Sammy Hagar Reveals Surprising Wish About David Lee Roth

Remembering Old Rivalries

Sammy Hagar recently appeared on Trunk Nation on SiriusXM and spoke openly about his longtime rival, David Lee Roth. Hagar surprised many fans by saying he would like to be friends with Roth. Their history goes back to 1985, when Hagar replaced Roth as Van Halen’s frontman, creating a public rivalry that lasted decades.

Hagar explained that his new song, “Encore, Thank You, Good Night,” was inspired by a dream of the late Eddie Van Halen. Roth reacted to the story during a concert in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, last month. “One of my esteemed colleagues, he’s a contemporary, he’s got a great voice, he’s got a great catalog. You all know Sammy Hagar, right? He’s got a great voice,” Roth told the crowd before sharing a story about Eddie visiting him in a hotel room.

A Rare Compliment

Hagar said he was caught off guard by Roth’s remarks. “Dave never does stuff like that. Like to me it was like, ‘Wow, Dave actually became cool for a minute about me.’ You know? And I think him and I can be friends. I mean, honestly, I would love to be friends with Dave,” Hagar admitted.

He added that Roth’s unpredictable nature makes him someone fun to be around. “He is the wackiest guy. I mean, he would be a blast, in my opinion, he would be a blast to hang with, you know what I mean? Get on a boat and go cruising around on the islands or something with that guy and some of our friends and stuff. I mean, we’ve got so much in common and so much history together. If you think about it, we both spent 10 years of our lives with Van Halen, Eddie and Alex Van Halen. You know, Eddie Van Halen, right? I mean, we wrote songs with them, there’s so much that we could be, we have in common.”

Shared History and Respect

Hagar recognized their differences but believes that makes a friendship possible. “And you know, we’re totally two different kinds of people, but that’s what makes it fun,” he said. He also praised Roth’s storytelling: “He’s a great storyteller. So the guy gets up there and tells his story a little bit more elaborate. You know, we smoked Marlboro, you know, a ghost cigarette together. You know, he’s a good storyteller. And I just thought it was wonderful that he actually said that. And he actually said, ‘You know Sammy Hagar, the guy’s got a great voice’ or something like that, you know? He said, ‘He’s got a good catalog.’ Whoa. Dave, right on. Me too, brother. I feel this, you know, they had to invent the clickbait that killed me. It just killed me that they actually tried to make a negative outta that for once, when there was a positive between the two of us, you know?”

No Hard Feelings

Hagar made it clear that he holds no grudges. “I got no problem with Dave and what he’s doing. I’ve said it to my publicist, to everyone, you know, people always asking, ‘What do you think about this? Give me a comment about Dave’s, you know, these people that are posting all these crazy stuff from his shows out there. What do you comment?’ I said, ‘I would never negative comment, man.’”

He went on to compliment Roth’s dedication to fans. “The guy’s got the balls to go out there and do it and do it for the fans. He’s not doing it for money. Dave’s got plenty of money for God’s sakes. You know what I mean? Van Halen, nobody in Van Halen’s broke. And he’s doing it because he loves it, you know, and he looks like he’s having a good time. He’s got a pretty good band. There ain’t no question about that.”

Praise for Roth’s Show

Hagar even gave Roth credit for keeping Van Halen’s signature harmonies alive. “The smartest thing, I even told him this in a, I sent him a note about it when we had that little Instagram comment thing, I sent him a personal note and said, ‘Hey, smartest thing you ever do is get them background singers.’”

He explained why those vocals matter: “Those choruses in Van Halen are the most important part, besides Eddie’s guitar playing, some of the most important parts of that music to those fans. They love singing along to those songs. And you got those guys singing it, and they sound good singing it, you know, and it’s like, I think it was a good move. If he can’t do it, get somebody that can do it and just go out there and do your thing, whatever. Anyway, I’m all cool with Dave. I just want to make that straight and clear, you know.”