The one musician Eddie Van Halen wanted to join his band
Everyone in Van Halen was usually going to be keeping up with Eddie the minute any song started.
The guitarist wasn’t claiming to be the greatest guitarist in the world, but even compared to the guitar heroes of his time, there was no one else who could touch what he did, especially around the LA scene at the time. The closest person to touch him was probably Randy Rhoads, but even within the Van Halen camp, it wasn’t like every member was pulling their equal amount of weight in the musical department.
Then again, Eddie wasn’t going to get into too many arguments with his brother if he could help it. The Van Halen ethos was all about family, and since he eventually got his son to play bass in the band, it wasn’t like he had too much trouble trying to find the right person for the job at every single turn. But getting David Lee Roth in the band was always going to be a bit of a mixed bag whenever he took to the stage.
‘Diamond Dave’ was going to be a showstopper no matter what audience he was playing to, but there were always limits on where he could go. He had a decent bluesy voice from time to time, but when you listen to what he was doing with his screams, it’s not like he was going to be able to sustain that for much longer. But even when Sammy Hagar came into the fold, Eddie did have his own problems with Michael Anthony every single time they made a record.
It’s no secret that Anthony was going to be looked over compared to every other star in the band, but that wasn’t too much a bother for him. He wanted the chance to hang in the background, but when you listen to his backing vocals and especially to the kinds of basslines he was laying down, he was the secret weapon of the band in a lot of respects. He knew what people wanted to hear, but Eddie felt they needed a lot more power.
He wanted the band to be full of virtuosos every single time they played, and the thought of getting someone like Jeff Berlin in the fold made perfect sense to him. Berlin was a veteran of the session scene and his work with Level 42 is still some of the most technically beautiful playing there is, so Eddie felt it was just a matter of calling him up and asking if he wanted to replace Anthony.
But Berlin admitted that he never felt comfortable with the idea of stealing someone else’s gig, saying, “(After playing together) Eddie Van Halen and I became friends at that time. I was invited to play in the band, an invitation which I turned down. But I think they wouldn’t have had me anyway. I don’t think David Lee Roth felt I was of an attitude to have in that band. But nonetheless, Eddie did make me that offer and I did consider it.”
Then again, there is such a thing as musical overload, and getting that many technicians in one band would be both a blessing and a curse in lots of ways. Anyone would have loved to jam with Eddie for a little while, but when there are solos happening at every single turn, it’s kind of like the musical version of staring into the sun. It might look brilliant for a few seconds, but you’re going to be blinded pretty quickly.
And besides, Anthony was always going to be the spirit of the band for years until Eddie brought in Wolfie to replace him. The band still got to close that final chapter of their careers with class, but the core of the band’s identity was always in the way that Anthony sang and played bass, and no one was ever going to be able to fully replace that no matter how hard they tried.
