too huge and Eddie's ego got too huge.

Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett, had they stayed with Genesis, would have made an album like Marillion's Misplaced Childhood in sound and concept and so forth. Then Steve wanted to explore classical music and other forms and Peter wanted to go world music. Now Peter wouldn't rejoin Genesis for the money in the world (or what is left as the depression has no one spending money anymore) and Phil Collins is physically unable to play drums anymore. 

Had Roger Waters not gotten powerhungry and reduced Rick Wright and David Gilmour's roles after Wish You Were Here may have created more great Floyd albums in the Meddle, Obscured by Clouds, Dark Side and Wish You Were Here vein. The Division Bell was the best Floyd album since The Wall IMHO but WYWH is still my favorite (as is David Gilmour and (God rest his soul) Rick Wright's). Take some of Roger's best songs from Amused to Death and the best tunes from The Division Bell and a strong Pink Floyd album may have been assembled.

In an interview last year, Dennis DeYoung wanted to make a traditional Styx album around 1985/86 after Kilroy and the Caught In the Act Live album but Tommy Shaw was fighting a drug and alcohol addiction that stifled his creativity and quit like a baby to make a solo album. As a result, Dennis made his solo album. JY and the Panozzo brothers wanted Styx to go on after Tommy QUIT but Dennis said NO and was what put Styx on ice until 1989/90. They made a good album out of Edge of the Century with Glen Burtnik and would have been superb if Tommy was involved but he went with Ted Nugent to create the wussified Damn Yankees (was like seeing Spiderman, Superman, Batman and The Hulk joining forces to play cards instead of fighting crime).

Supertramp may have made more great albums had Roger Hodgson not left but he and Rick Davies and their wives hated one another so nothing after Famous Last Words. I did cobble In the Eye Of the Storm andBrother Where You Bound together and felt a great double album could have come from Supertramp if Roger had not quit. 

Foreigner tried replacing Lou Gramm but failed. Dennis DeYoung being replaced by Lawrence Gowan sucks. Ray Wilson taking Phil Collins' vocal stand was hated by the US and Canada though the Europeans liked it.

4) If Brian Jones had lived he was headed towards getting sacked anyway (unofficially, he had been already). The group had already moved thru their evolutionary process with the Beggar's Banquet and Let It Bleedalbums. Brian seemed to be contributing less and less. And his drug dependencies were just a stone (pardon the pun) around the band's collective neck. Shame he passed away (murdered?!), but the band had buried him months before anyway.

5) I have always viewed the David Lee Roth Van Halen and the Sammy Hagar Van Halen as separate bands. I agree with you that Van Halen's career path would have been drastically different had Roth remained. I'm a fan of both versions, but felt the Hagar version was more a continuation of his solo career rather than his  becoming part of Van Halen's career. I think there is a stronger likelihood that some of the Hagar fronted Van Halen songs would have appeared on his solo albums instead of Van Halen albums if Roth had stayed.

I'm glad Roth is back with Van Halen, but I still don't see it as the original Van Halen since Michael Anthony is not with them. He was such an integral part of their sound, particularly the backing vocals.

Van Halen is rumored to be in the studio recording an album, so we shall see if it will bring Van Halen back from the dead or if it will just be a continuation of their last album with Gary Cherone, who's failure actually surprised me, as I felt he was a good fit, sounding not much different than Sammy Hagar. I guess the lack  of good songs was the main problem. Hopefully, the material will be up to Van Halen standards this time.

6) Van Halen was good with both iterations. I thought the Hagar fronted band was technically better and heavier but those Roth albums had a style and sound that set VH apart from other bands. I was a senior in HS when the first VH album came out so my view is heavily tainted toward the Roth era. These days when I reach for a VH it's usually the Roth version. What they would have happened if Dave had of stayed around - I can't imagine. I am fairly sure that the VH post 1984 albums would sound very different but I'm not sure how to extrapolate what it would have sounded like.

AC-DC would have been much better had Bon Scott not died. He was amazing. The Brian Johnson fronted band has never done it for me like the BS era albums. In fact, excluding Back In Black (which I believe was still heavily influenced by BS) I've felt like the group has not grown or stretched much. So I think had BS stayed around a bit longer AC-DC would have grown more as a band and put out much more memorable albums.

Re the Rolling Stones and Brian Jones, I don't think it would have mattered much. By the time Jones left the band it was pretty much Jagger and Richards running the show and writing the tunes. I wasn't a big fan of the early Stones albums.

Ritchie Blackmore was Deep Purple. Once he left it didn't really matter anymore. Had he stayed they'd be doing medieval music with lutes, mandolins and flutes (LOL).

Here's one.... Ozzy and Sabbath. This is a hard one because both had a resurgence and reinvention after the breakup. I think had they stayed together they would have continued down the road of stagnation. It was necessary for both entities to have to wake up and get out of their ruts and Dio and Rhodes both provided that for their respective outfits..

Well, that's all the time I have to ponder this. I wish I could spend more and give some thoughts to some other groups.

