This pick (like many future ones, I'm sure) was pretty tough, and I vacillated around several artists I didn't expect to be available here for while before finally settling in on my choice. This selection, I believe, is also the first selection of an artist specifically mentioned in the rules:
Van Halen.
View attachment 3866
So first, you take one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time in Eddie Van Halen. Mix in the highest-octane stage performer of his era in David Lee Roth, and you get a practically unbeatable rock band in the late '70s and early '80s. After one nasty breakup, add a Sammy Hagar and you get another, almost-completely-different (and amazingly, more mature!) band with a steady stream of radio singles. And then there was the Gary Cherone thing, which, now that I have all their music, I'll finally get around to listening to. It's like getting three bands in one! And while the catalog size for either the David Lee or the Sammy years might not justify a sixth round pick, if I'm getting both I've got to run with it.
Years active: 1974-present (Most recent album release 1998, however new album with David Lee Roth is finished and expected by the end of the year)
Catalog: 11 studio albums to date (6 with David Lee Roth, 4 with Sammy Hagar, 1 with Gary Cherone, 7h40m total), 1 live album (Sammy Hagar, 2h21m)
Landmark songs: Runnin' With the Devil, Beautiful Girls, Jump, Why Can't This Be Love, Right Now
Song I keep coming back to: