Why Sammy Hagar hated David Lee Roth: “He’s all show”
Talking about both faces of Van Halen tends to feel like two separate entities. Although most core band members remained in the band throughout their tenure, both the David Lee Roth era and the Sammy Hagar era of the band feel like night and day, with each singer bringing their unique spin to Eddie’s signature tapping licks. Although Hagar may have had a more musically sophisticated palette, he thought his predecessor didn’t have that much to work with.
When Van Halen first made a name for themselves, Roth helped them stand out. As the band played any club that would have them around West Hollywood, Roth was responsible for helping them step up their look, ditching the jeans and T-shirts for the beginnings of hair metal costumes.
Outside of the fashion statements, Roth also helped Eddie refine his tapping technique by deliberately confusing guitar players in the audience. Every time Eddie would launch into one of his solos, Roth would encourage him to turn around when he was playing, ensuring no aspiring guitar players saw what he was doing.
While that mentality helped Van Halen kick down the door of hard rock, Roth had started to fall out of love with the music he was being asked to work on. Rather than the biting hard rock of the group’s early years, Eddie’s fascination with the keyboard on albums like 1984 led to the singer and guitarist butting heads, with Roth leaving for a solo career.
Once the band got Hagar behind the microphone, Van Halen became an entirely different entity. Bringing a more musical bent to Eddie’s riffs, albums like 5150 and For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge saw the band taking on more philosophical topics with their lyrics while balancing their good-time spirit.
Although Hagar was happy to sing songs like ‘Jump’ every time he took to the stage, he had some harsh words for what Roth had brought to the band. Compared to the other iconic frontmen before him, Hagar would say that Roth was more about being a rock star than contributing to music.
During an interview with Paulo Baron, Hagar said that most of what Roth did onstage was flash, saying, “He’s a real character, a showman. He’s all show…The difference between him and I is that I sincerely care – I care about everything I do, and I care how it affects people and I care what they think. I don’t think he cares about anything like that. And that’s the difference between our presence. He’s very much into himself, very much into being a showman”.
Though Hagar may have been able to take over for Roth just fine, he would also find himself out of step with the band after almost the same length of time, leaving in the mid-1990s and Van Halen drafting in Extreme’s Gary Cherone for their next album. Although Hagar may have been an eye-catching showman, he sees himself as a musician rather than what he considers Roth’s sideshow act.
