“Eddie would say, ‘Can you hit this note?’ I’d hit it and everybody would go, ‘Wow!’ And from there I could just see Eddie opening up as a musician and a songwriter”: Sammy Hagar recalls the making of Van Halen’s classic album 5150

Van Halen in 1986.

In early 1985, it seemed that the kings of American rock were finished. When it was announced that singer David Lee Roth had quit Van Halen, few believed that the multi-million selling Californian band could continue without him.

But the three guys he left behind – guitarist Eddie Van Halen, his elder brother and drummer Alex Van Halen, and bassist Michael Anthony – had no such doubts. And what they went on to achieve, following the acquisition of another superstar lead singer, was one of the greatest comebacks in the history of rock ’n’ roll.