1996 Realization

[DFVH5150]

I've been looking into Van Halen's craziest year, 1996, a lot recently and think I figured it out. It's funny because it used to be so crazy that they had 3 singers in one year. Then, well over a decade later it was established that there were almost 4 lead singers in one year. Now, with the recent Sass Jordan interviews, there were almost 5! I am definitely not trying to saying anything negative about Van Halen and not trying to start shit because who cares as we already knew about most of this, I just think it's very interesting now that we have all this new info.

So here's how I broke it down for the timeline, and a lot of it is as per The VH Encyclopedia, the YouTube mini-bio on Mitch Malloy, and Dave and Dave Unchained podcast's interviews with Mitch:

Jan-Mar: Things are getting even worse now with Sammy (that begun in '94) as they try to complete 2 songs for Twister and discuss their first best of/greatest hits with relatively new manager, Ray Danniels.

Jan-Feb: Sass is invited by Alex to hang out with them at 5150. This goes on for 4 months, off and on when she has the time living in both LA and Canada (including some tour dates). Sass never records or even jams with them but says they constantly complained how angry and hurt they were over Sammy.

Mar 10-13: VH mixes "Humans Being" after arguing with Sammy over the lyrics. They later scrap the second song, "Between Us Two," and eventually replace it with Ed and Al's instrumental "Respect the Wind."

Apr: Sammy and Kari have their first child, Kama.

May/Jun: Sass moves on and Dave is contacted.

May 10: Twister is released in theaters and before that HB was released to radio. Not sure of the soundtrack release date.

Jun: According to Sam, Eddie calls him on Father's Day mid-month and they break up. Sam said he was fired. Ed said he quit. Ed also mentioned working with Dave again. Press release is released by VH saying Sam is out and announce new music with Dave for the upcoming Best Of Volume I, yet say they aren't sure if Dave is permanent and are considering other options. News hits MTV, radio, print, and everywhere with the "Welcome Back Dave" commercial, all those MTV Weeks In Rock, etc.

Jul 22: VH and DLR enter 5150 to record "Me Wise Magic."

Aug: Must have been around this time when Mitch flew in and quickly was officially hired as the new singer after jamming 5 songs from both eras. I can't recall from the YouTube mini-bio or his appearances on the Dave and Dave Unchained podcast (or other interviews) how long he said he was there. I'm sure was at least a few weeks but maybe even a month. But when he took a break and flew back home I'm pretty sure he received the music that is "It's the Right Time" to work on as a gift from Ed (can't remember and could be mistaken as that could've been after they hired Gary as a consolation gift).

Aug 2: MWM is completed.

Aug 3: "Can't Get This Stuff No More" is completed.

Aug 5. Mixing begins for both.

Sep 4: VMAs. Mitch knowing they are appearing watches, however shits his pants because unbeknownst to him they appear with Dave, the place (and world) goes nuts, and realizes it's career suicide. GARY ALSO WATCHED WHILE IN TALKS WITH THE BAND (see interview from a few years ago). Dave goes on Stern shortly after still somewhat optimistic ("Hey it's between me and John Tesh--keep your fingers crossed" lol).

Sep 5: Mitch tells his manager he is declining and to inform them.

Oct 2: Dave's open letter is released saying he was used for publicity for the BOVI, he was swindled, and they already hired someone possibly even 3 months ago. MWM is released to radio and I believe CGTSNM was released a month or two later.

Oct 3: VH releases counter press release.

Oct 4: Ed and Al go on KLOS and say Gary is 99.99% locked in as the new singer.

Oct 5: Extreme disbands per bassist Pat Badger's press release online.

Oct 8: Tommy Nast (guy who did their recent radio premiere parties) releases press statement saying they did not have a lead singer 3 months ago and for a fact no singer was hired 1 month ago especially.

Oct 22: BOVI released in U.S. and hits #1 right after.

Oct 29: Video Hits Volume I released in U.S.

