GeorgiaBeforePeople

I attended a Van Halen concert performed in Augusta, Georgia during 1980 when the group was an exciting new sensation. Eddie Van Halen’s electrifying guitar playing, and the perfectly harmonized background vocals made them especially popular with rock and pop fans alike. The most memorable moment that I can recall was the start of the concert when David Lee Roth, the blonde-haired lead singer, sprinted to the front of the stage and tossed marijuana cigarettes into the audience. A chunky dude behind me caught one and I took a toke off it. I was 18 and an inexperienced pothead then, and I didn’t recognize the pot buzz yet. I also remember Roth performing many of his spectacular leaps. A year of so earlier, he broke his foot making one of his jumps and actually recorded “Somebody get me a Doctor” in a cast.

I like reading rock and roll musician’s biographies and autobiographies because I can vicariously enjoy the wild lives they lived while touring and recording their albums. The great rock and roll groups of yesteryear were constantly touring to promote their new albums, while they were still hot and would only take breaks when they were recording new material. Recently, I read the biographies of David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar. Reportedly, the 2 felt nothing but disdain for each other, and I thought it would be interesting to explore that conflict.

Roth met the Van Halen brothers when they all attended Pasadena College during the early to mid 1970s. Roth bought a sound system with a loan from his father and rented it to the Van Halen brothers when they played at parties. Eddie Van Halen originally sang and played guitar, but the brothers agreed to let Roth be the lead singer in exchange for free use of his sound system. They mostly played at parties for a fee, then graduated to rock and roll bars in Los Angeles. They learned about 200 songs and were at first just a cover band, but they did start writing their own songs and had a successful debut album in 1978 known as Van Halen I. They opened for Journey and Black Sabbath before they began headlining their own shows. This first version of Van Halen produced 6 good-great albums before Roth left the band. His musical tastes had expanded, while Eddie wanted to stick with hard rock. Eddie also resented Roth’s side projects, though the latter points out Eddie also had side projects. Roth opted for a solo career.

David Lee Roth spent a lot of energy as lead singer of Van Halen from ~1975-1985.

Many thought Van Halen was washed up after Roth left the band, but they hired Sammy Hagar to replace Roth. Hagar already had a successful career working for Montrose, then having a number of hits as a solo artist. “I can’t drive 55” and “Heavy Metal” are some examples of his better hits. Incidentally, Hagar notes he can usually get away with speeding because when cops pull him over and recognize the singer of “I can’t drive 55,” they just want his autograph. Hagar re-energized Van Halen, and they produced more good-great albums until For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge which is mediocre. After about a decade of touring and recording, Hagar wanted a break, but Eddie Van Halen insisted he come to the studio. Hagar refused to report for duty and was fired. Both Roth and Hagar concur that the Van Halen brothers could be abusive and were hard to get along with. Roth goes so far as to call Eddie a “crummy” human being.

Sammy Hagar re-energized Van Halen after Roth left the band. He was lead singer from 1985-1995.

Roth’s and Hagar’s autobiographies are quite different. Roth’s autobiography originally consisted of 1200 pages of transcripts from tape recordings made by a man who followed him around for most of 1996. His ghostwriter whittled it down to about 450 pages. There is some biographical material in it, but it mostly consists of vignettes–some interesting, some humorous, and with some attempts at a deeper meaning–that were spoken by a someone who was stoned. Roth was raised in a middle-class household, and his father was an eye doctor. He was a hyperactive youngster who today undoubtedly would be prescribed Ritalin. His parents did send him to therapists. He was not a spoiled child, and when he wanted an expensive item, his father would make him get menial jobs as early as the age of 13 to pay him back. He discovered marijuana at one of these menial jobs, smoking pot with undocumented Mexican laborers. He read a lot and in school he was excellent in subjects like literature and history but terrible in math. Roth is a bit of a thrill seeker. He took long primitive boat trips up the Amazon River with his bodyguard, and he’s climbed mountains in the Himalayas. He is a trained EMT and has worked on an ambulance over 200 times. Some accident victims were shocked to find themselves rescued by a famous rock star. Roth is his own man and never married, though he’s enjoyed the company of numerous groupies and more serious lovers. Unlike Hagar, he didn’t give many specific names in his book. The only mention he makes of Hagar is when he tells how the Van Halen brothers forced him out of the band.

Hagar’s autobiography is more straightforward and coherent. He tells of his upbringing in povery with an abusive alcoholic father. His parents were migrant farmers, and his father suffered from psychological problems following his experiences as a soldier in World War II. His father was a professional boxer who holds the record for most times being knocked down in a fight–a fact Hagar learned while watching boxing on television one night. His mother escaped his father and took her children with her. She struggled to eventually achieve working class respectability. Hagar is a family man. He’s been married twice and has fathered children with both wives, though he enjoyed his share of groupies when he was single and estranged from his first wife. He claims he had orgies with as many as 5 groupies in a tent set up on stage, while Eddie Van Halen was performing a guitar solo. He’s always been a hard worker, and unlike most rock musicians, he understands business. He’s started many businesses. His most successful venture was a tequila brand known as Cabo Wabo that he sold in 2007 for $80 million. No wonder he always looks so happy. His book is honest, except for his denials that he does alcohol and drugs. In 1 paragraph he will say he doesn’t do alcohol and drugs, and in the next paragraph he describes how hard he was partying with drugs and alcohol. In his book he takes a number of shots at Roth. He points out how Roth’s solo career lasted “2 minutes,” and he relishes the decline in the quality of Roth’s vocals. They both toured with Van Halen during a reunion tour in 2002, and Hagar describes Roth as a prima donna. He has even harsher words for Eddie Van Halen. He states Eddie was so far gone on alcohol and drugs that he forgot how to play live, and it took him 2 months to produce 1 song that he could have produced in 1 day when he was younger. Both Van Halen brothers drank cheap crappy beer and smoked cigarettes all day, though Alex eventually stopped drinking after an intervention.

Sammy Hagar and his post Van Halen group, The Wabos, performing Mas Tequila. He sold his tequila brand for $80 million. No wonder he always looks so happy.

I like Roth and Hagar and don’t prefer one over the other. Hagar seems like the more congenial person, but I find nothing objectionable about Roth who seems more of an independent loner. I also like both as lead singers for Van Halen. I do think Van Halen produced a greater quantity of quality songs when Roth was lead singer, but this is simply because they were young and fresh. By the time Hagar took over, they were beginning to pass their prime, but he pushed them to create more good music they likely would have never equaled on their own.

References:

Hagar, Sammy

Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock

William Morrow Publishers 2012

Roth, David Lee

Crazy from the Heat

Hyperion 1997