“A lazy motherfucker”: the album that made Eddie Van Halen lose respect for Sammy Hagar
Any band that’s been around for a while tends to function the same way a dysfunctional marriage does. Even though every member complements each other in the exact right way, there are always going to be times when people get fed up and are convinced that they are in charge of the entire ship. Although Eddie Van Halen usually had a good idea of what constituted Van Halen’s sound in his head, he started seeing Sammy Hagar in a much different light after a certain project.
Then again, Eddie and Hagar had been on the rocks ever since they began work on the album Balance. ‘The Red Rocker’ had been known as a breath of fresh air ever since David Lee Roth decided he was better off on his own, but listening back to an album like For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, the cracks were already starting to form.
They had to spend months before finalising a song like ‘Right Now’, but while that made for a great single for the record, Eddie was no longer willing to compromise on the next record. He had set up his entire office in 5150 Studios, and while everything stayed fairly in-house throughout the recording, Hagar started to get painted as the outsider, usually being the one who had to come into the premises rather than staying for days like Eddie could.
Although the accompanying tour led to Hagar leaving the group, Van Halen III definitely left a lot to be desired from longtime fans. Gary Cherone was never going to be the right fit, but while the group floated the idea of getting Hagar back together for a run of tour dates, things started to hit a wall again when they decided to return to the studio for a few tracks for the greatest hits album The Best of Both Worlds.
Despite songs like ‘Up for Breakfast’ and ‘Learning to See’ being far from the band’s greatest work, those sessions were marred by Hagar’s attitude during recording. While this marked a dark time in Eddie’s life, the musical brother that he had at the front of the stage for years started to seem more like an albatross around his neck half the time.
When documenting the sessions in the studio, director Andrew Bennett remembered seeing Eddie and Hagar’s relationship deteriorate when Hagar refused to be available whenever the guitarist needed him, saying, “Eddie had such a passion for having his guitar on and plugged into his rig that sleep seemed like something he had to do. That’s when Eddie was really losing respect for him. To be brutal, Ed saw Sammy as a lazy motherfucker who won the lottery. He thought all he cared about was his tequila company.”
There are at least two sides to every story, though, and from Hagar’s perspective, he was watching his friend wither away. Eddie had not been taking care of himself, and his years of drinking had started to take their toll by the time they started their reunion tour, usually spending time offstage getting more blitzed and turning in spotty performances of songs like ‘Eruption’ during his solo spot.
While it’s hard to see who was telling the whole truth during this era, it’s safe to say that Best of Both Worlds couldn’t have been a more ill-fitting title for how they were functioning at that point. Compared to every other classic rock act on the touring circuit, Van Halen was throwing a party that had stopped being fun a long time ago.
