Sammy Hagar has revealed the surprising origin story behind his classic anthem “There’s Only One Way to Rock.” He shared the full account in a recent video posted on Instagram.
Hagar explained that the song was born out of frustration after a San Francisco radio station refused to air his earlier track for being too heavy — only for a lighter version by Rick Springfield to become a radio hit. He also revealed that the song holds a special place in Van Halen history, as it was the only solo track Eddie Van Halen truly loved performing with him.
“There is only one way to rock,” Hagar said. “This radio station in San Francisco back in, I guess, about 1982, called themselves the Rock of the Bay. I was a local artist that had written a song called ‘I’ve Done Everything for You’ and was trying to get it on the radio, and they would say ‘Oh, it’s too heavy.’ Then Rick Springfield does it a little bit lighter and it gets on the radio for everybody.”
Hagar went on to describe how that rejection directly inspired the creation of the song.
“So, they wouldn’t play it, so I wrote this song called ‘One Way to Rock’ and say ‘You call yourselves the rock of the bay, [but] there ain’t no…'” he continued. “Writing that song, it was just all about writing that riff. Songs like that just write themselves. Sometimes you just pick up your guitar [plays the chorus again].”
He then reflected on the song’s legacy within Van Halen, highlighting Eddie Van Halen’s particular affection for it.
“Of all my solo songs, Van Halen played this song in every set,” Hagar said. “Eddie loved this song. We had a real cool arrangement, we did a dual solo. All that. I love this song. This and ‘Rock Candy’ I think are just classic hard rock songs.”
The remarks offer a rare behind-the-scenes look at the creative and personal dynamics that shaped some of rock’s most enduring anthems.
The song’s enduring place in Van Halen’s live shows is well documented. Its history with the band stretches back to the earliest days of the Hagar era — a period that began in a remarkably public fashion.
As Van Halen News Desk reported, the first public onstage performance by Sammy Hagar and Eddie Van Halen together took place at Farm Aid on September 22, 1985. They played a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” backed by Hagar’s solo band. Eddie then launched into an unaccompanied guitar solo, and Hagar announced immediately after that he was joining Van Halen — marking the official and very public start of their professional partnership.
From that point on, “There’s Only One Way to Rock” became a staple of the band’s live sets. The dual guitar dynamic Hagar described in his Instagram video was very much on display for audiences night after night. A well-known live recording on YouTube showed that Van Halen regularly featured a guitar duel between Hagar and Eddie Van Halen that led directly into “One Way to Rock,” turning the song into an extended live showcase rather than just a standard setlist entry.
The track’s live legacy was also preserved for posterity. A recording released via Rhino/Warner Records captured a live version of “There’s Only One Way to Rock” at New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum on August 27, 1986. It was later officially issued, with Eddie Van Halen credited on lead guitar and Hagar on lead vocals — a testament to how central the song had become to the band’s live identity during the 5150 era.
Taken together, these details paint a fuller picture of why Hagar holds the song in such high regard. What began as a defiant response to a radio snub ultimately became one of the defining live moments of his time with Van Halen — a song that not only captured Eddie’s enthusiasm but gave the two guitarists a nightly platform to showcase their chemistry in front of thousands of fans.
