The Original Studio Recording (1984)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Rock](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/van-halen-og-recording.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Paul Natkin\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\t\u201cPanama\u201d was the third single from Van Halen\u2019s 1984<\/em>, following \u201cJump\u201d and \u201cI\u2019ll Wait.\u201d That first single hit Number 1 and transformed Van Halen into the biggest hard rock band in America. \u201cPanama\u201d stalled at Number 13 on the Hot 100, but it was still a major presence on MTV and rock radio. Like most Van Halen videos of the time, it\u2019s not exactly high concept. It shows the group playing an arena concert, swinging from cables attached to the ceiling, and chugging beer, as well as Roth motorcycling down a street, and doing a bizarre pole dance next to twin versions of himself. If you\u2019re looking for a deep meaning to any of this, it\u2019s not there. And at no point do we see a race car.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nVan Halen With David Lee Roth (1984)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-rollingstone-2022\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/david-roth-lee.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Paul Natkin\/WireImage\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tVan Halen didn\u2019t exactly struggle at the box office before 1984.<\/em> But the success of that album turned them into a touring juggernaut that sold every seat in the house as soon as they went on sale. They played 101 shows that year, wrapping up on Sept. 2, 1984, at the Monsters of Rock tour in Nuremberg, Germany, where they shared the bill with AC\/DC, Ozzy Osbourne, and M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce. They could have easily kept the party going into 1985, possibly hitting stadiums. Unfortunately, Roth and the band split apart before that was possible. Their explanation for the breakup changed quite a bit as the years went by, but it\u2019s clear that Roth wanted a glossier sound, and was pissed about Eddie Van Halen playing outside of the band, most notably on Michael Jackson\u2019s \u201cBeat It.\u201d There were also personality conflicts that had been simmering since the beginning. And despite all the reunions over the years, the classic lineup of David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, and Michael Anthony never again played \u201cPanama\u201d or any other song together after the 1984 Nuremberg show.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nVan Halen With Sammy Hagar (1986)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Portrait](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sammy-hagar-list.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Paul Natkin\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tWhen Van Halen split apart in 1985, many in the industry felt that David Lee Roth had a brighter future than the band. They may have been called Van Halen, but Diamond Dave was the face and the voice. He also had a larger-than-life persona that translated perfectly onto the MTV airwaves. But in March 1986, Van Halen kickstarted the Sammy Hagar era with 5150<\/em>, and the leadoff single \u201cWhy Can\u2019t This Be Love.\u201d Much like with AC\/DC six years earlier, the fans instantly accepted this new incarnation of the band. When they began the 5150 <\/em>tour March 27, 1986, at the Hirsch Memorial Coliseum in Shreveport, Louisiana, they only broke out three original songs from the Roth era: \u201cAin\u2019t Talkin\u2019 \u2018Bout Love,\u201d \u201cJump,\u201d and, of course, \u201cPanama.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nDavid Lee Roth (1986)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"DETROIT](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/david-lee-roth-1986.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Ross Marino\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tEat \u2018Em and Smile<\/em> is technically a David Lee Roth solo album, but it\u2019s really a collaborative effort with guitarist Steve Vai, bassist Billy Sheehan, and drummer Gregg Bissonette<\/a>, informally known as the David Lee Roth Band. The album hit Number 4 on the Billboard<\/em> 200, leadoff single \u201cYankee Rose\u201d reached Number 16 on the Hot 100, and the tour sold pretty well. Van Halen had already been out for three months when Roth played his first solo show on Aug. 16, 1986, at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia. Eight of the 17 songs came from the Van Halen catalog, including \u201cPanama.