Sammy Hagar is accusing Alex Van Halen of “blasphemy” for ignoring Van Halen’s years of success with their second singer.
Van Halen’s new memoir Brothers focuses on his life and times with Eddie Van Halen, but ends with the original departure of David Lee Roth in 1985.
The book makes no mention of the “Van Hagar” years at all. Van Halen later explained: “What happened after Dave left is not the same band. … The magic was in the first years, when we didn’t know what we were doing; when we were willing to try anything.”
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Hagar’s latest comments came after he posted a picture from 1991 on Instagram, showing himself and Eddie Van Halen heading for the stage before a show. Attached was a light-hearted discussion of the clothes they were wearing, as Hagar noted that “we all survived” the era’s fashion disasters.
The mood changed after one fan commented: “My dad always said the Roth days were about the party; the Sammy days were about the music.” Another follower then wrote: “No disrespect to Alex but it’s ok to like VH with Sammy, even if he doesn’t anymore.” A third poster said: “Most purists believe VH ended with DLR,” which prompted a terse response from Hagar.
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“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. That never happened again.”
Hagar argues that “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. To not acknowledge [those] 10 years of music is blasphemy to his brother’s musicianship, songwriting and legacy.”
Last month, Hagar insisted he wanted to end his dispute with Van Halen. “It’s on my bucket list that I will not take this to my grave, and I don’t want Al taking it to his grave,” Hagar said. “I’d be happy to play with him, but it’s not what I’m looking for. I just want to be friends again.”
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Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
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