Sammy Hagar Labels Alex Van Halen’s Oversight of ‘Van Hagar’ Era in New Memoir ‘Blasphemy’

Sammy Hagar likely won’t be listing Alex Van Halen’s new memoir Brothers atop his favorite books of 2024.

Hagar, who fronted Van Halen from 1985 to 1996, and again from 2003 to 2005, took to social media to share his thoughts on the recent book from his former bandmate, labelling the omission of his time within the band as “blasphemy”.

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Published in October, Brothers largely focuses on the veteran California outfit’s first 12 years, effectively stopping the Van Halen story after the departure of vocalist David Lee Roth, and overlooking not only Hagar’s time as vocalist, but the temporary lineup featuring Gary Cherone, and their ultimate reunion with Roth.

“What happened after Dave left is not the same band,” Alex Van Halen told Billboard in October. “I’m not saying it was better or worse or any of that. The fact is Ed and I did our best work whenever we played. We always gave it our best shot. But the magic was in the first years, when we didn’t know what we were doing, when we were willing to try anything.”

Sharing a photo of himself and guitarist Eddie Van Halen from 1991 on Instagram earlier this week, Hagar began responding to comments on the post, including one who opined that “most purists believe VH ended with DLR”.

“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,” Hagar responded. “That never happened again.”

IVan Halen experienced some of their biggest successes with their album 1984, which featured the Hot 100-topping single “Jump”, would peak at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and become their highest charting release of the Roth era. Their next album, 1986’s 5150, was their first released with Hagar on vocals, and was the first of four consecutive No. 1 albums released with Hagar at the helm.

Continuing his response, Hagar contended that Alex Van Halen was doing both the band and his late brother a disservice by leaving the era out of the memoir.

“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,” Hagar continued. “To not acknowledge [those] 10 years of music is blasphemy to his brother’s musicianship, songwriting and legacy.”

Despite his harsh words regarding Alex Van Halen’s book, Hagar recently told Rolling Stone it’s “on [his] bucket list” that he and his former bandmate are able to make peace at some point.

“I understand he probably couldn’t have done the whole era in one book. It would’ve been the Bible, the dictionary, so maybe he’s got plans for a Volume 2. Who knows?” said Hagar.

“I want to be friends, though. I don’t want to play in a band with Al. I’m not asking for that. I can see that he’s not capable of doing that. If he was, I’d be happy to play with him, but it’s not what I’m looking for. I just want to friends again.”

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