On this day (June 26) in 1996, Van Halen announced that they were parting ways with frontman Sammy Hagar. He had been in the band since 1985 and had helmed four consecutive No. 1 albums, giant tours, and hit singles. However, behind-the-scenes tensions finally came to a head in early June 1996. The band publicly announced the split nearly two weeks later.
Hagar and Eddie Van Halen started butting heads during the sessions for Balance, their final album to feature the Red Rocker. The tension between the two didn’t lessen while touring in support of the album. The death of the band’s longtime manager, Ed Leffler, and Hagar’s shaky relationship with Ray Daniels, who replaced Leffler, made things worse.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Hagar explained that conversations surrounding a Van Halen greatest-hits collection took tensions to a new level. “We’re not a greatest-hits kind of band,” he said. “We made great albums and sold out concerts all over the world, and we do not need to rely on the past. We spent 11 years trying to bury the past and make the music different and expand and grow,” he explained.
Ultimate Classic Rock points out that Hagar was also working on new music for a solo greatest hits compilation. This added more fuel to the fire.
Van Halen Booted Sammy Hagar Over the Phone
Eddie Van Halen called Sammy Hagar on Father’s Day, June 16, 1996. Their conversation decided the future of the band. Predictably, the two rock stars told slightly different stories about the interaction.
Eddie shared his side of the story in an interview with Guitar World later that year. “I said, ‘Sam, if you want to make another record or do another tour, you’ve got to be a team player. Van Halen is a band–not the Sammy Hagar show, not the Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, or Michael Anthony show,” he said. He then recalled that Hagar admitted that he was frustrated and wanted to go back to being a solo artist.
That was the end of Van Hagar. “I said, ‘Well, you can’t be in a band and do that, too, so see ya.’ I didn’t fire him. He just quit.”
During his interview with the Times, Hagar says he was told, “You’re a solo artist in this band, so you might as well really be a solo artist.”
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if he was fired or quit the band. The outcome was the same. Ten days after that phone call, the band publicly announced the end of an incredibly successful era.
Featured Image by Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
The post On This Day in 1996, Van Halen Announced the End of Van Hagar, Set the Stage for a Short Lived Original Lineup Reunion appeared first on American Songwriter.
Go To Source | Author: Clayton Edwards
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