Sammy Hagar says that Eddie Van Halen was ‘jealous’ of his relationship with Michael Anthony
He also claims that Eddie Van Halen prevented the bassist from showcasing the full range of his talent.
Image: Paul Natkin/Getty
Sammy Hagar has once again opened up about his tumultuous time in Van Halen – stating that Eddie Van Halen was ‘jealous’ of the friendship he had with bassist Michael Anthony.
In the new interview with Guitar World, Sammy Hagar said, “Mikey is like my brother from another mother. So much so that back in the early Van Halen days, Eddie would get all jealous.”
“Mike and I would get into these soulful conversations for hours, and Eddie would be on the outside looking in,” he continued.
“Even in the early days, Eddie would say, ‘Hey, I wanna hang out like you and Mike do.’ And I was like, ‘Cool, man. Let’s do it. So, what’s the problem?’… I guess Mike and I are cut from the same cloth. Eddie hated it, would get mad on stage, and called it stupid, but we had our inside lingo and were always very close.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Hagar also insisted that Michael Anthony’s talents were suppressed by Eddie during his time in the band.
Explaining that the bassist has now been allowed to showcase his full potential on Hagar’s latest album with The Circle, the vocalist claims that, if it weren’t for Eddie Van Halen’s playing style, Michael Anthony would now be one of the most celebrated bassists in rock.
“In Van Halen, Eddie was so busy with the way he played guitar that there wasn’t much room for Mikey to do anything. Eddie played lead, rhythm, melody, and in some ways, the bass line all at once because he was just a master,” Hagar said.
“So, Mikey rarely got to stretch out, but the truth is that he’s up there with John Paul Jones, John Entwistle, Geddy Lee, and Jack Bruce, but he never got to show it with Van Halen… But now, we’ve got Mikey off the leash, so we get more from him than we ever got when he was in Van Halen.”