Sammy Hagar talked about Van Halen’s ‘Balance’ in a new video on Instagram.
“Sammy here, this is for the ‘Balance’ record,” the singer said on the Van Hagar / Other Half Instagram account. “That record has the comedy and tragedy effect, you know, the double-edged sword, the good and the bad. I think it’s one of the most soulful records, with vocal performance, lyrics, and everything else that I’ve ever done in my life.”
He went on to talk about the album, “Right up there with ‘Marching to Mars’ for being pretty much a statement of where I was at that time in my life, but not really a great place. That was the end of it for Van Halen. I knew it; we all knew it within the inner circles, and it was kind of a painful thing. Eddie and I were not getting along.”
“God bless Bruce Fairbairn for producing that record and squeezing it out of us. He had to pull me out of the studio and take me up to Bryan Adams’ studio in Vancouver, where Kari [Karte, Hagar’s wife] and I lived for six weeks, finishing up the lyrics and getting all those vocals done,” the Red Rocker further shared.
Hagar added, “Vocal performances like ‘Don’t Tell Me (What Love Can Do)’ and ‘Can’t Stop Lovin’ You.’ Those were, I don’t know, when I hear myself sing those songs, I just got to go, ‘Wow.’ My heart was bleeding through my voice. But all in all, it had some good songs on it; it was not a happy record. The darkest Van Halen record ever for my time in the band.”
‘Balance’ is Van Halen’s tenth album, released on January 24, 1995. It is the last album with Hagar as the lead singer and the final one with bassist Michael Anthony.
After releasing ‘Balance,’ Van Halen toured with Bon Jovi in Europe. The tour was called the ‘Ambulance Tour’ because of health issues: Hagar had throat problems, Eddie hurt his hip, and Alex wore a neck brace due to a back injury, via Ultimate Classic Rock.
