Wolfgang Van Halen: ‘the Sammy Hagar lineup of Van Halen deserves more respect’
Wolfgang Van Halen, the son of famed American musician Eddie Van Halen, has claimed that the Sammy Hagar-led version of Van Halen is suffering from a “lack of respect”.
Wolfgang, who was talking to local radio station KATT, said: “That era of Van Halen doesn’t get any respect, I don’t think. And there’s a lot of amazing songs and just obviously brilliant guitar playing on a lot of that – on all of that stuff – and I think people don’t give it a chance ’cause they fall into that just exhausting ‘this singer is better, this singer is better’ crap”.
Hagar became the lead singer of the band in 1984 following the departure of David Lee Roth. After staying with Van Halen for another decade, Hagar departed the band in 1996 after a falling out with Eddie Van Halen.
Wolfgang’s comments come after announcing an upcoming vinyl release of Van Halen’s live album Right Here: Right Now, which features Hagar on vocals. When asked about his involvement in the project, he deferred to his uncle Alex Van Halen, explaining: “I default to him on anything that he thinks is the right thing to do. But when it comes to decision-making or at least just kind of helping out, yeah, I am that sort of what would have been my dad’s vote for stuff there with Al”.
During Van Halen’s final tours, Wolfgang joined his father onstage, playing bass instead of original bassist Michael Anthony, who had other commitments playing with Hagar in other projects. The active members of Van Halen disbanded after Eddie’s passing in 2020.
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