Planet Rock reports:
Sammy Hagar replaced David Lee Roth in Van Halen in 1985 and released four studio albums with the band – 5150’ OU812, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and Balance – before they acrimoniously parted ways following internal conflicts in 1996…
…Asked about his so-called “rivalry” with Roth…Hagar said, “It wasn’t even a blip on my radar.
I don’t respect Dave’s artistry, but I do think he’s clever and a great showman and what he did with Van Halen in the early days was fantastic. Van Halen couldn’t have made it without him.
God bless Dave, but he refuses to acknowledge that Van Halen with me was even more successful than Van Halen with him, and that’s very stupid of him.
That’d be like me not acknowledging what he did for the band before I joined: that would be stupid wouldn’t it?”
Elsewhere in his wide-ranging interview, Hagar revealed what caused the end of his first stint with the band.
“We had eight years of (huge success), and then suddenly people in the band started changing… and it wasn’t me and it wasn’t Mike (Anthony),” Hagar said.
“The Balancen record was like pulling teeth, things got very dysfunctional by then. Drugs and alcohol and insecurity and bad management killed that band.”
Read the full in-depth Confessional interview with Sammy Hagar in Issue 15 of Planet Rock magazine, which is on sale now.
18 Responses
Ah come on! Enough of this sh-t! I’m really sick and tired of this back and forth bullsh-t! ENOUGH ALREADY!!! Who the fu-k cares anyway??? It’s all good, everybody’s to blame, it’s everybody’s fault, GROW UP EVERYBODY!!! This, that, him, me, f–k that! All you guys, WE DON’T CARE!!! It’s 2019!!!!!!!! Move the f–k on already!!! And that goes for Sammy, Dave, Mikey, Eddie, Al, everybody!!!!!!!!
None of this stuff matters anyway, right? It’s all dust in the wind…
Settle down Beavis
Name calling? Really? Aww, did I upset you during your warm milk and cookies, and cartoon time?
It’s not back and forth. Dave ignores him. Alex and Eddie ignore him. This is Sammy just trying to stay in the news.
Sammy is always in the news (he doesn’t have to try) because he’s always active and busy all the time! And that’s the reason (obviously) we hear more from Sammy than Dave, Ed & Al. If they had microphones shoved in their faces all the time, it’d be even worse! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not defending Sammy, he’s to blame as well for all this drama bullsh-t, the only time any of them should open their mouths is to sing! Especially since they never have anything nice or positive to say about each other, now that would be a shocker!
The Roth Show on youtube; Dave does it his way…Dave is way smarter than most people believe it or not…and he doesn’t give a crap that he’s older, which is also pretty cool…
Sammy is high if he thinks van halen was more successful with him. I know that the van hagar albums went to number 1 on the charts but over time the roth albums way outsold the hagar albums. Van Halen’s first album sold over 10 million copies and 1984 did too. The highest selling van hagar album was 5150 and it only sold 5 million copies and the highest grossing van halen tours were with roth so please sammy, let it go!
Sammy’s comparing eras that aren’t the same, so it’s an unfair comparison……it’s like comparing Metallica’s “Blah-k” album with their “Master of Puppets” album….one album is full of radio friendly hits and the other just kicks ass.
Although I personally like Sammy and Michael more as people than I do the VH Brothers at this time, the first 4 Van Halen albums were genius, regardless of how much they sold. Roth’s chemistry with Eddie, combined with the great Ted Templeman at the helm, made 4 unforgettable records. Those records just jump out of the speakers. VH with Sammy may have sold more, but the songs on those first 4 albums were far superior, in my opinion.
Shouldn’t you be listening to your Struts records ? 🙂
sammy, take him to court..the look at all the people (here to)/night court!….cue the hi-hats
A FREAKIN MEN