Former Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar has laughed off David Lee Roth’s claim that performing songs from the Red Rocker’s era would present a credibility issue.
Original frontman Roth was recently asked whether he’d ever sing tracks originally delivered by Hagar. He replied, “Good, bad or in the middle, you know Roth means it – the other guy doesn’t. That’s why it sold half as well. Why would you bring that into the proceedings?”
Now Hagar, speaking on his radio show, has fired back by saying, “The boys are out on tour – happily doing well, I hope, but they’re not playing any Van Hagar songs. My buddy Diamond said it was something about a quality issue. I laughed. I’m cracking up. Sometimes the guy says the wackiest things.”
He continued, “But there’s a lot of truth in that, a quality issue. You think about that. Think about them with Diamond, singing this next song – it would definitely be a quality issue.”
He then plays a live version of Van Halen’s Right Now, delivered by Hagar’s current band The Circle.
Van Halen recently released their first live album with Roth, without any studio edits, which drew criticism from Hagar. They’ll begin a US tour in July.
additional source: classicrock.teamrock.com
9 Responses
Dave, Sammy, in the words of WAR, “Why Can’t We Be Friends?”
I love Sammy, he’s the best. Unfortunately, he’ll never sing with VH again.
I would love to believe that cause for me van halen is dave and eddie but how many of us thought that dave would never sing with VH again especially after the way they screwed him at the 1996 MTV awards debacle!
Nice response. Although a pissing contest in the media never works out. I am a bigger fan of Van Halen with Roth. There are two different Van Halen’s. Seems a divided group. I just think people need to be more accepting. Seems the guys in the bands are. Van Halen started off DLR, Eddie, Alex and Michael then became Sammy, Eddie, Alex, Michael and now is DLR, Eddie, Alex and Wolfgang. It is what it is. They provided great memories. Accept things for what they are and stop the hating. Enjoy DLR and Sammy (and the others) for what they are. This stuff happens with most bands.
At this point, unless the put out a CD with new material, they’ve turned into a greatest hits band, and that’s unfortunate. Eddie’s playing is better than it has been in years. Seems almost criminal to waste it pushing the classics, and not new material. Really love both iterations of the band, and it’s sad to see these kinds of childish comments from Dave. Sammy was great, just different. Admit it.
There are no more Van Halen’s, no more Zeppelins, no more Sabbath’s, or Metallica’s. You’re seeing the last of something for a very long time, and I’m glad to have experienced it. The guitar god moved to youtube, it’s some kid in his bedroom who can play better than you ever will.
Amazing how comments get twisted around. Dave made his comments in response to Sammy trashing him. It takes two to tangle people and traditionally Sammy has been the one to take it to the media. Yes, Dave made comments about Sammy but it was because Sammy was once again trashing him to the media.
This is kind of ridiculous. They DID put out new material (it was excellent, by the way) and they do play new material on the tour. (4 out of 25 songs, in the Tokyo Dome set). It’s certainly not just Dave that is being “childish” here. For better or worse, Van Halen is one of five bands that have TWO Diamond records (over 10 million sold) and both are from the Dave era. Two out of six albums sold more than 10 million records; that is absolutely unbelievable. That they focus on songs from that era makes perfect sense to me in that light.
Wacky is as wacky does. That’s the best I could come up with because Rush and Rocklahoma kicked the s*** out of my liver, not to mention the sh***y weather I’ve dealt with the last week and a half!