Buzz off, Dave. This isn’t about you…
It’s time to get your week off to a rockin’ start with another virtual trip down memory lane. Every Monday The Nest lifts the lid and dredges out another lost hit that got buried underwater in that giant ocean of lost songs we like to call the Dusty Vinyl Archive! DJ Scratchy saved another piece of treasured vinyl from getting eaten by the sharks, while the Sponkies suspiciously eye a Baby Ruth someone threw in the kiddie pool. Time to open up all three of this treasure chest’s locks…
Sammy Hagar, aka The Red Rocker, has had quite an interesting career in the music industry. He went from singing in a hard rock outfit, to going solo, to singing in a very, very famous hard rock outfit, and back to performing solo and selling tequila. But ultimately, that third step in his career is what branded him with the scarlet letter of being, as Bowling For Soup once so incorrectly labeled him, “That other guy in Van Halen.” Replacing a legend is never easy, and despite “Van Hagar” being the most commercially successful iteration of the band’s lineup, Sammy’s never been able to live down his decade replacing the uber popular Diamond Dave…
“You’ll never be as awesome as I am, Sammy!”
“Piss off, Dave!”
The foray into Van Halen also helped to obscure that budding solo career Sammy was building in the early 80’s that got him the VH gig in the first place. The one song almost everyone remembers from solo Sammy is “I Can’t Drive 55,” which had a memorable music video that got MAJOR airplay on MTV back in 1984. Even that popularity still couldn’t get it higher than #26 on the Hot 100 chart…. yet it’s long been set as Sammy’s signature song, and a reminder to Americans that once upon a time, highway driving wasn’t a whole lot of fun.
A quaint reminder that our government tends to find stupid solutions to ridiculous problems. (See also: Daylight Savings Time)
Two years before Sammy helped launch the crusade against the federal speed limit, he’d record the song that would become his only Top 20 hit (Well, except for that #8 hit he wrote for Rick Springfield). It’s my favorite Sammy Hagar song, and one that has been all but forgotten about it seems. Here’s his 1982 #13 hit from Three Lock Box, “Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy.”
This song doesn’t even get played much in the St. Louis area anymore, which is such a huge Sammy Hagar town that you’re still more likely to hear his version of “I’ve Done Everything For You” on the radio than Rick’s. Enjoy your hot, sweet cherries on the vine this morning…
Don’t pop the cherry, pussy…
If you don’t come back for another earworm next Monday, I’ll have to throw your ass in the city joint…
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
they ever played it here that’s a shame… really…
Glad I could fill this gap in your music history!
Gosh yet another rockin’ song I’ve NEVER heard…..where was I? Nevermind I remember now…anyway, glad to have this ear-worm on a Monday. Gets me movin’ !!
Pam
I wasn’t sure if this one was very “lost” or not, but it looks like it was! Glad I could give you another earworm you missed!
Google the word ” Oumuamua”, maybe your banana with lights.
Can’t believe I’d never heard about that before. Alien bananas in outer space…
Seems like it was easy to be cool in the 80’s. Just have bad hair, make good music, and dress as cringey as possible.
You know what… that really describes just about every decade! Everything eventually becomes tacky…
This is the song I always think of when I think of Sammy Hagar. A few weeks ago, I can’t drive 55 popped into my head for some reason and I could not remember who did it. Thank you for answering that question for me!
The Nest is here to answer all of your questions…. even the ones you didn’t ask!
When I think of Sammy, I think, “Mas Tequila.” Or maybe when I drink tequila, I think, Sammy. Either way works. Also, I love “Rock Candy” from his Montrose days! Great dusty vinyl Monday, ES. Mona
Cheers!
I think I may have heard of this chap. His song is fairly inoffensive!
You need to make that into a rubber stamp…. “The Draliman Seal of Fairly Inoffensive Music!”
This tune sounds soooo Rick Springfield. To tell you the truth I was always a DLR girl when it came to Van Halen. Better hair, I guess. 🤣
David Lee Roth got all of the girls. Or at least that what he wanted everyone to think with some of those videos….
I love Sammy. I absolutely love that voice. I love the songs he sings. This rocks. I am soooooooo happy. Good choice. YES.
He’s extremely underrated. We all love Sammy here…. even me, and I’m not a homer for anything!
I know I’m going to get flak for this but I liked VH much more with Mr. Hagar than that blonde mess that use to sing with them. My boys even have separate names for the two versions of the band. If it’s with that dude Dave, they call it Van Daveland, if it’s with Sammy, it’s Van Hagar. In like Van Hagar, so sue me, I dare you. As for his songs I hear them all the time on Sirius 80’s channel.