Post by Henny Macc on Mar 21, 2024 23:25:10 GMT
This is a thread where you can post ordered lists of your favorite lineup incarnations of bands, with a list of which members were in the band at the time, the years that those lineups existed between, and any commentary you have to provide about why you rank that one where you do. This will probably work better for bands that have had at least three different lineups over the course of their career, but probably would be preferable for ones that have had less than say...ten, because that will become a lot to write out and rank otherwise. However, if you want to try ranking every single different lineup for a band like Megadeth, Guns n' Roses, or Quiet Riot, go ahead I guess!
I'm also only gonna bother ranking lineups that we've actually heard recorded material by, because there's no point in trying to include ones that were from some of these bands' early years before they did anything. If it was a lineup that only toured but there are recordings of that tour, or a lineup recorded part of an album together, I'd say that's probably still fair game, but I'll leave it up to your discretion.
I'll start with Van Halen:
1. The Van Hagar era - Sammy Hagar on lead vocals and occasional guitar, Eddie Van Halen guitar, keyboards, and backing vocals, Michael Anthony on bass and backing vocals, and Alex Van Halen on drums (1985-1996, 2003-2005)
I might attract some haters for calling this the best Van Halen lineup, but after relistening to the albums from that era, I have to say that this was their ultimate powerhouse lineup. Hagar is such a beast of a vocalist, and really elevated the band's vocal prowess to a level that lived up to EVH's guitar hero status. He brought several things to the table that really meshed well with other members' skills - he and Michael Anthony made for an incredible vocal duo, rocking some crazy high harmonized screams at times and creating a lot more opportunities for vocal interplay that way (whereas during the David Lee Roth era, Anthony had to basically supplement some of the additional high range that DLR was lacking in some of their vocal parts). In addition to that, he was a skilled guitarist, and actually convinced Eddie to let him play guitar on some songs live. This created some cool opportunities for live arrangements, where on certain songs the two of them would play together as a guitar duo and do harmonized leads. Since Eddie was also getting more into playing keyboards around this time, having Hagar's guitar skills available gave them the chance to try out certain songs live with Hagar handling all guitar parts and with Eddie on keyboards, which I thought was really cool (as the keyboard parts have always just been played as backing tracks otherwise). Sadly they didn't stick with that live arrangement for keyboards for very long, but it was cool while it lasted. The two live albums/videos that the band released during this era really shows how much they were in peak form with this lineup, and are some of my favorite stuff to show what this band was capable of.
2. The original David Lee Roth era - David Lee Roth on lead vocals and occasional acoustic guitar, Eddie Van Halen guitar, keyboards, and backing vocals, Michael Anthony on bass and backing vocals, and Alex Van Halen on drums (1974-1985, 1996)
Even though I didn't rank it in first place, don't think I don't have my own fair share of appreciation for the original classic lineup that most people recognize this band for! This is the lineup that brought us the band's most iconic releases like the 1978 self-titled album and 1984 and really were just an explosion of rock 'n' roll energy in their early years. While DLR was not the most technically proficient vocalist and sometimes a bit pitchy during those early years, the bombastic presence he brought to the band definitely was its own very unique and memorable thing that made up for a lot of his vocal shortcomings. Moreover, the 1996 reunion of this lineup really showed some amazing potential that I wish we could've seen develop more with the two tracks they recorded together - "Me Wise Magic" and "Can't Get This Stuff No More". By this point in his career, DLR had improved his vocal skills by quite a bit, and had a lot more range and abilities to show off, and the band's songwriting had matured to write some very interesting stuff together. Unfortunately that rendition of this lineup fell apart VERY quickly, and as a result never got around to recording more than those two tracks, but I reckon if they had stuck together long enough to get another album out together, that could have arguably been some of the best work of their career.
