Sammy wants to open the Van Halen vaults.

[Nitro Express]

Here’s Sam trying to be the focal point of the VH legacy. Sam wants to open the vaults and record songs based on what’s there. Dr. Frankenstein Hagar wants to recreate Van Halen. He’s pushing 80 and looks like a fool. He thinks hot shot Joe can replicate Eddie. No wonder Alex wouldn’t give these asswipes the time of day. Good luck getting in that vault without the Van Halens. What a cock sucker. Wolf needs to tell him to fuck off.

[Terry]

From what you wrote, I'm assuming Hagar wants access to...what? Unfinished demo tracks from his years in the band, so he can go and complete the tracks? Or use the demos as the basis for new songs he can recut with other musicians playing the material that was played by the Van Halens on the demos?

Meh. I say, as long as it's material the band worked on during Hagar's time in the band, let him do it.

Clearly, I have no say in it one way or the other. From what I gather, Eddie didn't have a particular desire to release any of that stuff that didn't make it onto the albums the first time around. At least, that's the feeling I got from the sum total of what Eddie's kid had to say about all of it.

Yeah, it's cheesy on Hagar's part. Then again, what ISN'T cheesy on Hagar's part? What undertaking ever HASN'T been cheesy on Hagar's part? Cheesiness is something just baked into the cake where Hagar is concerned.

It's like, what else is Hagar gonna do? What else CAN Hagar do? If Hagar goes and tries to create new material with Anthony, Satriani and Bonham, nobody outside of Hagar's hardcore fan base is gonna give a shit. Because Anthony can't write a memorable rock tune. Satriani can't write a memorable rock tune (as opposed to some niche rock music aimed strictly at people who play rock guitar). Jason Bonham can't write a memorable rock tune. Hagar has written a few memorable if not exceptional rock tunes, but hasn't done so in decades. If those four guys put out new music they came up with all by themselves, it'll be in one ear and out the other. However, Hagar is smart enough to grasp the obvious in that if those four guys rework come old music Eddie Van Halen came up with the interest factor will increase tenfold...even if the vaulted music Ed originally came up with wasn't all that great and should have remained unreleased anyway.

Shit, the various peoples with access to the recorded works of Jimi Hendrix over the last 50 years have been putting out (and making money off of) 'new' Hendrix music with any bit of demo/home recording tape Hendrix managed to do before he died. I'd be willing to bet there are hundreds of hours of unreleased stuff Ed and the band did. Stuff varying from Ed futzing around by himself to demo tracks...tracks that only needed vocals...who the fuck knows?

One thing's for sure in that Hagar knows where the money is and he knows the best stuff he ever did was the stuff he did with Montrose and Van Halen.

[nick500]

I thought I had seen it all from Sammy, but this is just disgusting.
Grab bits and pieces and try to make new songs?
Wolfgang would be on board? Are you nuts?
Van Halen is over without Ed.
Now I know why Al hates this money grubbing prick.

[FORD]

Meanwhile from the current Chickenshit tour... or whatever he's calling this band.....

well... at least Satriani is a more passable fake Eddie than Vic the Busboy ever was.

[Nitro Express]

“I don’t think Alex is user-friendly,” Hagar said. “I don’t know why, but he’s just not.”

However, Hagar believes Eddie Van Halen’s son, Wolf, is receptive to releasing the music.

“If Al were user friendly, I would get with Al, and Wolfie and go in there, go through it, pick the pieces I could make a song out of, and write the lyrics and melody and make a song out of it, and piece it together. And yeah, get Mikey on board and go in there and we can have a Van Halen record. I guarantee you Eddie’s got a ton of stuff.”

Sammy continued: “But Alex would have to be involved. And of course Wolfie would be user friendly; Wolfie’s got no angst against nobody. He should be the happiest kid in the world right now, I’m so happy for him right now I can’t tell ya.”

[Nitro Express]

What this asshole is doing is trying to restart Van Halen. This guy is a shark and he knows just how bad the fans want what’s in the vaults and he’s going to try and exploit that. The thing is blood is thicker than water. Wolf ain’t going to go along. Sam. You will be 80 soon. Give it up. You aren’t going to steal the Van Halen legacy from Dave. That’s set in granite. You just show us all what you are and actually, Eddie was right about you. Like I said. Sammy just won’t go away.

[Nitro Express]

Well Alex has a ranch and says he’s into photography now. Ha! Ha! That’s a great FUCK YOU! To Sammy and Hot Sauce Boy. Sam’s ego is oh yeah Al? I’m going to get everything I want with Wolfie? Yeah. Good luck with that.

[Nitro Express]

I knew Hagar was a shark but not this lowdown. He would be digging Ed up to clone the DNA if he could. This is a sick individual.

[Silexxx]

I don't know, it seems that he hates that VH's last record was with Dave and not him. When Eddie was still alive Hagar claimed that those 3 BOBW compilation songs were "last real Van Halen songs" because "all" of ADKOT was just old material. Then Eddie died he claimed that Eddie appeared him in a dream and they wrote a song together and was going to give Eddie writing credit when releases that. And now it seems that he wants to finish some unreleased vault material so that he can say that he was the singer on last Van Halen record.