\u201d Steve Vai does a very credible job aping Eddie\u2019s original parts. He\u2019d be far from the last guitarist faced with this very difficult task.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nVan Halen With Sammy Hagar (1991)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/samy-hagar-1991.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Tim Mosenfelder\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tThe David Lee Roth\/Van Hagar war continued in 1988 when Van Halen\u2019s OU812<\/em> went up against Roth\u2019s Skyscraper<\/em>. And even though Roth had a genuine hit with \u201cJust Like Paradise,\u201d OU812<\/em> was much more successful. Still, the 1980s ended without a definitive victor. That didn\u2019t happen until 1991, when Van Halen dropped For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge<\/em>, with the hits \u201cPoundcake\u201d and \u201cRight Now,\u201d and Roth crashed hard and burned with A Little Ain\u2019t Enough<\/em>. On most nights of the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge<\/em> tour, Hagar was down to just two Roth-era originals: \u201cJump\u201d and \u201cPanama.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nDavid Lee Roth (1991)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/david-lee-roth-1991.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Steve Eichner\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tSteve Vai left the David Lee Roth Band in 1991, and was replaced by guitarist phenom Jason Becker. They hit the U.S. summer shed circuit in the summer of 1991 with Cinderella and Extreme, but sales were soft in many markets, and several shows were canceled. As always, Roth went heavy on the Van Halen material in the setlist. He played \u201cPanama\u201d first most nights. Jason Becker played guitar on A Little Ain\u2019t Enough,<\/em> but had to drop out of the tour when he was diagnosed with ALS. Joe Holmes took his place, a few years before he landed a more prominent gig with Ozzy Osbourne.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nDavid Lee Roth (1994)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"American](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/roth-lee-1994.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Brian Rasic\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tBy 1994, nobody was pitting Van Halen up against David Lee Roth. At this point, Van Halen were global titans of rock, and David Lee Roth was their washed-up singer whose 1993 weed bust in Washington Square Park generated 100 times more attention than his recent solo work. But Roth wasn\u2019t ready to completely surrender. He teamed up with producer Nile Rodgers for the 1994 solo LP Your Filthy Little Mouth<\/em>, and hit the road with Terry Kilgore on guitar. No attempt was made to book Roth in arenas or sheds. He instead hit the club circuit for the first time since the early days of Van Halen. Once again, he played \u201cPanama\u201d as the second song most nights. He also dropped all of his Eighties solo work besides \u201cJust Like Paradise.\u201d It was the start of a shift towards the Van Halen catalog and away from his own work that would grow as the years ticked by.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nVan Halen With Sammy Hagar (1995)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Sammy](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sammy-haggar-1995.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Alain BUU\/Gamma-Rapho\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tThe alt-rock revolution was just beginning when For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge<\/em> dropped in the summer of 1991. Pearl Jam was still two months away from releasing Ten<\/em>, and Nirvana\u2019s Nevermind <\/em>wouldn\u2019t hit until September. There was still a lot of room in the rock world for Van Halen. When they followed up For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge<\/em> with Balance<\/em>, however, four extraordinarily long years had passed. The entire grunge era had come and gone. This was now the time of Hootie and the Blowfish, Sheryl Crow, and Nine Inch Nails. That might not have mattered if Balance<\/em> had been a great album or had at least one catchy single. But it was a weak effort without a real hit. That doesn\u2019t mean they had trouble selling tickets. They were an institution by this point. The Balance<\/em> tour stretched out to 135 shows across 11 months. \u201cPanama\u201d remained one of the few Roth songs Hagar would sing, and there were many nights they dropped it from the set list. Crazy as it sounds, there were likely many in the audience who didn\u2019t even care. They came to hear \u201cRight Now\u201d and other Van Hagar hits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nVan Halen With Mitch Malloy (1996)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"THE](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mitch-malloy-1996.