Sammy Hagar Explains How Conflict With Eddie Van Halen Started
via The Howard Stern Show / Youtube
Sammy Hagar explained the reason behind the end of his friendship with Eddie Van Halen.
On the most recent episode of The Howard Stern Show, Hagar had an appearance together with the boys he will be doing his upcoming tour with. Aside from announcing the news about doing The Best of World tour next year, Hagar also spilled the reason behind him and Eddie Van Halen going separate ways.
As per Stern, the two of them had an amazing bond, almost perfect, that’s why he couldn’t believe it would come to an end. Hagar, who agreed to Stern, said “It was 100% (perfect) for nine years.”
Hagar explained that during the 10th year of the band, everything started to fall apart, especially when their manager died. A new manager came in and tried to poison Eddie’s mind, saying that “Sammy thinks it’s his band,” causing trouble inside Van Halen. It took them time to realize that Hagar was right all this time and decided to kick this new manager out.
Apart from that, Stern pointed out one other factor that may have caused Hagar’s departure from the band. Stern mentioned Eddie’s alcohol addiction and compared it to Hagar’s father. When asked by Stern if he sees his father in Eddie, Hagar defended:
“Well he had addiction problems like my father, but Eddie wasn’t violent. You know that was the only great beautiful thing about Eddie. When we’d get drunk, we’d end up crying together.”
He explained that growing up with people who have drug and alcohol addiction problems, you’ll know what’s good and not. It’s easy for him to identify which one is being done in moderation and which is considered as something alarming. He added that when EVH was no longer doing his job properly, that was the time when he stepped in. When he came to his senses and thought that EVH wouldn’t change, he did what he was supposed to do, he left Van Halen.
The two may have been distant from each other for years, but the band found its way back together when they heard about EVH being sick. Hagar said that if only he had known Eddie’s condition, he would have been more compassionate about him. Although it was too late, he was thankful that time mended their broken friendship.
