Watch 22 Different Versions of ‘Panama’ by Van Halen and Their Many Lead Singers

When Van Halen rolled out a new song called “Panama” in 1984, some fans surely felt this was the moment the band behind “Dance the Night Away” and “Beautiful Girls” were finally getting political. After all, Panama was a global hotspot that decade, thanks to the death of military leader Omar Torrijos in 1981, the rise of Manuel Noriega in 1983, and a fraudulent election in the spring of 1984 that would ultimately set the stage for a U.S. invasion five years later.

Needless to say, the four members of Van Halen had no absolutely no interest in any of this. Over the years, David Lee Roth has claimed that “Panama” is about a drag racer called the Panama Express or the singer’s 1969 Opel Kadett Caravan wagon, nicknamed Panama. Roth isn’t the world’s most reliable narrator, but he says he wrote the song after a critic accused the band of only making songs about “women, partying, and fast cars.” They hadn’t yet written an actual fast car song, so Roth says he willed one into existence. Then again, lyrics like “Here she comes, full blast and top down” and “Out an on-ramp coming through my bedroom” seem to pretty clearly have a double meaning similar to Prince’s “Little Red Corvette.”

We’ll likely never know the exact origin story of the song, but we can say for sure that it’s a perfect distillation of the Van Halen sound in just three minutes and 30 seconds. If someone who never heard Van Halen before wanted to understand the band, this is the song to play them. It’s a sleek showcase for the talents of all four members. 

That’s probably why they played it at virtually every concert after they wrote it, and why Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth both had it in their live show this past year. They don’t agree on much, but they agree that “Panama” really works live. Here’s a look back at 22 versions of the song. Ease your seat back, and come along with us for the ride.

“Panama” was the third single from Van Halen’s 1984, following “Jump” and “I’ll Wait.” That first single hit Number 1 and transformed Van Halen into the biggest hard rock band in America. “Panama” stalled at Number 13 on the Hot 100, but it was still a major presence on MTV and rock radio. Like most Van Halen videos of the time, it’s not exactly high concept. It shows the group playing an arena concert, swinging from cables attached to the ceiling, and chugging beer, as well as Roth motorcycling down a street, and doing a bizarre pole dance next to twin versions of himself. If you’re looking for a deep meaning to any of this, it’s not there. And at no point do we see a race car.

Van Halen didn’t exactly struggle at the box office before 1984. But the success of that album turned them into a touring juggernaut that sold every seat in the house as soon as they went on sale. They played 101 shows that year, wrapping up on Sept. 2, 1984, at the Monsters of Rock tour in Nuremberg, Germany, where they shared the bill with AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne, and Mötley Crüe. They could have easily kept the party going into 1985, possibly hitting stadiums. Unfortunately, Roth and the band split apart before that was possible. Their explanation for the breakup changed quite a bit as the years went by, but it’s clear that Roth wanted a glossier sound, and was pissed about Eddie Van Halen playing outside of the band, most notably on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.” There were also personality conflicts that had been simmering since the beginning. And despite all the reunions over the years, the classic lineup of David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, and Michael Anthony never again played “Panama” or any other song together after the 1984 Nuremberg show.

When Van Halen split apart in 1985, many in the industry felt that David Lee Roth had a brighter future than the band. They may have been called Van Halen, but Diamond Dave was the face and the voice. He also had a larger-than-life persona that translated perfectly onto the MTV airwaves. But in March 1986, Van Halen kickstarted the Sammy Hagar era with 5150, and the leadoff single “Why Can’t This Be Love.” Much like with AC/DC six years earlier, the fans instantly accepted this new incarnation of the band. When they began the 5150 tour March 27, 1986, at the Hirsch Memorial Coliseum in Shreveport, Louisiana, they only broke out three original songs from the Roth era: “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love,” “Jump,” and, of course, “Panama.”