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Margaret Norton\/NBCU Photo Bank\/NBCUniversal\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tAt the end of the grueling Balance<\/em> tour, Sammy Hagar left Van Halen. The final straw was a battle over the group\u2019s contribution to the Twister<\/em> soundtrack, but it could have been anything. They\u2019d worked way too hard over the course of a decade, and both sides needed time apart. The obvious business move was to jump on the same 1970s nostalgia bandwagon as the Eagles, Kiss, Fleetwood Mac, the Sex Pistols, and Page and Plant by reuniting with David Lee Roth. But the Van Halen brothers were determined to hire a third singer and move forward, not back. Their first attempt was with Mitch Malloy, even though this didn\u2019t go much further than a few informal jams at Van Halen\u2019s 5150 studios before the band went in another direction. But during that very brief time, they cut a demo of \u201cPanama\u201d with Mitch Malloy on vocals that somehow leaked out. It\u2019s a look into an alternative universe where he got the job. (For much more on Malloy\u2019s Van Halen saga, head here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nVan Halen With Gary Cherone (1998)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"UNSPECIFIED](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/gary-cherone.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Al Pereira\/Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tAt the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards, the David Lee Roth lineup of Van Halen presented an award to Beck, marking the first time they\u2019d all stood together on a stage since 1984. They also recorded two new songs for a Van Halen compilation album. Everyone, of course, presumed that a reunion tour was the next step. But they didn\u2019t know the band had secretly teamed up with former Extreme vocalist Gary Cherone. They dropped the underwhelming Van Halen III<\/em>, and hit the road. Unlike Hagar, Cherone had no compunctions about singing Roth songs. He brought back \u201cRomeo Delight,\u201d \u201cMean Street,\u201d \u201cI\u2019m the One,\u201d \u201cDance the Night Away,\u201d and \u201cFeel Your Love Tonight\u201d for the first time since Roth was in the band. And \u201cPanama\u201d came out every single night. \u201cFor whatever reason, Sammy only did four songs from the Dave era,\u201d Cherone told Rolling Stone<\/em><\/a> in 2012.<\/a> \u201cI get it. He was a contemporary of Dave\u2019s. I get it. But for me coming in as a third singer, I said, \u2018Listen, I got to do everything that I can to get into the good graces of these fans here.\u2019 I remember telling Alex, \u2018Look, I\u2019ll do whatever you guys want.’\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nDavid Lee Roth (1999)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/david-lee-roth-1999.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Steve Eichner\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tThe public had a very hard time accepting Gary Cherone as the new lead singer of Van Halen in 1998, but the group still played arenas. By 1999, Roth was reduced to playing venues like the Abyss in Houma, Louisiana, Midnight Rodeo in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Coyote\u2019s in Louisville, Kentucky. He released the DLR Band<\/em> album in \u201998, but it barely made even a tiny ripple. And his live set in 1999, with Bart Walsh on guitar, was 17 Van Halen classics, including \u201cEruption,\u201d plus \u201cYankee Rose\u201d from Eat \u2018Em and Smile<\/em>. There was no more pretext of a solo career. He was now a one-man Van Halen tribute show. He even recruited Walsh from the Van Halen tribute band the Atomic Punks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nDavid Lee Roth (2002)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/david-lee-roth-2002.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: R. Diamond\/WireImage\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tBy 2002, Van Halen hadn\u2019t existed in any form for four years. That\u2019s why some savvy concert promoters reached out to Roth and Hagar, and convinced them to put their differences on hold and co-headline an amphitheater tour where they swapped off closing duties every night. It was a good idea on paper, but these two men had spent the last two decades trashing each other in the press. The bitterness between them wasn\u2019t an act. In order to keep some semblance of peace, a wall was constructed backstage to keep their two camps apart. We don\u2019t mean some sort of metaphorical wall. We mean an actual, physical wall. \u201cIt was just a bunch of plywood on little stands,\u201d Hagar told Rolling Stone<\/em><\/a> in 2022.