I don't even really think of Van Halen as the same band with Roth or Hagar. I remember some little interview nugget Sammy said once after he had left and Roth rejoined the band, and they were going on tour: "For the first twenty minutes, they'll play the hits they had with him. Then for the next two hours, they'll play the hits they had with me." And he does have a point. Van Hagar was obviously the more commercially successful, mature live act. But honestly, for me, as soon as I picked up 5150 and heard the opening bars of Good Enough, I knew something was gone. Sure, it sounded okay. As heavy a riff as Eddie had ever recorded by that point. But the wild, feral dynamic of the early days was gone. Those four people created something greater than the sum of its parts, and that was just never recaptured even after Roth's return. I mean sure, his voice was shot and he couldn't hit the highs anymore, but it was more than that. Much like Eddie himself, there was that indefinable element that just couldn't be replicated once it was gone. Van Hagar had its moments, don't get me wrong. Eddie's solo on Poundcake is one of my favourites of all VH. But something left with Roth in 85 that never came back.