Sammy Hagar Defends His Time in Van Halen
Sammy Hagar famously spent time fronting Van Halen from 1985 to 1996, and many fans call that era the “Van Hagar” era of the band. – Author: Cat Badra, Image via Ken Settle
Sammy Hagar famously spent time fronting Van Halen from 1985 to 1996, and many fans call that era the “Van Hagar” era of the band. Eleven years is a long time to be with a band, so Hagar wouldn’t be be out of line to be upset about people not acknowledging his time in the group.
Well, many fans and observers noticed that Alex Van Halen left out the entire “Van Hagar” era in his memoir. Now, Hagar has responded to Alex leaving out that part of the band’s history.
Sammy Hagar Not Too Happy With Alex Van Halen’s Memoir
So, why did Alex Van Halen leave the Van Hagar era out of his book?
“What happened after Dave left is not the same band,” Alex Van Halen told Billboard in an October feature. “I’m not saying it was better or worse or any of that. The fact is Ed and I did our best work whenever we played. We always gave it our best shot. But the magic was in the first years, when we didn’t know what we were doing, when we were willing to try anything.”
Well, earlier this week, Hagar shared a photo of himself with the late Eddie Van Halen from 1991 on Instagram. Then, Hagar started responding to comments on the post, including one commenter who stated that “most purists believe VH ended with DLR.”
Hagar certainly didn’t agree with the commenter. He defended himself in the comments section of the post.
“It could have [ended], my friend, but instead we went on to sell over 50 million records for [a] No. 1 album [then] sold out every building and stadium in the world for a whole decade,” Hagar stated. “That never happened again.”
Hagar didn’t stop there. He went on to discuss Alex Van Halen leaving the “Van Hagar” era out of his memoir and expressed this thoughts that Alex was doing a disservice to both Van Halen and his late brother by leaving it out.
“Alex is not doing his brother’s musical legacy justice by not acknowledging all the No. 1 albums and some great music Eddie and I wrote together — not Alex — but Eddie and I wrote together,” Hagar stated. “To not acknowledge [those] 10 years of music is blasphemy to his brother’s musicianship, songwriting and legacy.”
Sammy Hagar Would Like to Be ‘Friends’ With Alex Van Halen
It’s not all hate, though. Hagar recently told Rolling Stone in a November 23 interview that it’s “on [his] bucket list” that he and Alex eventually make things right. Alex leaving him out of the memoir didn’t help that case, though.
In the Rolling Stone interview, Hagar added, “I understand he probably couldn’t have done the whole era in one book. It would’ve been the Bible, the dictionary, so maybe he’s got plans for a Volume 2. Who knows?”
He continued, stating that, “I want to be friends, though. I don’t want to play in a band with Al. I’m not asking for that. I can see that he’s not capable of doing that. If he was, I’d be happy to play with him, but it’s not what I’m looking for. I just want to friends again.”
- Metal Vocalist Makes Announcement on New Band - January 3, 2025
- Sammy Hagar Defends His Time in Van Halen - January 1, 2025
- Most Influential Bands of 2024 - December 26, 2024