I don't think Eddie would want Al and Wolfie to release any song without his permission/final say if they are unfinished. Old demos and unreleased finished stuff, sure, but not if there's not even lyrics or vocals and it's just bits and pieces.

[Vinnie Velvet]

This once again shows and just solidifies what a piece of shit Hagar is.

The fact that he wants to go into the vaults, drag Alex out of retirement and work on music with bits of riffs and solos of Ed's parts and release a new Van Hagar record is disgusting.

It's no wonder Al wants nothing to do with this assclown. I'm sure Al had to bite his lip to do the Van Hagar reissues and the recent FUCK extended edition. Probably a record company thing anyway.

[Terry]

It's what all you guys have said...

It's this weird, bizarro mindset of Hagar's.

Like, does it really matter that much to anybody other than Hagar as to who the last singer of the band was before Eddie got sick/unable to tour anymore?

Does anybody think Dave 'won' because he was the last guy fronting the band?

I dunno...to me, the band's legend (or legacy or whatever) was already cemented by the time 1985 rolled around and Dave left. And whatever the band went on to be with Hagar, THAT was cemented by the time 1996 rolled around and Hagar left.

The last 20 or so years of the band when it was a (semi) working entity - from 1996 to 2015 - featured a lot of inactivity combined with some missteps and some highlights here and there. In retrospect, the best thing that happened to my mind is that Dave got together with the band for several stints and after a prolonged period of self-abuse Eddie eventually straightened himself out and remastered the instrument in terms of playing at a level consistent with the best of his previously demonstrated ability. The band ended on a largely positive note, rather than fading away after the Van Halen III stint or the 2004 tour, both of which are widely considered missteps.

Ed is gone.
Van Halen is over.

Somebody wants to release the recordings that haven't been released previously, fine.
What Sammy is wanting to do is just pick at and reassemble the carcass. Much along similar lines as Dave's bizarro re-recording of the CVH stuff and putting THAT out there for public consumption.

[Vinnie Velvet]

Although Al's book seems to be focused on his relationship and time with his brother ("Brothers" book coming out in October), I really hope he dishes out on his real feelings towards Fagar. Just lay into this asshat once and for all.

[nick500]

It's what all you guys have said...

It's this weird, bizarro mindset of Hagar's.

Like, does it really matter that much to anybody other than Hagar as to who the last singer of the band was before Eddie got sick/unable to tour anymore?

Does anybody think Dave 'won' because he was the last guy fronting the band?

I dunno...to me, the band's legend (or legacy or whatever) was already cemented by the time 1985 rolled around and Dave left. And whatever the band went on to be with Hagar, THAT was cemented by the time 1996 rolled around and Hagar left.

The last 20 or so years of the band when it was a (semi) working entity - from 1996 to 2015 - featured a lot of inactivity combined with some missteps and some highlights here and there. In retrospect, the best thing that happened to my mind is that Dave got together with the band for several stints and after a prolonged period of self-abuse Eddie eventually straightened himself out and remastered the instrument in terms of playing at a level consistent with the best of his previously demonstrated ability. The band ended on a largely positive note, rather than fading away after the Van Halen III stint or the 2004 tour, both of which are widely considered missteps.

Ed is gone.
Van Halen is over.

Somebody wants to release the recordings that haven't been released previously, fine.
What Sammy is wanting to do is just pick at and reassemble the carcass. Much along similar lines as Dave's bizarro re-recording of the CVH stuff and putting THAT out there for public consumption.

you are bang on.
It's been clear for a long time to anyone with half a brain, which apparently Hagar doesn't have,
that the Dave era is the better selling and more important era. It's obvious to any Van Halen fan.
That's the era that made Ed famous. Something Hagar is in denial of.
Look at the setlist on Sam's so called Best of All Worlds tour, a clever ploy to sell more tickets.
Is Runaround a classic track like Mean Street? Poundcake vs Unchained anyone?
The pickings are slim in the Hagar era. We all know it.
Hagar is still bitter that the guy who can't sing according to him, completely outdid him.
It's a relentless campaign by Hagar to become the "new" singer of a band that is gone.
it started the very next day after Ed passed away.
it is very sickening to watch a 77 year old guy, who has lost some of his vocal range and some of his brains, trying to do this.
I can't imagine Wolf agreeing to let this asshole rummage through all those tapes.

[Seshmeister]

Presumably this stuff will be the material that wasn't as good as Up for Breakfast?

[Nitro Express]

Sammy said Panama pissed him off because it was so good. He reveals his psychology with that statement. He's got a bit of a dictorial thing going. He's not satisfied he had some success with Van Halen. He wants all the glory. It's pretty sick. Why be pissed about a song you were not even around when it was written and recorded? Jealousy is being angry someone had some success. Envy is wanting to take away the success someone had. Envy is a dangerous emotion. Sam is full of envy at huge levels. He envys Dave's legacy. We are not dealing with a mentally healthy person here. The guy is worth tens of millions, he's managed to stay married to a good looking wife. His kids still seem to want to be around him still. But he's not happy. He puts that sugar coating on it but Sam wants to be THE VAN HALEN singer. It's crazy.