Helluva story. I just preferred Sammy’s voice and the songs produced while he was with VH. There were a few while DLR was with them that I liked.
People have to understand the difference between DLR and Sammy as voices, as front-men, and how they fit into the VH music. And also to acknowledge if the "first time you heard/liked Van Halen was when Sammy was in the band".
Don't get me wrong, I love Sammy. I had most of Sammy's solo records before he ever joined VH, I especially loved Standing Hampton and Three Lock Box (and the HSAS one-off). But as a solo artist, Sammy never had a dominant guitar virtuoso to play against, and his singing was more important to the success of his songs.
But DLR is truly unique, and there was a valid reason why people doubted the viability of VH after he left/was kicked out. The reason I posted the VH demos is so that people can remember how great that band was in the early formative stages. They were volcanic and one-of-a-kind. VH was such a bizarrely great band that a bunch of music people didn't know what to do with them. Gene Simmons, Ted Templeman, and Mo Ostin were the only visionaries. And the DLR vocals were unbelievably important to the overall sound of VH, because he had to stand out from one of the greatest and most powerful guitar-bass-drum combos EVER.
Listen to the DLR vocal isolations from Runnin' With The Devil sometime. Good lord, DLR was amazing. Just his spoken improvs..."Have you seen junior's grades?"..."Whoo-eee, you'll get some leg tonight for sure...hey, hey, hey, hey, one break comin' up!"..."Reach down between my legs...and...ease the seat back..." In his entire career, has Sammy ever come up with three that are THAT good? Ice Cream Man? "All my flavors are guarante-ee-ee-ee-ee-eed to satisfy..."? Dave may be a bit full of himself, but when he strikes gold, he finds a vein that no one else can or ever did.
And, yes, I have heard Sammy talk about the vocal differences, that DLR sang "with" the song, while Sammy could sing "across" the song. I completely agree with Sammy, but I still loved DLR's vocals more.
And I'll be honest, when DLR came out with Eat 'Em and Smile, I liked it better than 5150. That flipped when Skyscraper and OU812 came out.
I love both VH eras, but DLR > Sammy.
Finally, here's a recent video of DLR and the brothers actually getting along. Love the old stories. And, yes, DLR has always been a handful.