SAMMY HAGAR Slams ALEX VAN HALEN - "To Not Acknowledge 10 Years Of Music Is Blasphemy To His Brother’s Musicianship, Songwriting And Legacy"
January 2, 2025, 2 days ago
Sammy Hagar has hit out at Alex Van Halen skipping the “Van Hagar” era of Van Halen in the latter’s recent memoir, Brothers, reports NME.
Released in October, Brothers chronicles the famed Californian band’s first 12 years, ending before the departure of vocalist David Lee Roth. The memoir also omits Hagar’s time with the band, the temporary line-up with Gary Cherone and their eventual reunion with Roth.
Hagar, who fronted Van Halen twice – between 1985 and 1996 and again from 2003 to 2005, took to social media to share his thoughts on Brothers, and why he thinks his omission from the memoir is “blasphemy”.
Earlier this week, Hagar took to Instagram to post a photo from 1991 of himself with Eddie Van Halen. Responding to a fan who commented that “most purists believe [Van Halen] ended with [David Lee Roth]”, Hagar wrote: “It could have [ended], my friend, but instead we went on to sell over 50 million records for [a] No. 1 album [then] sold out every building and stadium in the world for a whole decade. That never happened again.”
Hagar went on to continue: “Alex is not doing his brother’s musical legacy justice by not acknowledging all the No. 1 albums and some great music Eddie and I wrote together — not Alex — but Eddie and I wrote together. To not acknowledge [those] 10 years of music is blasphemy to his brother’s musicianship, songwriting and legacy.”
Read more at NME.com
Alex Van Halen's "Brothers" memoir is out now. As an exclusive bonus, fans who order direct from Van Halen Store will receive their exclusive photo print collection of the young Van Halen brothers (four 4" x 6" photos, suitable for framing). Order here.
In this intimate and open account - nothing like any rock-and-roll memoir you've ever read - Alex Van Halen shares his personal story of family, friendship, music, and brotherly love in a remarkable tribute to his beloved brother and bandmate.
Told with acclaimed New Yorker writer Ariel Levy, Brothers is seventy-year-old drummer Alex Van Halen's love letter to his younger brother, Edward (Maybe "Ed," but never "Eddie"), written while still mourning his untimely death.
In his rough yet sweet voice, Alex recounts the brothers' childhood, first in the Netherlands and then in working-class Pasadena, California, with an itinerant musician father and a very proper Indonesian-born mother—the kind of mom who admonished her boys to "always wear a suit" no matter how famous they became—a woman who was both proud and practical, nonchalant about taking a doggie bag from a star-studded dinner. He also shares tales of musical politics, infighting, and plenty of bad-boy behavior. But mostly, his is a story of brotherhood, music, and enduring love.
"I was with him from day one," Alex writes. "We shared the experience of coming to this country and figuring out how to fit in. We shared a record player, an 800-square-foot house, a mom and dad, and a work ethic. Later, we shared the back of a tour bus, alcoholism, the experience of becoming famous, of becoming fathers and uncles, and of spending more hours in the studio than I've spent doing anything else in this life. We shared a depth of understanding that most people can only hope to achieve in a lifetime.”
There has never been an accurate account of them or the band, and Alex wants to set the record straight on Edward's life and death.
"Brothers" includes never-before-seen photos from the author's private archive.
"A chronicle of family and talent and the passion to create ... the definitive take on Edward Van Halen's life and death from the one who knew and loved him best." - Brothers editor, Sara Nelson
The full 6-minute version of "Unfinished", the final song that Edward and Alex Van Halen wrote together is now available for download at Van-Halen.com. The song is featured in the audiobook version of Brothers.
