Wolfgang Van Halen Defends Sammy Hagar Era of Van Halen, Says It ‘Doesn’t Get Any Respect’

Wolfgang Van Halen: Thomson200, (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication, Wikimedia Commons / Sammy Hagar Photo by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images
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Between the David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar eras of Van Halen, which one is your favorite? Recently, Wolfgang Van Halen took the opportunity to talk about the latter, and he said that he feels it “doesn’t get any respect.”

During a recent conversation with Guitar.com, Wolfgang spoke about the upcoming vinyl reissue of Live: Right Here, Right Now, which is a live album Van Halen first released in 1993 that features Hagar as the band’s vocalist. But it was at one point during this conversation that Wolfgang expressed that he feels people don’t give the Sammy Hagar era “a chance.” Here is everything Wolfgang had to say in regard to the Sammy Hagar era of Van Halen:

“That era [of Van Halen] doesn’t get any respect, I don’t think.”

Wolfgang goes on to add:

“And there’s a lot of amazing songs and just obviously brilliant guitar playing on a lot of that — on all of that stuff — and I think people don’t give it a chance ’cause they fall into that just exhausting ‘this singer is better, this singer is better’ crap, when it’s, like, just give it a chance.

“There’s some really good stuff in there.”

What do you think of Wolfgang’s points? Do you also believe the Sammy Hagar era of Van Halen deserves more respect?

In a few months, Wolfgang’s band will be hitting the road as one of the acts supporting Metallica on the latter’s epic headlining North American tour. If you are interested in seeing both bands live, you can find the upcoming dates and locations associated with that tour below.

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Upcoming Metallica tour dates in 2023:

  • August 4th and 6th – East Rutherford, NJ – Metlife Stadium
    August 11th and 13th – Montreal, Canada – Stade Olympique
    August 18th and 20th – Arlington, TX – AT&T Stadium
    August 25th and 27th – Los Angeles, CA – SOFI Stadium
    September 1st and 3rd – Phoenix, AZ – State Farm Stadium
    November 3rd and 5th – St. Louis, MO – The Dome (At America’s Center)
    November 10th and 12th – Detroit, MI – Ford Field

In 2024:

  • August 2nd and 4th – Foxborough, MA – Gillette Stadium
    August 9th and 11th – Chicago, IL – Solider Field
    August 16th and 18th – Minneapolis, MN – US Bank Stadium
    August 23rd and 25th – Edmonton, Canada – Commonwealth Stadium
    August 30th and September 1st – Seattle, WA – Lumen Field