Sammy Hagar is firing back at Alex Van Halen following a public rift between the two former bandmates. The former Van Halen singer addressed the ongoing tension that began after Alex called him a “complete idiot” when asked about Hagar’s 2011 book, “Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock.”
Hagar opened up about the situation, acknowledging his own role while pushing back on Alex’s dismissal of their shared history together in the band.
“Guilty as charged, first of all. I’m probably the most successful idiot on the planet,” Sammy Hagar said. “I want to call Alex out and say dude, we all know, you act like there was never a Sammy Hagar. You act like there was never a ‘Van Hagar.’ We sold 40 some million records, [had] four No. 1 albums and you just scratch that off of your brother’s legacy, saying no, that never happened.”
Hagar continued, expressing frustration over what he described as Alex’s refusal to acknowledge that era of the band.
“You don’t even want to acknowledge it. That’s deep. That’s weird. That’s not right, for Eddie, for me, for Mikey [longtime Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony], for anybody,” he said.
He went on to directly challenge Alex to explain the source of his apparent resentment.
“I’m asking Alex, like why? Come clean, what’s your problem? Just come out and say it. Is it the book? Say it. Cabo Wabo? Say it. Maybe if I knew what your problem was, I could fix it. But right now he just acts like there’s not a problem, it just never happened,” Hagar said.
The comments follow Alex Van Halen’s earlier remarks about Hagar’s book, in which he said, “I don’t know what he wrote, and I don’t want to know. In my opinion, Sammy Hagar is a complete idiot.”
This latest exchange did not happen in a vacuum. The dispute traces back to comments Alex Van Halen made earlier this month during an interview with Brazilian music journalist Marcelo Vieira for Roadie Crew magazine. He was asked directly about Hagar’s memoir and offered his blunt assessment of both the book and its author.
That interview reignited a rift that has simmered for years, one rooted in Hagar’s decision to revisit his tenure with Van Halen in unflinching detail through his 2011 memoir. The book chronicled his years fronting the band during the so-called “Van Hagar” era. That period produced some of the group’s biggest commercial successes and remains a defining, if contested, chapter of Van Halen’s legacy.
Hagar’s initial reaction to Alex’s “idiot” remark was notably more measured than his latest comments. He called the comment “so unnecessary at this time in our lives” and added, simply, “Peace already.” That signaled an attempt to defuse the tension before he escalated his response on Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk.
The “Van Hagar” years, spanning multiple platinum-selling albums and four chart-topping records, are central to the disagreement. Hagar’s insistence that this era be recognized as part of Van Halen’s story, alongside contributions from bassist Michael Anthony, underscores the deeper stakes of the feud beyond a single insult. The dispute touches on questions of legacy, recognition, and how the band’s history is told.
As of now, Alex Van Halen has not issued a further public response to Hagar’s latest challenge.
