Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony shared a resurfaced interview video of Alex Van Halen on their joint Instagram account, Van Hagar / Other Half. The post came after Hagar previously called out Alex for ignoring his era of the band in his book.
“We basically followed our hearts,” Alex Van Halen said in the video. “We knew in our heart that this was going to be a great band, and we like to refer to it as the real Van Halen. As a matter of fact, Sammy was actually a choice of vocalist in 1977 when we signed with Warner Brothers. Now, nobody would cop to it, but that’s the doggone truth. But because of legal entanglements and contracts, and because Van Halen was unproven, nothing was ever really pursued.”
Sammy Hagar wrote in the caption: “The one-and-only Alex Van Halen telling it like it was!”
The resurfaced clip is part of a broader conversation Alex has had about the band’s history in recent months. In other interviews, the drummer acknowledged that some of Van Halen’s strongest material was recorded during the Hagar years. He singled out the drum sound on For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge as his personal favorite from the entire catalog. Those comments marked a rare moment of public praise from Alex toward the Hagar era. He had largely avoided discussing that era in depth.
However, Alex has also been careful to distinguish between the band’s two eras. In the same interview cycles, he described the original lineup with David Lee Roth as the “first model.” He called it the core of what made Van Halen special. He stated that while the Hagar years produced good music, the spirit of the band was defined by the Roth era. This dual stance has fueled ongoing debate among fans about which version of the band truly represented Van Halen.
The timing of the video’s release is notable. Hagar’s decision to share the clip came shortly after he publicly offered David Lee Roth a spot in his Las Vegas residency. The offer followed the cancellation of Roth’s solo tour dates. Hagar extended an olive branch, saying the musicians tied to Van Halen’s legacy could not be replaced. The gesture signaled a potential thaw in the long-standing rivalry between the two vocalists.
Meanwhile, Alex and David Lee Roth recently reunited onstage for the first time in over a decade. The reunion further complicated the narrative. That performance reinforced Alex’s connection to the original lineup. The resurfaced video suggests he holds a more layered view of the Hagar years than previously understood. The conflicting signals have left fans wondering where Alex truly stands as the band’s legacy continues to be debated.
