Sammy Hagar Finally Tells Fans What He Really Thinks About Van Halen’s Roth Era

Throughout Van Halen’s legacy in the music industry, which lasted for decades, many credited the band for giving hard rock new life. And during that time, the band showcased their raw power when recording hits like “Hot For Teacher”, “Runnin’ With the Devil,” and “Panama.” But besides being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Van Halen had an interesting history, given that the band was often split into two eras – the Sammy Hagar era and the David Lee Roth era. With both singers leaving their mark on the band, Hagar recently discussed his thoughts on sharing the stardom with Roth. 

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Over the years, fans knew that Hagar wasn’t necessarily thrilled to perform songs from Roth. Carving his own spot in the history of Van Halen, the two did join forces in 2002 for the Song for Song, the Heavyweight Champs of Rock and Roll tour. Although sharing the stage, rumors suggested that tensions between Roth and Hagar were at an all-time high during that time. 

But now, with decades passing, Hagar had an entirely different outlook on Roth. He even started to add more songs from Roth into the lineup. And when it came to songs like “Runnin’ With the Devil”, he revealed, “Well, it’s like ‘Rock Candy’ to me, it just has it. You know, anybody can play it. It’s one of those cover songs. If I’m going to do a cover song, I like to do [things like] a Led Zeppelin song, or a Rolling Stones song that’s iconic, ‘Honky Tonk Women,’ or Led Zeppelin’s ‘Rock and Roll,’ or ‘Whole Lotta Love,’ [for example].”

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Caring little about his own legacy, Hagar seemed to only focus on the fans as he added, “You kick those songs off anywhere, anytime, anyplace, [with] any amount of people, any place in the world, and everybody is happy.”

As for another song Hagar liked to perform from the Roth era, he pointed to “Panama”, insisting, “‘Panama’ is my favorite. You know, that’s the one I want to sing. I don’t let Mikey (Michael Anthony) sing ‘Panama,’ because I like singing it. It’s a really fun song to play and sing. It’s badass. We add those songs to the set because we’re doing a lot of Van Halen stuff.”

With Hagar leaving the past in the past, it appeared the singer had finally found peace with the band’s history, embracing both eras of Van Halen as chapters of the same legendary story. No longer defined by rivalry, Hagar now celebrates the music that made them icons.

(Photo by KMazur/WireImage)