Friday videos: Mitch Malloy auditions for Van Halen

After the demise of Van Hagar in the mid-90s, Eddie and Alex had to find a replacement lead singer. Mitch Malloy, frequently reviewed on Now This ROCKS (click here), auditioned for the gig, which ultimately went to Gary Cherone (Extreme). Below is a rare demo that captures what Van Halen would have sounded like in a parallel universe where Malloy took the job as their new lead vocalist. The song they did was "Panama", so let's first refresh our memory of the original with David Lee Roth.



Now here is the Mitch Malloy version:



But the job went to Gary Cherone:



And lest we forget, and to round out the comparisons, the Sammy Hagar version:



So there you have it - which version do you think is the best?