Van Halen Member Takes Ownership Of Band

Sammy Hagar recently stated that performing Van Halen songs on the “Best of All Worlds” tour made him feel like he and Michael Anthony “own” the band’s catalog.

Hagar has been vocal about why he believes in the importance of having the band’s material performed live. He told Rolling Stone in a recent interview that being the only person associated with Van Halen who’s still playing the music makes him feel like he “owns” it. He said:

“The whole Van Halen catalog, mainly my catalog…. I feel like I own it now, because nobody else can do it. It’s like there’s no one that can do that catalog except a cover band. Mikey and I, we feel like we own it, and we feel this obligation to the music and to the fans to carry it on. It was the most expensive tour I’ve ever had. It costs more than the Van Halen Monsters of Rock tour to take this tour on the road.”

Alex Van Halen also recently returned to the spotlight after staying away from it in the years that followed his brother, Eddie Van Halen’s passing. Hagar also talked about on being completely left out of Alex Van Halen’s memoir, “Brothers.”

When asked to comment on being completely left out of the book, Hagar offered:

“It’s sad. I haven’t read the whole book, but I’ve seen all the excerpts, and I heard some of the interviews. It breaks my heart, because if I think what Alex is going through, losing his brother, never played with anybody else in his life, and then his health… When I saw how rickety he is, I realized, ‘No wonder he’s not answering my call when I say, ‘Do you want to go out and play with us?” He can’t.”

“That breaks my heart, because I can only put myself in those shoes and say, ‘What if I couldn’t sing and perform anymore?’ The thing that I did my whole life, the thing I devoted my life to, the thing that made me rich and famous and gave me the most beautiful life on the planet, and all of a sudden I can’t do that anymore? I would feel like I was robbing the fans, to start with. When you put yourself in his shoes, I’m saying, ‘Okay, I feel sorry for him.'”

Hagar added:

“Why he left me out, I would like to hear him explain that someday, because I don’t get it completely. I know that he’s bitter about some things, whatever that is… It’s like, ‘If you don’t want that era, that even gives me more justification to say I own it then,’ because no one else can do it, and he can’t do it even without me. It makes it easier for Mike and I. We’re sitting there going, ‘Okay, I guess we own this,’ and we have the obligation to bring this to the fans to keep this music alive, keep it live and alive.”

“This music is too good to throw away. When you see the way these fans react, like I said, when we go out and play these songs. When we played ‘5150’ and ‘Summer Nights,’ it’s like, ‘Oh, my God.’ You’re sitting there going, ‘Is this real? These people are happy.'”