Former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar recently talked to Ultimate Classic Rock about his ‘Standing Hampton’ era. Apparently, the musician has enough songs for an entire album from then but cannot use them because they were recorded on cassette tapes.
‘Standing Hampton‘ is the sixth studio album of the Red Rocker, released on January 6, 1982. It was his first album to achieve RIAA certification when it was first released, and five of its singles charted in either the mainstream rock or pop singles charts. The album itself climbed at No. 28 on US Billboard 200 as well.
The record became one of the most significant points in Hagar’s career as it was regarded as Hagar’s best solo work. He was also praised by numerous magazines for his other albums such as ‘Three Lock Box,’ ‘Sammy Hagar,’ ‘I Never Said Goodbye,’ and many more.
During a recent interview, Sammy Hagar revealed an unknown truth about his ‘Standing Hampton’ era. The rocker stated that there are at least 20 songs recorded on cassette tapes from that time. He also remembered the names of some of the songs, including ‘Me and My Woman’ and ‘Saturday Night in the USA.’
While many of his fans would love to hear those tracks, all of which could form an album, Sammy Hagar stated that there probably isn’t a machine that would play the cassette tapes. Therefore, the musician is too afraid to play them because he may lose them for good. Still, a professional might find a way to bring them back to life.
Hagar’s statement about the tapes follows:
“The problem is that it’s probably on frickin’ cassette tapes, you know. Or maybe a DAT tape and I don’t think there’s a machine that would play it. If I found an old cassette tape that said it had 10 songs that I’ve never heard on it, I’d be scared to death to play it, because I’d lose it! It would be like. ‘Oh no, it ate the fucker!’ So I don’t know. I’d probably go to a professional and have it baked, and all of that stuff.”
There was 20 songs minimum to be recovered from the tapes, maybe more. God, I used to just write all of the time. I mean, I can think of some now. A song called ‘Me and My Woman’ right off the top of my head. ‘Saturday Night in the USA’ is one that was pretty cool. All of these almost made a record. It’s crazy, you’ve got me thinking now.”
While it’s dangerous to play the cassette tapes since they are currently forty years old, it’s also possible for a professional to turn them into a format that can be used, just like Hagar said. If he were to succeed at bringing those tracks alive, his fans would most likely jump on the idea of having an album that was recorded four decades ago.
