Van Halen drummer Alex Van Halen recently shared a rare social media post featuring a stage photo of his late brother, Eddie Van Halen, on Instagram. However, the emotional tribute prompted numerous comments from fans urging him to make peace with former Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar.
The post featured a caption from Alex reflecting on the band’s legacy and brotherhood. “Van Halen Forever. We Are Van Halen. Unfinished. Brothers,” Alex Van Halen wrote.
The tribute led many followers to comment on the ongoing tension between Alex and Hagar, especially after Alex publicly called Sammy a “complete idiot” in a recent interview. Fans expressed their hopes for a reconciliation and a potential tribute performance.
“Love you Al. Just wish you could bury the damn hatchet with the other former members and get a proper 1 off gig to honor Ed and the band’s entire legacy,” one fan commented.
Other fans echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the importance of moving past old grievances.
“Make up with Sam, Al. Life is too short,” another fan wrote, while another added, “Sammy years are still the best years!”
This fan outreach comes amid long-standing division among the band’s former members. Further updates on any potential reconciliation remain to be seen.
The wave of fan comments did not emerge in isolation. It followed a fresh round of public back-and-forth between Alex Van Halen and Sammy Hagar that reignited one of rock’s longest-running feuds, just as Alex was revisiting his brother’s memory online.
Alex Van Halen reignited the long-running feud by dismissing Hagar’s 2011 autobiography, Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock. Speaking with Brazilian music journalist Marcelo Vieira for Roadie Crew magazine, the drummer said, “I don’t know what he wrote, and I don’t want to know,” before adding, “In my opinion, Sammy Hagar is a complete idiot.”
Hagar answered the insult days later. The singer responded with both humor and frustration, saying, “I want to call Alex out and say dude, we all know, you act like there was never a Sammy Hagar.”
Hagar pushed back against what he sees as an erasure of his contribution to the band, saying, “We sold 40 some million records, [had] four Number One albums and you just scratch that off of your brother’s legacy, saying no, that never happened.” The remark frames the dispute as partly about recognition of the band’s 1985–2004 “Van Hagar” era and its place in Eddie Van Halen’s legacy.
The feud carries added emotional weight because of Eddie Van Halen’s death on October 6, 2020. Hagar has since expressed regret over some of the more personal revelations in his memoir, a shift that has added another layer to the feud’s history and to any lingering talk of a tribute or reunion.
For fans commenting on Alex’s tribute post, that history is precisely the point. Their messages suggest a desire for the surviving members to set aside old wounds and unite for a single event honoring Eddie Van Halen and the band’s full legacy — a wish that, for now, remains unanswered.