Nov 8: Not related but note-worthy, Sammy debuts new song "Salvation on Sand Hill" online from the upcoming Marching to Mars.

So...it seems they had a mild but long affair with Sass (although they didn't "go all the way" as there was no jamming or recording) while Sam was in Hawaii and they were doing the Twister thing while practically hating each other. For whatever reason, it didn't work out (probably because when Sass realized she was in contention she told the brothers it was a horrible idea and she'd ruin the band), and Ray must have said let's call Dave.

While working with Dave (yet being transparent according to their press statement), they eventually started messing around with Mitch. And when Mitch was officially in the band sometime in August, when he saw the VMAs and knew he would never be accepted for obvious reasons/DLR reunion, he called his manager I believe the next day to pass along the message to VH's manager. BUT, during that time Gary was watching and in talks with them, too. And he apparently didn't care and still wanted to go for it. I also think this was before Gary flew in from Boston to meet them and was probably when he mailed them the TWILY tape that they didn't like (yet they STILL wanted to meet him and were overall impressed obviously).

So I personally think while Mitch was officially the new singer, Ray knew of the turmoil in the band he manages, Extreme, and threw the name out to VH as might-as-well/now's-the-time/can't-pass-this-up-just-in-case. And I think they were impressed (from what they already knew of the band--see pics of VH with Extreme circa '93 then listening to their work and seeing some video courtesy of Ray). I think they loved Mitch and were like "fuck, we at least have to check him out, too. This is too important." So yeah, they cheated on Mitch, too. And that's what happened in September of that year. And I guess Tommy Nast must have been out of the loop or fulla shit.

Then they were on the fence and when they heard Mitch's issue with the VMA thing they started leaning towards Gary. I say that because Mitch said it was a couple weeks before he even heard back from them after he had his manager call and thanked him but said they were going in a different direction. So I think they chose Gary ultimately, and Mitch made it easier for them. Then of course in late '99 and '00 Ed reached back out to him, but yet never asked him to join (and eventually cut ties with him when Mitch suggested they have to get Dave back).

Thoughts?

[Raldo]

Good work with the timeline.

I think that with VH and Sam on the outs, VH looked at different options. How much of that was from Ray’s suggestions, I don’t know. Could they have handled this better? In my opinion yes. Maybe have been a little forthcoming with the other singers. Again, who knows ALL that happened in that time period that was out of the public eye.

[DFVH5150]

Good work with the timeline.

I think that with VH and Sam on the outs, VH looked at different options. How much of that was from Ray’s suggestions, I don’t know. Could they have handled this better? In my opinion yes. Maybe have been a little forthcoming with the other singers. Again, who knows ALL that happened in that time period that was out of the public eye.

Thanks!

[jimmy812]

My thought is that they should have kept Dave at that point. Album and tour. It would've been huge.

[Dont disturb my Paradise]

Looks pretty good to me, even though it was one of the worst years in my life. I was depressed for a long time after the split.

[Van Hampshire]

Wow that is quite the research you did. It makes me wonder what things would have been like had Ed Leffler not passed away. The moment that guy passed it seems things in VH land spiraled completely out of control which is sad. It also sounds like had Dave not been an ass at the VMA's we could have had a real reunion with the original four. Dave was still singing good then too. I love VH to death as they been my band since I was 11 years old but man have they made some bad decisions.

[BlindtotheWorld]

Good job Dave!

Yep, laid out like that, 1996 was truly an epic disaster.

[bsbll4]

I think once they got back together with Dave they quickly realized they made a mistake. Dave talks about in his book that the first day he started recording he brought in all kinds of shit into the studio. Palm trees, lights, etc. to get into his "Dave" headspace. Ed saw it and was like "what the fuck is all this?" I'm sure it was either at that moment or one close to it that Ed and Al realized they couldn't do it all again with Dave, so they started reaching out to others even while Dave was recording.

One thing to clarify, this was an Ed and Al decision. So when we say VH, we really mean just Ed and Al.