3. The David Lee Roth reunion era / the Wolfgang Van Halen era - David Lee Roth on lead vocals and occasional acoustic guitar, Eddie Van Halen guitar and backing vocals, Wolfgang Van Halen on bass and backing vocals, Alex Van Halen on drums (2007-2020)
Though less iconic than either the original DLR era lineup or the Van Hagar lineup, this final lineup of Van Halen definitely had its merits! While I'm very much not a fan of the treatment that the Van Halen brothers gave Michael Anthony with booting him out of the band, I will say that Wolfgang Van Halen was definitely a pretty adequate replacement for him - arguably a technically better bass player, and someone with enough high range to cover most of Anthony's backing parts (though they notably never played anything like "On Fire" or "Loss of Control" with him, where he'd have to replicate some of Anthony's mid fifth octave screams). The other cool thing about this era of Van Halen is that their music got HEAVY during this it - A Different Kind of Truth is one of my favorite DLR-era Van Halen albums, and it's got some of their most metal riffs on tracks like "As Is" and "Honeybabysweetiedoll", along with some fast speed metal-esque playing on "China Town". DLR's improved vocals also give it a cut above the late '70s/'80s albums with him, though I've also heard this era criticized for his live performances during it. Overall this was definitely a lineup that still had a lot of power behind it and added a cool chapter to the band's history, but I would still take having Michael Anthony and/or Sammy Hagar back in the band over it any day.
4. The Gary Cherone era / the Van Halen III era - Gary Cherone on lead vocals, Eddie Van Halen guitar, keyboards, and backing vocals, Michael Anthony on bass and backing vocals, and Alex Van Halen on drums (1996-1999)
Widely regarded as the worst chapter of Van Halen history, though my reasons for ranking it lowest may not be the same as the general opinion on this one. In my opinion, Cherone could have actually been a more suitable frontman for the band than he amounted to; he just didn't really get a fair chance to. Cherone has said it himself that he thinks it would have made more sense if the band had gone on tour with him first after he joined, and in that sense he would have had a chance to get introduced to the fanbase in this new role singing songs they knew from the Hagar and DLR eras. Instead, however, they wanted to jump right into the studio with him and start writing a new album, and then tour for that. Perhaps if Cherone had worked with the band in a live context more first, they could have established more of a musical chemistry that would have lent itself to their writing together, but it seems like by doing the album first, we ended up with a lackluster, contrived release that couldn't always make up its mind what exactly it was trying to be. Van Halen III had its redeeming moments, like "Ballet or the Bullet", "Year to the Day", and "Once", but it also gave us what was undoubtedly the worst song in the entire Van Halen discography - "How Many Say I", among a number of other awkward moments. In the subsequent tour, I think Cherone had his moments, and that the band was still somewhat in form as a live act during that period, but on the whole, this period saw the band at its least functional, and sadly the music reflected that. So while I don't blame Cherone for the way that this chapter turned out, I won't deny that the outcome of it was undoubtedly weaker than every other incarnation of Van Halen.
Anyway, you all don't have to go into as much length and detail with your reviews of different lineup eras, but I'm curious to see what else you guys might have to say about whatever bands you choose to do this for!
I'm also only gonna bother ranking lineups that we've actually heard recorded material by, because there's no point in trying to include ones that were from some of these bands' early years before they did anything. If it was a lineup that only toured but there are recordings of that tour, or a lineup recorded part of an album together, I'd say that's probably still fair game, but I'll leave it up to your discretion.
I'll start with Van Halen:
1. The Van Hagar era - Sammy Hagar on lead vocals and occasional guitar, Eddie Van Halen guitar, keyboards, and backing vocals, Michael Anthony on bass and backing vocals, and Alex Van Halen on drums (1985-1996, 2003-2005)
I might attract some haters for calling this the best Van Halen lineup, but after relistening to the albums from that era, I have to say that this was their ultimate powerhouse lineup. Hagar is such a beast of a vocalist, and really elevated the band's vocal prowess to a level that lived up to EVH's guitar hero status. He brought several things to the table that really meshed well with other members' skills - he and Michael Anthony made for an incredible vocal duo, rocking some crazy high harmonized screams at times and creating a lot more opportunities for vocal interplay that way (whereas during the David Lee Roth era, Anthony had to basically supplement some of the additional high range that DLR was lacking in some of their vocal parts). In addition to that, he was a skilled guitarist, and actually convinced Eddie to let him play guitar on some songs live. This created some cool opportunities for live arrangements, where on certain songs the two of them would play together as a guitar duo and do harmonized leads. Since Eddie was also getting more into playing keyboards around this time, having Hagar's guitar skills available gave them the chance to try out certain songs live with Hagar handling all guitar parts and with Eddie on keyboards, which I thought was really cool (as the keyboard parts have always just been played as backing tracks otherwise). Sadly they didn't stick with that live arrangement for keyboards for very long, but it was cool while it lasted. The two live albums/videos that the band released during this era really shows how much they were in peak form with this lineup, and are some of my favorite stuff to show what this band was capable of.
