Guide to Van Halen through the years

http://www.pe.com/articles/halen-773076-band-park.html

1974-1985
The iconic lineup of Van Halen is singer David Lee Roth, drummer Alex Van Halen, guitarist Eddie Van Halen and bassist Michael Anthony. The band started in Pasadena and by the 1980s was arguably the biggest rock group on the planet. With Eddie Van Halen’s guitar acrobatics, Roth’s wildcat vocals and penchant for fancy spandex pants, hit after hit made it onto the airwaves, including “Runnin’ With the Devil,” “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love,” “Jump” and “Panama.”

1985-1996
After Roth split, Van Halen became Van Hagar with Fontana native son Sammy Hagar. The Red Rocker years were lucrative ones for the band; a lot of records were sold with Sammy. Millions of them. The biggest hits of that era include “Why Can’t This Be Love,” “Finish What Ya Started” and “Dreams.” And let’s not forget the thought-provoking video for “Right Now” — or the fact that the tune was the theme song of Crystal Pepsi.

1996
After Hagar split (he says he was fired, Eddie Van Halen says he quit) in 1996, Diamond Dave showed up with the band at the MTV Video Music Awards in their first public appearance together in more than a decade. The reunion lasted about five minutes.

1996-1999
The one thing everyone can agree on is that the Gary Cherone era was the darkest time for Van Halen. The Extreme singer was handed the microphone for the reboot and subsequent album “Van Halen III.” What else do fans remember about this colossally bad idea? The goofy jester’s hat Eddie Van Halen wore in the video for the lone hit from that era, “Without You.”

2004
After the band regrouped from the Cherone disaster, the Red Rocker patched things up with his old bandmates and even recorded three new songs with them for the 2004 greatest hits compilation, “The Best of Both Worlds.” A reunion tour ensued, but Van Hagar split again after it wrapped.

2007-?
In 2007, Van Halen resurfaced again, this time fronted by a short-coiffed Roth and, to everyone’s surprise, minus Anthony on bass. In his place is Wolfgang Van Halen, Eddie’s son and Alex’s nephew. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that year, with Hagar and Anthony but minus Roth. In 2012, the new lineup released “A Different Kind of Truth,” the first album of new material with Roth since 1984. But the future of this incarnation is murky, given Eddie Van Halen’s recent remarks to Billboard about the differences between Roth and the family Van Halen.