Van Halen was established back in 1973 and found itself being disbanded after nearly five decades of incredible musicmaking, but its rage among the rock fans is still as strong as ever. Over the years that it was still active, while the heavy metal band restored hard rock to the forefront of the music scene through its energetic live performances – especially through its late lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen – it was also met with quite a lot of changes.
For one, while it started with the Van Halen brothers, Eddie and Alex, the band went on to let rock singer David Lee Roth hop onto their rock-y journey as well, despite all the complications. But his tenure didn’t last long as, within less than a decade, Roth ended up leaving to embark on his own solo journey, with his empty spot being filled by Sammy Hagar. After a decade, Hagar left too, with Gary Cherone replacing him for around 3 years.
The band then went on a hiatus until reuniting with Hagar in 2003, who stayed till 2005, following which, Roth decided to return as well. This was followed by another few years of the rock band delivering some of their most successful works of all time until 2020, when Eddie was reported to have passed away due to cancer. A month after this tragic turn of events, the band disbanded, each going their own respective ways.
But it didn’t end there. Recently, reports had it that the legendary group was all set to return on a reunion tour, including both Roth and Eddie’s brother Alex. However, as Alex came clean in an interview, this reunion tour was canceled because Roth reportedly refused to pay tribute to Eddie, indicating at the reported dispute between the two. That said, here’s a brief breakdown of the history between Roth and Eddie, from their first meet to Eddie’s demise.
1972-74: Van Halen‘s Foundation and David Lee Roth’s Entry
In 1972, after undergoing quite a few name changes, Alex and Eddie Van Halen finally decided on the name Mammoth for their rock band which featured Alex as the drummer and Eddie as the lead guitarist. At the time, they had their friend Mark Stone with them as well, who worked on the bass. During this period, they came across rock singer David Lee Roth when they rented a sound-system from him for $10 per night.
Roth was in a different band back then, Red Ball Jets, but he gave a few unconvincing auditions to join the brothers’ band nonetheless. But even though these auditions were all reported fails, they still decided on having Roth onboard, partly in an attempt to save money on the sound-system (as Eddie told Guitar.com, via VHLinks). By 1974, not only was Roth the lead singer of Mammoth alongside Eddie, Alex, and Stone, but this band was also renamed to Van Halen – a moniker Roth credited as being his brainchild.
1977-85: VH Soared, but So Did the Tension Between Roth and Eddie
After David Lee Roth’s entry was Michael Anthony’s entry as the group’s bassist, replacing Strong. With this new squad, VH went on to initially gain some serious club gig success before earning a rather basic, two-album recording contract from highly impressed Warner Bros. reps. This was followed by the band recording their titular debut album, which reached No. 19 on the Billboard pop music charts, setting some records for the band.
Soon enough, the heavy metal band went on an extensive tour, with the band’s chemistry being based on Eddie’s iconic guitar technique and Roth’s rock-y charisma. After this, they tamed Van Halen II which earned them their first hit single, Dance the Night Away, and eventually had them going on non-stop tours over the next four years. By 1980, the band had cemented their platinum-selling status to Warner Bros. with Women and Children First.
But with the fame came some tensions too. While David Lee Roth was more inclined to have pop tastes and styles in music, Eddie’s approach went a bit darker and more complex. This was especially reflected in Fair Warning, which featured Eddie’s dark take over Roth and veteran Warner Bros. rock producer Ted Templeman’s desires. Then came Diver Down, which featured more of Roth’s taste and preference for pop covers.
With Roth dealing with the mic with his vocals, VH managed to sell 35 million albums between 1978 to 1985. However, even then, with all their wins and the band’s soaring as high as ever, the differences reportedly continued, causing friction with other band members. Eventually, in 1985, Roth announced his departure from the band, with reasons being cited that he was reportedly concerned about Eddie playing music outside of Van Halen.
1985-96: Sammy Hagar Joins VH While David Lee Roth Cherishes Making Solo Music
Roth, after leaving, reportedly wanted to form a new band. But before that, he managed to launch and incredibly successful solo career with his hit cover songs, like the ones off his Crazy from the Heat EP. In the meanwhile, VH introduced Sammy Hagar, the former frontman for the hard rock group Montrose, as their new lead singer and rhythm guitarist.
1986 saw the band’s 5150 album become their first No. 1 album on the Billboard charts. Of course, this newfound success once again had the band out on the road, with Van Halen managing to sell around 20 million- plus albums with Hagar within a decade. That was until 1996, when tensions between him and the Halen brothers eventually led to his departure.