2. The original David Lee Roth era - David Lee Roth on lead vocals and occasional acoustic guitar, Eddie Van Halen guitar, keyboards, and backing vocals, Michael Anthony on bass and backing vocals, and Alex Van Halen on drums (1974-1985, 1996)
Even though I didn't rank it in first place, don't think I don't have my own fair share of appreciation for the original classic lineup that most people recognize this band for! This is the lineup that brought us the band's most iconic releases like the 1978 self-titled album and 1984 and really were just an explosion of rock 'n' roll energy in their early years. While DLR was not the most technically proficient vocalist and sometimes a bit pitchy during those early years, the bombastic presence he brought to the band definitely was its own very unique and memorable thing that made up for a lot of his vocal shortcomings. Moreover, the 1996 reunion of this lineup really showed some amazing potential that I wish we could've seen develop more with the two tracks they recorded together - "Me Wise Magic" and "Can't Get This Stuff No More". By this point in his career, DLR had improved his vocal skills by quite a bit, and had a lot more range and abilities to show off, and the band's songwriting had matured to write some very interesting stuff together. Unfortunately that rendition of this lineup fell apart VERY quickly, and as a result never got around to recording more than those two tracks, but I reckon if they had stuck together long enough to get another album out together, that could have arguably been some of the best work of their career.
3. The David Lee Roth reunion era / the Wolfgang Van Halen era - David Lee Roth on lead vocals and occasional acoustic guitar, Eddie Van Halen guitar and backing vocals, Wolfgang Van Halen on bass and backing vocals, Alex Van Halen on drums (2007-2020)
Though less iconic than either the original DLR era lineup or the Van Hagar lineup, this final lineup of Van Halen definitely had its merits! While I'm very much not a fan of the treatment that the Van Halen brothers gave Michael Anthony with booting him out of the band, I will say that Wolfgang Van Halen was definitely a pretty adequate replacement for him - arguably a technically better bass player, and someone with enough high range to cover most of Anthony's backing parts (though they notably never played anything like "On Fire" or "Loss of Control" with him, where he'd have to replicate some of Anthony's mid fifth octave screams). The other cool thing about this era of Van Halen is that their music got HEAVY during this it - A Different Kind of Truth is one of my favorite DLR-era Van Halen albums, and it's got some of their most metal riffs on tracks like "As Is" and "Honeybabysweetiedoll", along with some fast speed metal-esque playing on "China Town". DLR's improved vocals also give it a cut above the late '70s/'80s albums with him, though I've also heard this era criticized for his live performances during it. Overall this was definitely a lineup that still had a lot of power behind it and added a cool chapter to the band's history, but I would still take having Michael Anthony and/or Sammy Hagar back in the band over it any day.
4. The Gary Cherone era / the Van Halen III era - Gary Cherone on lead vocals, Eddie Van Halen guitar, keyboards, and backing vocals, Michael Anthony on bass and backing vocals, and Alex Van Halen on drums (1996-1999)
Widely regarded as the worst chapter of Van Halen history, though my reasons for ranking it lowest may not be the same as the general opinion on this one. In my opinion, Cherone could have actually been a more suitable frontman for the band than he amounted to; he just didn't really get a fair chance to. Cherone has said it himself that he thinks it would have made more sense if the band had gone on tour with him first after he joined, and in that sense he would have had a chance to get introduced to the fanbase in this new role singing songs they knew from the Hagar and DLR eras. Instead, however, they wanted to jump right into the studio with him and start writing a new album, and then tour for that. Perhaps if Cherone had worked with the band in a live context more first, they could have established more of a musical chemistry that would have lent itself to their writing together, but it seems like by doing the album first, we ended up with a lackluster, contrived release that couldn't always make up its mind what exactly it was trying to be. Van Halen III had its redeeming moments, like "Ballet or the Bullet", "Year to the Day", and "Once", but it also gave us what was undoubtedly the worst song in the entire Van Halen discography - "How Many Say I", among a number of other awkward moments. In the subsequent tour, I think Cherone had his moments, and that the band was still somewhat in form as a live act during that period, but on the whole, this period saw the band at its least functional, and sadly the music reflected that. So while I don't blame Cherone for the way that this chapter turned out, I won't deny that the outcome of it was undoubtedly weaker than every other incarnation of Van Halen.
Anyway, you all don't have to go into as much length and detail with your reviews of different lineup eras, but I'm curious to see what else you guys might have to say about whatever bands you choose to do this for!