Latest Bass Player Interview

[DrMaddVibe]

i thought this site was for like minded people whom enjoy individual retirement accounts...

Or a glazed donut...and a bottle of anything...to go.o.o.o.o.o.o....

[Terry]

I like the review of his book on Amazon by someone called TruthTeller...


1) Page 54: "...the first Montrose album has sold more than 4 million records over the years." According to the RIAA, it's certified just ONE million. (Worldwide sales are barely more than USA sales for all Hagar's albums).

2) PAGE 78: I sold out the Oakland Coliseum that Fourth of July [1980]. He fails to mention that he was on the bill with 4 other bands, three of which were hugely popular at the time: Blue Oyster Cult, REO Speedwagon, and Triumph, (and also Randy Hanson). Hagar conveniently implies he sold it out by himself.

3) PAGE 80: [In 1982]: "We went out on tour, headlining arenas, double nights in a lot of places." From my years working in concert promotion at Electric Factory in Philly in the 80s (a huge concert promoter back then), I have the list of Sammy's 1982 tour dates straight from Pollstar. There was only ONE city listed where he played twice: San Francisco. Again, he is lying through his fake teeth.

4-7) Page 90 contains one incredible paragraph that is the biggest pile of BS I'(tm)ve ever read relating to Van Halen in my life!:

"The tour for VOA was my most successful. I sold out arenas everywhere, two, three, or four nights some places, one of the top grossing tours in 1984-right up there with Van Halen, who broke at the same time with Jump and all that. I remember getting an award in Portland, Oregon. I sold out two nights and got the Show of the Year. Van Halen was runner-up. We were neck-and-neck on the road. My album was 1.6 million, but they ended up selling 10 million records."

4) "VAN HALEN 'BROKE' WITH JUMP IN 1984"?? How he belittles VH's earlier success! I was under the impression that they broke in 1978, when they exploded with their earth-shattering debut, rewriting the rules for rock music and sold 2 million copies right out of the gate! Ed was winning every guitar player award in site. In only their first year, VH far eclipsed everything that Montrose & Hagar ever did. Everyone was talking about VH in '78, and NO ONE was talking about Hagar or Montrose.

5) "I SOLD OUT ARENAS EVERYWHERE, TWO, THREE, FOUR NIGHTS IN SOME PLACES, ONE OF THE TOP GROSSING TOURS IN 1984-RIGHT UP THERE WITH VAN HALEN".

6) "We [VH and Hagar in 1984] were neck-and-neck on the road." On what planet? Anyone who was alive during the 80s knows that Van Halen was infinitely more popular than Hagar. Perhaps Hagar was the only person on EARTH who didn't see it that way. In 1984, Van Halen was through the stratosphere - their tour absolutely dwarfed all other rock band's tours, especially Hagar's.

7) "I remember getting an award in Portland, Oregon. I sold out two nights and got the Show of the Year." Again, from my years working in concert promotion, I have here Sammy's 1982 tour dates. He played ONE night in Portland, Oregon, on 3/19/82, at the Memorial Coliseum. The dates before and after were both in Washington. No other Portland dates.

8 ) Page 113: "Before I joined the band, Van Halen didn't have a particularly tight show. Roth would talk. They'd do another song. Ed would play a 20 minute guitar solo. They would do another song. Roth would talk some more, another song, Al would do a drum solo for 30 minutes. On the 1984 tour...they were doing 8 songs in a 2 hour show. They ended every song the same way."

Any fan who reads this who either saw Van Halen before Sammy joined, or owns ANY amount of old Van Halen bootlegs, knows that every single thing Sammy said in that paragraph is complete bulls***. EVH's solo was always around 10 minutes. Alex's was always 3-4 minutes. They always did 16 songs, not counting solos. VH was a well-oiled machine, a stellar production, and tightly choreographed - the exact opposite of what Sam describes. Again, he is shamelessly rewriting history to try to diminish what Van Halen was before he joined.

9) Page 121: aeThe record [Sammy's solo album "I Never Said Goodbye"] went platinum immediately.

As of today, 4/26/11, it has only been certified Gold status. It's never been Platinum, and certainly not immediately.

10) Page 122: "We [VH in 1986] were selling out four nights in arenas anywhere." Although the 5150 tour was a smashing success, and they occasionally would sell 2, 3 or even 4 nights in certain cities, the band played ONE night vast majority of cities. Also, the 5150 tour wasn't as big as the 1984 tour, which had the band playing one additional night in several cities than they were on the 5150 tour.

11) Page 173: aeThe fans went against Roth. He died a quick death as a solo artist.

I would say that most current VH fans are under the impression that Hagar's solo career has been more successful than Roth's. However, if you want to measure the success with ALBUM SALES, Roth's solo career has actually been more successful than Hagar's! Roth's first 3 albums went Platinum (Crazy From The Heat in 85, Eat 'Em And Smile in 86, and Skyscraper in 87). Hagar, however, never had could match that success - he never had 3 consecutive Platinum solo albums... just 3 consecutive GOLD albums, and then later in 1987 released another one that only went gold, with the help of Eddie playing bass. Hagar's solo career simply was never as big as Roth's was in the 80s.