<\/a> \u201cIf you really wanted to get to somebody, you could just kick it down. I used to knock on the plywood to yell at David when I was getting ready to go on stage.\u201d Dave\u2019s set was once again nearly entirely Van Halen songs with the sole exception of \u201cYankee Rose,\u201d but this time Brian Young took over guitar duties from Bart Walsh.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nVan Halen With Sammy Hagar (2004)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Sammy](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Sammy-Hagar-2004.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Tim Mosenfelder\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tOnce it became clear that audiences wouldn\u2019t accept Gary Cherone or any other new lead singer, the Van Halen brothers \u2014\u00a0who still weren\u2019t ready to welcome back Roth \u2014 reached a soft detente with Hagar that allowed them to cut a couple of new songs for a compilation album and go on tour. It was a very difficult time since Eddie was drinking heavily, and tensions remained thick between the Van Halens, Hagar, and Anthony. The last show in Tucson, Arizona, on Nov. 19, 2004, was the final time that Alex and Eddie shared a stage with either of those two. It was also the last time they saw either of them in the flesh.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
\nVan Halen With David Lee Roth (2007)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"(EXCLUSIVE,](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/david-lee-roth-2007.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Kevin Mazur\/WireImage\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tThey spent 23 years trying to do everything possible to avoid it. They said it would never happen. But once the Hagar reunion ended in bitter acrimony, there was just one person for Eddie and Alex to phone up if they wanted to hit the arena circuit again. Sadly, they refused to go the extra mile and make peace with Michael Anthony, who had been a crucial component of their live sound thanks to his background vocals. Eddie instead tapped his teenage son, Wolfgang, to take over on bass. Fans would have preferred a complete Van Halen reunion, but 75 percent was good enough for them as long as Eddie and Dave were finally back onstage together.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
\nVan Halen With David Lee Roth at Cafe Wha? (2012)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"NEW](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/david-cafe-wha.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Kevin Mazur\/WireImage\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tThe 2007 Van Halen reunion tour was a box office success, even if fans and critics complained about the state of Dave\u2019s vocals, the lack of onstage chemistry, and the absence of Michael Anthony. The next step was a new album, which took quite a few years to get off the ground since Eddie and Dave were living in two very different musical universes by this point. In the end, they had no choice but to revisit demos from their earliest days and record them properly. When it came time to promote it, the band didn\u2019t agree to a single interview or television appearance. They instead invited the press to a show at the tiny Greenwich Village club Cafe Wha?, which was founded many years earlier by Dave\u2019s uncle, Manny Roth. Did they play \u201cPanama\u201d during their truncated set? Do we really need to answer that question?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
\nVan Halen With David Lee Roth, Downtown Sessions (2012)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"NEW](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/david-2012.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Kevin Mazur\/WireImage\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cPanama\u201d was the third single from Van Halen\u2019s 1984<\/em>, following \u201cJump\u201d and \u201cI\u2019ll Wait.\u201d That first single hit Number 1 and transformed Van Halen into the biggest hard rock band in America. \u201cPanama\u201d stalled at Number 13 on the Hot 100, but it was still a major presence on MTV and rock radio. Like most Van Halen videos of the time, it\u2019s not exactly high concept. It shows the group playing an arena concert, swinging from cables attached to the ceiling, and chugging beer, as well as Roth motorcycling down a street, and doing a bizarre pole dance next to twin versions of himself. If you\u2019re looking for a deep meaning to any of this, it\u2019s not there. And at no point do we see a race car.