Not many rock bands have much success after changing lead singers, as they are generally closely linked with the identity of the entire group. However, with Van Halen, it was a different story because they were arguably as, or more, successful when Sammy Hagar replaced David Lee Roth as the front man in 1985. They were producing more number one hits and hot selling records throughout the 1980s and well into the 1990s, but the big blow came in 1996. Eddie Van Halen, the legendary guitarist, notoriously known for a rather flippant and disgruntled demeanor, reared his ugly side when hiring back “Diamond Dave” [Roth] in ’96, while Hagar was still a member of the band. It led to disaster as Hagar left in a huff and Roth’s second tenure was short-lived as he and Eddie nearly got into a fist fight back stage at the MTV Music Awards that year. Following this mess, they were singer-less. They went having two of the more popular and beloved rock vocalists of the past 35 years to having no one. Where would they go from here?

        In 1998, the band had already recruited Gary Cherone, formerly of Extreme fame (does the song “More Than Words” ring a bell?), as their newest lead singer, and finally they released their only album together entitled Van Halen III. It is my belief that the “III” here stands for the third incarnation of the group – first with Roth, then with Hagar, and now Cherone. You could also interpret the “III” as meaning this a third-rate album - saying that this album infers, “three is a crowd,” would be apt as well. Cherone, doing his best to impersonate Sammy Hagar, has some decent chops as a singer, but for the most part sounds misguided, misused, and totally out of place here. Alex Van Halens’ drums sound epic, but too bad the songs are uninspired. And as always, Eddie’s guitar work remains wildly impressive, but there is no anchoring songwriter to showcase it properly.

        This album is garbage. While it may have some few redeeming qualities, and there are very few, to the albums’ merit it features a couple of good songs. “From Afar” is definitely the best song on this album, and it is legitimately a great song – as is “Fire In The Hole.” I suppose one way to sum up this album is that it is ultimately frustrating. It has some brilliant moments, for instance, the pair of great songs, and the production sounds good too, but, the utter lack of focus and consistency is very disappointing. Many of the tracks run way, way too long: “Without You” is two to three minutes too long, “What I Want” is a bad song, and wears out its welcome very quickly. Also, there are some absurdly long songs like “Once” which clocks in at nearly 8 minutes, and I simply wanted it to end. Often throughout the album I had wondered how much better it could have been if Sammy Hagar were at the helm – this album would have been salvaged I think, because he would have acted as that established songwriter and would have helped trim the longer parts, cleaned up some of the broken ideas and melodies, and would have totally incinerated any source tapes with the recording of “How Many Say I” on them.

        That brings me to my next point, “How Many Say I” is easily one of the worst songs I have ever heard. It is an embarrassment to the band’s legacy. First off, Eddie Van Halen is singing lead on it, and just from that, you can tell it’s a mess. Another is that when Cherone and Eddie harmonize it sounds worse than scratching your nails against a chalkboard – it is horrendous! It is definitely hard for one song to bring down an entire album because you can simply skip over it and move on to the next track, but “How Many Say I” epitomizes the very spirit, or rather, the lack of heart that surrounded the recording of this album. It’s no wonder why in 2004, when Van Halen reunited with Hagar, and released the greatest hits compilation - The Best of Both Worlds, there were no tracks included from Van Halen III on it. Also, to further distance themselves from this disgraceful record, Van Halen didn’t even include it on their discography in the liner notes of that greatest hits package.

        Van Halen III was the very last full length studio album released by Van Halen to date. It is for this fact that with each passing year, I become more repulsed by it because it was indeed their last effort as a band. Sure, they released a few new songs with Hagar in 2004 that were quite good, but it was only a tease as there were only three of them. You can tell when an album is bad when the very band itself who made it tries to completely ignore its existence. That is a shame. Avoid Van Halen III at all costs.

        Abysmal.

TRACK HIGHLIGHTS:

"From Afar"

"Fire In The Hole"

-Kurt L.

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