1996: David Lee Roth and Van Halen Take to Each Other’s Throats
With Sammy Hagar out of the picture, David Lee Roth extended a friendly hand out to his former band and managed to record a pair of limp new songs with them. This was followed by the 1996 MTV VMAs, which fueled speculation of a reunion as the original four members came to present an award at the event together after over 11 years. But it all turned out to be false.
Apparently, even after Roth reached out to them and they started working together, VH was still auditioning singers. This was followed by Roth eventually releasing a statement refuting all rumors of a reunion and claiming that the band had misled him into thinking they were seriously considering bringing him back. He even claimed that he had made it evident to them beforehand that he wouldn’t appear with them at the VMAs unless they were actually reuniting (see My Filthy Little Web Page).
The next day, Van Halen released their statement as well, refuting Roth’s claims and denying that they had, in any way, led him to believe they were reuniting with him or even contemplating to do so (see The Spokesman-Review). At a backstage press conference, the reunion tour was once again addressed, and Roth and Eddie nearly came to blows after Eddie said he needed a hip replacement and would have to record an entire new studio album before any tour and Roth told him to avoid talking about negative things like that.
1996-2000: Gary Cherone’s Era with Van Halen
In October 1996, following the infamous turn of events surrounding the MTV VMAs, VH named Gary Cherone as their new lead singer. This had them shifting tones in their music, with more focus being put on ballads over traditional rock songs. Even the sales were rather poor as per the rock band’s standards – only reaching a Gold certification.
Nonetheless, their song Without You from Van Halen III still managed to acquire the No. 1 place on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts in 1998, making them the band with the most Mainstream Rock No. 1s. However, Cherone, too, left the band in 1999, though rather amicably, citing musical differences and personal issues that he was reportedly going through.
2000-2004: David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar, VH, and Some Unexpected Surprises
After Cherone left, Van Halen was reported to have briefly reunited with Roth, attempting to do a new album. But persisting disputes with David Lee Roth led to the abortion of these plans. While the heavy metal band still tried to schedule some concerts with Roth at a later date, neither any official statements nor any music was released by them until early 2004.
And yet, that wasn’t all, as the summer of 2002 saw Roth and Sammy Hagar rocking and rolling together in their commendably successful Song for Song, the Heavyweight Champs of Rock and Roll tour. This was followed by both the rock singers going their separate ways before Hagar and Anthony decided to rejoin the VH band.
2007-15: David Lee Roth Jumps Back Into the VH Picture
While the initial reunion with Roth never worked out, Hagar was contacted by VH for the same which led to The Summer 2004 tour. But while this reunion proved to be successful for a while, Eddie’s issues with alcohol that caused problems during the tour eventually had Hagar leaving once again.
Then came 2007, when David Lee Roth was finally officially announced by the band to be rejoining them for a summer tour. Meanwhile, before this, Michael Anthony was let go of and replaced by Eddie’s son, Wolfgang Van Halen, as a bass player in 2006. However, this tour was indefinitely postponed when Eddie was reported to have gone into rehab.
Finally, after nearly 10 months of speculation and rumors, VH announced their tour of North America with Roth. While Eddie reentering rehab posed some problems, they still managed to pull everything off and lead an incredibly successful tour.
This was followed by them pulling off multiple other tours over the course of the next 13 years, until October 6, 2020, when Eddie Van Halen was reported to have passed away of cancer. Soon after, the band disbanded in November as well, as Eddie’s son Wolfgang said in an interview with Howard Stern (via Rolling Stone), “You can’t have Van Halen without Eddie Van Halen.”
2024: VH Reunion Gets Axed as David Lee Roth Reportedly Refuses to Pay Tribute to Eddie Van Halen
Nearly four years after the band had disbanded following Eddie’s death, rumors and reports had it that Van Halen was returning for a planned tour. This was recently confirmed by Alex Van Halen in an interview with Rolling Stone, who further claimed that there were even early rehearsals with David Lee Roth, the band’s original lead vocalist.
“The thing that broke the camel’s back, and I can be honest about this now,” Alex said, “was I said, ‘Dave, at some point, we have to have a very overt — not a bowing — but an acknowledgment of Ed in the gig. If you look at how Queen does it, they show old footage.’ And the moment I said we gotta acknowledge Ed, Dave f—in’ popped a fuse.… The vitriol that came out was unbelievable.”
While Roth simply refused to pay tribute to Eddie, it pissed off Alex a bit too much – so much so that he exploded on the singer and ended up ending all the talks about the reunion. That said, for now, as disappointing as it may seem, fans might as well lose all hope of seeing Van Halen return anytime soon. And after all, it’s not like it will be the same as before as when Eddie rocked the stage with his electric performances, so perhaps, that’s okay.
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