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tVan Halen didn\u2019t exactly struggle at the box office before 1984.<\/em> But the success of that album turned them into a touring juggernaut that sold every seat in the house as soon as they went on sale. They played 101 shows that year, wrapping up on Sept. 2, 1984, at the Monsters of Rock tour in Nuremberg, Germany, where they shared the bill with AC\/DC, Ozzy Osbourne, and M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce. They could have easily kept the party going into 1985, possibly hitting stadiums. Unfortunately, Roth and the band split apart before that was possible. Their explanation for the breakup changed quite a bit as the years went by, but it\u2019s clear that Roth wanted a glossier sound, and was pissed about Eddie Van Halen playing outside of the band, most notably on Michael Jackson\u2019s \u201cBeat It.\u201d There were also personality conflicts that had been simmering since the beginning. And despite all the reunions over the years, the classic lineup of David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, and Michael Anthony never again played \u201cPanama\u201d or any other song together after the 1984 Nuremberg show.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tWhen Van Halen split apart in 1985, many in the industry felt that David Lee Roth had a brighter future than the band. They may have been called Van Halen, but Diamond Dave was the face and the voice. He also had a larger-than-life persona that translated perfectly onto the MTV airwaves. But in March 1986, Van Halen kickstarted the Sammy Hagar era with 5150<\/em>, and the leadoff single \u201cWhy Can\u2019t This Be Love.\u201d Much like with AC\/DC six years earlier, the fans instantly accepted this new incarnation of the band. When they began the 5150 <\/em>tour March 27, 1986, at the Hirsch Memorial Coliseum in Shreveport, Louisiana, they only broke out three original songs from the Roth era: \u201cAin\u2019t Talkin\u2019 \u2018Bout Love,\u201d \u201cJump,\u201d and, of course, \u201cPanama.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tEat \u2018Em and Smile<\/em> is technically a David Lee Roth solo album, but it\u2019s really a collaborative effort with guitarist Steve Vai, bassist Billy Sheehan, and drummer Gregg Bissonette<\/a>, informally known as the David Lee Roth Band. The album hit Number 4 on the Billboard<\/em> 200, leadoff single \u201cYankee Rose\u201d reached Number 16 on the Hot 100, and the tour sold pretty well. Van Halen had already been out for three months when Roth played his first solo show on Aug. 16, 1986, at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia. Eight of the 17 songs came from the Van Halen catalog, including \u201cPanama.\u201d Steve Vai does a very credible job aping Eddie\u2019s original parts. He\u2019d be far from the last guitarist faced with this very difficult task.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tThe David Lee Roth\/Van Hagar war continued in 1988 when Van Halen\u2019s OU812<\/em> went up against Roth\u2019s Skyscraper<\/em>. And even though Roth had a genuine hit with \u201cJust Like Paradise,\u201d OU812<\/em> was much more successful. Still, the 1980s ended without a definitive victor. That didn\u2019t happen until 1991, when Van Halen dropped For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge<\/em>, with the hits \u201cPoundcake\u201d and \u201cRight Now,\u201d and Roth crashed hard and burned with A Little Ain\u2019t Enough<\/em>. On most nights of the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge<\/em> tour, Hagar was down to just two Roth-era originals: \u201cJump\u201d and \u201cPanama.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tSteve Vai left the David Lee Roth Band in 1991, and was replaced by guitarist phenom Jason Becker. They hit the U.S. summer shed circuit in the summer of 1991 with Cinderella and Extreme, but sales were soft in many markets, and several shows were canceled. As always, Roth went heavy on the Van Halen material in the setlist. He played \u201cPanama\u201d first most nights. Jason Becker played guitar on A Little Ain\u2019t Enough,<\/em> but had to drop out of the tour when he was diagnosed with ALS. Joe Holmes took his place, a few years before he landed a more prominent gig with Ozzy Osbourne.