Don’t mess with Sammy Hagar and his fans.
In an interview with Rolling Stone published Tuesday, April 29, “The Red Rocker,” who joined Van Halen as bandleader in 1985 to 1996 and again from 2003 to 2005, said he wanted to “break” David Lee Roth’s neck after he disappointed their fans by canceling shows last minute when they toured together in 2002.
When asked if Hagar, 77, would share a bill with Roth, 70, again, he replied that “the circumstances would have to be right.”
Related: Sammy Hagar Hasn’t Spoken to Alex Van Halen in Over 20 Years: ‘Just Leave Me Alone. I’ll Leave You Alone’
“Dave always wants too much,” he told the publication. “He always tries to upstage. He tried to pull stuff on the Sam and Dave tour [of 2002]. The nights when he was opening, when we flip-flopped … which I would never do again. I would never bother. But look, I’m not an opening act for anybody.”
Hagar then claimed that Roth “would call in and say that the bus broke down” 10 minutes before he was supposed to go onstage.
“And because I care about my fans, I would go on,” Hagar claimed. “And I did that about four times. I wanted to break the guy’s f—in’ neck.”
According to Hagar, “the stupidest thing is, he did the worst when he headlined.”
“He couldn’t follow me with a band of kids playing Eddie’s guitar solo note for note and playing ‘Eruption’ and s—,” he claimed. “He did his whole Van Halen show from 1983, and I’m going, ‘What an idiot!’ He should have represented himself a little more like who he was as a solo artist.”
Hagar then noted that he was “so fortunate” to have a solo career prior to Van Halen.
“Because even Mick Jagger and people will tell you, being in the biggest rock band in the world and then trying to go solo ain’t the easiest,” he said.
Elsewhere in the interview, Hagar addressed his ongoing feud with Alex Van Halen, whom he hasn’t spoken to in 21 years.
According to another Rolling Stone interview from October 2024, Alex, 71, suffered a spinal injury that impacted his ability to play drums. Hagar was notably not mentioned by name in his 2024 memoir, Brothers.
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Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth in Los Angeles in 2002
Related: Alex Van Halen Says ‘I Owe My Life’ to Wife Stine, Who Helped Him Kick Drug Addiction in the 1990s
According to his latest interview with the publication, Hagar believes that he and Alex have clashed because Hagar says he can’t play the way he did prior to his injury.
“He’s not a singer. He’s not a guitar player. He is not really a band leader,” Hagar told the outlet. “He seems like he doesn’t want to play drums.”
He continued: “Alex wasn’t the songwriter in the band. He was the drummer. Eddie and I wrote the songs.”
Reps for Roth and Alex have not yet responded to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.
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