The worst musician Eddie Van Halen ever worked with: “I’d have to show him how to play all the parts”
The chemistry in Van Halen isn’t something that anyone could have copied.
Eddie and Alex were joined at the hip whenever they made some of those classic songs, and even if they had their fair share of dustups every single time they performed, it was more important for them to put their differences aside whenever it came to the music. They were already on track to becoming one of the biggest bands in the world, but by the time that they reached their twilight years, Eddie started to get a little too honest about the kind of band members that he would have rather done without.
Then again, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that Eddie and ‘Diamond Dave’ were never really friends. The whole reason why they wanted to get him in the band in the first place was that he had his own PA system, and it was cheaper to get him in the band than keep renting it from him every single week. But even if his voice is more than a little bit squawky on a lot of those Van Halen records, it’s hard to deny that he was the face of the band for a long time when the band first started.
Say what you will about the years they spent with Sammy Hagar, but the reason why they lasted so long in the late 1970s was because of Roth’s antics. He was a consummate showman in every sense of the word, and even though Eddie got so tired of his bullshit that he wanted to leave the band and join Kiss, even Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley had to tell Eddie he was out of his mind if he ended up leaving his band behind.
But even when the ‘Van Hagar’ years began, it’s not like they were going to go quietly into the night. ‘The Red Rocker’ was already prepared for anything when they started making their new classics, and while he didn’t have the same rock and roll ringmaster energy that Roth had, he had a much more down-to-earth persona that had him relate to the audience in a far more natural way than just putting on a show.
As the band reached the 2000s, though, it didn’t look like the brothers were on good terms with either frontman. The final Hagar tour was a disaster as Eddie slowly started to lose his way with drugs, but once the band relaunched themselves with Roth again, Eddie felt compelled to talk about the horrible job that Michael Anthony had been doing for years, when his son, Wolfgang, was able to take his place.
Despite being one of the best backup singers in rock and roll history, Eddie felt that what Anthony contributed to the band was virtually nothing outside of licks that he had to be taught to play, saying, “Every note Mike ever played, I had to show him how to play. Before we’d go on tour, he’d come over with a video camera and I’d have to show him how to play all the parts.” While Hagar has refuted that claim numerous times, it’s not like Anthony would say that he was anywhere near everyone else’s level.
He has said on a few occasions that he was simply trying to keep up with the rest of his bandmates when he first joined, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a better team player than Anthony when he started playing. He was proud to fly the Van Halen flag every single time he performed, and even if the bass lines weren’t the most complicated things in the world, those high backing vocals are a signature part of their sound, whether Eddie liked it or not.
So while Eddie could have gone on for the rest of his life thinking that he and Alex were the centrepieces of the band, taking out Anthony would be leaving out a crucial part of their sound. He wasn’t claiming to be the best rock and roll bass player in the world, but in any band that has that much talent and more than a few egos floating around every now and again, it’s nice to have someone that is a lot more laid-back and easy-going helping hold it all together.
