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EDDIE VAN HALEN: And the Grave Will Rock
Eddie Van Halen is talking smack about David Lee Roth from the grave.
In a Rolling Stone article titled “Inside a Superfan’s Secret Friendship With Eddie Van Halen,” onetime music journalist Blair R. Fischer reveals how a cold call email he sent to the guitarist led to a five year friendship that also included him sharing his feelings about Roth, Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony, as well as talking about his struggles with lung.cancer.
In discussing the last Van Halen studio album, 2012’s A Different Kind of Truth, Eddie said, “The reason it took that long is Roth…Roth is out of his mind.”
He added that Roth is not all interested in rock ‘n’ roll. He only likes “dance music” and “hates bands like AC/DC,” and he calls that band’s fans “culturally illiterate.” …
“Whenever we do interviews we can’t really tell the whole truth because if I said in an interview what I have said to you certain people would get pissed. it wouldn’t do much good to say that I think our own lead singer sucks and is a complete mental case pre-Madonna…”
He also said he and Roth didn’t speak on the band’s last tour in 2015.
“I don’t know what I ever did to him, but so it goes. I wouldn’t be surprised if he somehow implodes onstage or does something really, really stupid.”
Roth responded to this saying, “One – I’ve always loved AC/DC. Two – I’ve never said that anyone’s audience was culturally illiterate. I said that Ed was culturally illiterate. God Bless our Troops…”
As for Fischer suggesting Van Halen bring Anthony back into the band instead of Eddie’s son Wolfgang, Eddie said, “Not nearly as good as Wolfgang Van Halen, nor will he ever!! … you would know that if you had a brain and ears!! …
“When Hagar quit, Mike went with him instead of staying with Alex and me. That was as much of a betrayal as Roth blindsiding us when he quit. We didn’t see either one coming!! All we had was ourselves, Alex and myself. Wolf happened to be there and [it was] fun again. Life is change. I can’t control it any more than you can. If I could, I would change a lot of things starting with never having my first drink and maybe sticking to piano instead of guitar!!”
And regarding Hagar, Eddie said, “it’s all about money with Hagar… He used the band to elevate himself!!”
He went onto say that Hagar “can’t open his mouth without saying Van Halen. Instead of talking about his [then] new band [Chickenfoot], all he did was basically say how much better they were than Van Halen. So, he’s actually our biggest promo man.”
But, Eddie was considering a reunion tour.
“Maybe we can catch it in time, before both wack jobs [Roth and Hagar] lose it completely and get the whole shebang up there. Wolf opens, Roth and Hagar swap every other song, and we squeeze Mike in somewhere!! I just don’t think Al’s gonna go for it!! But you never know — stranger things have happened!!”
Both the Van Halen estate and Hagar refused to comment on this story.