Sammy Hagar Explains Why Van Halen Fired Him

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Bishal Roy
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For years, the split between Eddie Van Halen and Sammy Hagar has been shrouded in mystery, rumors, and conflicting stories. But now, Sammy Hagar himself is opening up about what really went down behind the scenes—why things fell apart and why Eddie ultimately decided to fire him.

When Van Halen released Balance on January 24, 1995, fans didn’t realize they were hearing the beginning of the end.

On the surface, it was another hit record, filled with arena rock anthems like Don’t Tell Me (What Love Can Do) and Can’t Stop Lovin’ You. But behind the scenes, things were far from harmonious.

In a recent Instagram video, Hagar opened up about the album’s recording process, calling it one of the most painful experiences of his career.

He said: “Sammy here, this is for the ‘Balance’ record. That record has the comedy and tragedy effect, you know, the double-edged sword, the good and the bad. I think it’s one of the most soulful records, with vocal performance, lyrics, and everything else that I’ve ever done in my life.”

He went on to talk about the album, “Right up there with ‘Marching to Mars’ for being pretty much a statement of where I was at that time in my life, but not really a great place. That was the end of it for Van Halen. I knew it; we all knew it within the inner circles, and it was kind of a painful thing. Eddie and I were not getting along.”

“God bless Bruce Fairbairn for producing that record and squeezing it out of us. He had to pull me out of the studio and take me up to Bryan Adams’ studio in Vancouver, where Kari [Karte, Hagar’s wife] and I lived for six weeks, finishing up the lyrics and getting all those vocals done,” the Red Rocker further shared.

Hagar added, “Vocal performances like ‘Don’t Tell Me (What Love Can Do)’ and ‘Can’t Stop Lovin’ You.’ Those were, I don’t know, when I hear myself sing those songs, I just got to go, ‘Wow.’ My heart was bleeding through my voice. But all in all, it had some good songs on it; it was not a happy record. The darkest Van Halen record ever for my time in the band.”

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