In a new video shared on Sammy Hagar’s YouTube channel, Hagar and Michael Anthony recalled the moment Hagar clicked with the band. The duo sat down to discuss Van Halen’s seventh studio album, ‘5150,’ and recalled the bassist’s first days.
Anthony shared the recording days for ‘5150’ and revealed that in the beginning, he did not speak to Hagar at all:
“I remember sitting for ‘5150’ at the studio in the control room myself, and we’re all kind of going, and Eddie [Van Halen] had been talking, but Alex [Van Halen] and I hadn’t talked to Sammy at all. He came walking through the door, just cut all of his hair out from his last tour. He was [like], ‘What, you’re gonna take a break, right? You’re ready to take some extended break?’ I was gonna take a year off, I was like, ‘Whoa, hey!’ Sammy’s walking around expecting us to be all drugged out and everything else, and I was expecting this long-haired guy to come walking in whatever, and he has no hair.”
With the upcoming ideas for new music, the two musicians started to bond over the song, ‘Summer Nights.’ Hagar continued:
“But as soon as we started playing music, we had the ideas, the ideas were already down for good enough and ‘Summer Nights,’ and I still have the cassette somewhere. We put the cassette in, Donn Landee put the cassette in, Donn was there. We started recording and started playing. Good enough, Sammy started singing, and I swear to God, there’s a lot of lyrics that ended up in the final of that song.”
The duo then explained ‘Summer Nights’ getting liked by everybody else and was even jokingly offered to form a new band. Anthony then revealed his plan with late Eddie Van Halen:
“I was thinking, ‘Well, I’m gonna check these guys out but I’d probably just get Eddie to play on my next record if he is not doing anything and I had no idea.”
Although, according to Hagar, Anthony only came down to have a good laugh, his plan eventually changed:
“I was thinking that, but I wasn’t thinking I was gonna be joining Van Halen.”
After appearing in the studio with the band, the rocker was asked to join the band. ‘5150’ marked his first album as a part of Van Halen, followed by three more until his departure. Later, he was eventually replaced by the late guitarist’s son, Wolfgang Van Halen. After the passing away of Eddie, he was called back to the band for a tribute show.
See the video below.
