SAMMY HAGAR: DAVID LEE ROTH ‘Refuses To Acknowledge That VAN HALEN With Me Was More Successful Than With Him’

Sammy Hagar

In a new interview with Planet Rock, Sammy Hagar says that David Lee Roth “refuses to acknowledge” that VAN HALEN “was even more successful” during Sammy‘s tenure with the band.

The singer said when asked about the so-called “rivalry” between him and Dave: “I don’t respect Dave‘s artistry, but I do think he’s clever and a great showman and what he did with VAN HALEN in the early days was fantastic. VAN HALEN couldn’t have made it without him.

“God bless Dave, but he refuses to acknowledge that VAN HALEN with me was even more successful than VAN HALEN with him, and that’s very stupid of him. That’d be like me not acknowledging what he did for the band before I joined: that would be stupid wouldn’t it?”

Hagar also spoke about the circumstances that led to the end of his first stint with the band:

“We had eight years of [huge success], and then suddenly people in the band started changing… and it wasn’t me and it wasn’t Mike [Anthony, bass].”

“The ‘Balance’ record was like pulling teeth, things got very dysfunctional by then. Drugs and alcohol and insecurity and bad management killed that band.”