“It was time to break up”: Sammy Hagar names the one album that killed Van Halen
No band ever has the proper lightbulb moment where they realise that it’s time to call it a day. Most artists never want to be told that their time in the sun is gone, and while it might be hard to swallow the hard truth most of the time, the biggest acts in the world have enough sense to go out swinging than go quietly into the night. While Van Halen had already proved themselves as one of the best rock and roll acts of all time twice over, Sammy Hagar knew that his time was up after one too many years in the limelight.
That said, Hagar was never the kind of flashy frontman that everyone expected out of the band. David Lee Roth was the kind of loudmouth cartoon character that could have won over anyone, and compared to his predecessor, Hagar was far more interested in relating with the crowd through the music than having to dress up any part of their songs.
And since Eddie was looking to let the music do the talking, some of the best parts of the ‘Van Hagar’ have to do with the chances that were taken behind the scenes. 5150 already gave them a firm basis to work off of when making their future masterpieces, but when they brought back someone like Ted Templeman into the equation, they found their footing again and made one of the heaviest efforts of their later years.
But by the time of Balance, the band couldn’t have picked a more ironic album title. Eddie and Hagar were never on good terms throughout the making of the record, and when they finally turned it into their record company, even the guitar god couldn’t help but throw a few potshots that way, including calling ‘Amsterdam’ one of his least favourite songs they had ever recorded.
That alone would be enough for someone to call it quits, but Hagar felt that things started to get a little unnecessary when management told them that they needed to put out a greatest-hits record to sell to the fans. Most bands of Van Halen’s calibre already had those massive releases in their career, but Hagar felt that making a cash-grab album would be synonymous with selling their fans short.
According to Hagar, the band’s decision to release the record was a big part of the reason why he decided to walk away from the band, saying, “Here’s a band, the biggest band in the world coming off five number one albums in a row and they willingly put out a greatest hits record. Come on man! In hindsight, fuck, it was time to break up. We stopped getting along. We stopped agreeing. They had a different agenda. I still had my golden vision of the biggest, greatest band in the world not doing anything wrong. Don’t ever cop out. Don’t EVER sell out. And these guys just went crazy the other way.”
But looking at Hagar’s departure, that was one of the major reasons why the band’s formula got screwed up. Van Halen III may have had a lot of good ideas, but since Eddie was in charge, a lot of the record felt like a meandering version of an Eddie Van Halen solo album than anything having to do with the mainline releases of the band’s career.
Although they may have been the big happy musical family that they once were, seeing the band flame out over this record felt like the label inadvertently screwed them. Anyone can try to keep their integrity and make the record they want to, but the minute that the suits start getting their hands into a group’s creative decisions is usually when things start going wrong.