[Ed']

1996 was a special time for VH...
Human Beings is one of the few songs that i really don't like.
Don't like the sound, don't like the modified voice of Sammy on the verse, don't like the melody...
On the other hand, Me Wise magic is a masterpiece ! Everything is top notch in this song.
A full album with Dave in 1996 would have been amazing !

[I Coulda Hada VH]

Once they parted ways with Sammy and then teased the fans with Dave, bringing in a 3rd singer was a recipe for disaster. Add the abysmal album that was Van Halen III and the rest is history.

Oh, what might have been ...

[Dave's Dreidel]

As has been said before.

1996, the year VH shot their career in the foot...with a bazooka.

[bsbll4]

In retrospect it's no surprise that it didn't work out in 1996. When Dave was first in the band he really was the one that pushed the direction of the band. As he put it, he was involved in everything from the music, the image, the stage show, etc. He was the one that pushed the VHs to dress like "rock stars." He pushed them to have more of a pop sensibility with their music.

Then when he left Sam entered and told a similar story of how they just immediately deferred everything to him at first and Sam was like "no, that's not how it's supposed to work." Over the next several years the VH brothers wanted more control until 1995 when they really put their foot down, biting the hand that fed them so to speak.

So they reach out to Dave and he comes back with his full Dave swagger, basically putting himself back in what he thought was a well worn pair of shoes only to find out that circumstances had changed. Ed and Al immediately recognized they couldn't handle someone telling them what to do again and started looking elsewhere where the power dynamic would shift back to their control. Certainly Gary, Mitch, or Sass are not going to walk all over them which is why they all seemed like great options.

They wouldn't go back to Sam or Dave until they realized they couldn't be successful without them. Sam could be successful without them which may have contributed to the issues in 2004, because again, it screwed with the power dynamic. Then when Dave came back into the fold both parties finally realized that in order for them to have success they really needed each other. It led to a mutual respect, and even if they didn't want to personally get along, it allowed them to work together again.

[I Coulda Hada VH]

As has been said before.

1996, the year VH shot their career in the foot...with a bazooka.

Truly the worst bait-and-switch in rock & roll history.

[BlindtotheWorld]

In retrospect it's no surprise that it didn't work out in 1996. When Dave was first in the band he really was the one that pushed the direction of the band. As he put it, he was involved in everything from the music, the image, the stage show, etc. He was the one that pushed the VHs to dress like "rock stars." He pushed them to have more of a pop sensibility with their music.

Then when he left Sam entered and told a similar story of how they just immediately deferred everything to him at first and Sam was like "no, that's not how it's supposed to work." Over the next several years the VH brothers wanted more control until 1995 when they really put their foot down, biting the hand that fed them so to speak.

So they reach out to Dave and he comes back with his full Dave swagger, basically putting himself back in what he thought was a well worn pair of shoes only to find out that circumstances had changed. Ed and Al immediately recognized they couldn't handle someone telling them what to do again and started looking elsewhere where the power dynamic would shift back to their control. Certainly Gary, Mitch, or Sass are not going to walk all over them which is why they all seemed like great options.

They wouldn't go back to Sam or Dave until they realized they couldn't be successful without them. Sam could be successful without them which may have contributed to the issues in 2004, because again, it screwed with the power dynamic. Then when Dave came back into the fold both parties finally realized that in order for them to have success they really needed each other. It led to a mutual respect, and even if they didn't want to personally get along, it allowed them to work together again.

Very insightful. It just goes to show that the change was all about personalities and control and not about the music. If you think about it from the brothers' perspective, "Hey, we just dumped Sam so we could control the band. We don't need to replace him with another guy who wants to control us."

[I Coulda Hada VH]

Very insightful. It just goes to show that the change was all about personalities and control and not about the music. If you think about it from the brothers' perspective, "Hey, we just dumped Sam so we could control the band. We don't need to replace him with another guy who wants to control us."

They also thought since the struck lightning twice with two different singers that they could do it again. They were wrong.