When Eddie Van Halen almost pushed Sammy Hagar off a tour: “The weirdest f*** I had ever seen”
Sammy Hagar has always remained a consummate professional whenever he stepped up to the microphone. Whether fronting his solo band or working alongside Van Halen, Hagar was always willing to put 110% to give his fans what they wanted, even if it meant putting his vocal cords through their paces more than a few times.
Regardless of Hagar’s pedigree behind the microphone, one tour almost caused him to leave his fans hanging altogether, and it was the look of “crude, rude and unkempt” Eddie Van Halen that would be the push that almost sent him off the tour.
For the first half of his career, though, some of Hagar’s greatest opportunities came at the expense of his fans. When getting his car worked on at a shop, Hagar got word from his auto mechanic that Van Halen had lost David Lee Roth and recommended the ‘Red Rocker’ as a possible replacement for the iconic frontman.
Although the addition of Hagar may have felt like a strange fit at the time, he fit in like a glove when it came time to write with Eddie Van Halen. Being able to sing ballads just as well as the rockers, Hagar also brought a strong sense of musicianship to the band, lending his skills on guitar to a handful of tracks.
By the time Hagar had a decade under his belt with the band, he started to feel that the band needed some sort of break. After being called into work one more time on the song ‘Humans Being’, Hagar felt he couldn’t work with the band again, electing to move on to his solo career for the next few years.
Although Hagar would never create an entire album with the band again, he would lend his skills to the odd track here and there, working on a handful of songs to promote the band’s various greatest hits packages. Even though Hagar had never had the same creative wavelength that he had with the band in their prime, Van Halen’s management convinced him to give it one more shot with the band in 2004.
What could go wrong? Hagar was a consummate professional, and Van Halen still had a big enough draw that a returning singer would provide another press buzz to guarantee sell-outs everywhere. It was seemingly an easy job to put together.
By the time Hagar got a look at Eddie, though, he knew that he had gotten himself into trouble. Compared to the free-spirited creative entity he had worked with, the past few years had done a number on Eddie’s health, leading him to have missing teeth and not take care of himself behind the scenes.
Looking back on the shows, Hagar thought it would have been better if he walked out on his fans for his integrity, saying, “[Eddie] had turned into the weirdest f*** I had ever seen, crude, rude, and unkempt.” Eddie was clearly struggling with something off stage, and to try and work alongside him could have spelt the end for Hagar.
“I should’ve walked,” he remembered but he was convinced by the guitarist to stick around. “Eddie’s got a very sharp, cunning side to him where you feel like he’s got a good heart. He’s going to come through, and we’re going to get this thing done”.
While Eddie would eventually straighten himself out, the ‘Van Hagar’ lineup would never share the same stage again. Electing to move forward with Roth behind the mic and Wolfgang Van Halen playing bass, Eddie would end his career on his own terms, releasing the album A Different Kind of Truth before committing to one final tour in 2015 before his untimely passing in 2020. Hagar may have been looking out for his best interests, but this gig highlights one of the darkest chapters of Van Halen’s touring life.