12) Page 222: When Irving Azoff told Hagar that the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame wanted to induct Van Halen, but only the Roth-version of the band, Hagar says, "aeI went nuts on Irving. I was in the band longer than Roth. He was in Van Halen seven years. I was with them eleven years. I sold more records than he did. How could they do that to me?"

He is wrong on both counts. Roth was in VH for 12 years (74-85) and VH sold twice as many albums with Roth than with Hagar. (See published figures at RIAA.com).

13) Page 234: Sammy says that, before he joined VH, "I was selling out multiple arenas, had five platinum albums in a row on Geffen, and I was ripe to join Van Halen when they asked..."

I already went over the "multiple arenas" bull. As for "5 platinum albums in a row on Geffen"? He had only 3 Geffen albums! And none were platinum!

1981 Standing Hampton -" Gold as of 1985.

1982 Three Lock Box - Gold to this day.

1984 V.O.A. "Gold as of mid-1985.

Those are all the major lies that I can detect, just as a fan. I can'(tm)t even imagine how many more lies are in the book that the fans would have no way of detecting.

Hagar wants all the fans to think that he was hugely successful BEFORE he joined VH, as if joining them wasn'(tm)t necessarily the thing that catapulted his career. In countless interviews, he states that his solo albums were going platinum before VH.

This is all a lie. In reality, NONE of his solo albums were platinum by the time he joined VH in mid-1985. Sure, as of 2011, 3 of his albums have gone platinum (Montrose, Standing Hampton, and V.O.A.). But Hampton didn't go platinum 'till 1992, V.O.A. didn't go platinum until Nov. 85, and Montrose didn't until many years later, either.

Useful to see all that info laid out like that. When I read his book and he was talking about how wildly successful his solo career was prior to joining Van Halen, I was like "I don't recall Sammy Hagar being a huge commercial success prior to joining Van Halen." He was a moderate success, but nowhere near approaching what Van Halen was doing when Roth was was in the band.
Hagar just deludes himself that it was Van Halen who were only moderately successful prior to his joining...the old "5150 went number #1, and was the first Van Halen album to do so, therefore Van Halen were more successful when I joined" bullshit.
In truth, the guy had a career that was nothing to be ashamed of in terms of sales. Why he still feels the need to ridiculously inflate his record sales is beyond me: I suppose it's because nobody ever calls him on his bullshit.
Like, in 2002, Hagar was saying how "Roth dragged himself out of the gutter" to do the Sam and Dave tour, and how after the tour was over "[Roth] will be right back where he was the previous summer" and I'm thinking "was Sammy Hagar filling 10-15,000 seat arenas on his own between 1996 and 2002?"

[Seshmeister]

I'm surprised at how many people read that book - I had no interest.

To me the fact that he has always been is such a liar made it pointless reading.

[DLR Bridge]

I just went to Amazon to see this write up in the flesh and all I got was a steaming pile of shit from the mindless skulls of Hagar backers, praising his meteoric Cinderella story of a career. Sadly, as Terry points out, the fact that no DJ or interviewer or columnist ever called him out on the lies has allowed him the ability to make the majority of them stick, especially in the minds of the lazy casual fan's of Van Halen who simply went with the ebb and flow of whatever the band did from '85 on. In a sense, Ed (no thanks to his mechanic, Claudio) gave birth to all of these numb nutted casual fans who actually think a singer may be a more qualified fit for the band by the fact that he can shriek "higher and higher" in a song called Dreams while doing jumping jacks on stage. This is where it becomes a fucking sin that official video footage of the 6 pack tours remains unreleased. The lazy dumb shits of the world are all too thrilled to watch their Van Hagar Live (not really) Right Here Right Now because they were able to go out and buy it!! Now just imagine these same schmucks suddenly getting to see Dave launch 18 feet in the air, belt out notes Sam only dreamt of hitting all while performing a well choreographed show with a band that was totally on board with the direction he was leading them in. They'd realize right quickly that they've settled for flavorless, light beer all of these years and would now heavily enjoy their new found, high octane, CVH brew until they drowned in it! Now if only this damn footage would surface already. The fact that it's collecting dust on a vault shelf somewhere is the crux of the matter I'm afraid.

[DLR Bridge]

I'm surprised at how many people read that book - I had no interest.

To me the fact that he has always been is such a liar made it pointless reading.

It's a "know your enemy" thing I s'pose. It solidified my disdain for him, that's for sure. I actually never hated him until I read it, to be quite honest. Way back when the book was first advertised, I thought it might be interesting to see how his time in Montrose came and went and why the HSAS project was a one and done when there was clearly a chemistry there between he and Neal Schon. When I first read the few passages from his book in Rolling Stone (you know, the only ones they would bother to reprint because even they know how nothing he is without Van Halen) I became enraged and had to see more. I spent a couple of lunch breaks reading it at a Barnes & Noble. When you set aside the over blown statistics and just look at what he goes after and the manner in which he does it, it becomes pretty telling that he is not the cool, down to Earth guy he's been made out to be. He's an egomaniacal baby who thinks every buck starts with him and that everyone in his life prospered from being in his presence. It's truly a case study in narcissism like none I've ever read.