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tBy 1994, nobody was pitting Van Halen up against David Lee Roth. At this point, Van Halen were global titans of rock, and David Lee Roth was their washed-up singer whose 1993 weed bust in Washington Square Park generated 100 times more attention than his recent solo work. But Roth wasn\u2019t ready to completely surrender. He teamed up with producer Nile Rodgers for the 1994 solo LP Your Filthy Little Mouth<\/em>, and hit the road with Terry Kilgore on guitar. No attempt was made to book Roth in arenas or sheds. He instead hit the club circuit for the first time since the early days of Van Halen. Once again, he played \u201cPanama\u201d as the second song most nights. He also dropped all of his Eighties solo work besides \u201cJust Like Paradise.\u201d It was the start of a shift towards the Van Halen catalog and away from his own work that would grow as the years ticked by.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tThe alt-rock revolution was just beginning when For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge<\/em> dropped in the summer of 1991. Pearl Jam was still two months away from releasing Ten<\/em>, and Nirvana\u2019s Nevermind <\/em>wouldn\u2019t hit until September. There was still a lot of room in the rock world for Van Halen. When they followed up For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge<\/em> with Balance<\/em>, however, four extraordinarily long years had passed. The entire grunge era had come and gone. This was now the time of Hootie and the Blowfish, Sheryl Crow, and Nine Inch Nails. That might not have mattered if Balance<\/em> had been a great album or had at least one catchy single. But it was a weak effort without a real hit. That doesn\u2019t mean they had trouble selling tickets. They were an institution by this point. The Balance<\/em> tour stretched out to 135 shows across 11 months. \u201cPanama\u201d remained one of the few Roth songs Hagar would sing, and there were many nights they dropped it from the set list. Crazy as it sounds, there were likely many in the audience who didn\u2019t even care. They came to hear \u201cRight Now\u201d and other Van Hagar hits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tAt the end of the grueling Balance<\/em> tour, Sammy Hagar left Van Halen. The final straw was a battle over the group\u2019s contribution to the Twister<\/em> soundtrack, but it could have been anything. They\u2019d worked way too hard over the course of a decade, and both sides needed time apart. The obvious business move was to jump on the same 1970s nostalgia bandwagon as the Eagles, Kiss, Fleetwood Mac, the Sex Pistols, and Page and Plant by reuniting with David Lee Roth. But the Van Halen brothers were determined to hire a third singer and move forward, not back. Their first attempt was with Mitch Malloy, even though this didn\u2019t go much further than a few informal jams at Van Halen\u2019s 5150 studios before the band went in another direction. But during that very brief time, they cut a demo of \u201cPanama\u201d with Mitch Malloy on vocals that somehow leaked out. It\u2019s a look into an alternative universe where he got the job. (For much more on Malloy\u2019s Van Halen saga, head here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tAt the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards, the David Lee Roth lineup of Van Halen presented an award to Beck, marking the first time they\u2019d all stood together on a stage since 1984. They also recorded two new songs for a Van Halen compilation album. Everyone, of course, presumed that a reunion tour was the next step. But they didn\u2019t know the band had secretly teamed up with former Extreme vocalist Gary Cherone. They dropped the underwhelming Van Halen III<\/em>, and hit the road. Unlike Hagar, Cherone had no compunctions about singing Roth songs. He brought back \u201cRomeo Delight,\u201d \u201cMean Street,\u201d \u201cI\u2019m the One,\u201d \u201cDance the Night Away,\u201d and \u201cFeel Your Love Tonight\u201d for the first time since Roth was in the band. And \u201cPanama\u201d came out every single night. \u201cFor whatever reason, Sammy only did four songs from the Dave era,\u201d Cherone told Rolling Stone<\/em><\/a> in 2012.<\/a> \u201cI get it. He was a contemporary of Dave\u2019s. I get it. But for me coming in as a third singer, I said, \u2018Listen, I got to do everything that I can to get into the good graces of these fans here.\u2019 I remember telling Alex, \u2018Look, I\u2019ll do whatever you guys want.’