10 Albums That Were Supposed To Be Great (But Fell Apart)

4. Van Halen III - Van Halen

Van Halen really had their work cut out for them again when Sammy Hagar announced his departure in the late '90s. After reigniting the group's sonic spark after the departure of David Lee Roth, Hagar's Everyman mentality clicked almost immediately, only to come tumbling down after years on the road with the Van Halen brothers. So what? Since they've successfully changed singers before, the new incarnation with Gary Cherone would be just what they needed...right?

I will give Van Halen credit for what is in essence trying to rebuild their sound from the ground up. As opposed to having the same run of the mill riffs, this showed them at least tip toeing into different areas they hadn't previously touched. On the other hand, Van Halen III tends to take every wrong step right out of the gate. While Gary Cherone fit in pretty well in his own band Extreme, he really doesn't seem like the right guy for the job here, with most of his screams sounding like pale imitations of what Hagar did so well.

As opposed to the party-like atmosphere and the band camaraderie you'd get on other VH records, this feels like all of the goodwill is being held together with glue and duct tape. Even though the '90s were cruel to a lot of rock bands, Van Halen III feels like a weird offshoot of these hard rock icons that just had the name tacked on to make it sound finished.