Oh, and everybody needs to at least read Mike's forward. Big mistake on his part. I mean huge mistake.

[fryingdutchman]

I never read Hagar's book, but if I get the chance to dig through the clearance box at my local Border's I might pick it up for a chuckle.

I don't think that real Van Halen fans read it because they're closet Sammy fans. I think it's simply a case of morbid curiosity.....like a bad car crash. You don't want to look at a horrible, nightmarish scene...but you have to because natural human curiosity gets the best of you.

And for others, it serves as reinforcement that mediocrity can be portrayed as success if you get lucky enough or can stick to a lie long enough to make people believe it.

[fryingdutchman]

It's a "know your enemy" thing I s'pose. it becomes pretty telling that he is not the cool, down to Earth guy he's been made out to be. He's an egomaniacal baby who thinks every buck starts with him and that everyone in his life prospered from being in his presence. It's truly a case study in narcissism like none I've ever read.

Spot on Bridge...and that's the rub. It's the ego that he has that really gnaws at us.

DLR also has a huge ego and always wants the spotlight...he'd probably be the first one to tell you that.

But with Roth, it had a firm foundation. Hagar twists it and takes it to a whole different level.

Hagar prospered by being in Van Halen's presence...not the other way around. If Roth never left then Hagar would be playing supermarket openings at this point.

[Seshmeister]

Oh, and everybody needs to at least read Mike's forward. Big mistake on his part. I mean huge mistake.

“Sammy’s no bullsh*tter. If Sammy says it happened, it did. There’s nobody else anywhere like him.” (Michael Anthony)

So he read that crock and then said that? He could have been supportive without saying that!

[vandeleur]

Everytime mike laps at hagars cock a fairy dies

[fryingdutchman]

Everytime mike laps at hagars cock a fairy dies

It doesn't really have the same beauty as "every time a bell rings, an angel gets it's wings"...but it's a good point nonetheless!

If that's true then fairies became extinct long ago....

[fryingdutchman]

“Sammy’s no bullsh*tter. If Sammy says it happened, it did. There’s nobody else anywhere like him.” (Michael Anthony)

Just....wow. That's fucked up.

Blind, cult-like worship....

Almost makes you think that Cabo Wabo Tequila is formulated with some mind controlling substance. Maybe that's how he keeps his fan base of "redheads." They've all been inducted into a Hagar cult unbeknownst to them through tequila mind control.

[DLR Bridge]

“Sammy’s no bullsh*tter. If Sammy says it happened, it did. There’s nobody else anywhere like him.” (Michael Anthony)

So he read that crock and then said that? He could have been supportive without saying that!

Oh that's just what they put on the jacket to try to help sell the thing. The major damage is his apology to Hagar for sticking by VH when things got ultra dicey around the end of his run. He literally goes on record to say that he backed the VHs when Sam really didn't do any wrong. Insert slurp sounds hear.

[chuckjitsu]

Or a glazed donut...and a bottle of anything...to go.o.o.o.o.o.o....

I remember watching this video for the first time and having mixed emotions. I liked the song and videos, but it felt off to me to see Dave fronting a band other than Van Halen- like the natural order of things had somehow been disturbed. Maybe it was the subconscious realization that the Samburglar era was now in full effect...

Anyone else have recollections of seeing this video for the first time?

[DLR Bridge]

Same thoughts here, Chuck. Seeing this and then seeing the Sam and Ed Farm-Aid Zep cover, I recall my annoyed, no CVH seeing, sorry ass thinking, "oh why's it gotta be like this?"

[Von Halen]

I remember watching this video for the first time and having mixed emotions. I liked the song and videos, but it felt off to me to see Dave fronting a band other than Van Halen- like the natural order of things had somehow been disturbed. Maybe it was the subconscious realization that the Samburglar era was now in full effect...

Anyone else have recollections of seeing this video for the first time?

I like the comedic part of the video. Hated the song the first time I heard it, and still do.

Vai, like Satriani, is a solo guitarist. They have no idea how to structure songs with a singer, in my opinion. Dave had to have they keyboards at this point, to fill all of Vai's empty space.

Did anybody see any of the tribute to Ronnie Montrose on AxsTV? (love that channel) Satriani sounds fucking HORRIBLE playing the Montrose tunes. Sounds hollow, in a bad way. Thin. Tinny. Whatever. Sounds like shit.

Knowing this shit wasn't a side project for Dave, made it all the more painful. Going in a short time from "Drop Dead Legs", "House Of Pain" and "Girl Gone Bad", to this? Again, knowing it was not a one off side project? What a fucking let down.