Sammy Hagar’s retrospective tour inevitably brought him face to face again with his hitmaking tenure in Van Halen — and with another round of similarly inevitable questions about a reunion.
He just can’t see it, not after everything that’s happened — and not after his brutally frank book, which outlined a series of grievances aimed at band leader Eddie Van Halen. Hagar shared membership in the group with Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony, as well. Anthony has since joined Hagar in Chickenfoot.
Still, Hagar admits missing the camaraderie that once made them a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame outfit.
“Every part of me, from my hair to my toes, misses my relationship with Eddie and Alex Van Halen,” Hagar says tells Grammy.com. “I think Alex and I are probably still good friends. But Eddie and I, we hit a real hard bump in the road. It’s kind of like a relationship with a partner, and things go so wrong that you don’t feel like you could ever let that go. But we’ll see. I think I can let anything go, but I don’t know if Eddie can let anything go. Maybe he can. But right now, there’s a lot of resentment built up.”
That resentment has left him doubtful that things will ever be resolved. Van Halen’s induction into the rock hall was indicative of that, with Hagar and Anthony accepting the honor — while the Van Halen brothers (not to mention original frontman David Lee Roth) were absent.
“It’s like there’s so much anger,” Hagar adds, “that I don’t even want to run into him. I think we’d get into each other’s face. It got real ugly, unfortunately. When I wrote my book, I had to say it all. I wanted to clarify that: Don’t ever ask me again why I’m not in Van Halen. I was thrown out, stabbed in the back and left for dead, you know? You just can’t go back and hug and kiss those kind of people that do that to you. And now that I’ve written about it in the book, and I don’t think that Eddie would ever shake my hand. But Alex knows it was all true.”
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Sammy STFU !! No one is going to buy your lame cd`s any more no matter how much you talk about Van Halen to sell your product..You are the one that stabbed Van Halen in the back with your Enquire written book .You have everything to try and tarnish the name of Van Halen and all you have done was lose fans that once supported you..We all know you were the cancer in Van Halen..David Lee Roth is the real and only singer in Van Halen.Get over It and STFU !!!!
Well done, Hank. Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Your fried, if you think Roth is the connection. First of all he doesn’t even have half of the talent that Sammy has. Eddie needs to quit acting like a 17 year old and act like the professional musician that he is. Why not have one big reunion tour with Hagar,Anthony and Roth.
LOL – maybe one day David Lee Roth will actually be able to sing on key live, too! I certainly haven’t seen it yet. All the swagger, arrogance and botox can’t hide a horrible live singer … regardless of the era you prefer.
You could go through clippings over the last 5 years since Roth was back in Van Halen where Sammy has said he would do it (reunion) in a heart-beat, maybe he’d do it, he’d hope he wouldn’t do it…lol….it all sounds pretty weird. It was Sammy who brought Edward Van Halen and the band into this world of corporate douche-baggery cheesy shmalzy rock & lyrics, that I always felt Eddie lost himself. I always felt In Through the Out Door spelt out Led Zeppelin’s demise much like 5150, OU812 etc. did for Van Halen. The beast allowed to roam within the music, and once removed, destroyed Page, Bonham, Eddie Van Halen. Hagar admittedly said he steared Eddie from that riff-heavy you find all over A Different Kind of Truth.
cray, ADKOT is for the most part all old material simply re-recorded with new/revised lyrics. There is very little new about ADKOT, and it’s been admitted across the board from all involved. I am a big VH/Roth/Hagar fan of all eras and all denominations from all their stuff collaboratively and solo, but can also admit SH seems to dance the fine line often. Those complaining about him exposing EVH in the book, must not be die-hards, as any die-hard I know, including myself who have seen them on virtually every tour over the last 25-30 years, know there were moments when EVH was obliterated to the point of incoherency. I remember a few shows where I felt like walking out that the guitar work has been sloppy and not up to his standard. I did see the ADKOT tour. EVH/AVH/WVH were all stellar. DLR, was spotty, nailing some stuff and struggling with others. Overall a good tour, and the recent news is promising about potential forthcoming studio work.
Sammy, perhaps if you laid off the tequila for 30 minutes or so, you’d start to make sense.
You love him, you hate him, you go on tour with him when he’s a mess.
Yes, STFU already indeed and enjoy your Jimmy Buffet reunion. Nobody wants to hear “Tell Me What Love Can Do”
Half of ADKOT is previous material, Half is all new material.