\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tThe public had a very hard time accepting Gary Cherone as the new lead singer of Van Halen in 1998, but the group still played arenas. By 1999, Roth was reduced to playing venues like the Abyss in Houma, Louisiana, Midnight Rodeo in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Coyote\u2019s in Louisville, Kentucky. He released the DLR Band<\/em> album in \u201998, but it barely made even a tiny ripple. And his live set in 1999, with Bart Walsh on guitar, was 17 Van Halen classics, including \u201cEruption,\u201d plus \u201cYankee Rose\u201d from Eat \u2018Em and Smile<\/em>. There was no more pretext of a solo career. He was now a one-man Van Halen tribute show. He even recruited Walsh from the Van Halen tribute band the Atomic Punks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tBy 2002, Van Halen hadn\u2019t existed in any form for four years. That\u2019s why some savvy concert promoters reached out to Roth and Hagar, and convinced them to put their differences on hold and co-headline an amphitheater tour where they swapped off closing duties every night. It was a good idea on paper, but these two men had spent the last two decades trashing each other in the press. The bitterness between them wasn\u2019t an act. In order to keep some semblance of peace, a wall was constructed backstage to keep their two camps apart. We don\u2019t mean some sort of metaphorical wall. We mean an actual, physical wall. \u201cIt was just a bunch of plywood on little stands,\u201d Hagar told Rolling Stone<\/em><\/a> in 2022.<\/a> \u201cIf you really wanted to get to somebody, you could just kick it down. I used to knock on the plywood to yell at David when I was getting ready to go on stage.\u201d Dave\u2019s set was once again nearly entirely Van Halen songs with the sole exception of \u201cYankee Rose,\u201d but this time Brian Young took over guitar duties from Bart Walsh.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tOnce it became clear that audiences wouldn\u2019t accept Gary Cherone or any other new lead singer, the Van Halen brothers \u2014\u00a0who still weren\u2019t ready to welcome back Roth \u2014 reached a soft detente with Hagar that allowed them to cut a couple of new songs for a compilation album and go on tour. It was a very difficult time since Eddie was drinking heavily, and tensions remained thick between the Van Halens, Hagar, and Anthony. The last show in Tucson, Arizona, on Nov. 19, 2004, was the final time that Alex and Eddie shared a stage with either of those two. It was also the last time they saw either of them in the flesh.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tThey spent 23 years trying to do everything possible to avoid it. They said it would never happen. But once the Hagar reunion ended in bitter acrimony, there was just one person for Eddie and Alex to phone up if they wanted to hit the arena circuit again. Sadly, they refused to go the extra mile and make peace with Michael Anthony, who had been a crucial component of their live sound thanks to his background vocals. Eddie instead tapped his teenage son, Wolfgang, to take over on bass. Fans would have preferred a complete Van Halen reunion, but 75 percent was good enough for them as long as Eddie and Dave were finally back onstage together.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tThe 2007 Van Halen reunion tour was a box office success, even if fans and critics complained about the state of Dave\u2019s vocals, the lack of onstage chemistry, and the absence of Michael Anthony. The next step was a new album, which took quite a few years to get off the ground since Eddie and Dave were living in two very different musical universes by this point. In the end, they had no choice but to revisit demos from their earliest days and record them properly. When it came time to promote it, the band didn\u2019t agree to a single interview or television appearance. They instead invited the press to a show at the tiny Greenwich Village club Cafe Wha?, which was founded many years earlier by Dave\u2019s uncle, Manny Roth. Did they play \u201cPanama\u201d during their truncated set? Do we really need to answer that question?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\nVan Halen With David Lee Roth (1984)<\/h2>\n
Van Halen With Sammy Hagar (1986)<\/h2>\n
David Lee Roth (1986)<\/h2>\n
Van Halen With Sammy Hagar (1991)<\/h2>\n
David Lee Roth (1991)<\/h2>\n
David Lee Roth (1994)<\/h2>\n
Van Halen With Sammy Hagar (1995)<\/h2>\n
Van Halen With Mitch Malloy (1996)<\/h2>\n
Van Halen With Gary Cherone (1998)<\/h2>\n
David Lee Roth (1999)<\/h2>\n
David Lee Roth (2002)<\/h2>\n
Van Halen With Sammy Hagar (2004)<\/h2>\n
Van Halen With David Lee Roth (2007)<\/h2>\n
Van Halen With David Lee Roth at Cafe Wha? (2012)<\/h2>\n
Van Halen With David Lee Roth, Downtown Sessions (2012)<\/h2>\n
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