“Eddie’s musicianship blossomed when I joined the band”: Sammy Hagar on his musical dynamic with Eddie Van Halen – and why the virtuoso stopped releasing music in the 2000s

Rock musicians Sammy Hagar and Eddie Van Halen (1955 - 2020), both of the group Van Halen, performs onstage at the Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont, Illinois, March 15, 1986.

Just under a week after Sammy Hagar's release of Encore, Thank You, Goodnight. – the song he wrote after dreaming of Eddie Van Halen – the former Van Halen frontman is looking back on his years with the legendary band, his dynamic with Eddie, and his take on the virtuoso guitarist's lack of releases during the 2000s.

“Look, everybody gets fuckin’ dried up a little bit,” he tells Rolling Stone matter-of-factly. “And also, he had to be inspired by something. You know what I mean?”