Eat ‘Em and Smile is technically a David Lee Roth solo album, but it’s really a collaborative effort with guitarist Steve Vai, bassist Billy Sheehan, and drummer Gregg Bissonette, informally known as the David Lee Roth Band. The album hit Number 4 on the Billboard 200, leadoff single “Yankee Rose” reached Number 16 on the Hot 100, and the tour sold pretty well. Van Halen had already been out for three months when Roth played his first solo show on Aug. 16, 1986, at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia. Eight of the 17 songs came from the Van Halen catalog, including “Panama.” Steve Vai does a very credible job aping Eddie’s original parts. He’d be far from the last guitarist faced with this very difficult task.

The David Lee Roth/Van Hagar war continued in 1988 when Van Halen’s OU812 went up against Roth’s Skyscraper. And even though Roth had a genuine hit with “Just Like Paradise,” OU812 was much more successful. Still, the 1980s ended without a definitive victor. That didn’t happen until 1991, when Van Halen dropped For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, with the hits “Poundcake” and “Right Now,” and Roth crashed hard and burned with A Little Ain’t Enough. On most nights of the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge tour, Hagar was down to just two Roth-era originals: “Jump” and “Panama.”

Steve Vai left the David Lee Roth Band in 1991, and was replaced by guitarist phenom Jason Becker. They hit the U.S. summer shed circuit in the summer of 1991 with Cinderella and Extreme, but sales were soft in many markets, and several shows were canceled. As always, Roth went heavy on the Van Halen material in the setlist. He played “Panama” first most nights. Jason Becker played guitar on A Little Ain’t Enough, but had to drop out of the tour when he was diagnosed with ALS. Joe Holmes took his place, a few years before he landed a more prominent gig with Ozzy Osbourne.

By 1994, nobody was pitting Van Halen up against David Lee Roth. At this point, Van Halen were global titans of rock, and David Lee Roth was their washed-up singer whose 1993 weed bust in Washington Square Park generated 100 times more attention than his recent solo work. But Roth wasn’t ready to completely surrender. He teamed up with producer Nile Rodgers for the 1994 solo LP Your Filthy Little Mouth, and hit the road with Terry Kilgore on guitar. No attempt was made to book Roth in arenas or sheds. He instead hit the club circuit for the first time since the early days of Van Halen. Once again, he played “Panama” as the second song most nights. He also dropped all of his Eighties solo work besides “Just Like Paradise.” It was the start of a shift towards the Van Halen catalog and away from his own work that would grow as the years ticked by.

The alt-rock revolution was just beginning when For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge dropped in the summer of 1991. Pearl Jam was still two months away from releasing Ten, and Nirvana’s Nevermind wouldn’t hit until September. There was still a lot of room in the rock world for Van Halen. When they followed up For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge with Balance, however, four extraordinarily long years had passed. The entire grunge era had come and gone. This was now the time of Hootie and the Blowfish, Sheryl Crow, and Nine Inch Nails. That might not have mattered if Balance had been a great album or had at least one catchy single. But it was a weak effort without a real hit. That doesn’t mean they had trouble selling tickets. They were an institution by this point. The Balance tour stretched out to 135 shows across 11 months. “Panama” remained one of the few Roth songs Hagar would sing, and there were many nights they dropped it from the set list. Crazy as it sounds, there were likely many in the audience who didn’t even care. They came to hear “Right Now” and other Van Hagar hits.

At the end of the grueling Balance tour, Sammy Hagar left Van Halen. The final straw was a battle over the group’s contribution to the Twister soundtrack, but it could have been anything. They’d worked way too hard over the course of a decade, and both sides needed time apart. The obvious business move was to jump on the same 1970s nostalgia bandwagon as the Eagles, Kiss, Fleetwood Mac, the Sex Pistols, and Page and Plant by reuniting with David Lee Roth. But the Van Halen brothers were determined to hire a third singer and move forward, not back. Their first attempt was with Mitch Malloy, even though this didn’t go much further than a few informal jams at Van Halen’s 5150 studios before the band went in another direction. But during that very brief time, they cut a demo of “Panama” with Mitch Malloy on vocals that somehow leaked out. It’s a look into an alternative universe where he got the job. (For much more on Malloy’s Van Halen saga, head here.)