Sammy Hagar has given up on Van Halen

That 70s Guy

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Sammy Hagar said he’s given up hope of a reunion with Van Halen, citing the lack of communication on his 70th birthday as the reason he’s sure it won’t happen.

In recent years, he’d talked up the possibility of another Sam and Dave tour, featuring both himself and David Lee Roth taking turns at the mic with the band they both sang for. But he’s now said he’s “over” the idea.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with those two brothers, man,” he recently said of Eddie and Alex Van Halen on Eddie Trunk’s SiriusXM show. Referring to former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony’s grandson, who died when he was 2 weeks old earlier this year, Hagar noted, “For them not to do anything for Michael’s grandson, and then again on my birthday … I didn’t expect it, I really didn’t think about it. But people keep bringing it up: ‘Oh, you must have heard from the brothers. Did Eddie …?’ No.

“All that says to me is that it’s over," Hagar continued. "Those guys do not want to be friends. And if they don’t want to be friends, then we certainly ain’t gonna do a reunion, ‘cause that would mean I would just do a reunion for some money or something. I would love to do it for the fans, I really would – but other than that, nah, I’m over it.”

Earlier this year, Hagar claimed the potential reunion, which he also wanted to include Anthony, would cause fans to “die and go to heaven.” “The competition for that would be great," he said, noting that Roth would "do ‘Panama’ and ‘Runnin' With the Devil,’ and I’d be going, ‘Damn – I gotta step up!’ I’m up for it.”

But Hagar admitted that work would have to be done on some personal relationships. “For nine years, Eddie and I were neighbors and writers together," he explained. "Best friends. I don’t know if we can ever get along again because it got so bad.”

For his own part, Anthony said in June that he felt the time was right for a return to the band. "You obviously see all of these other bands doing it these days," he said. "And also for Van Halen’s fans. Maybe some kind of proper closure or something. I’m not sure. Everybody in the band is still relatively healthy and alive."
 

E-Z

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With respect to Sammy I personally prefer his solo albums from the 1970s & 1980s plus the two MONTROSE albums that he sang on with Ronnie Montrose circa 1973 & 1974 but with regards to the three VAN HALEN albums he sang on 5150, OU812 & For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge the first two mentioned are OK but nothing special in my humble opinion although F.U.C.K. is a bit of a better listen to and in fact I still occasionally listen to it.

E-Z
 
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Schmetterling

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Montrose were the first Band I ever saw on a big stage and they made a huge impact on me that night so consequently I've always had great respect for Sammy. Somehow I was never really a VH fan - just couldn't get into them for some reason - don't know why, I guess their music just didn't push the right buttons for me...:think:

I still listen regularly to the first 2 Montrose albums and have the first Chickenfoot album in my collection. I also have "Eat 'em and smile" and "Skyscraper" and still have them on my playlist too, great songs on those albums (and some of Vais finest ever guitar pyrotechnics IMHO).

I might be able to get my interest aroused if the above mentioned Sam and Dave show ever became a reality but otherwise....well, I'm just not all that bothered really....
 

SanguineRemedy

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I always felt that after Van Halen introduced Hagar as the new frontman that it ruined what Van Halen really was at the core. Roth was the undeniably better frontman but Hagar had the better voice.

They should have remained almost solely hard rock, in my opinion. There was some intense infighting between the band members and what direction of sound they wanted to take, specifically between Dave and Eddie before Dave's departure. Afterwards, he had some really good solo work released too. Hagar's introduction to the band and they all went poppy. Kind of hard to listen to Halen with artificial sweetener and not actual sugar, as @Dave78 had put it in another thread.

But now, Diamond Dave is washed up. Wonder where the band will go from here if internal conflict isn't resolved?
 

Speed King

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If you look at who the common denominators are in all the infighting within Van Halen, it all comes back to the two Van Halen brothers. Sammy seems to be able to get along with Dave and Micheal, Dave doesn't seem to have a problem with Michael, the center of all the conflict is Eddie and Alex. Eddie and Alex must be a pair of supreme butt holes.

I agree that VH's best years were the Roth era, but I don't put all the blame on Hagar, I think it was just direction that Eddie wanted the band to go, and it didn't matter who the singer was. I think this direction started to become clear after the Diver Down album.
 

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