Alex Van Halen sheds light on the volatile dynamic between David Lee Roth and the VAN HALEN brothers in his book Brothers. He explains why Roth decided to leave the band following the commercial success of Jump and 1984.
“He couldn’t handle the fact that Eddie was getting more attention than he was,” Alex wrote in his book. “He kept asking Eddie to play fewer guitar solos. Dave was convinced he was going to be a movie star.”
Despite everything that has happened in both the recent and distant past, Alex previously told Billboard he’s “not angry at all with Dave.”
“He was one of the three main components of the band,” Alex said. “At the time we didn’t recognize it because we were constantly battling things out. That’s why I mentioned [in the book] that the first person I called when Ed died was Dave because I felt like I owed him that, to the work we had done together and the fact that our families knew each other and the fact that everybody was sort of on the same level, if you will, when we first started.
“I don’t know where things went wrong…I have nothing but the utmost respect for Dave and his work ethic. I just think some of his choices were really strange to me, but that’s not my job to figure it out.”
Brothers, the 384-page memoir by Alex Van Halen, is now available in audiobook format. The audiobook features an exclusive, previously unreleased track titled “Unfinished,” composed by Alex and his brother, the legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen. This final collaboration between the two brothers can be heard as Alex narrates his life story.
Published by HarperCollins on October 22, the audiobook is priced at $32.00.
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