Edward Van Halen is certainly a musical genius. His guitar work is epic, his influence is unmatched in rock history. Only Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton have as much influence as Eddie on guitar. His band, with Diamond David Lee Roth, and then Sammy Hagar in the vocal chair, has sold over 100 million albums world wide. However, in recent years, his mouth and his erratic behavior has certainly become an issue. In 2004, he was a drunken mess on tour, missing cues, and sounding awful. In 2006, he was in and out of rehab, looked like a homeless person, and made a oddball appearance at Dimebag Darrel’s funeral, and spoke at the funeral, freaking everyone out with his erratic actions.
By 2007, he was back in good graces with David Lee Roth and they launched a sold out world tour with his son Wolfgang Van Halen on bass, replacing the popular Michael Anthony. The band made a strong album in 2012. Eddie also got married, and got sober. However, along the way, he has been venomous on his verbal attacks on former band mates. He was always critical about Roth over the years, but lately he has slammed Hagar and now the ‘nice guy’ Michael Anthony in a recent issue of ‘Billboard.’ Eddie said many scathing things about Anthony, including the fact that his son Wolfgang plays better than Anthony, but, he also accused Anthony that he had to ‘teach him the notes’ before every tour on playing songs correctly, and that he didn’t like Anthony’s voice, which, according to Eddie, ‘sounded like a “piccolo trumpet”, and that his voice was better at harmonizing. Eddie also slammed Roth for ‘liking dance music’, instead of rock music, which is no surprise to anyone, and that Dave ‘doesn’t want to be my friend’, like he’s nine years old! The entire ‘Billboard’ interview comes across as childish drivel, and also makes Eddie look like one big dickhead.
Accordingly, former vocalist Sammy Hagar isn’t very happy. Sammy and Michael Anthony are ‘blood brothers’, and Sammy has taken off on his Facebook page giving Eddie a piece of his mind. Yep, this is Sammy unhinged! Enjoy this rebuttal, and take that, Eddie!
-Bahan
