Former Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar recently gave an interview to Rolling Stone and revealed that being called a member of Van Halen once embarrassed him.
Sammy Hagar rose to prominence and achieved significant commercial success after replacing David Lee Roth in Van Halen in 1985. The band released successful hits and four multi-platinum albums during the Hagar era. In 1996, Hagar decided to leave due to personal conflicts with the Van Halen brothers. However, he returned to the band in 2003.
In July 2004, Van Halen released a double CD compilation titled ‘The Best Of Both Worlds,’ which featured three new songs with Hagar. They then embarked on the Summer 2004 tour together. Eddie was struggling with alcohol addiction then, and his improper behavior ended up causing issues within the band. As a result, Hagar left in 2005 to return to his solo band, the Waboritas.
The issues between Hagar and the Van Halens were resolved, but Eddie passed away, and Van Halen split. As of now, Hagar continues playing with his band, the Circle, and fans expect a VH reunion. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Hagar looked back at his stint with the band and said he once felt embarrassed to say he was a Van Halen member.
According to Hagar, Eddie was in bad shape, but VH was still rocking the stages with David Lee Roth around six or seven years ago. When somebody described him as a Van Halen member, he would intervene and tell them to call him only by his name. As Hagar said, this was because Roth and Eddie were doing crazy things, so being a Van Halen member seemed like a ‘black mark.’
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Sammy Hagar said the following:
“There was a time when I was embarrassed to say I was in Van Halen. About six or seven years ago, when they were out with Dave, Ed was still really in bad shape. They were out there making a lot of noise as Van Halen.
Somebody would say, ‘Sammy Hagar from Van Halen.’ And I would go, ‘Hey, hey. Just Sam Hagar. That’s enough.’ I wanted people to know, but it was almost like it was a black mark because Roth was doing crazy stuff, and Ed was doing crazy stuff. I didn’t want anyone to think that I was Diamond Dave.”
Due to the bad blood between him and Diamond Dave, Sammy Hagar didn’t want anyone to think that he was Roth. Moreover, Hagar argued that Roth and Eddie were acting crazy back then, so he didn’t want to be associated with any of that.
