Sammy Hagar shared his thoughts on Van Halen’s ‘Balance’ album in a recent Instagram video.
“Sammy here, this is for the ‘Balance’ record,” the singer said on the Van Hagar / Other Half Instagram account. “That record has the comedy and tragedy effect, you know, the double-edged sword, the good and the bad. I think it’s one of the most soulful records, with vocal performance, lyrics, and everything else that I’ve ever done in my life.”
He continued discussing the album, saying, “Right up there with ‘Marching to Mars’ for being pretty much a statement of where I was at that time in my life, but not really a great place. That was the end of it for Van Halen. I knew it; we all knew it within the inner circles, and it was kind of a painful thing. Eddie and I were not getting along.”
Hagar also mentioned how the album came together, sharing, “God bless Bruce Fairbairn for producing that record and squeezing it out of us. He had to pull me out of the studio and take me up to Bryan Adams’ studio in Vancouver, where Kari [Karte, Hagar’s wife] and I lived for six weeks, finishing up the lyrics and getting all those vocals done.”
He added, “Vocal performances like ‘Don’t Tell Me (What Love Can Do)’ and ‘Can’t Stop Lovin’ You.’ Those were, I don’t know, when I hear myself sing those songs, I just got to go, ‘Wow.’ My heart was bleeding through my voice. But all in all, it had some good songs on it; it was not a happy record. The darkest Van Halen record ever for my time in the band.”
‘Balance’ is Van Halen’s tenth album, released on January 24, 1995. It marked the last album with Hagar as the lead singer and the final one with bassist Michael Anthony.
Following the album’s release, Van Halen toured Europe with Bon Jovi. The tour was nicknamed the ‘Ambulance Tour’ due to health issues: Hagar had throat problems, Eddie injured his hip, and Alex wore a neck brace due to a back injury, according to Ultimate Classic Rock.