7) Had David Lee Roth never left Van Halen it would have become the same train wreck his solo career became.  Look at the downslide his solo albums took.  Without a doubt, his leaving energized the band and gave them the kick in the ass to become the great band they were with Hagar.  Van Halen grew up and became better musically and the lyrics were about more than partying and drinking, I doubt that would have happened with Roth.  The only reason he is back is because Eddie fell off the wagon and wants to see if he can capitalize on the reunion craze, and hell he has it wrong because Michael Anthony has been replaced.  Van Halen needs to hang it up or get Sammy and Michael back, that is the only version of Van Halen worthmentioning. 

I hope that you enjoyed these as much as I had. They all have interesting thoughts. If this is something that you'd like to throw your two cents in but haven't yet, here's your chance.

Robert Metcalf returns with a review of the recently reissued 2010 24-bit remaster of Good Times a' Comin' by '70s band, Hookfoot.

We have a review from Douglas Bice coming up next with one (or two) of my own around the corner.

I'd like to introduce to you a band from Austin, TX that approaches their music with feet firmly planted in the late '60s and the genre of psychedelia that hints of the bands from that era. Bands like The 13th Floor Elevators, Pink Floyd, Velvet Underground, but with a much darker, more current sound. In today's comparisons, you could say that The Black Angels are what Interpol should have evolved into. You would not be mistaken to say that there are similarities between the two bands.

The Black Angels explore the darkness of NYC's underground cornerstones of music as imagined by those many great NYC bands of the late '60s, Velvet Underground included. The adoration of Velvet Underground by The Black Angels is recognized in several nods. The band's name is extracted from the "The Black Angel's Death Song" from Velvet Underground & Nico (1967). In addition, their logo merges a contrasted view of Nico's tilted head. The Black Angels' music is nothing short of something special. They are everything you love about jam-extended, "smoke 'em" psychedelia that you have come to love if you harbor an infatuation for the psychedelic bands of the '60s, whether they came from San Francisco, London, or NYC.

On September 14 in the US and Canada (September 13 for Europe), The Black Angels will release their 3rd studio work, Phosphene Dream. It is preceded by a single release from the album, "Bad Vibrations." which is downloadable for free...somewhere, but I've lost the link. The other track, "Telephone," can be had here. The band begins a support tour, with Black Mountain, on October 28 at The Metro in Chicago, and concluding in Vancouver on November 30. But what really thrills me is the no-nonsense pre-order pricing of this release. The high-quality DD (FLAC, 320k MP3, Apple Lossless) of the entire album, the upcoming CD, plus the now-available high quality download of two tracks is only $9.99. Further, the above-mentioned DD AND the LP (180g), including the immediate DD of two tracks is only $19.99. Most amazing is the all-inclusive sale of DD, CD, LP, 2 bonus tracks, AND a signed lithograph poster, AND a band-branded hoodie sells for only $59.99 should you become a dedicated fan. This pricing scheme should become the standard for all music. If The Black Angels can do it, they can ALL do it.

If the single and their previous albums are any indicators, then I believe that fans of psychedelia will be very, very happy with the release of Phosphene Dream. Now, go check them out. Their MySpace, Facebook, Last FM, Twitter, etc links can be found at their site.

I want to alert TAP readers to the fact that I have finally put together a FaceBook fan page that you can access and join by clicking on the badge below.  What this offers is the exact same thing as my Twitter feeds provide and that is first buzz on upcoming releases and free offered downloads, many announcements  that beat our main post, sometimes by days.  We also provide a Google BUZZ page that expands on most of the Twitter/FB feeds. On Buzz, you can even hear the music stream if a stream is offered.  There are still things that I'm working on in the FB page, like calender notes as well as links to great sites like The Second Disc.  I invite you to join us at our FB page and bookmark it.  Visit it daily and you'll be rewarded with much news and info.  Of course, you'll still want to come to the main MusicTAP page for our noisy commentaries.  Remember, with our Twitter feeds, you can elect to receive the news bursts as text on your mobile phone keeping you effortlessly up to date with stuff.  Lots of choices.  Find one, or two, that fits.

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Fat Possum Records has the new album coming from the always excellent The Walkmen, which is expected on September 14. Lisbon will be released in both CD and LP.

Releasing on Vai's own Favored Nations Records is the new Steve Vai album, Where The Wild Things Are, which is planned for September 14.

Mascot Records will release X by Spock's Beard streeting the disc on September 28.

Kill City, the 1977 Rock classic album by Iggy Pop and James Williamson has been Restored. The Remix and Remaster album is scheduled for a street date of October 19 by Alive Naturalsound and Bomp! Records.

Real World Records plan the reissued catalogue of Peter Gabriel slating the CDs for a release date of September 28.

INO/columbia Records will release Light Up the Sky by The Afters on September 14.

What's your Rupture Records will release the S/T album from Cinema Red and Blue on September 28 on both CD and LP.

Dik Hayd Records to release the Deluxe Edition of the Slash S/T on September 28.

Astralwerks will release the vinyl LP version of Swoon by The Chemical Brothers on September 28.

Plastic Head Distribution is planning to release the catalogue of Cannibal Corpse, all on vinyl LP. The LP run includes Bloodthirst, Eaten Back to Life, Gallery of Suicide, Gore Obsessed, Kill, Live Cannibalism, The Bleeding, Tomb of the Mutilated, Vile, and Butchered at Birth. All LPs are scheduled for September 28.

For more Holiday music, watch for Bare Naked For the Holidays by Bare Naked Ladies on September 28.