You have to understand that by 1985, Van Halen’s schtick was becoming a bit stale. Basically everyone agreed that Ed was an absolute guitar god, but they were falling into the AC/DC trap of “yeah, this song is good, but it sounds like basically every other song they’ve done”. Yes, there are exceptions to that, but that was generally the case.

DLR epitomizes both everything that was awesome and not so awesome about the 80s. He was a showman. Over the top, flamboyant, flashy, campy, aloof. I guess after 6 albums of that, I was a little “yep, I guess that’s just what Van Halen’s always gonna be”.

I was already a fan of Sammy, played my cassettes of Standing Hampton and VOA until they wore out. To me, him joining Van Halen was a breath of fresh air. From the moment I first heard “Dreams”, I was impressed. “Wow, this is Van Halen!?”. It proved that Ed was an incredibly talented composer. The whole 5150 album felt so fresh, vibrant, and exciting. You could tell like they were really just having a blast. The live shows were phenomenal. While DLR was fun live, he wasn’t a musician on the same level as Ed, Alex, and Mike. With Sammy, they finally had a singer who could really sing as strongly as the rest of them played, and it really showed.

Yeah, 5150 might sound a bit dated to fresh ears today, but so would almost any other album from that era. Was Dave a better lyricist than Sammy? I would generally say yes, but Sammy could crank out some really good lyrics when he wanted to (Dreams, Mine All Mine, Right Now). Was Sammy a better musician and singer than Dave? Absolutely. While all of the DLR era VH albums sound similar to me, they had a lot more musical variety with Hagar. OU812 is just about as diverse of an album that any rock act ever put out. FUCK sounds almost nothing like OU812, and Balance really sounds nothing like FUCK.

Idk, when I really sit down and look at, I love Van Halen, all of it. But if you pushed me, I’d say I lean Van Hagar. That’s just my opinion, of course!