When it comes to rock’n’roll beefs, few are as a long-running or entertaining as that between David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar. The pair started talking smack about each other pretty much as soon as Sammy succeeded Diamond Dave in Van Halen in 1985, and haven’t let up since. Even an ill-fated 2002 tour featuring both singers failed to thaw this cold war – in fact it only seemed to make matters worse, with Hagar telling Classic Rock that a barricade was erected between the stars’ respective dressing rooms. Even now, the barbs continue to fly, though it’s mostly in one direction from Sammy towards Dave.
All that is spectacularly amusing, but it does ignore one thing - the two of them were both fantastic frontmen for Van Halen. Dave was the ultimate showmen, a pirouetting, high-kicking force of nature with the charisma of a movie star and the presence of a neutron bomb. Sammy was the powerhouse singer and songwriter, who didn’t just come in to rescue Van Halen after Dave’s acrimonious departure, he helped kick them to the next level.
